Any Motorcycle Riders?

That is a really nice looking bike there bud, back when I took that little ride down to San Antonio to visit my little sister in the early eighties I ran up on a guy with a Honda CX500 who was also headin’ south. He and I ran together from the Wyoming border down to New Mexico where he turned east and went toward Missouri. The reason I caught up to him was he was "limping along" trying to get to a town that could sell him a rear tire.

He had worn his down to where the belts were showing white, and he was afraid it might blow if he went too fast. So I rode with him until we got to Fort Collins where we found a tire that fit. He didn't have the fancy bags, just stuff he had added on to it on his own. I think his was a 1979 or 80. He let me take a turn on it, and it was smooth as glass. I guess Moto-Guzzi had a pretty good idea with that V-twin config, eventhough the first time I saw one I thought they looked weird. His was a blue one like the one at "wiki", but he had hung leather bags on the back and had another leather bag hanging off the front forks too. He had just come from the Calgary stampede and was heading home to St. Charles MO.

 

Yup, the CX500 has same engine, just is a 'naked' bike. Being lighter, the CX's can sure fly. Other difference would be in the suspension. The CX has spring shocks and the GL has a single air suspension. Like you said, smooth as glass. Too bad Honda only made the GL500's for 81 and 82. It is a very nice bike, I love it. Talking about Moto Guzzi, that is another bike I would love to have. They still use the transverse twin engines. Sure makes maintenance a whole lot simpler

 

Nice bike, PzJgr. The 'wings' always look to me to be so comfortable to ride.

The CX500 was a bike that I always wanted-but could never afford-when they first came on to the market. I remember back in the early 80s and going in to my local Honda dealer to drool over the brand new CX they had for sale. Over here in the UK they were affectionately known as the 'plastic maggot'.

I haven't owned a bike for about four years now, but have been toying with the idea of getting another one. I like the big all terrain bikes and the one below is my first choice.

Kawasaki KLR650

 

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My first Harley, a Low Rider, 1998, My Fat Boy 2000 & my Nightster 2009!!

I've had a couple of Jap bikes but I'm a confirmed HOG man now!!

 

This makes you think though!!

3 Phoenix motorcycle riders killed in truck crash


By MARK CARLSON (AP) – 6 hours ago


PHOENIX — A group of eight motorcycles stopped at a red light in north Phoenix were mowed down from behind by a dump truck early Thursday afternoon, killing three riders and injuring six others, at least one critically, authorities said.





The most seriously injured was off-duty Phoenix Fire Capt. Ernie Lizarraga, a 22-year department veteran who was hospitalized in very critical condition Thursday evening, authorities said.
Phoenix police spokesman Detective James Holmes said the fire captain and the other motorcyclists were stopped behind a pickup and a small SUV at the red light when the truck driver rammed them from behind. The truck ran over the motorcyclists and continued into the small SUV in front of them, Holmes said.
There was no sign the truck driver was impaired, authorities said.
Some of the motorcycles burst into flames under the dump truck, while others ended up scattered behind the truck. Television images of the crash site showed a horrifying collection of mangled chrome Harley-Davidson bikes and scattered personal belongings, including pairs of riders' boots laying in the roadway.





"It's a horrific scene," Phoenix Fire Deputy Chief Frank Salomon told The Associated Press.
Some of the injured were airlifted to St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix, Salomon said.
The crash occurred at about 1 p.m. at the intersection of 27th Avenue and the Carefree Highway. Holmes said at least one of the victims was a woman, but most were men.
Jarrod Cook, a worker at the nearby Ketzal Mexican Grill, said he saw several motorcycles wedged underneath the garbage truck, which caught fire.
"The first thing we saw was a big puff of smoke when the truck lit on fire," he said.
Cook said he walked over and witnessed a chaotic scene with some of the injured lying on the ground.
Dozens of police and rescue personnel responded to the crash.
Phoenix Fire Department spokesman Jonathan Jacobs told KNXV-TV that witnesses reported seeing several of the motorcycle riders dragged 50 to 75 yards after impact. The three bikers killed were trapped under the truck, Jacobs said.





