Gold Winger Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 "The Yamahauler had more torque, better handling, better breaking and a top end that allowed me to hit 140 mph. Also, I didn't need after market products to up the comfort level for long distance" Second generation copy of a first generation classic. :-) In any case, 120 or 140 doesn't matter since I never exceed the posted speed limit. My '81 has dosen't need anything for long distances since it came with a factory fairing, trunk, saddlebags, and a big seat for my big butt (can I say "butt" or will I hear from a moderator?). I will say that your Ventures are nice looking bikes but what happened to them? The Ventures and Voyagers disappeared from the market and left touring to Honda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 Yes I ride mine to scout meetings and NYLT meetings, if my son is not going with me, since he started driving I ride it more to meetings. I started with mini bikes I would ride it to my explorer meetings. I bought a 1969 Honda 125 in 1970 ride that little bike all over the place. In 1973 I bought a 1970 Honda 750 rode it all over until I moved to the suburbs of Chicago in 1976 from out in the country, I parked it until 10 years ago, I moved back into the country and now ride it again. Five years ago I rebuilt my bike chopped it if you will. Here is a pic of it, if this works. http://hondan.u.yuku.com/gallery/ls/aid/53686 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eamonn Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 Goldwing, I'm not sure if the movie Quadrophenia is available? It was made in 1979!! It does a good job of taking a snapshot young people living in London at the time. The music is great. Ea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
le Voyageur Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 Eagledad....75 000 is correct. I would ride 90 miles round trip to work, then on the weekends head out from San Diego to places like Flagstaff, Yosemite, or where ever for morning coffee. Other times it would be with the GWRR's doing pre rides for poker runs. Also those miles includs two trans America rides to visit a girlfriend in New Jersey... Goldwinger...I've no clue as to why Yamaha stopped making that tourer, and I wish they would bring it back. However, the only time I was running at 140(and includes passing a county sheriff in the process, who also was running at top end in his Ford Maverick) was in Colorado. Had 3 tornados touching down at the same time. Trust me, it'll motivate you to exceed the speed limit.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
packsaddle Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 Anyone know anything about the Suzuki Boulevard? I have yet to hear anything good or bad about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagledad Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 >> Anyone know anything about the Suzuki Boulevard? I have yet to hear anything good or bad about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSScout Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 1965.... After my Gmoms death, my dad and his brothers were going to sell the old farm. Dad says "you ought to go over there and just see whats left of the old place". And so I do. Took along a buddy of mine for company on the adventure. Found old tractor parts, shovels, rakes, rotten away rabbit cages, And in the back of the barn, behind some hay bales... a Motorcycle. A Big Motorcycle. Looked like it was built of cast iron. Big yellow "X" on the tank. Whao, we said and dragged it out. Cotton cord tires rotting off the rims. Straight handle bars with no curve at all. Exposed lifters on the side of the engine. That is the engine, right? My buddy and I were pretty savvy about cars and trucks but this was new . Went home and told my dad what we had fouund. He perked up." That must be Arthur's (my Uncle Arthur. He had died 2 years before). He ordered it thru the mail. We picked it up at the Railway Express office, put it together on the loading dock out of the crate, and he rode it home. He drove it around for, oh, I guess two years, then parked it in that barn and it's been there ever since, I guess. That's a 1917 Excelsior." My buddy and I went back, huffed and puffed that antique into our truck and took it home for contemplation. The engine would still turn over with the kicker. Big brass headlamp, acetylene, broken. Gear shift lever between the legs. No cables, levers and linkages for the throttle on the right handlebar and the single right foot brake pedal. Nine feet long. Leather seat all but gone. And rust, rust, rust. Wheel spokes pittied, all but gone.Frame solid, springs solid but pittied. No license plate. And that big yellow and red "X" on the tank. My buddy's father was an antique car buff. He owned and let my friend sometimes drive to school a Humber! His advice was to sell it for parts, he'd get me some names. And so I did. Sell it. In my garage, a 1985 GT550 Suzuki, oiled and sealed, under a tarp, waiting for a new day. But that's another story... