Bikes from my past

I was thinking about the project bikes sitting in the garage while I make way too little progress on them. Somehow this got me to thinking about the bikes from my past. Motorbikes have been in my blood since before I was in kindergarten. My father had dreams of leaving the Navy and riding cross country on a Harley with a buddy. Luckily for me and my brother that didn't happen as soon after that dream crumbled he got full custody of us and the rest of my life is history

Growing up in Arizona, there were miles and miles of desert trails to ride and Dad picked up what was to become my first motorcycle. Somewhere around 1985 we got a Yamaha MX100 dirt bike originally to share between the three of us. After our first day in the dust all three of us dumped it at least once. While the other two watched the family decision quickly became that one bike wouldn't do it. Soon after a couple more bikes and a trailer ended up in our garage and I rode the junk out of that bike for 6 or 7 years.

Picture credits: BikePics.com

As the name implies, this is a 100cc trail bike. It wasn't the most high tech bike of the time. It is a two-stroke and had an oil tank so that I didn't need to premix which was nice. Kick start only with all of the fun that goes with flooded carbs after a big get off. This is the bike that ignited My Motorbike Obsessions and I have a soft spot for them to this day.

My next motorized stallion was one that I still have mixed feelings about. Despite my years in the saddle of the MX100, I never had a street bike or rode on the street (that my Dad knew about anyway). After getting to my first duty station and coming back from my first six month deployment, I had a few bucks burning a hole in my pocket. Now I had enough sense to not buy the latest super bike to come from the big four Japanese OEMs. I found a Cycle Trader (yes, the paper kind) and decided on a Honda I saw. I went to check it out. It was a used and very abused mid-'80s VF750 Sabre.

Picture Credits: motorcyclespecs.co.za

 I should not have bought this bike. The speedo would go to 20mph, stop then pick up again a 50mph. Coming down in speed it would stop at 40mph then dropped to zero when I stopped. This was just tip of the iceberg. The tires were bald, there was road rash from an obvious low side that I ignored when I was at the dealer. I was coming up off an off ramp and heard a "pop". I looked down and didn't see anything. As I rode away the front felt wiggly. A few more miles down the road I could see what looked like a water trail coming off the front tire. At another stop light I found that in doing the engine braking coming off the freeway the back pressure blew out an epoxy weld in the valve cover showering engine oil directly onto my front tire. 

I actually rode this bike from San Diego to Phoenix without incident. I started to "customize" the bike and aborted that effort before I had to transfer overseas. If the bike was better kept I'm sure it would have been a blast. The V-4 engine was amazing and I would love to ride a bike with an engine like that again. I have seen a few pop up on the classified ads a time or two over the years, but they all look like they were in the exact same condition as the one I had with all of its issues.

Thanks for hanging on as I walk down memory lane. I'd love to hear about your first bikes. Use the "Contact Me" page to let me know.

Blue