Chuckk

Riding a 20 year old ST1100 now,


But bought my first Indian Chief in a basket in 1967.
"First light" in front of the dorm in 1968.

Yup, my 49 Chevy in this foreground is the background of the ST
Lots of motorcycles:
Link to the old bikes I still have here

Link to a pretty complete list of the bikes I've had here

SJX426 

Correction, The CL 300 was actually a CL77 300. 305cc. got up to 95 on it. Scary! not my pic


Example of the CB1100F only sold in the us for one year. Multiple years in Europe. The intercepter killed it off.


The vision. I had a small headlight fairing on it. not my pics

The fairing


Lots of torque. Easily did wheelies with higher rpm. Wasn't enough, had to have at least 1000CC, whole new ball game. Respect the ride!

Kriscarr

Beginning of last July I hit a patch of gravel in a corner while doing about 100 km/h. Wasn't wearing much in the way of gear, beanie helmet, t-shirt, running shoes, you get the idea. Tore off the flesh on my left arm, broke left fibula, left tibia, broken ankle and fractured my left foot in 9 places. I now have a titanium rod that runs from my knee to my ankle inside of my tibia. Took 3 months to walk again.I was back on the bike after 4 months.

nomadmax 

It's faster than the chassis, suspension & brakes; that makes it "fast".

The Golden Boy 

After that I'd be all 'eff that, I'm out.'

Kriscarr

I built a custom hand shifter so that I could ride with the limited mobility of my left leg


gotta jump back on that horse right? Not like Im breaking that leg again.

merziac

Looks like a KZ something....

dedhed

Kind of what put me off them, that and having kids

iab

While I like the idea of motorcycles, I do not care for the reality of motorcycles. I will take pictures of them at swap meets.

Scambio 022 by iabisdb, on Flickr

Scambio 042 by iabisdb, on Flickr

Scambio 043 by iabisdb, on Flickr

Scambio 050 by iabisdb, on Flickr

Scambio 052 by iabisdb, on Flickr

Scambio 086 by iabisdb, on Flickr

Clang

Here's maybe a silly question. Would dirt bike bars labeled as 7/8" diameter work with a standard bicycle stem? Thinking about if I could use some for a klunker mtb project.

Kriscarr

Ive seen mtb bars on motorcycles so I dont see why not

BFisher

Dirt bike bars from Dennis Kirk on my '61 Schwinn with a BMX stem

I have since gone back to a one piece crank.

Only motorcycle I ever owned was an '06 Yamaha Virago 250. It was a neat bike, but after a few years I lost the itch and sold it. Plus, with a young family I figured it wasn't worth the risk.

clubman 

Italians always design with flair and motorbikes are no exception. Lovely pics. There's so many nice bikes to choose from.
I'll cross-post this. My wife and I met at 38 years old and had our only 2 children at 38 and 40. My Dad gave us a minivan to replace our aging Saab 900 turbo. Elizabeth insisted we sell the mini-van quickly and buy the 77 BMW seen earlier.
Fear of getting old too fast. We're a good match.

Deal4Fuji

Nice bikes pics !!, my older brother's friend had a Norton Commando and I always like those English roadster type bikes. Paging Velognome

bamab2

You guys should check out the Barber Museum in Leeds (Birmingham), Alabama. They have an annual vintage motorcycle festival in October. Great event. Check out their website.

Cougrrcj

My first bike - from '79-82. Still my favorite.


1976 Yamaha RD400C


when it got totaled by a guy making a left turn in front of me. I hit him at 40mph, and flew 100' through the air. No broken bones but I was out of work for two months.

Clang

That's good news. The prices on some of these bars seems real good, and weight is less of a concern in this case.

Roger M

Good eye. 1977 KZ1000.

merziac

I'm in, got at least half a dozen of these, raced twice a week come heck and high water for 18 years.

Delivered AND received 100's of a** whoopin's along the way.

Bulletproof 1977 Standard KZ 1000, toughest machinery I have ever encountered, never a single unexpected failure of any kind in 10's of 1000's of passes.