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSScout Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Oh My, I forgot... Y'all GOT to go out and find/buy/rent/netflix: The Worlds Fastest Indian Stars Anthony Perkins. Motorcycles. Pursueing your dream. Overcoming obstacles. Way Opening. Age is not a problem but an advantage. God will provide. Have Faith. FAST motorcycles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElyriaLeader Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Had the usual assortment of dirt bikes as a kid, YZ's up to 125, got a Suzuki TS400 at 16, and a Yamaha 550 Maxim when I was 18 (first year they were made) that one I still own. Current ride is a Kawasaki Vulcan Nomad 1500 with all the bells. Love the look on the kids faces when I roll up (appropriatley attired for riding) with my son on the back (appropriatley attired) for the den meeting, only problem is keeping him in leather jackets with the growth spurts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwd-scouter Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I had a Honda 350 in my late teenage years. Very fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishsqueezer Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I had a Yamaha 250 Enduro way back in high school. When it was totalled I took a 20+ year break from bikes. This past fall I got a 2007 Yamaha V-Star 1300 Tourer. Excellent bike and great ride. I can't wait until spring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axeman Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Fast. My pleasure is fast. When my brothers and I were young we used to chase cows on a stripped-down Ducati 500 (more fun than horses). Hit a ditch in the pasture, came over the bars. Fortunately, the Ducati landed on me, so it was not mangled too badly. That was the important thing, and, anyway, chicks dig scars. Joined the Navy, came off my first cruise (USS America), paid cash for the fastest bike I could find, a '79 GS1000 Suzuki. Rode it off the side of Tiger Mountain in Issaquah, Washington, two weeks later. I had just installed a Kerker and re-jetted the Mikunis, and was on a test drive down the mountain. As a native flatlander, I was unused to mountains, the inertia they impart, and the 90 degree turns at inconvenient intervals. Spent several weeks in hospital. The squadron commander threatened to bust me for destruction of Gov. Property (me). Full coverage insurance replaced bike. I promptly blew an engine racing a KZ1000. Replaced the engine, was shortly thereafter run over by a shingle truck in the Cascades. Squadron commander decides that I must enjoy stitches (I was a veritable chick magnet), and threatens to bust me for malingering. Rebuilt bike, attached a sport fairing, rode it from Wash. State to Kansas City. Happened upon a straight, deserted stretch of highway in Wyoming, rolled on the gas, tucked into the fairing...and discovered that particular fairing was not rated for excessive speed. Four of the six plastic screws that held the windscreen to the fairing snapped off (the front four), the windscreen pivoted back on the two side screws and caught me on the bridge of the nose. Broke my Foster Grants. Best riding glasses I ever had. Replaced the plastic screws with metal screws at next town, and made it to KC just in time to wreck the bike in front of an appreciative, albeit inebriated, audience at my 5-year class reunion. Rebuilt the bike and rode it to the Worlds Fair in Knoxville. Lost the brakes on some forgotten mountain highway. Luckily a station wagon checked my headlong plunge into the abyss. Interestingly, chicks apparently do not dig road rash. A smart person would have recognized a trend... Rebuilt bike, went on an Easter Run with a couple dozen other ricers in the Missouri Ozarks. Hit a dip in the road at excessive speed, compressed the front forks (blowing out the seals), and launched the bike ala Evel Knievel into a barbed-wire fence. Riding buddies were very impressed. Used same barbed-wire fence to re-attach various parts to bike. Used duct tape to re-attach various parts of me. Just could not keep my right hand from rolling that throttle. Happened upon a chick who wasn't horrified by scars (I had been terribly misinformed about the whole "chicks dig scars" thing), got married, had kids, sold the bike. That was more than a quarter-century ago. Thank goodness the Hayabusa was not available then. I priced one, tho, after watching the Hayabusa videos on YouTube... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GernBlansten Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 A man has got to know his limitations. I suspect a Suzuki Hayabusa or a Ducati Desmosedici would have been a fatal addiction for you. Imagine everything you dropped, just doing it at over 180mph? Think grease mark, no do over. Friend of mine says he doesn't get insurance on his Hayabusa as he won't be around to use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kraut-60 Posted February 6, 2008 Author Share Posted February 6, 2008 Greetings all! I failed to note I ride my 2007 Ural Gear-Up to as many scouting events as I can. Last fall I rode it to the OWL training and many troop meetings. I rode it last year to our most recent Eagle Court of Honor. I promised the scouts that I would give any scout attending in complete uniform a ride through town (with parental permission). Ended up giving 9 scouts rides...they loved it! If you have never heard of or seen a Ural, go to www.ural.com ...mine is the desert camo model. Something I never expected when I started this thread was the huge response...and how so many of us have this (motorcycles) as well as Scouting in common. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
packsaddle Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 My brother-in-law has a Ural, although I'm not sure what year model. He has a side car as well. He really likes it and (when he takes that car off) when I take it for a spin it's a lot of fun. That REAL reverse gear is cool too. But the time I spent in Russia makes me wary of it. There was just too much inoperable, rusted Russian machinery lying around while I was over there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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