1977...Star Wars....

An early poster I had on a wall, painted before they had hired any of the actors...

.......Was the big movie out that year. 36 years ago, I was 24 years old . Working at a motorcycle shop, barely eking out a living, and thinking maybe it was time to move on to something else. Kawasaki 903's were still King, but Suzuki was making four strokes now. A kid working at the shop who raced motocross had a Suzuki 400 DOHC twin that he'd wheelie up the hill next to the shop, avoiding pot holes as he   'mono' cycled on his way.

All these years later, at 60....(that looks old when you type it...) I still prefer the bikes of the past,(Even though I get the urge to try something modern all the time) not happy with computers in my autos...that either work perfectly or need replacement...Yet,back in '83, a Kawasaki 750 Turbo was around. Sort of 'shared' by my brother and I. At that time it was pretty state of the art, Digital Fuel Injected and turbocharged. One day my brother was out for a ride and a drunken woman in a VW tried to occupy the same space that my brother happened to be in. Totaled the car and the bike, and nearly totaled my brother. Two broken legs and a busted up wrist. Still has metal rods in his legs that set off metal detectors...Also had a couple of regular GPZ 750's around. I never got to put too many miles on the Turbo, but the GPZ was my commuter for a few years.

Another poster that used to be up on a wall....

Yeah, lots of different bikes over the years, and surprisingly I still have a lot of them still. Always said they would be fun to play with when I retired. That idea of retirement is coming closer to being a reality. Years later, and there is another Kawa Turbo around, and once again 'shared' by the brothers...or was I holding it ransom for some reason....something like that...At one time we use to talk about building drag bikes, or lately myself....bikes to take to Bonneville. My brother used to work at that same shop all those years ago. The resident Harley expert and his brothers ran two Hemi powered cars at Bonneville every summer. A 'Roadster' and a 'Lakester-drop tank bodied car'. Have always been intrigued with the idea of building a bike to run at Bonneville. Another idea is getting into vintage trials. Yeah, you hit 60, and suddenly a lot of time has seemed to pass too quickly...

A European poster, I'd like to have up on a wall...

Touring appeals...travel, seeing the parts of California I haven't seen...yeah just like Bronson on that old Sportster...straightening out fenders with rocks by the side of the road...entering motocross races, where the Sportster suddenly becomes a 'Sprint'....with the sound of a bigger bike dubbed in....Hahaha, I loved that old TV show. Actually the idea of touring on a modern bike that got good mileage, and would not need a lot of maintenance appeals very much. I can see myself hanging out in showrooms checking out bikes in the near future.