A few of my bikes over the years.
'68 Yamaha 180 twin Taken June, 1969. Although riding OtherPeoplesBikes for three years prior, this was my first self-owned bike Engine: 180 twin, and this made my 142lb frame look large. Life-span: 4 weeks, then bought a '68 Yamaha 350 R2, which went across Canada and back three weeks later: Aug 4, 1969 departure date from Vancouver to Saint John, NB. 7 days of constant rain for 3600 miles while going eastbound.
'71 Yamaha 350 R5-C A couple bikes later, and I bought this, as soon as the R5-C hit the sales-floor. Received a sponsorship for production road-racing, but met a truck the wrong way while breaking the bike in. Tore my left foot pretty much off, and the next years were spent in and out of hospital (13 operations over 191 days over-all in hosp). The second pic is it torn down after the crash, to clean it up. Life-span: 6 weeks. Sold the remainder to buy a basket-case 68 Bonneville, which turned into....
'68 Triump Bonneville, my build. 650 with an '850 over build. High rpm oversize valves, in a hand-ported-and-polished head, fed by two 36mm Solex constant-velocity Mikumi carbs. Crank lightened 3lbs, balance to infinity by Hank-the-Crank. Rocket 3 BSA front end mated on for (better-than-stock) stopping power. Extended custom sissy bar to act as a wheelie bar. Dual Halogens for seeing when things got blurry near the top end of the range. Frame totally cleaned up, electronics moved, frame filled and molded. 33 coats of hand-rubbed clear over 12 coats of base. Build time: 7 months, mainly dragging my ass around the floor, in between operations on my leg. Sold it for the cash to buy...
'68 Triumph Trident, new '70 engine: Bought for $1k. Threw the crutches into a corner, got a cane. Put the girl-friend, tools, medical-dressing supplies onboard, and drove it 10400 miles without putting my left foot on the ground, doing sterile-field dressings on the side of the road twice a day with a gasoline stove and a pan. Pic 1: prepping for the trip. Pic 2: 3700 miles away, 1 week later, now with 81 year old Gorm Parlee ready to go out for a ride. Pic 3: by Parliament building, Regina, SK, on the return trip. Bike TOTALLY worn out by the time it was home. Toasted, period. My wife of 38 years spent the first three weeks of our relationship sitting with me in a cold shed while I overhauled the bike.
'63 Harley Panhead When I got some money from suing about my leg-injury, I bought this: my first and last incursion into Harley, in '77. '63 Panhead on a '53 rigid frame, with a '43 extended springer spool-hub front end. It ended up in a '65 frame, 5 gal tank, Cop seat and Police special Instruments. And my spine straightened out slightly. Sold the stupid thing in '78 to buy my first house, and carry on with my career. You'll note the blue 'lightning' theme helmet on the ground. The same one as with the Trident 4 years prior. It is still with my helmets, on the shelf.
1971 650 Yamaha XS1-B: Purchased: November 1983, Abbotsford, BC: $350 Sold: July 2008, to Maple Ridge, BC $2300 FAST, fast 650, with the typical hinge in the middle. Handled like a snake, but satisfied the need to ride while going through a professional career.
My first "Wing": 1984 Standard: Vetter Fairing, Kruger bags. 18k kilometers, and MINT all over. Taught me what a Goldwing was. Then I sold it for a price I could not refuse, and after another year went by, I found this.....
1983 Aspencade: rolled badly 26k kilometers total. Non-damaged parts: MINTIE. Note that the outer shell of the fairing was stripped right off. So was the trunk. ALL of the radio system that is visible worked properly. Amazing.
Enough with the history: on to pictures of some of my bikes since my first 'Wing':
1980 Custom Standard, my build: Color: Stock body from a Standard Regal Brown, '83 (just liked the color) Engine: 1983 Interstate (wanted the gearing) Over-drive idiot light mounted on the choke-pull plate Seat is SaddleMan The remainder of bike is STOCK, missing the hand-rail.