The 50-year-old driver of the truck was not injured and was being questioned by police. Those in the pickup and SUV also were not hurt.
The Carefree Highway was expected to be closed for several hours as police investigate the crash.

4th person dies after HUGE wreck on Carefree Highway









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Yup, makes one think "could that have been me?" Death is all around us and part of life. I do see more of these type of accidents where the motorcyclist gets hit versus the motorcyclist doing something stupid. I am on a constant look out for auto drivers who are not paying attention. Unfortunately, I only have one pair of eyes. Safe riding to all motorcyclists.

BTW, I am surprised to see a Harley in the UK. A rare thing I take it?

 

Not rare at all!! Thiving HOG Groups all over, expanding dealer network and The Harley-Davidson Riders club of GB had it's 60th Anniv last year!!

 

Times have changed since I was there in the late 80's. It was expensive to insure a big bike. Lot of nice roads for riding.

 

I can't complain about my insurance. 2009 Nightster, fully Comp, £500 excess, 151 quid!

 

Since insurance isn’t and wasn’t required in Montana, I regularly only carried theft and comprehensive on my bigger units for the time between April and October and that only set me back about $300 for the entire seven month period if memory serves. But, I had let the insurance lapse when I loaned my last bike to my son for him to use as transport to Yellowstone Park to apply for a job.

Of course it got ripped off while he was there. Here is a list of what is required in MT. as far as motorcycles go:

Montana state motorcycle laws

 

This and those posts from "Hilts" put me in mind of posting this about the last "crotch rocket" I owned. I laid it down at about 135 mph in a set of twisties; it isn't/wasn't made for that sort of riding. It was a 1984 Honda V65 (1100cc) Sabre, around 124 hp, 550 lbs, three 11" disk brakes, six speeds and shaft drive. If a person just "rode" it along crusing under 80mph, with it's 5 gallon tank you could get about 170 miles or so before you even had to switch into "reserve".

I am at the moment using a photo of one as an "Avatar". This is one of the most "fun" reports I have ever read on the ’84 V65 Sabre like the one I had, and this one was a used model nearly seven years old when this guy took it out.

Mar 11, 2001

Service time again. The K75 went in to Cascade BMW for a service smorgasbord, and I borrowed a Honda Sabre V65 for the duration. I thought to myself, "Oh, a V65, must be a 650. Sounds like fun." I was, to put it mildly, dead wrong.

It turned out, upon questioning, that this was in fact an 1100 cc four cylinder fire breather. The salesman who was loaning it to me said, "you can borrow this, as long as you promise not to kill yourself on it." He was smiling as he said that, but I realize now what exactly he was talking about.

This is the bike that the bully, who sat sullenly in the back of class, would ride. This bike is designed for people who have every need to go as fast as possible, regardless of what's happening around them.

…So, for all that griping, when there was a clear lane ahead of me, this bike was fun. Roll on any amount of throttle, from any RPM above 2k, and the bike leapt forward like a mule had kicked it.

At one point while trying this out, I noticed as I shifted from 2nd to 3rd that the speedo was wavering around 60 MPH, and the engine was still accelerating hard. I had to lean way forward to keep the front wheel on the ground when really accelerating, in any gear. It was exceedingly satisfying to barely move the throttle and jump 20 MPH faster without knowing quite what happened.

Goto:

1984 Honda Sabre V65 review

Now for a little fun on the 0-100 ride here is one from YouTube, and believe me, three shifts and you are there even though this guy rolled back out at about 80! If you watch closely, he notices he is lifting the front tire, rolls out of the throttle to get back "on track", and then pumps it up. He does sort of roll back out (looks like he is running out of free road), and never breaks 100mph, but he gets close in those few seconds.

Goto:

YouTube - Trying out the new exhaust

If one looks around on that area, you will see some fool doing burnouts with his V65 sitting still in a parking lot. Now while I didn't do that (too much), I did manage to go through two Dunlops on the rear and was on my third when my "crotch rocket" days came to an end in 1989. Went back to my FXE "Super Glide" and stayed there until my youngest son had it stolen from where he was working after I had loaned it to him.