Paging Nemosengineer

merziac

I have a bit of experience.

Get to it.

See post after yours.

I would bet that it would come around quickly, I have pulled them out of the weeds, engine stuck, carbs shellacked, take plugs out, fill engine with oil, sit for a couple of days, field carb clean, stand on the kick starter, wait for it to break free, turn over slowly a little bit, more oil and sit, change oil, new plugs and battery, drain tank and clean fresh fuel. Have saved 2 or 3 like this, got them running right and took them right to the track where they lived like they had never been out of service.

BFisher

@Clang, I really like these bars on this bike. They're just over 32" wide. The clamp area is indeed .875, and the quill on the stem is 21.1 to match Schwinn spec. Make sure the stem you choose is compatible with both the bars and the fork steerer you have.

dddd

A thread like this one always takes me back to a time that I can hardly believed ever happened.

I was lucky enough to grow up in SoCal back in the Saddleback Park days, pretty cool for a ten-year-old kid to visit and ride there.
I even got to go back there and ride a beat-up rental KX125 as a teenager on one occasion, several years after having moved to upstate NY.

We built many off-map, onofficial racetracks on the various NYC aquaduct pumphouse properties and at abandoned airport and utility properties. Teenagers spending too much time riding dirt bikes but we learned to be resourceful in keeping the bikes running right and keeping the tracks under control.

During my final years in college while already working as an engineer, I built my fantasy bike when a suitable project bike came up for sale. I raced it for three years under the the AMA/Prostar and other sanctions, by which time I had finally pretty much gotten the speed bug worked out of my head. Had three close calls on it but never hit the ground at the track. Learned a lesson each time!

Finally moved back to SoCal after graduating and quickly rediscovered bicycle riding after my knee tendonitis finally cleared up. Have done very little motorcycling since then, other than that first year back in California riding through Calabasas every Saturday morning.

I bought a stock vintage TS185 last year from an elderly gent. It's a first-year bike so named "Hustler" not "Sierra". It gets about 80mpg no kidding.

This was at my final visit to Atco Raceway in NJ, had the bike well-sorted by then running consistent 9.9s runs with 60-ft times at 1.4s.





And here's the RD400 that I still own, and rode a lot in my early 20's. Bought it used in 1980 and ran it in a few different configurations over the years with an E.C. Birt motor.

sd5782 

I bought a 77 BMW R100/7 in 1987 and rode it until 2014. When I bought it, it was a good used motorcycle that was built to last. Sad to say, I never got too many long rides in on it, mostly to work and back.



1977 R100/7 shortly before selling

It was hard to let go of, but it was worn out and needed total rebuilding. My kids loved being on the back of it and the small backrest made me feel good that they wouldn't fall off the back. Bike was old tech though and not really safe with todays drivers and traffic. Replaced it with a 650 Suzuki V Strom. It seems that lots of old BMW riders ride V Stroms now too.



2011 Suzuki V Strom 650


And for something a bit different, I got a basket 1975 Yamaha RD350 perhaps 15 years ago. I wanted a stocker, but they are seldom seen. This one was missing parts and the guy was trying to make a race bike out of it. I made it somewhat run after a couple years and have been messing with it on and off for years. New engine seals, pistons and such now. Stock would have been easier with the jetting. I am about 90% there, but only have fired it up once or twice a year for the last few years. Loud, smokey, and nasty. My wife hates it.



1975 RD350 cafe racer


More time after retirement in a year or so for the fun stuff. The RD is a real anomaly going down the road. Teenagers have never seen anything like it. I can't resist whacking the throttle for a cloud of smoke and lots of noise to educate them. Fast too. How childish I guess.

Darth Lefty 

I briefly had a Honda CL350. It was like riding a lawnmower in traffic. I also had an SV650 and an R1200GS, and thereby gained some perspective. ABS is a life saver on a motorcycle and power is a sexy murderer.

cb400bill

In the early 2000s I rode this 1976 CB400F all over the place. Sold it in 2004. Still miss it.