favorite motorcycles

I've been riding motorcycles since 1975.....

I've had models that dated from the 1930's ,
all the way up to my current Harley Davidson.

But some motorcycles that I wanted, I never got to own.

And this is a post about some of those bikes.....
....... bikes I lusted after, but never got the opportunity to ride.

Like this one.........

It's called a Triumph X-75 Hurricane -

 A British bike with a very cool street stance for the time, it was originally badged as a BSA "Rocket Three".

 It had a transverse mounted 3 cylinder 750 cc engine with an endemic and serious engine mount defect.

 They made them for three years -
- up to 1972, when the model was discontinued because it was so damned noisy.


 So--- why would I have wanted a bike with so many issues?

 I was still a young teenager when this bike came out......

 I saw it in a magazine with some hottie like Joey Heatherton sitting on it,
and from then on, I had to have it.

 But when I got old enough to buy one, there were none to be had.


 So, I bought this bike instead.

It was a 1940 BSA 1000 G-14 with a 1000 cc V-Twin.

Some guy in Pensacola had brought it back from India with him,
.... and had kept it in his garage for 30 some years.......


It didnt run too good,
.. but I figured, this was one hot motorcycle,
and I just had to buy it.

It was murder to start, of course,
... and it leaked oil from places it didnt even have oil in.....

........ and it was powerful hard on the arms, legs and buttocks.


But it had a growl that would eat yer lunch.

Unfortunately, a good BSA mechanic in Pensacola ( where I was stationed )
... was harder to find than a alligator in the Arctic... , so I sold it.


Darn it.. I wish I had that thing now.

But it probably still wouldn't be running worth a damn.



I decided I wanted a new Harley Davidson...

and there was a 1976 FXE SuperGlide that had caught my eye....

( just like this one.... same color and all..... )

I had the down payment in my greedy little hands......

.. and I was headed down to my friendly local AMF Harley Davidson dealer - when....

...... my buddy convinced me to buy his 74 Norton Commando instead.

Now, that bike was FAST..... it had an 850 engine ,
.... but it would move like lightning.

I added some rake and some buckhorn handlebars, and I was stylin.

For about eight months.


You woulda thought I woulda learned my lesson about American mechanics working on British bikes......

.... but noooooooooo.......


It didnt take long...
before the mechanic that had been working on it had it so fouled up,
.... that I couldnt of rode it to church on Sunday.


And I wanted something I could depend on.

So, I bought one like this.

That, my friends, was a 1969 FLH 1200 Electro-Gilde in a kinda sky blue color.

Nice sled.

Rode sweet as Mom's cherry pie, and was easy to work on.

Kept that bike for years, and rode it across country several times.

It was a beast.

A tractor trailer could pass you at a hundred mph and the bike would still be glued to the pavement.

Still got the saddle bags somewhere....

But she, and me, got wrecked on Alligator Alley by some bluehair ---
--- who couldn't see, hear, or drive .......

(...... even though anyone could see and hear that bike for a mile )

Poor thing was still trying to run even while it was under that old broad's
Buick.



After that, I owned a virtual multiplicity
( how do you like them apples? )
of motorized pultritude.....


..... including several Japanese bikes.....

I owned a Yamaha for a week once, a Suzuki, and several Hondas which I thought very highly of, including a big Shadow.


During the early 80's, the bike I wanted- but never got -
--- was the Moto-Guzzi V1000.

 Italian made,
it was shaft-drive, automatic transmission,
with a heavy duty frame
and had a voice like Pavarotti.

 Not that I have anything against shifting, you understand,
.... but on the highway, it gets kinda irritating.
 

 A friend of mine had one...
but he'd never let me ride it, so I can't tell you much more about it.

 Except that I lusted in my heart over that bike.....



 So much so, that,
... even though I've owned many since then,
I never thought I'd lust after another one.


 Until last May.


 That's when I saw her.......
..... on US-441 in the Great Smokey Mountains National Forest. |


 A brand spanking new Can-Am Spyder Roadster.

 Yeah, I know it's got three wheels.....
.... two in the front and one in the back.

 It's got a 106 horsepower, 990 cc V-Twin BRP engine ......

 And as far as I'm concerned, it's the hottest looking bike I've seen in twenty years.

 .................  It's also $25,000.



 So.... add another to my list of unrequited loves.


 Valerie Bertinelli still won't return my calls, either.