1982 Standard, STOCK: Nicest '82 Standard I've seen in many years. Engine: Compression 1,2,3,4: 172, 169, 169, 172 Best GL1100 engine ever in the yard.
1983 Aspencade, STOCK: Loaded: everything Honda had, and a bit of aftermarket trim Body: pristine when bought, pristine when sold three years later. Cleanest '83 Aspie I've seen for 20 years.
'83 Interstate: "Mae West" '83 Aspencade "The Gray" '83 Regal Brown Interstate, with '83 Nimbus Gray Aspencade ’Mae West’ was named by a friend: she was the 'glitziest' bike he'd ever seen. It was loaded: capital L some pics have been lost. Still trying to find a good one in archives
'83 Aspencade "The Body" '83 Nimbus Gray Aspencade Nicely loaded, bought for the body, to replace and preserve the '83 Gray" above. Nice bike: and parts of it are world-wide.
Goliath '98 Valkyrie CT, bought in Mass, USA, at 13.k miles on it: specifically for a trans-continental Iron Butt run On this bike: 1000+ miles in a day, 2000 miles under 48 hours, 3628 miles, 71 hours 6 minutes : open cockpit in October. The bike was better when sold then when it was bought.
"Bright Jade" '98 Valkyrie CT, bought in Redding, CA, at 27k miles on it: just because it was beautiful, and a friend wanted it. It reminded me of the identical bike: my first Valk, but it had stock pipes. Nicely dressed, very 'fresh'. The bike is still locally owned, in Maple Ridge BC.
Parker1200 '86 Aspencade LOW mileage, clean and beautiful. The bike is still locally owned, in Abbotsford BC.
Big Red Bought in Ellensworth, Maine for another Transcontinental run. 2-Bro's Racing pipes had no baffles. Loudest thing I've ever heard other than a straight fueler. Rode to NB, deaf when got there. Fashioned baffles from 1 split early Ford klaxon horn, courtesy of 'Cuz Wayne'. They were then quiet enough to cross the country with good ear-plugs. Fastest Valk I've ridden: rpm's like a two-stroke with those pipes open. Should NOT have sold the pipes with the bike. See another set available?....please let me know.
The GL1800/1500 mile Special Iron Butt run: 13 miles from the Mexico border to Langley, BC Canada: 1513 miles, 21 hours to the minute. Cert: 1500 miles, under 24 hours. Meals for the day consisted of 1 large Gatorade, 1 coffee, 3 power-bars. '05 Anniversary. Well broken in when arrived at home. Beautiful bike, clean as a whistle.
The Valk Stable 98 CT in Gray/black, 98 C Big Red, 97 C in purple colors. Very lucky to have had these bikes. Just couldn't ride them all at the same time. Picture taken prepping them for winter storage, '11 Piggie, you say? Eat yer heart out.
Woolly '97 97 CT in emerald colors. Nice bike, very tight, pretty much stock with few additions. Not broken in when bought. It was when it left.
79 'Timmie bit' 79 XS 650 in stock colors, bought for my buddy's birthday. Rough when arrived, clean with a rebuilt head when it left in, after I bought it back in '10. Nice little bike.
71 XS1-B, 68 BSA Thunderbolt The '71 I had had for 22 years when this pic was taken. Any who knew it recognized it as the fastest stock XS1 around. The BSA I had for a year when this pic was taken. If you could get the XS-1 650 engine in the BSA frame, you'd have one hell of a bike. The XS went like a rocket. The BSA handled. Both were as stock as possible (especially the BSA, pretty much dead-stock), with minor changes over the years. A rebuild on the 650 engine was 18 years past at the time this was taken, and was still solid as a rock. BOTH of them were a hoot to ride. Both of them are in my past: one a buzz-bomb, the other just a plain antique, and both for younger bones to sit upon.....
There have been many, more of these 'ladies' in my life. These are some of the notables, and there's still quite a few to get loaded on here when I have the time.