Went for a Ride, Made Friends, and Destroyed Tires

[Guest]

Before anyone jumps down my throat, I did not destroy my tires, any more than usual that is .

Anyways, I went out for a ride today. Took the long way to my favorite place to ride, Bear Mountain, and had already done about 140 miles when I got there. For reference, the short way is about 35 miles . Bear Mountain is a pretty popular spot for all sorts of bikes, and it's fun to see what else turns up.

Here is my 850, parked behind the one of many sport bikes that were there.




But, just in front of the sport bike, was this little screaming beauty!



A gorgeous, freshly restored '77 RD400.



It was very , very clean!



I was talking to the owner for a while, an older gentleman, everyone calls him Windy, and he restores bike's for a living, and also runs a high performance riding school! He also runs a mailing list for local sport riders, and does lots of pictures and video work. On top of all this, he is a genuine nice guy. Much better than the usual squids and harley guys that I usually meet up there.

He saw my GS, and mentioned he had one too. An '82 1100E! I can only imagine what kind of shape it's in judging by how nice his Yamaha is.

Somehow to conversation shifted to a Stunt Show that was happening at the local dealer, Motorcycle Mall. We rode down there together, and it was a lot of fun following the blue smoke! I'm a young'n remember, and had only ever seen RD's in pictures and videos. The real thing is way cooler!

So we get to the local dealer, and there are some funny looking bikes in the parking lot.

Like this one.



And this one...




And this one too...



They were definitely strange, and a bit ratty, but with good reason which I'll get to soon.


But first I have to post this GSXR picture, because I think it's grandfather is a certain infamous GREEN FRAMED GS1000 that lives in Norway.... Hovmod, I'm talking about yours!



Can you see the resemblance?!!

To be continued!!

[Tim Tom]

Part 2

So the dealer has roped off about half of their parking lot. Very secure green caution tape, separated the watchers from the action!



After a little while of waiting and talking with Windy, my new friend, they start the show.

This guy was the professional stunt rider.



He was pretty good. Lots of wheelie-ing.



He did more wheelies.



He was a good rider to be sure, but after he was finished, a local group took to the pavement. These guys were nuts!



There was about 6 of 7 of them, and they would stunt together in groups of 2 or 3. It got pretty intense!


This guy really didn't like his tire



Which prompted the guy on the blue framed bike to do this!



At the end of the show, the blue bike did yet another burn-out, and held it until his tire shredded! Yay for smokey burn-outs!

However, the guy on the CBR was the best, while the others were doing wheelies, stoppies, and burn outs, the standard fare for a stunt rider, he was DRIFTING. Drifting A LOT.



All over the place, in such a small area, with two other guys also racing around, it is amazing no one crashed, or was hurt. Seriously. Kudo's to the stunt riders, but I think I will let them do it.



Anyways, the moral of the story here, is it pays to ride your GS and make friends with people you meet. I had an awesome day, rode almost 200 miles, saw a stunt show, and made some new riding buddies. All because I was out and about on my classic Suzuki!

Windy and I are going riding tomorrow morning, and he will be on his GS1100E. Should be good fun.

[pete]

Thanks for sharing Tim! Definitely nice to get out and about and meet other riders and look at other older restored bikes.

Not into stunting or whatever myself naturally but sometimes it's nice to see the control some guys are able to exhibit... definitely realms above me in skill levels!

[loud et]

Very cool. I am not a sporty type, but you cant help but enjoy some stunt riding. Have you ever heard of Bubba Blackwell? He and his crew of young guys do all that stuff on Harleys! lol Its hilarious. But they are all skilled riders....(at least at the show I saw they used the orange plastic snow fence) ...known the world around for its motorcycle stopping ability
I have to say, DRIFTING on a bike must require serious HP and skill. , when my rear tire slides an inch on a tar snake in the road or a couple inches on some sand....yeah, do not like the feeling! But with experience comes ability. I consider myself a new rider still after 2 1/2 seasons and 16,000 miles total lifetime riding.
Great post and pictures....BTW, I really enjoyed the thread on your trip! What an adventure. You better get Eric a birthday card

[Redman]

..
..
Windy and I are going riding tomorrow morning, and he will be on his GS1100E. Should be good fun.

Would be good to see pics and a story on that also.
(I suspect we will.)

Thanks

[Tim Tom]

Very cool.
I have to say, DRIFTING on a bike must require serious HP and skill. , when my rear tire slides an inch on a tar snake in the road or a couple inches on some sand....yeah, do not like the feeling!
Great post and pictures....BTW, I really enjoyed the thread on your trip! What an adventure. You better get Eric a birthday card

I have to agree. I am not a stunter by any means (I've never even done a wheelie) but I absolutely appreciate the skill and pure cojones these guys had It was cool to see in person, youtube videos don't convey the same energy and experience of being there. If there is a stunt show in your area, go check it out. It's a lot of fun to watch these guys.

As a side note, my GS and the yellow RD were parked next to a 1198 Ducati, and a S1000rr, and yet everyone stopped to look at our bikes. Well, mostly the Kenny Roberts RD, but my Suzuki also got some compliments! Its cool when you are surrounded by flashy and fast sport bikes, yet it's YOUR old bike that gets the attention.

I'm glad you enjoyed reading about my adventure! One of these days I do mean to continue the report, as I seem to find excuses not to write it up . However if you want more, I can do that.

[Tim Tom]

Met up with new friend Windy this morning and we went for a ride. This time he was on his slightly modified GS1100E. I gotta say it is a pretty cool bike. He MADE a lot of the parts on it, including the rear cowl.



The cowl look really long, but it is actually no longer than the stock set-up. It covers the rear part of the seat, and connects at the tail-light.

Windy and his friend Lucianno checking out the bikes before we left this morning.



Windy really likes Yamaha's and he put little tuning fork decals on the brake calipers. They look good, but I think he shoulda done the S instead...

But the engine was very clean... Polished cam covers, and Carbon Fiber starter motor cover that he made himself!



He is very talented with carbon fiber. His track bike he made a CF exhaust and it looks amazing.

Other little details adorn his bike too, like carbon fiber rear brake pad cover!




His bike and mine at the top of Bear Mountain. The cowling looks much better from this angle I think.




We had a good ride this morning, and I think I'm gonna be talking to him a lot in the future, and maybe getting him to repaint my bike and make some carbon bits for me... I think some CF cam covers would look awesome (certainly better than my invisible ones )