In 1982 I was the Sales Manager at a Kawasaki dealership here in Southern California, I loved my job. The family I worked for was great, they helped me in my roadracing effort, and thanks to them I was doing pretty well. Here is the better part…I was racing a Kawasaki but my daily ride…
1967…The Summer of Love. Haight Ashbury, Sargent Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, my second year racing in the deserts of Southern California, and one year away from being able to ride a street bike ‘legally’. What a time in life. My step dad also decided that it was time to get my mom riding a…
Every motorcycle and every motorcyclist has a story to tell. Some stories are far more interesting than others but I find most all very interesting if you dig just a bit. What makes a motorcycle great? What makes it legendary? How does a rider become great and what makes him or her a legend? Simple…
The Honda SL350, an amazing motorcycle. When I had reached the point of wanting to shoot my race bikes, a Bultaco Pursang and a Matador, right through the cylinder head I bought a Honda. A 1971 Honda SL350. Actually, I bought the Honda as a street bike that I could ride to and from school…
East Buttcrack, Minnesota, “Hey Eunice, It’s getting pretty damn cold around here, maybe it’s time we went and visited your sister and that dolt of a husband of hers down in Florida” “Floyd, you don’t like my sister and her husband isn’t a dolt, he’s just a bit different?” “and besides that the Winnebago hasn’t…
Stop me if you have heard this one…I love Honda 350’s… I have four of them. A 1971 CL350,a 1970 CB350 (the one I bought for my dad to get him back into motorcycle riding after about 30 years), and two 1971 SL350’s (one of which is in the process of becoming a cafe racer…
This is a bike that is not for the faint of heart, but…it’s a really cool motorcycle. The rotary engine was nothing new at the time of the RE5. The first patent of the Wankell’Rotary’engine was back in 1927! However, work didn’t begin in earnest until the early 50’s at NSU in Germany. There is…
Believe it or not, often times less is more. Yeah, there is nothing quite like the rumble of a big V-Twin, the scream of a high revving two stroke triple, the roar of an inline four, or the thump of a big single. But, there are times that the song of a little (not even…
Nobody doesn’t love Hodaka. With names like Ace, Dirt Squirt, Wombat, Rat and Super Rat, Road Toad and Thunderhog, what’s not to love? In the late 60’s through the mid 1970’s every young ‘wanna be racer’. wanted a Hodaka. Why? Well, they were cheap, they were easy to ride, and almost maintenance free. Operative word…
One of my favorite bikes from years gone by is the Yamaha TT500. Yamaha did a great job with that bike, it worked well in the desert and on trail rides. It was easy to start (sort of), easy to ride (as long as you weren’t expecting it to act like a lighter European two-stroke),…
