The Motorcycle Posts

[SMan]

Well, due to problems with my legs when I ride with my wife two up, I decided to go to three wheels: I traded in my V Star 1300T for a new leftover 2011 Can Am Spyder RT-AC...and the Spyder trailer.



Shortly after I bought it I rode it from St Louis to the Florida Space Coast and it was one of the most comfortable rides I've ever taken.  And, I might add, my wife loves it.  I still have my Suzuki M50 for the rare days when I just have to lean, but I'm really glad I gave in and stepped up to the Spyder.  With this beast I should be able to ride into my 70s (I'm 61 now).

Nice phil.  Hope you enjoy it!

Oh and thanks for continuing to remind me you're retired...............    

[flaggerphil]

We retired people are like that...

 

[dcarey]

I've had lots of bikes over the years.
This one's on my bucket list:



Now...who can ID my dream ride?

[madx2]

Yes, that would be a sweet one to have.  Looks like a Vincent Rapide of about 1951?

[dcarey]

Close but no cigar..you got the year and the maker, but not the model.
Vincent Black Shadow!  Easy mistake, because the engine is supposed to be black.

[madx2]

Yes, the "mismatch" of the polished cases (normally Rapide) and a 5inch speedometer (Black Shadow) was my downfall.  I guess it could be one of the super rare "White" Shadows??

[dcarey]

Didn't the White Shadows have black cylinder castinqs with everything else polished? I'm far from being any kind of expert.

[mgap]

Here is a picture of my first.  Wish I still had it, but everybody would leave me in the dust, so I had to get something a little bigger.

The other thing that prompted me to get a bigger bike is that I had a hard time picking up girls with this one.

[SMan]

My first street legal bike a CL 350 honda................

[Captain Jim]

Since we're talking firsts... my first was a Honda Dream 150.  Looked like a tank; I think it was before Honda learned to creatively bend sheet metal.    I moved up as soon as I could afford it: a Honda 350 CB.  My first "big iron" was a 1969 Triumph Bonneville.  I taught my then girlfriend (now wife) how to ride on that bike.  Some things haven't changed so much in all these years... I think I hooked her because I had long hair, played guitar in a band, and rode a motorcycle... the parental "trifecta nightmare"!! 

Well, I'm a one-man band these days, the hair is lots shorter and thinner, but I still ride.  Still with the same Blonde.  And it only took her Mother about 35 years to warm up to me.

Captain Jim

[Herb Hunter]

Though I didn't care for 2-stroke engines, my first motorcycle was a 150 cc Suzuki S32 which I bought for $100 in 1972 (the equivalent of $548 today) when I was in college.  The red paint was so badly faded that my brother bought flat black spray paint and hastily painted it black. Eventually the mufflers fell off and we drove the bike without them though we had numerous complaints from the apartment neighbors, all college students, who claimed, perhaps rightly, that it was the loudest bike they'd ever heard. I enjoyed driving the little thing and not worrying about damaging it or even theft.

[madx2]

Didn't the White Shadows have black cylinder castinqs with everything else polished? I'm far from being any kind of expert.

I am no expert either so we are both in the same sidecar (to stay with a m/c metaphor).  What little "googling" I have done said the White Shadow was done to Black Shadow engine specifications but with the Rapide livery.

I talked to a friend that has a '52 Black Shadow and he said it is very hard to tell apart a Rapide and Shadow of the same year by looking if the "black" had been removed.  He also said no one in their right mind would do that because "that is where the money is".  Two of the minor differences are the Shadow has the 150 mph and finned front brake drums.  Inside the engine it has a "hotter" cam profile and even more care taken in matching/weighing components and assembly.

Now the Black Lightning...that takes everything to another level!

 

[dcarey]

All I know for sure is that a Vincent is the next item on my bucket list, although it may be easier to get a Norton Commando first, so that's a viable alternative.
Either way, I need a British bike that shakes a bit and leaks oil for a Summertime toy! I've been far too long a time without a project bike. The wife can't ride because of back issues so I can get away with something smaller.

[madx2]

Hello Sachi,
Yes,  that is a very rare motorcycle.  A Norton Mercury made between '68-'70.

I'm actually surprised that anyone knows what it is!  Mine was a 1969 model, 26 serial numbers from the end of production. I had to do little to keep it up; I just rewired some of the connections using spade connectors (with shrinkwrap over them!) to keep it all together, and that made it a very durable machine. It wasn't too buzzy either, so was a nice highway ride at about 60 mph.

I also owned a '64 Bonneville, which I rebuilt from a pile of parts. That one wasn't quite so nice to ride as the Norton (there's a reason those frames were called featherbeds) but it also was a very enjoyable bike.

Hi Sachi,
I finally got some pictures of my friend's 1969 Mercury.  Here is a trip down memory lane for you!!





The airplane is a P-51D Mustang.  It used to be at a local airport but has since been sold to a Texan.

[sachi]

Very nice! His bike is a little cleaner than mine was – I rode mine all over, so it was definitely a working bike. But gosh, they all are lovely.