Motorcycling- an evolving journey!

[Strika]

Fuck me I must be getting old. Of late, I have been reflecting over what has been about 30+ years, on and off riding motorbikes of some description. The thoughts have really been prompted by watching some of the "newer" riders regardless of age, go through sometimes similiar experiences and mindsets and sometimes completely different.

Allow me to ellaborate....... I have been watching with interest, the journey's of some of our newer riders in here since I joined in Jan 2005. going from learner bikes, to 600cc or larger sports bikes and then some even progressing further from there into different avenues again.

My journey started in about 1977, when I was first able to throw a leg "through" a massively powerful step thru 90 on my mate's farm. At our farm, there was obviously no need for a motorbike in my dad's eyes, when there were 5 perfectly good horses in the paddock. (mind you, I don't regret that part of my life either, as I developed an amazing bond with a horse we affectionately named "Droopy", as she had a droppy bottom lip. she was a quarter horse/stock horse cross, so she was large and fast, a bit like my current ride....Ironic really...)

There was a large gap from there, with the occasional ride on a farm bike when ever visiting a neighbours or friends for the weekend. But not much happened with any real motorcycling until I was 16 years old and was able to get a drivers licence. Back then, they were made of paper, had no picture and the methods of cheking only derived a valid or non valid result without reference to the class. So I never bothered to get a licence, just got a bike and rode. So in 1983 I aquired a Honda 400 Four Super Sport in Red. The test ride blew my mind, with the closest thing I had ever been on previously being a V8 done up and it was not in the league of the little 400. I rode that bike around on it's knackered Pirelli Phantoms for a year, before trading it in on a car for reasons I will still never understand.


Part 1 ends here.

[Strika]

Back then, my riding gear consisted of a pair of RM Williams boots, Jeans, Denim jacket and an old Bell helmet, two sizes too big, with a scratched up visor that didn't seal and fogged at the hint of humidity. Gloves? Meh, poofs wore gloves. I still remember the winter rain stinging my frozen fingers as I rode from Sydney to Young for weekends home to visit mum. Newspapers inside the jacket were the only affordable thermal protection available at the time. While I owned the little 400, I used it to run some "errands" for a "friend". Over the year, this added up to enough money to buy another bike. So I traded the 400 for a mini and bought a brand new Ducati 1000 Mille Desmo. It was the first Ducati to come with japanese electics and it was way more reliable than previous models, but still was a contankerous piece of shit. I loved riding it when it ran, but it was more than often able to render me stationary at the most inopportune times. I soon leanrt it's idiosyncracies and enjoyed it for another year before selling it off for what I bought it for. Happy days. Kids and other things then took me away from riding for about 4 years.

Part 2 ends

[Strika]

After the break, I decided to go legal. Australia had changed, and riding out of class had now become something you didn't want to get busted for, so off I went to go and get my learners permit and go through the whole process legally....well...sort of....!
Yes I went and got my L's, then bought two Z250 B's built in 1980 and made one good one out of it. This was my first Kawasaki and not to be my last by any stretch. I rode this for three months before I decided to upgrade to something a little more modern, before I ground away the foot peg hangers, exhausts and frame rails. it lacked ground clearance, that was for sure.

next in the Journey was my little TZR250 Yamaha. It was a 1986 vintage, the first of that model. A two cylinder, 250cc, in line, water cooled two stroke. It had a beam frame, was light and after some porting, chamber and piston work, coupled with some pipes and jetting, it was a genuine 200kph two stroke screamer.

Part 3 ends

[Strika]

Once on my P plates, it was straight down to trade the TZR in on a 1983 GSX750ESD. It had loads more power and torque, but it stopped and steered like a shopping trolley. It was certainly a way to learn another way of riding a bike. The GSX lasted me about three months, before the lure of a later model bike with more modern technology beckoned. It was in the form of yet another Kawasaki, a GPX750R. resplendant in red and white livery, boasting a full 100hp from the silky smooth and revvy water cooled 750 motor which with minor mods was to power the first generation ZXR750H. the GPX was a cracking bike and, a bit like the ZRX is a bike I look back on and consider it more than the sum of it's parts. It was my commuter, tourer and sports bike. It was pretty good at it all too. The 16 inch front wheel and anti dive forks were the only issues. The anti dive was removed early on in my ownership, but the 16 inch front wheel never really bothered me. After this, it was a quick succession of bikes with a GSXR1100H replacing the GPX, only because I had racked up 80,000klms on the GPX and thought I had better get rid of it before it was worth nothing.

End parth 4

[h.b.bear]

Geez the good old days wish they were still here come from Young hey,i used to live about a hr away at a half a horse town called Caragabal between Grenfell and West Wyalong.Makes you think when u mention paper licences and how things used to be back then .

