RonMig
Member
- Messages
- 428
- Location
- UK M1 J16
I started in 1972 at 16 on a Puch Maxi "Super" (i.e. it had rear suspension) moped in 1972, cost me £100 which was 3 months wages at the time!
(sorry couldn't find my non-digital pics, see plenty on google) mine was purple with a white-on-black numberplate on the front mudguard, ready to slice-up any jaywalkers
Got rid of it soon as I was 17, got fed up of pedalling up the hills and decoking...
Seems to be popular for customizing, who'd've thunk it?
1973 got me a candy-red Honda CB125S ; nice but a bit gutless so that only lasted 12 months too- (more google)
1974 Upgraded to a CB175K6 in metallic gold (thks again google). Kept that for 4 years for commuting, camping holidays, nites out with mates, loads of miles done, and youngsters won't know but in the 1970s most cars in the UK were crap and slow, so even on a 175 I was overtaking virtually every car I ever saw on the road.
1977 Moved up to a blue CB250G5 (the one before the "superdream") (hello google) & kept it for 2 years, during which I put 325cc barrels on it but it didn't make it any faster (forgot to change the gearing). By then I was also driving cars, this was back in the days of when we had proper winters with ice & snow & blizzards & crap so the bikes started to take 2nd place as 7 years of the cold wore me down a bit. So a car with a good heater was essential in them days, no thoughts of air-con!! Unfortunately my Cortina mk3 heater was crap... (here's what mine was like before and after a journey-)
1979 Moved up again to this Honda CB550F2 "Supersport"; here it is with my better half a couple of years before we got married (now married for 32 years) -
it was a proper 4-cylinder sewing machine smooth runner, good for 110 and a brilliant turbo-style whistle from the exhaust on the way up there. Kept the 550 from 1979 til 1991...
I bought this Yamaha DT175 from a mate in 1981; he paid £395 from new in 1975. Cost me £65...
It needed a bit of work but all the parts were available so another £250 got it sorted, and its still good & its bin dry-stored for the last 35 years after only 6 miles of riding. Paint isn't faded, it's just sunlight & my crap camera. Dunno what its worth now?
In 1991 I sold the Honda550 to a mate (hes still got it, unused, I have been trying to get it back for several years now).
Only sold it as I'd bought this BMW K100 "flying brick".
I Really like the K100 but only did a few thousand miles before baby arrived & it felt wrong / too risky so it's also been in dry storage for most of the last 25 years, with just a few outings.
Once little'un had grown up it felt OK to buy this BMW F650 Strada in 2012; it's a 1997 model, immaculate & only had 9000 miles. The previous owner shrink-wrapped it in carbon-fibre looking stuff, looked good for a few years but it's starting to peel off a bit now.
I liked riding this, had wanted one since test riding at the dealers when they first came out but couldn't afford/justify one. Nice feeling the big single thumping smoothly away, trouble is, it vibrated in the handgrips and made me realise I'd got the start of arthritis in my fingers and within a year it was too painful to grip the bars for more than about 10 minutes (damn!)
So, hard to ride now even when I want to...
(sorry couldn't find my non-digital pics, see plenty on google) mine was purple with a white-on-black numberplate on the front mudguard, ready to slice-up any jaywalkers
Got rid of it soon as I was 17, got fed up of pedalling up the hills and decoking... Seems to be popular for customizing, who'd've thunk it?
1973 got me a candy-red Honda CB125S ; nice but a bit gutless so that only lasted 12 months too- (more google)
1974 Upgraded to a CB175K6 in metallic gold (thks again google). Kept that for 4 years for commuting, camping holidays, nites out with mates, loads of miles done, and youngsters won't know but in the 1970s most cars in the UK were crap and slow, so even on a 175 I was overtaking virtually every car I ever saw on the road.
1977 Moved up to a blue CB250G5 (the one before the "superdream") (hello google) & kept it for 2 years, during which I put 325cc barrels on it but it didn't make it any faster (forgot to change the gearing). By then I was also driving cars, this was back in the days of when we had proper winters with ice & snow & blizzards & crap so the bikes started to take 2nd place as 7 years of the cold wore me down a bit. So a car with a good heater was essential in them days, no thoughts of air-con!! Unfortunately my Cortina mk3 heater was crap... (here's what mine was like before and after a journey-)
1979 Moved up again to this Honda CB550F2 "Supersport"; here it is with my better half a couple of years before we got married (now married for 32 years) -
it was a proper 4-cylinder sewing machine smooth runner, good for 110 and a brilliant turbo-style whistle from the exhaust on the way up there. Kept the 550 from 1979 til 1991...
I bought this Yamaha DT175 from a mate in 1981; he paid £395 from new in 1975. Cost me £65...
It needed a bit of work but all the parts were available so another £250 got it sorted, and its still good & its bin dry-stored for the last 35 years after only 6 miles of riding. Paint isn't faded, it's just sunlight & my crap camera. Dunno what its worth now?
In 1991 I sold the Honda550 to a mate (hes still got it, unused, I have been trying to get it back for several years now).
Only sold it as I'd bought this BMW K100 "flying brick".
I Really like the K100 but only did a few thousand miles before baby arrived & it felt wrong / too risky so it's also been in dry storage for most of the last 25 years, with just a few outings.
Once little'un had grown up it felt OK to buy this BMW F650 Strada in 2012; it's a 1997 model, immaculate & only had 9000 miles. The previous owner shrink-wrapped it in carbon-fibre looking stuff, looked good for a few years but it's starting to peel off a bit now.
I liked riding this, had wanted one since test riding at the dealers when they first came out but couldn't afford/justify one. Nice feeling the big single thumping smoothly away, trouble is, it vibrated in the handgrips and made me realise I'd got the start of arthritis in my fingers and within a year it was too painful to grip the bars for more than about 10 minutes (damn!)
So, hard to ride now even when I want to...
