My Former Pride & Joy

[CallMeSteve]

It’s an awesome looking machine...  they really smartened up the looks for the later models.

Yeah I had a gear sack too. As well as carrying stuff it also helped me to not lose Ruth off the back of the CB900.

wish I had more pics of my old ones. I’m bummed that I don’t have a single pic of the old YG-1. It would scream along at 85kmh after I cleaned out the ports.

[ruSTynutz]

Thanks Steve! 

I must admit I was pretty proud of it.
I also picked up a few awards with best presented bike a few times. Actually, I remember one time I attended a rally at Heathcote Park Raceway and picked up "best presented" bike over a heap of Harleys...you reckon they weren't cheesed off...lol. 
At the time I think it had over 50,000k's on the clock and people found it hard to believe...

[ruSTynutz]

Enough of the CX....here's my other former pride & joy... 

I present the "Road Slug"

Yep, that's a little Honda CB250RS with a home built sidecar attached.
As the name implies, she was pretty slow out on the open road....you quickly learnt the art of slipstreaming trucks/vans if you wanted to go faster than 80kph.
It was so much fun riding it though, in fact I've never had so much fun going so slow!





Since these photos were taken I added a windscreen, an interior light, a cassette player and a tonneau cover to keep the rain out.
The seat tilted forward to allow access to the rear compartment where I kept a 10 litre can of fuel.

[ruSTynutz]

Woo Hoo! I found a photo of my first love...



That would be my 1970 Suzuki TS90 Honcho...

[CallMeSteve]

That young fella is a far cry from the crusty old dude in your avatar 

I was envious because I don't have photos of me at that age.  I do have this one of me and a wheelbarrow I pushed the length of Japan in 1991.  I was 23 at the time.

Is that a big bridge behind me?   

[CallMeSteve]

I was envious because I don't have photos of me at that age.  I do have this one of me and a wheelbarrow I pushed the length of Japan in 1991.  I was 23 at the time.

Is that a big bridge behind me?   

Pray tell more about the wheelbarrow epic! You presumably were not on drugs (otherwise you would have toppled back off that railing), nor insane (I don’t see any men in white coats), nor homeless (otherwise you would have stayed put and slept under said bridge).  So what would possess you to push a wheelbarrow that far? Was this a new home delivery venture ?

[Bodø]

I just wanted to do something that no one else had done before.  Almost all of my travel in those days was on foot or by bicycle.  That bridge connects two islands (Kyūshū and Honshū) and there is a two tunnels as well, one of which is designated for pedestrians and cyclists.  The trip took three and a half months which included a bit of zig-zagging.  I'd love to do it again.

[CallMeSteve]

Well I’m impressed. I suppose we would equate that with an Ozlap, except that’s been done a few times.

As a Brisbane dweller I’d say that’s a cool bridge.  But we’ve got a bigger one 

[ruSTynutz]

That young fella is a far cry from the crusty old dude in your avatar 

At least I still have hair! Unfortunately it's not snow blonde anymore, now it's just snow!!!   

Actually, I believe that bike encouraged my legs to grow!
When I first got it I could barely touch the ground and regularly fell over if the ground was uneven.
Now I don't have that issue, well, not so much on the bike anyhow...

[ruSTynutz]

As a Brisbane dweller I’d say that’s a cool bridge.  But we’ve got a bigger one 

Now Steve, you should know by now that size isn't important...

[Bodø]

As a Brisbane dweller I’d say that’s a cool bridge.  But we’ve got a bigger one 

I lived in Brisbane later that decade and drove buses for the Brisbane Transport.  I've driven many a 598/599 Great Circle Line across that bridge.

[CallMeSteve]

As a Brisbane dweller I’d say that’s a cool bridge.  But we’ve got a bigger one 

Now Steve, you should know by now that size isn't important...

Really? 

[ruSTynutz]

Well, that's what I tell the wife...

[Jdbiker]

My first motorcycle was a Jawa 250, don’t have a pic but same as one below .

[Biggles]

Like JD, I don't have a photo of my first bike, but it was a Suzuki 80 identical to this.



My "lust bike" then was a Honda 250. 

[StinkyPete]

This was my first bike, purchased second hand in around 1973 for around $300 from Yamaha Pitmans in Gouger Street, Adelaide.
Not the actual bike of course, but an image of a similar one grabbed from the web.
Ever since I sold it, the evocative smell of rubber, oil and fuel, that pervaded bike shops was like a drug to me, but it wasn't until about 2003 that I got seriously back into motorcycling.