[Strika]

The GSXR lasted me about 6 months, before a deal offered on a brand new 600 FZR yamaha lured me to my first yamaha. It was a great bike, but I wrote it off on the Yarra Boulevard while show boating with my knee down I leant it over just a little too far, scraped the left hand engine casing, unloaded the suspension and was a passenger from there The insurance replaced it with Warwick knowland's old YZF600R, put back to road trim. (In reality, it was a Yamaha Press bike which Warwick Borrowed when he pretzelled his at a race meet. Long story short, I returned it to the race track and thus the racing side of my journey began. A year later, I owned troy Bayliss Old ZX6 and was racing all over Oz traying to make a name for myself at the all too late age of 27. too late to start a career as a racer, but blind ambition drove me on till finances ran out and the cold realities of makinga living came home to roost. From here it was a few years without bikes, which I probably needed, as I was racing them, selling them, working on them and riding them on weekends on the road. The hiatus rekindled my passions. again.

end part 5

[Strika]

After a few years, the hankering for a road bike came back in the form of a Cagiva Allazura 650. It was a timing and money thing. I tripped over it when I had the money and it became mine. It turned out to be one of my favourite bikes looking back. I still was as sharp as a tack in terms of riding skills from the years of SS racing, but was riding an older bike, with 18'' tyres and a lazy chassis. I loved every minute of it. But soon enough, memories of Horse power beckoned me again. I sold the Allazura, sadly and bought another Yamaha, a 1989 FZR1000. I was living in Perth and thought it would be a perfect bike with all the long fast roads. It was, but soon enough I got bored, sold it and bought a CBR600 Honda. My 2nd Honda. It was a great bike and it never cost me a cracker to run apart from servicing and consumables. Nothing went wrong in 57,000klms. It was at this time, that my step kids were at an age where they needed motobikes. So a couple for them and one for dad was next on the agenda. A KDX250 was the first, yet another kawasaki, then a WR400 Yamaha, my 3rd Yamaha. It was soon replaced with a KDX200 and a KLX400. The KLX400 being my favourite ever dirt bike and one I would have again in a heartbeat.

part 6 ends

[Strika]

after moving back to Melbourne in 2005, the CBR600 and the KLX and KDX all came over with me. But, once again, they were all soon replaced with a brand new kawasaki ZX6R in 2005. Back to yet another 600. I could have bought a ZX10, I had the money, but I was still into the light, fast steering 600's like I raced in the mid 90's, and this new 636 was lighter, more powerful and with better suspension, brakes, steering and tyres than my fully prepped 600 SS race bike. It was insane to ride something so modern which handled so well without having to touch it. 1'46"s around the Island on BT014's at the afterburner ride day in 2005 was testament to that. I was only doing 42's when I was racing

Then, the touring bug bit. The 636 was replaced with a Hornet, which was my 3rd Honda and perhaps the most boring bike I ever owned. It didn;t last long and the ZX9 soon replaced it. While it was a great sports bike for touring, I wanted waterproof and lockable luggage. So the BMWR1100RS was purchased.

Part 7 ends

[Strika]

While the beemer was great fun to ride and served it's purpose well, it was an expensive item to maintain and certainly not up to the "Use as the manufacturer intended" Monicker! So it was disposed of and a ZRX1200S was purchased as a replacement. I still had the 9, but figured the ZRX would be no good as a hills bike, so kept it. I was soon to find out that the Rex, was another GPX750 in my mind. It did everything I wanted it to do and it was dead reliable and dead comfortable to boot!! Age and injury had damaged enough stuff to make riding a sports bike difficult over long days and required two weeks Physio to recover. So, 9 was sold and a few years on, we still have it. It's the culmination of my motorcycling evolution. It's where I am at right now. Will it be where I am at in another year, two years or even five years, I don't know, but it is where I am at right now and is a result of all the past bikes and ride experiences I have enjoyed.

Part 8 ends

What is your motorcyling evolution? Where did you start and where are you at right now, long or short?

[Gosling1]

mmmm - it would be a long post if I started on a 'motorcycling journey'..... here is the readers digest version...

