What have you been willing to do to ride?

Nastee

Registered
I caught bike fever at 9y/o but was forbidden to get one or ride by my mother. A friend of the family had died on a street bike prior so she wasn't having it. I road on the back of someones dirt bike almost every afternoon. Got grounded more times than i can count when i got caught. I figured I wasn't driving & the sound of 2 strokes called to me. This went on for 5 yrs & I couldn't afford on anyway. All the guys i hung with were much older. Al was 21 and had an old Yamaha 80 in hi garage in pieces. I decided to buy it & sold/traded every bicycle or part I had. I came up with $134 told dad about it and he took one look at a completely dismantled bike and said okay after checking the wife.
 
He probably was giving me a hard life lesson. $ changed hands & I sat in that garage over the next 4 days and watched magic happen. Al found & put every part of that bike together. Pops had said they'll never fix it. The engine even had to be assembled. When Al finished it didn't run! Crushed but he said you can't kill a Yamaha it just needed new points & condenser. Got both parts & it ran I had my 1st bike. What could my parent's say at that point they already had given permission.
 
Went for a three hundred plus mile ride with guys I ride with when everyone's schedule lines up. Ride was on my birthday just wanted to do my thing on my day. Well we were gone all day even had beer & lunch. Man was my lovely wife PISSED when I did get home. Totally justified guilt trip & I didn't care one bit.
 
What would I be willing to do? Well one summer it rained 75% of the time and I would deliberately go for a ride in the rain.

I've ridden home from work in snow (not fun), torrential rains and freezing cold.

As I've gotten older, there is a limit to what I will do to ride.

I bought a Hayabusa after almost getting away from motorcycling, I was going to get rid of my other bikes and go into a different sport.

Buying a Hayabusa has rejuvenated my desire to continue motorcycling.
 
Few years ago was going camping with the family. We were all packing things needed for the trip into my wife's mid size vehical & everything was going well. Next thing I know everthing was packed & she is standing there looking at the vehical. I approach & she says I don't know what happened but there is no room for you in the car; you're going to have to take the bike. That's messed up I thought but whatever. Now it starts raining cold and not a little bit of rain either. So I am following the car and am talking to myself; visiblity is not good I am wet 20mins in and saying why wouldn't it be raining, just miserable. We get on the highway for a while i'm wet as a dog & just stop carring; then realize cars are all around me & I can't see that great & that they probably can't see me well either. I get on the throttle a quarter turn & the bike just does what it likes to do! I pass the family and just start passing all the cars lane to lane just flowing back & forth not really trying it just happened. I get clear & am having fun it's just me & my bike the rain starts slowing i'm this far in front already so I grab a handfull of GAS why not at this point. I am gone; the sun comes full out over head summers day perfect. I get off at the exit & stop at the bottom of the long ramp and just sit there for like 8-10minuets with helmet off enjoying the sun thats drying me off. I am completely alone waiting on the side of the road and it felt like nature just smiled on me at that moment for riding. My wife arrived worried and upset think I had been taking chances by pulling away from everyone. I told her that I was in more danger being boxed in with that many cars rain and fog. She understood and just like that the worst of days turned into a special day I remember every once & again.
 
Great story Nastee. Years ago I bought a pair of insulated coveralls so I could ride during midwest winters when withdrawal symptoms set in. I got older and stopped doing that but I still remember how passionate riding can be :)
 
Great story Nastee. Years ago I bought a pair of insulated coveralls so I could ride during midwest winters when withdrawal symptoms set in. I got older and stopped doing that but I still remember how passionate riding can be :)
Hard core stuff. Once it gets cold i am like seasons over done. Had to once after putting front end of my car into snow bank/ditch. But that's another story & was not good. Maybe will post it.
 
Got caught in the rain today.

8EAA4374-4680-4C89-AC43-8E6BA1C2119F.jpeg
 
My brother and I bought a 150 Suzuki a long time ago really waned the x6 hustler couldn't afford it though my brother goes to work with key to the 150 so I took a hair pin and kept fumbling with ignition til the whole tumbler came out so I didn't need a key anymore and he never knew it
 
For years and years iw ould buy a bike in the spring, sell in fall buy car. Well one summer late fall i wrecked the bike. I could not sell it for enough to buy a car. So i patched it up, put dirt bike tires on it, and rode it the entire winter. This was a 1991 or 2 ninja 600. At that time i lived 30 blocks from work. I Worked in a Blast freezer at work. I would gear up in my work uniform and ride to work! Wasnt actually too cold honestly. I dumped that bike no less than 20 times that winter. Obviously never moving to fast as i knew i had no traction.

