Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 9:54 pm
From the time I was about 18 years old until I was about 28, most of my miles traveled was on motorcyles -- rain or shine (even snow!), hot or cold. I don't remember year models, but I owned:
- 50cc Suzuki step-through 2 stroke. My first bike. Got it to mess around with and ended up liking motorcyles.
-100cc Bridgestone on/off road 2 stroke. I used to run the irish setter in the woods with it.
- 250cc Honda Dream 2 cylinder 4 stroke. Looked like a little full dress Harley. Neat little bike. Leaked oil bad.
- 500cc Suzuki GT500 "Titan" 2 cylinder 2 stroke. My first REAL motorcyle. Pretty good bike. Not quite enough torque to face a stiff headwind without down shifting. Regularly holed pistons. But only took about 30 minutes to put another one in.
- 650cc Yamaha twin. The "classic" 2 cylinder bike. Wonderfully practical bike.
- Honda 750cc four cylinder. Late 70s model I think. Great motorcyle. It was easy to see how this bike put Honda in the big league.
- Yamaha "850" triple. Really 826cc. The original full dress "Venture" model -- they later recycled the name. Drive shaft; cast wheels with tubeless tires. Other than changing oil, the thing was just about maintenance free.
-- 1967 Harley Davidson Electra Glide. Came with "mousetrap" clutch. Pitiful cast iron front brake drum was downright dangerously weak. And I kick started it. We don't need no stinkin' electric starter. Vibrated, but not too bad ... until ... above 80 MPH, hold your feet up off the pegs because they wouldn't stay put because of vibration. But huge bicycle style seat was so comfortable and isolated your butt from vibration so well that the bike was like riding an easy chair.
I put the most miles on the Yamaha 850. All you had to do was change oil and ride it.
If I were the last person alive and nobody would ever see the Harley, then given a choice of what to go back and retrieve from the past, I'd take the Yamaha 650 twin. That size motor is big enough to pull your butt, and that of a passenger, up hills and into strong headwinds; but the bike was fairly light and generally fun to ride, and got about 55 MPG.
I do recommend at least a windshield; it makes a world of difference.
The dumbass Harley-look seats that are put on mid-sized bikes these days are to sell to idiots. They lock your *** in a position that puts your weight on your tail bone. The old style, unglamorous, flat seat let you move around and occasionally put your weight on your thighs. Highway pegs that could be positioned out front and low on the frame (which the narrow Yamaha 650 engine allowed you to do) put your legs in a position so that some of your weight was supported by your thighs rather than your weary buttocks.
Your butt can tolerate relatively prominent low frequency vibration from low RPM engines better than it can tolerate even small amounts of high frequency vibration from high RPM engines.
Loud engines might impress folks with minimal intelligence, but will give you a headache on a long ride (as well as make you deaf old man).
- 50cc Suzuki step-through 2 stroke. My first bike. Got it to mess around with and ended up liking motorcyles.
-100cc Bridgestone on/off road 2 stroke. I used to run the irish setter in the woods with it.
- 250cc Honda Dream 2 cylinder 4 stroke. Looked like a little full dress Harley. Neat little bike. Leaked oil bad.
- 500cc Suzuki GT500 "Titan" 2 cylinder 2 stroke. My first REAL motorcyle. Pretty good bike. Not quite enough torque to face a stiff headwind without down shifting. Regularly holed pistons. But only took about 30 minutes to put another one in.
- 650cc Yamaha twin. The "classic" 2 cylinder bike. Wonderfully practical bike.
- Honda 750cc four cylinder. Late 70s model I think. Great motorcyle. It was easy to see how this bike put Honda in the big league.
- Yamaha "850" triple. Really 826cc. The original full dress "Venture" model -- they later recycled the name. Drive shaft; cast wheels with tubeless tires. Other than changing oil, the thing was just about maintenance free.
-- 1967 Harley Davidson Electra Glide. Came with "mousetrap" clutch. Pitiful cast iron front brake drum was downright dangerously weak. And I kick started it. We don't need no stinkin' electric starter. Vibrated, but not too bad ... until ... above 80 MPH, hold your feet up off the pegs because they wouldn't stay put because of vibration. But huge bicycle style seat was so comfortable and isolated your butt from vibration so well that the bike was like riding an easy chair.
I put the most miles on the Yamaha 850. All you had to do was change oil and ride it.
If I were the last person alive and nobody would ever see the Harley, then given a choice of what to go back and retrieve from the past, I'd take the Yamaha 650 twin. That size motor is big enough to pull your butt, and that of a passenger, up hills and into strong headwinds; but the bike was fairly light and generally fun to ride, and got about 55 MPG.
I do recommend at least a windshield; it makes a world of difference.
The dumbass Harley-look seats that are put on mid-sized bikes these days are to sell to idiots. They lock your *** in a position that puts your weight on your tail bone. The old style, unglamorous, flat seat let you move around and occasionally put your weight on your thighs. Highway pegs that could be positioned out front and low on the frame (which the narrow Yamaha 650 engine allowed you to do) put your legs in a position so that some of your weight was supported by your thighs rather than your weary buttocks.
Your butt can tolerate relatively prominent low frequency vibration from low RPM engines better than it can tolerate even small amounts of high frequency vibration from high RPM engines.
Loud engines might impress folks with minimal intelligence, but will give you a headache on a long ride (as well as make you deaf old man).