[Biggles]

This was my first bike, purchased second hand in around 1973 for around $300 from Yamaha Pitmans in Gouger Street, Adelaide.
Not the actual bike of course, but an image of a similar one grabbed from the web.
Ever since I sold it, the evocative smell of rubber, oil and fuel, that pervaded bike shops was like a drug to me, but it wasn't until about 2003 that I got seriously back into motorcycling.

Mine was from Fraser Motorcycles in Hunter Street Newcastle.  It's been a while since there was anything "industrial" in Hunter street.
I sold it and got an Austin A40 in 1969.  Then my next bike was a Postie that I assembled from parts in PNG in 1983.  Sold that and bought a scooter then another Postie in Moresby in 1998.  It was 2006 before I got my ST1100 and got back into bikes in Oz.  And, as they say, the rest is history.

[Williamson]

This was my pride and joy back in '74 when I bought it.  The TS185 was $195 from a guy in Glenroy, and for those bucks, he tossed in an open face helmet and gloves.  I still have the gloves.



In the pic, it's sitting on a custom made rack on the back of the HQ PV, about $50 for the rack (but a mate had to weld a couple of lengths of angle-iron to brace it) and around $3,300 for the PV (in '73).

The pic was in mid '75, packed and ready to head for Cairns.

[ruSTynutz]

That's the same as the TS185 I had...

My brother originally bought it for $80, I think. It was a bit of a basket case though. It ended up stored in a calf shed out on the farm for ages before I bought it off him. It's funny though as he ended up helping me put it back together. Why he didn't do it when he owned it I don't know... 
This was back in 1976 me thinks...

I ended up buying another bike off him down the track, a Honda XL250...just like this:



Before the Honda I'd only had 2 strokes and, to be honest, I looked down my nose a bit at Honda and their 4 stroke bikes, especially when I was trail bike riding up in the bush. My opinion changed after owning that XL and was probably the reason I ended up with my CX down the track.

I kept the XL for a couple of years then traded it in on one of these:



What a disappointment!

It was slower than the old Honda, pretty hopeless with a pillion and I just couldn't wait to get rid of it!
If only I hadn't traded the XL...especially when I thought back to how little they gave me as a trade...
Anyhow, I put up with it for 5 months and then traded it in on my Honda CX500EC...
Thankfully I didn't lose much as I'd got the DR tax exempt...pretty much just the cost of the rego...

And the rest, as they say, is history...

[West Aussie Glen]

No photos of my first bike, a 1948 98cc 2 speed (hand change) James. My older brother gave up on it due to oil leaks and it jumping out of gear.
I rescued it, fixed the oil leaks and gear problem.
This is a link to one that was sold recently.

https://www.mecum.com/lots/LV0120-403690/1948-james-comet/

Interesting that summary below the photo says it was a 3 speed yet in the write up below it correctly called is a 2 speed.
The write up also talks about a torpedo oil tank but it was a 2 stroke using premix petrol, the "topedo" tank was a tool box.
I remember I could fill the tank for 20 cents. I have this feeling that in 1968 you could buy 2 stroke premix direct from a bowser does anybody remember that?,
If anybody knows how to pull the photos from the add I would love to have them as I guess the add will disappear soon. 

[ruSTynutz]

I'll get them for you, Glen...
Can you pm me your email address?

[ruSTynutz]

Got them, all ready to go...

[STeveo]

Re the premix, it was BP 'Zoom' and the attendant could adjust the amount of oil that was mixed by a handle on the side of the pump.
https://www.facebook.com/LostPerth/posts/1930158220388556?comment_id=1930160170388361

https://www.xxxxantiques.com.au/antiques_collectables_old_vintage_antique_items_for_sale/petrol_pumps_petrol_bowser_gas_pump/display/9121-bp-zoom-2-stroke-fuel-pump.-%23

[CallMeSteve]

Since we are generally resorting to photos of ‘bikes that are just like my first one’, I submit my YG-1. I started at UQ in feb 1980, and lived in a place right at the top of a steep hill at Toowong. My plan was to pushbike to UQ, and that lasted about 2 weeks before I started to tire of it. Then I spotted an ad at the uni for this little guy for $275, and I was in. My dad talked the girl down to $250, and I officially became a biker. I used to ride it home from Toowong to the Gold Coast every second week, at 85kph. Wouldn’t be game to try that nowadays!

This is the little brother of Pete’s first love.