Silly Old Man
9th June 2014, 10:05
For some strange reason I decided to recently get back into motorcycles and now have four projects taking up space.
Okay, let's go way back... CB100 when I was fifteen, like 1977, rode it absolutely everywhere in all weathers and fell off reasonably often but only scratches on both me and old trusty. Then got an SL100 at about 17 and the CB went to my brother to do all the stuff I did. Next was an SL350 and this is when the modification bug really started, not mechanically yet but made it into a cafe racer.
But it wasn't fast enough so got hold of a Kawazaki Z750 twin in about 1983... yummy stuff as even when I was the freshy 16-17 year old I'd kinda hung on the edges of a group of slightly nefarious chaps riding big Triumphs and they even let me ride them occassionally so I was sold on the big twin stuff.
Anyways about a week out from owning this thing I was cruising late one night when a bolt that holds the exhaust cam sprocket in place decided to come out, drop down into the motor and get caught between the clutch drive and the primary chain... and the back wheel stopped going around and went completely still as I was approaching some roadworks at about 40mph on wet roads at night.
I'd admittedly only had a few beers so was together enough to not get very hurt as me and the lump of metal just glanced the forty four gallon drums and both slide to a halt without undue bent steel or me... and proceeded to quickly hop back on it and try and make it go, seized but it still rolls. Happened right across the road from a mates work so I quickly pushed it out of sight and off the road then hitched the rest of the way home.
Long sory short it took me a few years to get it back together and in the interim I made a few mods and threw away a bunch of useless plastic.
297767
Then the real fun began as I proceeded to drive as fast as I could as often as I could. In those days speeding tickets didn't cost much and you'd often talk your way out of them as long as the speed wasn't incredibly silly and I didn't hit anything or even fall off the thing so the fun just kept going 'till I was going so quick all the time I started to scare myself that my luck might run out... 'cause it had with a few friends and it just felt like it'd be my turn soon. So I sold the bike far too cheap just to get it gone... silly mistake but when you are a 20 something Madman just locking it away in a shed is far too realistic.
Anyways 30 years have gone past and I now have a CB350 with a bunch of spares, a small pile of early seventies Suzuki 125 two stroke twin stuff and a 125 Suzuki water cooled 4 stroke moped I found at the scrap dealers. My things fabrication now, after years of making arty furniture, and the CB350 will get a new frame built, the two stroke suzuki's will be in the vein of this modern phenomina... custon tiny ratters, and the moped will become a stream liner elongated and the driver sitting almost on the ground...yikes!
Okay, let's go way back... CB100 when I was fifteen, like 1977, rode it absolutely everywhere in all weathers and fell off reasonably often but only scratches on both me and old trusty. Then got an SL100 at about 17 and the CB went to my brother to do all the stuff I did. Next was an SL350 and this is when the modification bug really started, not mechanically yet but made it into a cafe racer.
But it wasn't fast enough so got hold of a Kawazaki Z750 twin in about 1983... yummy stuff as even when I was the freshy 16-17 year old I'd kinda hung on the edges of a group of slightly nefarious chaps riding big Triumphs and they even let me ride them occassionally so I was sold on the big twin stuff.
Anyways about a week out from owning this thing I was cruising late one night when a bolt that holds the exhaust cam sprocket in place decided to come out, drop down into the motor and get caught between the clutch drive and the primary chain... and the back wheel stopped going around and went completely still as I was approaching some roadworks at about 40mph on wet roads at night.
I'd admittedly only had a few beers so was together enough to not get very hurt as me and the lump of metal just glanced the forty four gallon drums and both slide to a halt without undue bent steel or me... and proceeded to quickly hop back on it and try and make it go, seized but it still rolls. Happened right across the road from a mates work so I quickly pushed it out of sight and off the road then hitched the rest of the way home.
Long sory short it took me a few years to get it back together and in the interim I made a few mods and threw away a bunch of useless plastic.
297767
Then the real fun began as I proceeded to drive as fast as I could as often as I could. In those days speeding tickets didn't cost much and you'd often talk your way out of them as long as the speed wasn't incredibly silly and I didn't hit anything or even fall off the thing so the fun just kept going 'till I was going so quick all the time I started to scare myself that my luck might run out... 'cause it had with a few friends and it just felt like it'd be my turn soon. So I sold the bike far too cheap just to get it gone... silly mistake but when you are a 20 something Madman just locking it away in a shed is far too realistic.
Anyways 30 years have gone past and I now have a CB350 with a bunch of spares, a small pile of early seventies Suzuki 125 two stroke twin stuff and a 125 Suzuki water cooled 4 stroke moped I found at the scrap dealers. My things fabrication now, after years of making arty furniture, and the CB350 will get a new frame built, the two stroke suzuki's will be in the vein of this modern phenomina... custon tiny ratters, and the moped will become a stream liner elongated and the driver sitting almost on the ground...yikes!