 

Thanks for sharing that tidbit of history with us Clint. Those who are in awe of the Hyabusa have never riden the v65 Sabre or Magna. After all these years, the v65 is still feared and respected. I've heard many a story such as the one above. Those stories are on par to the tequila experiences. The v65 does not look like much but looks are deceiving. Glad you survived the drop in one piece. A lot did not

 

The Hyabusa is a wonderful and balanced machine compared to the flat out "power" hot rods that, unfortunately my V65 and the Yamaha V-Max fell into.

There was one guy here in Billings, that after going head to head with a couple of times I have to just say his 1,200 cc Yamaha V-Max was always faster on the straight line than my V65 Sabre.

At least my colors of black and maroon with silver accents were rather tastefull, his glaring orange/black and flat silver matt on the fake "scoops" was simply brutish.

I don’t really know which one was "uglier" though, I always thought my Sabre was sort of pretty compared to his.

 

I started out on a Yamaha 125 enduro at age 14, my first road bike was an RD 350 Yamaha. On to 900 Kawasaki, 750 Yamaha, 1100 Yamaha, V-Max, now I'm between bikes, i thought about one of the new 195 hp V-Max's but i like the mountains roads a little too much to be happy with that and now my sights are set on a Yamaha FJR 1300. I love motorcycles, all stripes and sizes.

 

You can be the best motorcycle rider in the world, and some idiot will fail to pay attention and clean you up.

Motorcyclists are temporary citizens, accidents waiting to happen with a desperate lack of protection. Not to mention the cost of putting these people back together, and all in the name of 'personal freedom of choice'...

I'm glad I had enough sense to realize this before I ended up with an injury for life, (I was a terrible rider, anyway)....there are worse things than death, you know. Who wants to be a 'head on a stick' in a motorized wheelchair?

Born to be wild, eh?

 

Thought I'd resurrect this thread.

My two current bikes...

1998 BMW F650 Funduro


My latest addition is a 2003 Yamaha TDM 900


The BMW will be going up for sale next spring when prices usually get better.

 

Well, as of this autumn I've been riding bikes for thirty years! Daily riding, the longest I've been off them was nursing a broken leg in 2000. Since I recovered from that....I've got even worse and earned my crust as a courier for nearly ten years until the last 18 months!

The list of bikes I've owned has been legion - at one stage in the mid noughties I had six runners in the lockup Done the Harley thing - a pair of evo Sportsters, and an 1972 74" FLH ex-Seattle Police (imported by a mate who trained for nine months at Boeing there) Sadly, a few years back, a domestic crisis lost me all me photo albums, so I've only a few of me over the years....but this is one that thankfully survived -a bad scan of an even worse slide from 1986...



This is my daily rider, a Honda SLR 650 - I've owned mine from new in 1997 -



....and at the minute, apart from a couple of jigsaw puzzles in the garage, I've a summertime-only GPZ550 like this, also in black -



....but I've got the bug again....the sawzall and TIG welder bug!...so it's sitting in the cleared garage now, it's time to play!

 

Well well. I hit the nail on the head pretty much. Had the "feelin'" 'bout you Pi....Found a purple minibike under the tree when I was 8. Then a Honda Trail 70- which I was embarrassed to ride around the Yamaha 80 boys. Then kicked it up to a Kawasaki 75. Green machine. lol. Then Suzuki 100 Trail (orange) with the dual transmission.lol. Kicked this switch on transmission for low/high. Again I was riding something tame compared to my buddies. Then moved out of the house and bought Honda CB 750...Fun, nice looking bike. 4 carbs- 4 pipes. Lots of chrome. In retrospect I had no concept of life/death.
Now riding (shhh) 80cc two stroke large frame mountain bike with fr/bk disks, high fenders. Trying to get a little exercise..I get wayyy too much attention. Don't want a fine. The kids go crazy. People stop at lights and ask questions.. - How fast? (law says not faster than 30) I'm 210 and it propels me to 54 kph ( level no wind ). Just bought helmet cam. Hope to post some vids of my escapades. Hit a patch of ice riding last year and really messed my elbows up. Just getting full mobility again.