My Riding Life

[SoCalBmr]

Living in SoCal, I don't ride in the rain much, but, back in the day, when I had the Honda450, my Chevy, (a '65 Impala SS that I wish I still had) had a stubborn problem, so the bike was all I had to get to work and to school. Wouldn't you know, we'd set a record for rainfall in our rainy season. It's not so bad if you get wet coming home, hot shower and cup of tea, but get wet going somewhere was a PITA. There was no "rain gear" in those days.

[Endobob]

I think this thread should be started up again,  So I have updated my previous post here and hope others will either do the same or that new members will add there motorcycle histories,

 

First ride in 1958 (I was 13 years old) on a neighbor's  Wizzard Motorbike - road down the street through 2 stop signs before I could stop it!

 

Next ride in 1964 was when I bought a fraternity brother's  Mustang motorcycle

I had this one for a month before the cover plate of the clutch housing vibrated off and blew out parts of the clutch all over the fraternity parking lot.  

 

Bought my first real motorcycle in 1971 a  Yamaha 360 Enduro had 3 fun years riding in the dirt and all over the island of Guam.

 

While stationed on the island of Okinawa, bought a new  Yamaha 750 XS Special. My wife and I road that bike all over Okinawa during our 3 years there.

 

Next was a  1981 Yamaha 1100 XS Special that I had until buying my first BMW, a K1200RS, in late 2002 from Paul Mahalka. 

 

I always liked motorcycles, however, after being introduced to the BMWST community by Paul, I became a motorcycle "enthusiast" and simply can not get enough of riding.

 

I low sided the 2002 K1200RS in the summer of 2004 at Summit Point, WV while participating in a Track day.  Totaled the bike, broke a leg and collapse a lung.  Only had a little over 17,000 miles on the bike.    Once healed, I purchased a 2003 K1200RS with about 3,000 miles on it.  Had over 90,000 miles on the 2003 K1200RS when the ABS unit failed.  No rebuilds available for that year K bike so purchased a 2018 BMW R1200GSA with only “exactly 2018 miles” on it! 

 

Purchased a used 2003 K1200RS with low mileage for only $3,000 dollars.  However, love riding the GSA and will try to sell the K bike once this 2001 Covid Pandemic allows me to get out and about.

 

[Dave P]

So here's my story. My dad bought me a plain jane, no shocks, no chrome, no speedometer Motobecane moped in 1977. I rode that moped every chance i got. Around and around and around the 1 mile loop around our neighborhood. 30 mph baby! Flying! Well i was 13 so it fealt pretty fast.
 

1985 i was in college and on a co-op job outside of Boston. A housemate of mine had a beat up Kawasaki 440LTD twin. Looked fun. Summer of 85, back in Ohio, I bought a 82 black 440LTD that wasn't being ridden, parked in the corner of some guys garage. Think I paid $600 for it, and it was 3 years old! Man, THAT was a fast bike. Well I thought so at the time. Didn't even know how to ride a mc, had a friend ride it home for me!
 

Later first job out of college in Wichita, I bought a coworkers 82 Yamaha XJ750RJ Seca, now that seemed like a fast bike. Classic inline 4. Had the sport fairing complete with a cigarette lighter! I always thought the info display with fuel gauge was cool. Owned that Seca for 6 years.

 

Now living in Atlanta, I rode the Seca to Cincinnati for the weekend, and at a rest stop a group if BMW bikes pulled in. BMW? Never knew they made bikes! They were on their way to a rally. (A rally?) This was about 1993.

 

A couple years later  a coworker had a monoshock 86 R80 with 65k miles. He was a little bit different. Ha! We went for an all day ride one day and traded bikes for a while, it seemed so roomy, not all squished up like on the Seca.
 

Ended up buying his R80 in 1994, bought used RT bodywork, painted the whole bike black and rode that sucker for 19 years, sold it in 2013 with 113k miles.

 

Bought a banged up but nice running 96 R1100RT for almost the same price as I sold the R80. The R1100RT now has 126k on her, Im gonna take my 18 year old daughter for an all day ride on the 96 tomorrow. That's my story and Im sticking to it! Dave