I can say, i never sold another bike again to buy a car in the fall. I made sure what ever cage i bought, i kept! Boy the young and dumb days!
 
At the youthful age of 21y/o I rode on the back of a buddy's brand new charcoal Ninja 600. Tom claimed that he could ride & use to ride a V-Max and a Honda shadow blah blah. I didn't believe him to be honest he had told lies in the past trying to keep pace with the wild bunch of guys we hung with. It was a hot summer day we had plans to spend the day on the lake with two girls boating, water skiing swimming & having a good time. So I said lets go since my bike was being repaired. To my surprise a half dozen turns of leaning I started thinking he may be a rider & not a complete story teller; we arrived safely had a classic day on this girls boat. Everything was perfect until we said our good bye's and climbed back on that week old Ninja. We didn't get all that far before the thunder started then the sky darkened; turned to heavy rain & then to full on night time DARK two towns away from his home. We were drenched cold and not wearing jackets when he took a back road that had been newly tar & chipped we may have even been in shorts. Part way down this 2 lane out of the way road Tom hits a big puddle but water is everywhere flash flood type. Then we go through the middle of a second larger deeper one like 4 " or so maybe more. No bull I am on the back holding on to his waist tightly & suddenly the bike is hydroplaning & he loses the front end; just washes completely to the right the bike lays down. Now I have been down twice on the street prior and not again with out a fight. So I hold on hope for the best & put my feet down Tom is doing the same holds on to the bars still with the 600 between our legs while our feet are skiing through the water. I can't fault Tom except for picking this road. Most riders would have crashed or given up but he pulls up on the bars the front tire catches and before the end of the puddle the bike stands upright some how with both of us magically on the seats and upright like nothing occurred. Looking back he wasn't superman he just held on then turned the bars which stood the bike back up; I think.? But I never questioned his riding ability again or ever road on the back of a motorcycle to this day!!!! Some body was looking out for us fools for sure.
 
Made plans to go riding with my tattoo artist named Mike. I knew he was a real good rider from a friend of mine. We had talked many times on the subject while I was having work done. We arranged to meet up one morning at a dinner in between as we are about 1 hour apart. Well I go to start my bike and the battery is dead strike one. Throw on charger no good grab spare also dead. Ok back on quick charge. I am late now get enough of a charge to start it pull out & the steering locks dead center above 15mph. I get to the place an hour late. He is sitting at the table in full leathers with the top pulled down to his waist and his riding boots off just about finished with his meal. I feel like an amiture, explained what happened then pay for his meal. We head out to look at the bike he confirms a small dead spot in steering dampner. I look down and see the front brake lines are worn down from rubbing the tire strike 2 & 3. Last time I rode I hit a wheelie and heavy dual car horn I welded up came loose cracked the back of the front fender & had also damaged the stick dampner (News to me) so I had removed the fender. We pull out of parking lot & Mike smokes the tire sideways while standing and I'm like okay it's going to be that kind of day. We head to a hardware store get zip ties for the brake lines one problem solved but I made sure not to shut off the bike since not sure about battery still. Go riding turns at 80 and up. I am keeping up but have not turn in the handelbars at all just leaning. I am working super hard to do this though and am very aware that he is the best rider I have ever ridden with and that is saying something. He is rocking a GSX-R 1000, hangs way off the seat (I can see he is bored of me after about 45mins when I start getting tired) He is taking a right hand turn with one hand on the bars while kicking his left foot up off the peg then repeatedly bouncing his heal off the peg at 85mph & I can just imagine him yawning inside that helmet; strike 4 I think. I finally get up the balls to stop and admit I had been in such a hurry to meet him that I never got gas and had been riding with the red fuel light on for awhile (strike 5). Actually I only told him after he started to turn left away from the nearest gas station which I hoped to make it to. Truth is I sat at the intersection he had to double back asking what's up. Tell him he follows me right towards signs that the small bridge ahead is out I wave him on since I no there is no way I can make it around riding on fumes. Bridge is two lanes I pass a huge bill board road closed he follows. The right lane is gone washed out into the creek running along side it last storm. I mount the left lane and cruise right past two inspectors standing in the lane with their mouths open like are you out of your mind? No I just need fuel. Make it the 3miles to gas all is good. We rode some more & he taught me how to hang off side of bike latter turns out he did have a good time & didn't even want to go into work (he owns the bussiness). So that's what i was willing to do to ride that day. I keep my stuff tight so it was very out of place for me but I was caught off guard and did not allow extra time for problems & things snowballed.
 
Back
Top