Speaking Of Ugly (Page 2): One of my grandfathers rode an Excelsior back in the early days. We have a photo of him and a friend who was riding an early Harley.

jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska

luvmypets wrote:

Very cool photo!! I know he had a great time with that bike.

I found out that my grandfather rode motorcycles in the early 1900's. I didn't find out until many years after he passed away. My mother never said a word but one day I found a photo of him on a motorcycle with my grandmother, aunt and uncle in the sidecar. My mom's comment was that she had hoped I would never find that photo.

Dodie

One of my grandfathers rode an Excelsior back in the early days. We have a photo of him and a friend who was riding an early Harley.

Abo

PixHound wrote:

That CB450 sure brings back memories. I bought mine with a little crash damage from a coworker. Repainted the original turquoise/gold with a burgundy metal-flake, replaced the seat, handlebars and other touches. A great bike, but the electric starter never worked, and I wanted to ditch the chain for a shaft drive. I replaced it with a '82 850 Suzuki...finally selling it 10 years ago.

Cool.

I saw an old GSX 1100G shaft drive today... (which evolved from your 850) it was a roughy but the bloke was still riding it.

Abo

rlv567 wrote:

I really loved my Bultaco 350 Pursang, and my Kawa... (show quote)

:-) I'd just about give my lefty for your Bulty.

My Honda 750/4 handled really well.
Having said that, the Koni shocks
and Pirelli Phantoms helped...

It was sensational on twisty dirt roads too... power on
and opposite lock... the old thing flew.

Back in the day when I had that bike I lived up at Kinglake,
and commuted daily to work on it down to the city of Melbourne.

The road you see was my route (Kinglake-St.Andrews) it's sealed
now, but back then it was dirt, and the 750/4 was a hoot...
especially on the way back up after I'd stopped at the
St. Andrews pub to get myself well and truly "lubricated" for
the best of the twistys on the way home.

By the way Loren... your "Click" is a great way to beat the fuel prices

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

My first "real" motorcycle was a 1960 BSA 650 Rocket Goldstar. One of my legs is still stronger than the other from all of the stompings I had to do trying to get it started and I remember pushing it about as far as I was able to ride it. Those were the days..!

Abo

In my post above, locate the St. Andrews Bush Fire Memorial.

That is where I (recently) shot the picture (looking West) below;
you can see the city of Melbourne on the horizon... if you do
the "Double Download".

(Download)

Abo

sippyjug104 wrote:

My first "real" motorcycle was a 1960 BSA 650 Rocket Goldstar. One of my legs is still stronger than the other from all of the stompings I had to do trying to get it started and I remember pushing it about as far as I was able to ride it. Those were the days..!

My (much) older half brother had one... he took me for a blast on the back.
It was a pretty fierce old unit.

Abo

KillroyII wrote:

Does look like robot parts but I can’t see vagina.... (show quote)

I had a red one. (The 400 SS) And it needed to be thrashed vigorously to make decent progress.

What you needed to do with that bike, was do right bends fast enough to scrape
the collector where the four pipes go into one until you've worn a big hole through
it... then they go much better... I guess it was the reduction in back pressure that
improved the top half of the rev range. ;-)

Abo

jackm1943 wrote:

One of my grandfathers rode an Excelsior back in the early days. We have a photo of him and a friend who was riding an early Harley.

It'd be good to see that photo Jack. Feel free to post it if you want to.

Effate Loc: El Dorado Hills, Ca.

Abo wrote:

It'd be good to see that photo Jack. Feel free to post it if you want to.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The photo is KTM’s version of my BMW. That KTM (and BMW) is designed as an adventure motorcycle capable of touring the world both on and off road with room for gear to moto camp.

(Download)

PhotogHobbyist Loc: Bradford, PA

luvmypets wrote:

My first motorcycle (and the one I learned to ride on) was a 1978 Honda CB550-4. Many years and a few bikes later I have a Goldwing and Yamaha FJR1300.

Dodie

My first motorcycle (motorbike maybe) was a 50cc Ducati. I later moved to a 125cc Tohatsu, a Honda CB-350, a Yamaha TX 500, then a long break and now a Harley-Davidson Road Glide Ultra. The bike posted by the OP is not my idea of a beautiful bike. It looks more like some alien insect about to attack something or someone.

scallihan Loc: Tigard, OR

Too many angles.

jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska

Abo wrote:

It'd be good to see that photo Jack. Feel free to post it if you want to.

This is the best I could do right now. Cell phone pic of another pic. I have a better one some place but can't locate it right now. My grandfather is on the Excelsior closest to the camera, along with a friend on a Harley. Taken in 1914, probably somewhere in central Kansas since that's where he lived.

(Download)

Abo

jackm1943 wrote:

This is the best I could do right now. Cell phone pic of another pic. I have a better one some place but can't locate it right now. My grandfather is on the Excelsior closest to the camera, along with a friend on a Harley. Taken in 1914, probably somewhere in central Kansas since that's where he lived.

Thanks for posting the photo. Awesome bikes.

I guess the tanks on the handle bars contain acetylene for the headlights?

Vlemasters

My gs850 was one of my most loved bikes. Road over 100 thousand miles on it. Traded it In on a 1100 but didn’t like it nearly as much

PixHound Loc: Marietta, GA

Vlemasters wrote:

My gs850 was one of my most loved bikes. Road over 100 thousand miles on it. Traded it In on a 1100 but didn’t like it nearly as much

I had my GS850LG 30 years, but only racked up around 50,000 miles. You may recall that Harley Davidson was having difficulties competing in the early Eighties, and got congress to impose a tariff on imported bikes over 850cc. It was my understanding that the 850 was actually an 1100 with displacement reduced to 850. I remember checking the weights for each, and they were the same. It was a heavy bike, but had more than adequate power. Air cooled engine, tubeless tires, shaft drive. I named it "Zook".

(Download)