Anyone else interested in motorcycles?

[AnotherJohnson]

I’ve had the motorcycle bug for 53 years and have owned 32 or more of them during that period. At one time I always had five or six of them in the garage. Lots of Triumphs, including four Rocket 3 Tourings. Lots of BMWs, including several K1300S, and even a K1600GTL. Several of the dual purpose bikes, like R1200GS, supermotos, and Explorers too.

I’ve paired down to just two in retirement. The two remaining are late model Kawasaki ZX14R SE and Gold Wing DCT.

I still enjoy these immensely. The ZX14R SE is my favorite for spirited rides on my own personal “Isle of Man” 52 mile rural loop ride. The Gold Wing is the best I’ve ever experienced for longer rides to destinations, but it’s also fun for longer purposeless meandering.

We don’t ride two up anymore. I enjoy the bikes solo as a rule.

Anyone else have their hand in?

[admin]

Absolutely. I just started riding last year. I bought a 2019 Kawasaki Ninja 400. I've put close to 8500 miles on it since last year. Have had tons of fun. My wife also started riding with me (on the back). There are some really nice roads around here and my favorite is Route 1A which goes up on the coast of NH. It's about a 2-hour ride all together and I love doing it.

Here is a picture of the wife and I all suited up.

101_0442r.jpg (503.94 KiB) Viewed 7387 times

[AnotherJohnson]

I’ve ridden 1A on up into Maine in past years.

Glad to see adventurous folks on a sporty bike in proper attire.

Kawasaki gives you a lot of bang for the buck. I have had three Kawasakis and all were trouble free.

There is a very competent Moto Guzzi / Aprilia dealer, Seacoast Sport Cycle I think is their name. And Max BMW is not too far up the NH coast. They’ve got a franchise in CT too. Often they get in on good promotional deals from the importer. National Powersports has a great Triumph inventory. Gotta love NH’s commitment to no sales tax for their residents. Sales tax often ruins the deal and makes it harder to break even or make money when you sell.

[AnotherJohnson]

This was probably a great year for riding on 1A. It is often clogged up with tourists. And, of course the leaf peepers at this time of year. It’s been so dry this year, that leaf peeping may be minimal, especially with the social distancing and quarantine rules.

[admin]

Funny you mention the Moto Guzzi dealer, I have a friend who I sometimes ride with and he just bought a Moto Guzzi (I think from that dealership as there are not a lot of them in the area). The Italians make some gorgous looking bikes. I had my eye on possibly getting a Ducati initially but I really wanted something very reliable as my first bike. I agree that the Kawasaki's are extremely reliable. The Japanese just make good bikes that really stand the test of time.

I'm very safety conscious when it comes to riding. I started riding later on in life and read a lot of the statistics for motorcycle accidents so I wanted to do everything possible to prevent injury in case of an accident. I'm geared up head to toe. I only ride during daylight hours and good weather. If the roads are wet, my bike is in the garage. New Hampshire is not very safety conscious when it comes to its laws. You don't even need to wear a helmet. Kind of crazy. On the flip side, no sales tax (or income tax) sure is nice!

[AnotherJohnson]

“Live free or die” is their motto.

Good call to forget the Italian stuff if reliability is a goal.

To paraphrase the boating crowd, the two happiest days of my motorcycling life were the day I bought my Moto Guzzi Norge, and the day I sold it.

[JoPa1078]

Oh yes, motorcycles are my other interest beside HiEnd Audio, and another way to spend a lot of money.
I have 3 motorcycles:
A 30 years old Ducati Pantha 600 which waits for restoration this winter. It was my first Italian super bike and prepared by a professional Ducati tuner called Alfred Bajohr.

1983 IMG_0160.jpeg (250.08 KiB) Viewed 7354 times

My newer bike is a MV Agusta Brutale 1078RR:

IMG_7268.jpeg (5.39 MiB) Viewed 7038 times

And, the latest investment is a Triumph Thruxton R in the racer versions:

IMG_7336.jpeg (3.86 MiB) Viewed 7038 times

All three are very different and a lot of fun to drive.
All the best and safe driving for all bikers here.
Cheers
Jo

[AnotherJohnson]

Very pretty. Ducati and MV have been masters of style and innovation.

Roland Cloutier (I think that was his last name) had a Ducati franchise south of Worcester, MA, maybe even so far as northern CT. I can’t remember which town he was in. This was around 1967.

He had a prepped 250 Diana Mk III and he bragged “I’ll drag race anyone for pink slips. I’ll even give them a two telephone pole head start in a three telephone pole race. But I get to pick the telephone poles.”

We did not take him up on it, fearful of his mighty Diana.
My friend on his Monza Junior was proud to be sitting on a Ducati.

Nowadays I root for Dovi, but RJ may know my all time favorite Ducati rider, and that’s Casey Stoner.

My favorite MV riders included Giacomo Agostini, and Sir John Surtese.

