A tale of two wheels…

I have been riding for over 25 years, off and on. Although some people I know would tell you that I have never ridden because my Motorcycles have never been big enough to be considered real bikes. Right now, I ride a 1972 Honda scrambler, 175 CC’s of raw Japanese power. I’ve had this bike for over 20 years and it’s too much fun and too much of an attention getter to replace. When I first started riding, I had a red Honda 125. I liked it, but it was definitely limited. I used to take it to this guy that lived near me for repairs. The man worked out of his garage and was a biking nut. One day, I told him that I was thinking about getting something bigger, but I didn’t have a lot of money and had no idea what to get. He asked me how much I was looking to spend, and then told me to follow him. We went into another garage he had locked up. Once the door was opened and I walked in, I entered into classic bikers’ heaven.

The place was full of them –at least a dozen bikes, mostly Hondas and mostly from the seventies and early eighties (This was in the nineties, so even then they were old).

He said “Pick One”.

Once I got over the shock and confirmed that he was serious, I looked around a little closer. Now, keep in mind, although I don’t regret what I choose, looking back, and remembering some of the bikes that were in there, I realize that a true biker would have chosen the CB750 –the classic Honda 750-4 with the 4 cylinders and the pipes that are almost a cool as my Scrambler.

But, I didn’t.

You see, I like green. I love green.

And there she was: green and white, and all shiny and perfect. I didn’t even know what size the motor was. I just pointed and said:

“That one…”

(Yes, my bike is a she, and no she DOES NOT have a name. I will only go so far.)

The deal was done. I had me a bike that would forever make me the center of attention in biker circles far and wide. For years, big burley Harley riders would come up to me with a smile on their face and memories in their eyes and tell me their stories:

“God that bike is a classic.” They would say.

“I had me one of those, back in the day!”

“Here, let me show you a picture. Here, this is my first bike.” They would tell me.

These were people on bikes that I could only dream of riding, and yet they were ogling and drooling over mine.

By then, I had kids already. They weren’t very old yet, but I had a house full. When they saw dad on his bike, they didn’t know or care that it was a small bike. They just thought that dad was cool. Gave my oldest a ride home from school once when I didn’t have a car and it made her day.

Then it happened.

The year was 2000. My wife and I went out to see this new science fiction movie called Frequency, with Dennis Quaid and Jim Caviezel. The basic story follows a detective who is having relationship issues with his wife and almost a lifetime after his fireman father’s death in a fire is still traumatized over the loss. Living in the same house he grew up in he finds his father’s old ham radio and begins playing around with it. According to the “Science Fiction” part of the script, because of the unusual aurora borealis activity, he finds himself talking with his father, from 30 years earlier.

The story in itself is an interesting story, but rather than give a review of a 13 year old movie, the point of the film that touched me was the flashback scene when the father was riding home on his motorcycle. The bike was not even a major part of the film, but to me it was that simile in the movie that connected the story line –a boy losing his father- to my life.

At the time, my kids were all ranging from small to medium to, bigger on the outside but still “not a Jedi yet” in sizes. To this day I still believe that a father (and a mother) is an important parts of children’s lives, no matter how old they are. However, I knew that this was especially true when they were younger. The movie didn’t teach me this; it just brought it home and reminded me about it.

I left the movie and right then decided that my riding days were over –at least until the kids were older.

I don’t know if I would have had a problem with the bike or not, but I put it under the category of “why chance it”. Look at it this way: 13 years later and I’m still here, and so is my bike so it must have worked. And now, my bike and I are both classics so we fit together better.

A few years back my brother gave me an old bike he didn’t want; an early 80’s Honda 750. It was in pretty bad shape and he didn’t have the time to put into it. I soon found that I didn’t have any more time than he did and so it sat for a couple years until I finally gave into my son’s pleading and gave it to him. It took him about a year or so, between being deployed to Afghanistan and moving around with the Army. Finally, he got it fixed up and ready to ride just this spring.

Now it is his turn to decide on whether to ride or not to ride. You see, my son now has a son, as well as a little daughter on the way; he is two and she is due in September. I honestly don’t expect him to make the same choice I did and give it up for the next 15 years. I can only hope he has as good or better luck then I have been having.

Riding is a blast! I don’t see me ever giving it up again. Bit, it’s not something to be taken lightly or go into without a real understanding of the risks and dangers you are exposing yourself to. If you can imagine the simplest accident you could have in a car: a slow moving fender bender, a pot hole that swallows your front tire, a slick patch of road because of rain or another substance that causes temporary loss of control. In a car, none of these are any more than annoying at the worst. On a bike however, all of these would lay you out flat.

To my son; I would only ask that he is careful and that he think of those waiting for him to come home as he rides. And to the rest of you: Keep your eyes open. Look for motorcycles when you drive. Some of us have sons and daughters, wives and husbands of our own that we would like to get home to. And even if we don’t have anybody at home, we still have a right to be out there riding.

Ride safe.

Have fun.

…and if you don’t have a full face helmet, keep your mouth shut.