’67 Yamaha 180cc YCS twin

The pic with me astride (with my learner’s license, age 16) was taken May, 1969. Although riding OPB’s (Other-Peoples-Bikes) for three years prior, this was my first self-owned bike. Engine: 180 twin, and this made my 142 lb frame look large. Life-span: 4 weeks, the functional life-without-major-repair ended when I went out of bright sunlight into the shade at the end of Hastings St, Vancouver: which ended in a no-warning-private driveway with a sturdy chain across it. (Pic #2 Thanks To Kaplan for the use of their clean pic, one of which I did not have).

’68 Yamaha R2 350

Then bought a ’68 Yamaha 350 R2. Passed my motorcycle driving license in late June, then jumped on it (8 weeks after my 17th birthday) and headed 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. Some real adventures happened on that trip, with 8 weeks of new license under my belt! (Thanks to youtube patriot for the pic, I couldn’t find any of mine after 54 years.) In those days I was driving 365, snow be damned. Didn’t own 4 wheels.

’70 Yamaha DS6

After the 350 R2 above was stolen and wrecked, to get back and forth to work I bought this for $300. Really nice little bike, well balanced, and nearly as fast (relative terms) as the 350-R2. This bike is the one I really learned to wheelie on, and to drive well in snow upon. Light, manageable, and I was strong. Another one where I didn’t have a pic, and thanks to the advert. While I owned that bike, I bought this…

’68 Yamaha 250 DT1

Bought as a basket case, and it sure didn’t look this nice. When it started it weighted 246 lbs. When stripped off ALL un-necessary weight (no front fender, NO brakes (no pedals, backing plates, axles, arms, swivels or any other brake part, removed side and center-stands, passenger pegs, and everything else that I figured was a waste of weight: I installed a jake-brake compression release, and when I wanted to slow down or drift into a corner I dropped it either one or 2 gears, and ‘jaked it’. The rear fender was sawn off short, as was the rear seat. 2 stroke oil self-mixer was removed. Everything that could be drilled was drilled to save weight. It weighed 205 lbs when I got finished throwing and cutting pieces off of it. It had one of, if not the first, expansion chambers in the Vancouver area, designed and fabricated by Ken K. from Hastings Motorcycles. The ports were trimmed, carb jetted to death to match the exhaust. Started with 22.8hp, ended with over 35 hp. Nothing around here could touch me in the dirt. During the period I was riding that, Hastings Yamaha and I made a deal. If I rode the motocross track under their banner, they’d replace broken parts as needed. In that they agreed to do the same for production class at the Coquitlam Westwood road-track, I bought this Yamaha R5B following.

1971 350 Yamaha R5B

I bought this as soon as the R5-B hit the sales-floor. While breaking it in on the street for the production class on the track, I met a pickup truck the wrong way. 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. While recuperating, I sold the bike to buy a basket-case 68 Bonneville, which turned into the ’68 Bonneville Chopper

’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. 1963 Panhead on a ’53 rigid frame, with a ’43 extended springer with a spool-hub (no brake) front wheel. After a couple months getting shorter in stature, I quit the ‘rigid’, swapped out frame, front end, tank, etc: even-steven: and turned it into what is shown on the second pic. It ended up in a ’65 frame, 5 gal tank, the same seat and Police special Instruments. And my spine straightened out slightly. (You’ll note the blue ‘lightning’ theme helmet on the ground. I bought it in New Brunswick on that cross-continental trip on the Trident. It is still with my helmets on the helmet shelf.) Sold the antiquated and useless Hog in ’78 to buy my first house, and carry on with my professional career. After selling this for first house down-payment, I didn’t own a bike until this 650 XS1-B came along.

1971 Yamaha XS1-B

Purchased: November 1983, Abbotsford, BC: $350 Sold: July 2008, to Maple Ridge, BC $2300. One really 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. That bike was in the shed for 25 years. It was ‘shelved’ for a few years, because it had a dinged fork-tube, and I had a hard time finding a replacement: it took about 10 years but I wasn’t looking hard. Had lots to ride. After getting a new fork tube onto , and getting it road-ready, I earned a sack of brew by starting it, after those 10 years: within 5 kicks (started first kick, actually, and there’s a video on-site here witnessing that). That was some years after I got into Goldwings, starting at the 1984 Standard hereunder.

