Staying alive

It's not entirely not self serving tho, I should add. This way if I drop my bike then I can just say, "Here, I'm gonna ride this one now and you can ride mine. C'mon, let's go. Snap to."

I was 18 when I bought my 1970 Honda SL350 well used. It was the type of bike you had to push as much as ride. I brought it to the Honda dealer and they "fixed it" ... Not! Still charged me tho, twice. Finally, my dad did radio work for a guy that had a boat and he had a dealership. It was an hour and forty five minutes away but my father rearranged the van and we packed it up and made the drive. This guy actually fixed the thing but by that time i had my eye on a new 1976 kz400 and bought it. I graduated high school but had had enough structure and decided to get out into the working world so I had the money.

Sold that Honda to a friend and he never had a problem. That bike is hard to find and I think it's worth some money these days.

That's why I wanted to be able to work on my bikes myself. From then on I always did.

At 19 I got evicted from my apartment for overhauling my 350 in there. I had plastic down and a piece of plywood. The owner said he appreciated I didn't ruin the carpet and took care of the place but the neighbors didn't like it. That's OK I didn't like them either.
Found a better place anyway.
BTW Found this. :lol:
Steve

Hahaha, that's a great story. We'd have gotten along well.

Love that mirror too. Will have to see about getting a few of those.

Mine was a 71 CL 350. Went everywhere.
Steve

toolmaker wrote: Half of the cage drivers out there can't see you........and the other half are TRYING to kill you. Keep that in mind and you'll last longer.

Good points. My older cousin died in a motorcycle accident when I was ~13 or so. Living in a small Iowa farm community at the time , word traveled fast, so fast that there was a small crowd along the road before they were able to drag his body from the ~30 ft deep ditch he ended up in. He was also an "indestructible" older teen, that never made it to legal drinking age. He was also on someone else's motorcycle that he had borrowed, so his death effected numerous families. Ours, and the family that actually owned the bike. I don't know all of the specific injuries he sustained, but I heard my relatives whispering between themselves that his boots were filled with blood when they drug him out of the ravine. There was also talk of him being drunk, which would also not surprise me. This was all coincidental to when the one thing I wanted most at the time was a motorcycle. It never did stop me from being a life long rider, but it does give a little perspective to how to conduct my riding style.

To add, to this, I always try to keep and eye out for the A-holes, and try to maintain an "out" when the mortons decide to pull their usual stupidity. Also always staying aware of my surroundings, and maintaining not good, but >great< braking ability is a must. I also have 2 emgo full size mirrors to keep and eye out to the rear too. Fast bikes (and cars) need good brakes, to drag you down from the breakneck speeds we seem to thrive in, instantly. It's not so much a requirement for the "loud and slow" bunch with no front brake, but is a requirement when you are straddling a scoot packing +100 hp between your legs. Just my 02.

I've sifted through the paucity of information available online with regards to Hurley Wilberts crash and the most info came from 4 pages deep on a Google search in the kz1300 forum posted by a friend of his that simply stated that he hit a car that pulled out on him. They induced a coma that he never came out of.

I started riding at 18 and wound it up at 35 or so. Sold my bike, moved North and didn't ride again till last year. All told in those 17 years, adding up what I did mileage wise I estimate I've amassed about 125,000 miles with the bulk of those on my R100S at 72k and change.

I've done about 6k just in the past year and my season is way too short.

I can count the life threatening impending doom scenarios on just over one hand but those were the kind that, like you all know, unfolded super fast and there was no fear until after it was over, after that adrenaline had begun to leave the bloodstream and then you start shaking.

Thinking.

How lucky you were.

A quick aside, your motor looks great! What brand of paint is that? I'll need to freshen up both motors, the LTD in silver and the 900 with the black. A buddy of mine just told me about a NAPA spray bomb that is ceramic and super sticky?

I started riding at around 9-10 years. I had acquired a dead sears-Allstate mo-ped that got pushed and pedaled more than it was ridden. Pushing it was easier than pedaling. It needed a new magneto coil, so a 6 volt battery got strapped to the side, with an automotive ignition coil hooked to the points to provide spark for the 2 stroke 50cc motor. I did not know how to make a charging system back then, so when the battery went dead, it was time to push.
I also welded together a go-cart at 11-12 years with a HUGE motor hanging off the back of it (Wisconsin 10 horse - magneto ignition.. click, boom lol), with cushman scooter fat tires / wheels on the rear. It looked like some whacked out dragster and drew crowds, to look at my adolescent contraption.. It was so back heavy, that I had to put weights on the front to keep the wheels on the ground. to steer it. I never did come up with brakes good enough to stop that heavy-A abortion. Living and growing up on a Iowa farm, with a step dad that NEVER fixed anything properly, and NOTHING ever ran when you pushed start has a profound effect on one's technical abilities. He would drive a nail into a battery post, rather than cleaning it up and doing it properly... and NEVER did any PM. Rig it as you go I say! Probably the main reason I took a 2 year college auto mechanics course, after I got out of the Army.. then got a 2 year EE degree in 1992 when my new, just out of warranty TV died on me. That repair only cost me ~$13K and 2 years of my life, but my TV's always work now days.
The motor pics were taken ~5 years ago, so I don't remember exactly what paint, but I think it was the 500 degree high temp motor. The 2000 degree stuff looks powdery when applied. I had my bike out yesterday to do a little running, and noticed that the motor needs to be stripped and repainted after ~5 years on the road. The motor through bolts are looking kinda brownish, and it would be nice to just tear it all apart again and re-do the frame and engine paint. It still looks good at 10 feet though. Tearing it down = no old kaw till it's done.. Not quite ready for that, it drives me crazy when my bike is not ride-able. Perhaps when I find another one to ride. I also look for the dead ones.
I just built this 4L60E out of my 05 Chevy truck 3 months ago. My bike was my parts runner.. riding rain or snow, is the reason the bike is showing wear. This transmission is doing GREAT after all of the mods required to make it live. I have ~5K miles on it now.

Some assembly required.



I put a rabestos Z-pak in it to try to make the 3-4 clutch pack live.



Just a couple of the hard parts that needed to be replaced.



And the TV boost valve mod.. 50 bucks, 50 bucks, everything is minimum 50 bucks it seems.