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1983 Honda VT500 Ascot

Ricky…”Lucy….I’m home!! Look what I got you!!” Lucy…”Is it a new dishwasher? A new clothes washer?” Ricky…”It’s Honda VT500 Ascot!…you’re going to love it!!” Lucy…”Does it do dishes and clothes?” Ricky…”No, it’s a motorcycle” Lucy…”Is it a Dual Sport? Because thats what I really want” Ricky…”Well, no…but it’s a really great motorcycle…” You know, I…

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1976 Yamaha TT500

The Yamaha ‘Tuning Fork’ logo is historically important because Yamaha has been in the piano business since 1887, motorcycles didn’t come along until 1954…The YA-1 ‘Red Dragonfly’, 125cc of two stroke fun. Post World War Two was a big time for small displacement motorcycles around the world and truthfully, other than here in America, they…

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1972 Ossa Yankee Z500

Not too many people are familiar with OSSA motorcycles much less Yankee. A quick history here…isn’t that part of the charm of this blog??? OSSA actually started out making movie projectors in the 1920’s, motorcycles didn’t come along until after World War Two. At that time a lot of motorcycle companies got into the business…

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1979 Yamaha RD400 Daytona Special

The last of the air cooled two stroke Sportbikes in America. “Really great performance for not much money” is how Cycle Magazine described the Yamaha RD400. The RD series from Yamaha, no matter what size, was a motorcycle that I like to say has a ‘high giggle factor’. My first experience on a Yamaha RD…

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1973 Harley Davidson Sprint

I really love different (some may call ‘weird’) motorcycles. If there is something unique about it, I find it really interesting. Granted, riding friends I have had over the years have always questioned my taste in motorcycles but occasionally I have converted a few from ‘mainstream’ to a little left of center. Lucky for them?…

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1961 Velocette Venom

“A vintage motorbike that only an engineer should own”, is how one British magazine described the Velocette Venom. I don’t why he said that because the Velocette isn’t all that complicated, yeah its your typical British single…finnicky, requires very regular service (the old addage of ‘ride it for one day, work on it for two’…