My first “Wing”, an 1984 Standard:

Vetter Fairing, Kruger bags.

18k kilometres, and MINT all over. Taught me what a Goldwing was. Wow. Popped a cherry I thought was long gone. Then I sold it for a price I could not refuse, and after another few months and a Honda Skyhawk (which I sold to a movie Wrangler) went by, I found the rolled 1983 GL1100 Aspencade below.

1983 Aspencade:

Rolled end-over end. 26k kilometres total. Note that the outer shell of the fairing was stripped right off. So was the trunk. I got 7 stitches in my lower lip trying to ‘gently’ pry the trunk-rack off the seat. ALL of the radio system that is visible worked properly, including the ‘dinged’ amp. The rest of the bike were all non-damaged parts: and they were MINTIE. Amazing. After checking for parts to rebuild it, I saw an opportunity to fit a niche-need, parted it out, and StraightWings was born. Some of the notables after that follow.

1968 BSA Thunderbolt:

(Confused ya, huh? What’s THAT doing here?) Well, I discovered this in East Vancouver. I found nothing non-stock, nor anything missing on this bike, but truthfully I did not go over every nut and bolt. The price was right. I had it at the same time as the Yamaha XS1-B and a couple of the Goldwings above. This pic was taken in 2006, in front of my ’56 Ford (also pretty much dead-stock.) The BSA was a real blast from the past: it was new the year before I bought my first bike. Back ‘in the day’ I thought it was a marvel. About 6 or 7 outings with it at age 52-53 changed my mind.

1983 Regal Brown GL1100 Interstate

The original keeper. After parting out the grey GL1100 above, starting StraightWings up, and getting ripped off twice on eBay (and learning some solid lessons while doing so), I found this bike, also on eBay. Bought from Tim at Austen Autobody in Canby Oregon. (Excellent painter, I am still doing business with him after 24+ years.) There were some initial brake problems which I quickly learned was a plugged orifice in the rear brake master, and after that, this bike was excellent, low miles, and very ‘clean’. A friend nicked named it “Mae West’, as it was the glitziest thing he’d ever seen. It had everything but the kitchen sink on it. After riding it for three months, I found this ’83 Aspencade.

1983 GL1100 Aspencade

1983 Aspencade with 18k miles on it. Immaculate. Bought out of Whidbey Island, WA state. This was one fine and loaded-out bike, but it taught me about GL1100 exhausts. At 23k miles I removed the right hand side exhaust to clean it: and it broke in two in my hands. Pulled the left side off: and it cracked before I got it off. Both were in the ‘belly’ that Honda had unwisely put as a low-spot in the exhaust right at the header-muffler weld. A new pipe from Sparwood, BC, ($650) and another from the UK ($740 landed), and it was back together, and was just about perfect. (Tip to carry with you: Do NOT start your bike without letting it warm up full to condense any water out of the pipes. They’ll rot if you don’t. ) The second pic beside here is “Mae” and “the Gray” side by side. I rode that ’83A grey bike for quite a while, before going into a GL1500. Sold Mae the’83 Interstate to an admirer and then later sold the the’83 Aspencade ‘Gray’ for real value to a Sargeant in the Vancouver Police. Before doing so, I found this 1992 GL1500 SE in Barbados Blue

1992 GL1500 SE

Originally from Alabama, arrived here at 42k miles, loaded to the ‘nines’. Nice bike. I had two of the same (identical except the additions) bikes in the yard at the same time. And a white ’93 GL1500, a red 1994 1500, a 1988 Gray, and an ’88 Dynasty Blue. While those were either being flipped or parted out, I decided to build this the ’80 GL1100 Standard following.

1980 GL1100 Custom Standard, my build:

Colour: Stock body from a Standard Regal Brown, ’83 (just liked the colour). Engine: from an 1983 Interstate (wanted the gearing of the ’83). I mounted the over-drive idiot-light on a new hole-addition on the choke-pull plate. Seat is Saddleman. The remainder of bike is stock, missing the passenger hand-rail. While that was still in the yard, I found the ’82 Standard following.

1982 Standard, STOCK

Nicest ’82 Standard I’ve seen in 40 years. Engine: Compression 1,2,3,4: 172, 169, 169, 172. Bought in Eugene, Oregon, the bike had 18k miles on it in 2012. The best GL1100 engine ever in the yard. The rest: complete, completely stock and as close to ‘mint’ as you will ever see. Meantime, I found the Cabernet Red GL1800 following: after it hit a deer.

