My Wes Cooley story.

[K1300R]

A few of you seemed interested in my Wes Story when I posted pics of him and I in another thread....here it is...cheers

 

So here is my Wes Cooley story.... 😊

 

I grew up in Ontario Canada...as a kid of the 70s I got my first mini bike...a keystone with a 6hp Briggs &  Stratton..I had several mini bikes and dirt bikes before I turned 16 and bought my first street bike...a 1982 Katana 550....I soon wanted something more powerful and bought a brand new GS750e...unfortunately I had to soon sell it for a reliable car for a new job. I said I would get another bike.....well it took 27 years before I rode again. lol

At age 45 I wanted a bike again. So of course I looked for a bike from my youth and bought a 1980 GS750e. I put 20,000kms on it in the first year. fast forward 5 years and 11 bikes later ...to 2016 April...I had now a 1983 GS1100E....loved this bike....my dad even painted for me...it was special. 

A friend came to stay with me and we went riding...he rode my 83 1100 and I was on my 81 1100e...

He crashed it...totaled. he did the right thing and paid me for it...but I was out an awesome bike. 

So I decided I needed to clear my head and headed to Vegas on my 2012 K1300R to do just that....well I mentioned the story on a BMW forum I'm on and a member said "hey I know how much you love your Suzukis, I have a 1980 GS1000S, I think it's a Wes Cooley sitting in my Garage, are you interested"?....he sent me pics and I bought it....I'm in Canada and the bike was 1400 miles away in Colorado...he had bought the bike from his brother in laws estate..he died of a brain aneurysm and he planned to fix it up as a tribute... but you know how that goes...it sat in his garage for ten years untouched.

There is a story to just getting the bike to my home...but on to Wes...

I got to work bringing the GS back to life...It had great bones with only 18,000 miles on it...I replaced every bearing, every seal, and every gasket....and spent countless hours in my garage cleaning every single part on the bike.

So while I'm "rejuvenating"  this bike I'm searching for anything GS1000s related...history etc. And I joined the facebook group Suzuki GS1000S....and one day they announce that Wes Cooley himself has joined.  

So of course I sent him a friend request and to my surprise, he excepted. 

So I'm noticing Wes has been away from all thing motorcycles for over 25 years. He' been working as an RN in Twin falls Idaho.

He says he's looking for help to get his name out there again. He had gotten a taste for how much people loved him 6 months prior when his friend Mitch Boehm brought him to the AMA 40th anniversary races in Ohio...he couldn't "believe that people remembered him". 

I was planning on riding my GS to Monterey California to show my bike at The Quail Motorcycle Gathering in May 2017. I started talking to the organizers about having Wes there....but they already had Kenny Roberts coming. 

I emailed Freddie Spencer telling him how Wes was trying to get his name out there again...Freddie told me he would be happy "to help his old friend"..yeah..I can't believe Freddie is corresponding with this guy from Canada...lol...so Wes and I start to talk on the phone..a lot,,and we have really hit it off.  A friend of mine puts on a big event here in BC called Vintage in the Valley, I asked my friend "if I can get Wes Cooley to come to your event, will you pay his and his partner's expenses. Of course he jumped at it! 

The  show was Saturday August 16th 2017 and I had Wes and Melody fly to here to Victoria BC on the Thursday night before the show to stay at my home. 

I picked them up at the airport...I couldn't believe this was happening. We Cooley....a racer I idolized as a young man was going to be staying at my home. All I kept thinking about was how I hoped he wouldn't get to freaked out seeing all the pictures of him in his racing days plastered all over my garage walls. 

He could not have been a more humble man. He was so appreciative of all that I was doing for him. 

My poor wife..lol...we were in bed that night and all I could talk about was that Wes freaking Cooley was sleeping in the room next to us!!! 