First ride at age 8 on a Z50 monkeybike at a travelling carnival. Hooked from that point.
Spent many Xmas holidays with my cousins from age 9 through to about 16, at Port Stephens - riding ATC 70's through the bush and on Stockton Beach. Much fun.
First big trail bike was a TS125 Suzuki at age 12 ? Once again, at my cousins place up at Maitland......riding in the abbatoir paddocks. Did this at every opportunity from 12 to about 16 or 17......rode that bike into the ground....
Got my first road bike at 16 - a CB125 Honda twin - 1968 vintage. Rode this bike to school for the last 6 months of Year 12 in 1979. Wish I still owned it.....
Got my RD350B in 1980. Rode the ring out of it - and still own it. Great bike to cut your teeth on. Learnt a lot about bike electrics from owning this bike.....
Brand-new YZ80H in 1981, and YZ80J in 1982, and a YT175K in 1983 (google it).....and also bought the H2 750/3 in late 1981.......it'll be up and running by Xmas !
Bought the Black Pearl in April 1981. My favourite bike. Also got the YZR30GP pocket-bike in 1981 as a Xmas present...
Bought an XS650 chopper in 1983. Interesting bike......sold it in 1986 ?
Sold the Pearl in 1984.......*sniff* - and bought it back from the same bloke in 1994. Will never be sold again....
Got a TT500C in 1985 - used this bike as a commuter hack in Newcastle for about 18 months. Great bike.....wish I still owned it....
Had a couple of years off during the later 80's *cough* licence issues *cough*
Started picking up a lot of the rest of the current collection from the late 80's right up to present day......z750, z650, z1000, another Z1000H, a couple of GPz1100's, Z1A, a Z750 twin, a heap of RD350's and 400's in one big job lot from Sydney in the early 90's, the YZ490, an F5 Bighorn, the MFP12.........a GPz1000RX, and just the other week, a 1972-vintage S1 250/3 cafe racer.......every one of these bikes has a story (some of them - the MFP12 - have lots ) - but you get the idea.....

There are a lot more stories about the other bikes which have found their way into the 4th Dimension stable - but the early 80's was the definitive learning period for me. Every weekend we were found belting down the Clyde Mountain, a group of good mates most of whom could ride pretty well without crashing (although some did) - it was nothing to wear out a set of Pirelli Phantoms in less than 12 weeks ! That would have been between 3k and 5k worth of riding......Bathurst Easter races from 1981 to the infamous riots of 1985 - drag-racing my brand-new Z1000H at the Easter races in 1981 (up on the dirt), and winning all the races while being sprayed with Green Ginger Wine - doing heaps of rallies (as you did back in those days)......

I could really write a book about *stuff* on bikes, if I could sit down long enough to write one.....maybe one day....

[Strika]

Glad you gave us the abridged version. Otherwise you would use up all Madkaw's bandwidth.

[h.b.bear]

turning a few stones with the mention of green ginger wine Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[Strika]

Geez the good old days wish they were still here come from Young hey,i used to live about a hr away at a half a horse town called Caragabal between Grenfell and West Wyalong.Makes you think when u mention paper licences and how things used to be back then .

That's an interesting part of the country hbb. I know it well. We owned rural supplies shops in young, grenfell, cowra, boorawa, harden & cootamundra. Still got Young, Cootamundra, boorawa & harden.

[h.b.bear]

Geez the good old days wish they were still here come from Young hey,i used to live about a hr away at a half a horse town called Caragabal between Grenfell and West Wyalong.Makes you think when u mention paper licences and how things used to be back then .

That's an interesting part of the country hbb. I know it well. We owned rural supplies shops in young, grenfell, cowra, boorawa, harden & cootamundra. Still got Young, Cootamundra, boorawa & harden.

They wernt called Ryders by anychance

[09sydrd]

Part 8 endsWhat is your motorcyling evolution? Where did you start and where are you at right now, long or short

Great thread , thanks for sharing . I started out late , never really was a motorcycle die hard in fact i never wanted a road bike and had no idea about road motorbikes in general but a good mate of mine and i decided to get our bike licence for some fun (mid life crisis i think) ,we both got our licence in late 2007 . I bought a 07 gs500 for my L's and thought i was a gutless piece of shit . He bought a harly which i always wanted but could'nt afford one at the time and in hindsight this was a blessing. Sold the gs500 3 months (1500km) later for a suzuki 08 gsx650 and loved it. looking back Probably the best bike i've owned. Sold it 18 months later (35,000km) as i wanted a busa , bought a 99 unrestricted model which did a genuine 300km/h , but did'nt like the gen 1 busa handling or brakes but loved the engine , the first ride on it blew my fucken mind had it 6 months (10,000km) and traded it on a k9 gen 2 busa , absolutely loved it bit more smoother , better brakes and handling , did a couple of track days on it too , drag days , rode it everywhere but i thew it down the road not long after buying it brand new , with no comp insurance it cost me a fucken fortune to fix it which i did and then road it for about 7 months or so and then traded it on the now zx-10 (9000km). Definelty got the motorcyle bug now and looking forward to finding that perfect bike, a zx-1400r is on the radar