[AnotherJohnson]

And good luck with the restoration! I got into this about 15 years ago, and it was fun. But arthritis makes wrenching less feasible these days. I had an unmolested surviving 1970 Royal Enfield Interceptor Series 2, built just four months before Enfield Precision Engineering closed their doors.

[AnotherJohnson]

FWIW, I had a friend who loved Ducati and MV Augusta.

He bought several race prepped bikes from Fast by Ferracci in PA.

He did not ride much, but his bikes were incredible eye candy.

Ferracci closed, but it looks like someone has bought the name Fast by Ferracci, and they’re now selling parts.

[AnotherJohnson]

Anyone interested in motorcycle history will want to make a pilgrimage to the Barber Motorsports Museum in Leeds, Alabama.

They have an incredible collection on display, including many of John Surtese’s bikes. I saw him ride one of his MVs at their vintage festival in 2007. John is the only man who was a champion in both Grand Prix motorcycle and Grand Prix automobile racing. No one else has ever successfully made the switch.

[toprepairman]

I am.
Have a pair of Norton Dominators, 600cc from 1961.

[AnotherJohnson]

I love those pre-Japanese invasion “big” bikes.

Matchless, Norton, AJS, Vincent, Velocette, Royal Enfield, and of course Triumph, BSA, and others … lots of character.

Bikes were closer to their roots. Now they’re closer to their cousins, the cars.

I bought one of the last Hinckley built Bonneville T100s earlier this year. It is a true British built Triumph. I joking refer to the current Bonnies as Thairumphs.

I rode it yesterday. It’s carburetted, no fuel pump, so it takes me back to the days of chokes and petcocks. But it’s 865 cc engine pulls stronger than my 1970 Royal Enfield Interceptor Mk II. Neither would cut the mustard compared to modern competition.

I also got out on the “new to me this year” 2016 Norge yesterday. As crazy as I know it sounds, if you’re willing to give up the alphabet of modern amenities like TPSM, CC, GPS … the last model Norge may be the best ST type bike out there. I disliked my 2007 Norge so much I traded it in just four months on a K12R Sport. I’m not sure why I bought the 2016 this year … I must be under Guiseppi Guzzi’s spell cast with that first Norge nearly 100 years ago.

[SteveFord]

The new Guzzi is getting a lot of press:
https://www.motorcycle.com/new-model-pr ... -look.html

Any pics of those Dominators?
I sold off my Nortons when an Atlas tried to blow my foot off one morning.
That put me flat on the ground for a good 5 minutes and then I crawled off in search of ice cubes.

[admin]

Looks nice. A friend of mine who I often ride with has a MG. Beautiful boke. I wonder how much the new V100 will cost. Definitely does not look like one of their more affordable offerings.

[AnotherJohnson]

When the Atlas was king, say 1965ish, I would have loved one. But who could afford a $1000 motorcycle? A Chevy could be had for $2000.

That Mandello looks really nice. I’m guessing msrp in the USA north of $18995. And Moto Guzzi dealers in the US all seem to add freight, dealer prep, and doc fees exceeding another thousand.

Edit: I’m going to go higher. They’ve added a LOT of electro-mechanical /computer technology to the V100.

It will surprise me if it’s not nominally at least $19995 before the assorted fees.

[AnotherJohnson]

I sold off my Nortons when an Atlas tried to blow my foot off one morning.
That put me flat on the ground for a good 5 minutes and then I crawled off in search of ice cubes.

Was it a kick start kickback (probably from spark advance or compression release issues)?
Or did the lower end grenade and get you with case shrapnel?

If it weren’t for electric start, I’d be out of luck today. My right knee would not even start a 1965 Lambretta.

[SteveFord]

Timing, it went Nothing, Chuff and then BOOOM!!!
It was on a lift, I had sneakers on and jumped up to kick it with my left leg.
That was roughly 2002, my ankle still pops. The bruise went up to my knee, each ankle looked like there was a hard boiled egg under the skin.
A few months later I put on an Axtell(?) magneto, got it going, sold off two 73 850 Commandos, that Atlas and bought a Buell XB9R Firebolt and then a 2002 Buell X1W.
I like the old British bikes BUT once was one time too many.

[toprepairman]

Ouch, that sounds very painful. Sorry no pics of the '99's.
I did have a 650SS in the 70's and an Atlas later. It was the vibration that was the killer for the Atlas, but the 500's and 600's were really not too bad.
There's an American fellow who cured the problem with much lighter pistons and longer con rods but I don't remember his name. I did try a 180 degree crank in mine which helped a lot but never got it properly sorted and it eventually made it's way to a guy in Denmark. Norton themselves found the vibes unacceptable and so the Commando was born, but it didn't quite have the same handling qualities.

[AnotherJohnson]

Norton themselves found the vibes unacceptable and so the Commando was born, but it didn't quite have the same handling qualities.

The Commando solution was funny though.

Instead of better balancing, center main fixing, or similar, they fixed the engine to the frame with elastic mounts.

Royal Enfield was the only one to dynamically balance every engine (on the late Interceptor series).