Friday I took Wes and Melody on a sight seeing tour of Victoria and then Friday afternoon we did an interview for a local cable company motorcycle show...that was fun! At the 9 min mark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CplMbBmLiXo&t=888s

Friday night I held a private party for close friends to meet Wes....that was amazing! I had a lot of videos of him racing and we played them on my big flat screen in the garage while Wes gave play by play.....crazy!

We watched this awesome Suzuki promo video....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj27DglJUEM

Wes signed my gas tank and gave autographs to all my friends....I even had shirts made up to sell to raise money for him. 

Saturday at the show was amazing...he took time to talk to each person that lined up to meet him...he was so generous. particularly with children. 

I organised a dinner that night as well. Then Sunday back to my place....On Monday before they were to leave, it was the eclipse...I watched it with Wes Cooley! 😊

Wes and I connected that weekend as we both have had addiction issues...I have recovery houses here that I opened up for men coming out of treatment. We talk all the time and consider ourselves close friends now. 

I'm sorry for the long winded story, there so much more. 

I'll send you some pictures I took while he was here....

I still can't believe this happened. All because a friend crashed my motorcycle. 😊

Cheers,

 

Trevor

[TEWKS]

That is an awesome piece of info to share with us, thank you!  
 

My little back story and connection with the bike. (the GS1000 S) I said in the other post I bought the 750E new at (16 y/o believe it or not) and remember two brand new Wes Cooley 1000’s sitting on the showroom floor. The shop owner Edgar Hinton was an amateur racer at the time, I vaguely remember him pointing to the coolness of the Cooley bikes but the square headlight 750 won me over. (cheaper too) It wasn’t easy as a kid (at least how I remember it) to be into road racing (no internet not even TV coverage that I can recall). But over the years since then, that Cooley bike has continued to speak to me. 

 

Now, knowing somebody (at least virtually ) that knew Wes is pretty darn Cooley!   

[Hosstage]

That really is a great story. Looking forward to more as you get time.

[chrisolson]

14 hours ago, K1300R said:

We watched this awesome Suzuki promo video....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj27DglJUEM

 

 

Definitely a great story and a lifetime memory ...

 

For those reading this thread you should really check out that youtube link posted of the 1981 Daytona ... Dave Despain  calling the on-track action ... compare those bikes to today ... look at the handlebar position and the front fairings ... and a pit stop for fuel. 

 

160 mph top end lap after lap plus an infield section on tires available in 1981  

[TEWKS]

I did notice that was a young Despain!  
 

Without tossing names, I know of two (or at least they were) other GS 1000S Wes Cooley replica owners on this site.  That’s kind of a neat deal! 

[MichiganBob]

That was a great shared memory. Many thanks.

 

MB

[roadscholar]

That really is a great story thanks for telling it. Heck in a couple of those photos it was hard to tell who was who, you guys look almost like you're related : )  I started a thread awhile back about famous people encounters but your story takes that to another level. It's kind of sputtered but I do need to add a couple I haven't gotten around to, one of them is Kevin Swantz, Suzuki man from a later generation.

 

https://www.bmwsporttouring.com/topic/100957-what-famous-athletes-or-celebrities-have-you-met/

  

[K1300R]

50 minutes ago, roadscholar said:

That really is a great story thanks for telling it. Heck in a couple of those photos it was hard to tell who was who, you guys look almost like you're related : )  I started a thread awhile back about famous people encounters but your story takes that to another level. It's kind of sputtered but I do need to add a couple I haven't gotten around to, one of them is Kevin Swantz, Suzuki man from a later generation.

 

https://www.bmwsporttouring.com/topic/100957-what-famous-athletes-or-celebrities-have-you-met/

  

Lol....I have been told many times that we look alike and could pass for brothers... :)

[lkchris]

The 1986 BMW MOA National Rally was held at Laguna Seca Raceway, and BMW hired some pro riders to demonstrate K75s.  It was a bit anticlimactic as they were on the rev limiter for most of a lap.  Wes Cooley was one.