2006 GL1800A

At 6200 miles, crashed by deer-strike. A call from a buddy about an auction in BC took me to this. A motorcycle ‘instructor’ out of Bethlehem PA bought it, and made it as far as the Chilcotins in BC: before he smacked into a herd of deer in the dusk. $9k and a lot of body work replaced, and it became one fine motorcycle. And I learned a LOT about GL1800’s, which I had never worked on before. That was just a fix-and-flip. I sold it, bought my first GL1800 keeper, the 1983 Stream Silver “A”

2003 Stream Silver GL1800A

An immaculate Stream-silver 2003 at 13k miles, on eBay, from the police captain of Mesa, California, and popped another cherry. I have had a GL1800 as a main ride ever since. Meantime, I’ve bought and parted out, or cleaned, restored, serviced fully then sold: about 400 Goldwings, the majority of which were parted out. After putting many miles on this’03 Silver, going through a 2006 Cab-Red, a 2007 Cab-Red, a 2007 Challenger Brown, and back to a 2006 Cab Red, I found the ’03 GL1800A Jupiter hereunder.

2003 Jupiter Orange GL1800

I saw this listed in Yuba area, north of Sacramento. It had a bad alternator drive gear (ADG). What really interested me was that it has Traxxion Dynamics suspension fore and aft. (Man, that suspension has been a lifesaver.) Indeed, the ADG was rattling bad enough that I really thought I wouldn’t get it out of the parking lot. My buddy Neil had driven down to Sacramento to meet me there, and the plan was to do the circuit: Hoover Dam, Monument Valley, 4-Corners, Mesa Verde, etc: and we decided to stick to the plan, even with the rattling bike. We were half way across the Mohave Desert, and wondering if I would be needing a cube-van or not. That was first day out. Well, I pulled that rattling bike into my driveway: 6 days and 3400+ miles later: and it still sounded the same. Seeing as I had the complete drive-train from an ’01 that had 5093 miles on it sitting in the shed: I went to work on it. The complete drive-train and the matching (CDN Speedo in kilo’s) meter, from the same bike as the drive train: went into the “Jupiter”. I have owned probably 25 GL1800’s since then, of all years up to 2015, and ridden many of them across the continent or farther. (A 2006 with 7k miles from Naples, FL to the Keys, to Daytona, up through the Dragon’s tail (which I have gone through with three different GL1800’s) which was about 4200 miles as an example). Yet, that Orange ’03 is still in it’s own custom-built remote-accessed garage: I’m still riding it, and after 12 years it is still my favourite ride. Lots of reasons why, but when you are Goldwing specialist, and you have 12 years to putz with and over your own personal ride, the outcome is pretty special.

O3 Jupiter Continued…

A deer strike in 2021 slowed things down a little. 70mph, sun not quite over the rise behind me. Glanced left at the mirror and GPS for the miles to home (which was 512 miles), when my eyes came back the front, the buck was in the air 10 feet away, slightly right and flying. Hit him dead-square, his rear hoof tapped my thigh on the right, and the antlers nearly hit my left knee. Drove him a good 150 feet straight down the road. The sun was over the rise by the time the pics of the broken-up bike were taken at the scene. You can see the situation in the first pic. With a lot of moxy, help from “wingman” buddy Neil, some rope to tie the bits up (rad, fairing and headlight), lots and lots of JB Weld, and a few stops for water along the way, we pulled into my yard about 4 hours past due time. And what REALLY frosted me is for the first time in probably 40 years: I didn’t have my knife on me. Missed the venison steak.

The bill at Honda: $16,002 but the bill in my yard: the dust settled at $6350 net, after some wrangling,+ 23 hours of my labour. Also, because the paint is so rare, 1 year only, I had to buy a complete matching ‘2003 Jupiter Orange in Alberta, drive it back to Vancouver area, remove the body, and use those pieces (the ones that were excellent and otherwise unavailable) to rebuild “Jupiter”. A new shelter, fender “A”, windshield garnish, and a bit of repair on the front fender “B” section, replaced the forks, radiator, fairing halfs, headlights, fairing Stays “A” and “B”, and a mess of other stuff. Brought it back as good or better having fully serviced it along the way. The last picture is as finished, sitting on my hydraulic pedestal lift.