First, I don’t get along with others well enough to spend a whole bunch of time with them. But also, everything becomes an exercise in democracy, should we stop, where should we eat, where should we stay, how many miles should we ride, etc. EVERYTHING takes longer, and I end up waiting… waiting… waiting… I hate waiting!

Personally, I like to go where I want, stay where I want, stop when I want. Of course, my trips are usually with my wife as a passenger… but she is the reason I enjoy these trips so much. In fact, she’s why most of the longer trips happen.

People seemed genuinely amazed that we did a 5000 mile trip out west last year “alone”.

I do prefer alone or with my wife as a passenger.

Cheers.

It has happened everywhere. I used to ride occasionally with a fella that had an cherry old 53 HD. His story was basically as follows:

I saw and ad for an old Motorcycle in the paper. Curiosity got me and I went by to take a look. Old lady led him out to the barn and said it has been her husbands. She wanted $500 for it and he needed to take it today. He knew what it was, told her that it was worth more than $500 and told her to call her son or a neighbor and they’d work out a price for it. She then told him that another gentleman was coming to look at the bike in a short while and if he had $500, it would be that guys motorcycle.

My story:

At the age of 13, I dug a 1938 National Duolian out of my grandmothers neighbors basement. she sold it to me for $25. I later went back and found all the original parts except for one (The tail bridge). In high school, I later traded that guitar for the top of the line Ovation Guitar. Probably about a $1200 value. Biggest mistake I’ve ever made.

After several months a fellow that worked at the same factory as did heard about them. He was …. and still is…. a vintage British bike collector. Anyhow things being what they were with my situation ( being an expectant dad and all ) I decided to surrender to his offer to buy both of the Hummers. I thought I was making a super profit…. he came and looked them over and gave me $500.00 for the pair.

Being the meticulous fellow he is he spent several months refurbishing both of em and taking them to several bike shows and coming home with lots of trophies and prizes. It wasn’t till years later I discovered that one of the most unique things about these bikes was that they had ” consecutive serial numbers “.

Man my butts still sore from kicking my own &$$….. but $ 500.00 paid for a whole lotta diapers and formula back in 76.

Spud

Vincent black shadow, 1953, all original.
$1,200 seemed a like a lot of money for an old bike in ’72.
I’d never heard of Vincents.

It’d be worth maybe $45,000 in Ca today.

I would like to share a story with you that is not only true, but made me sick to my stomach.

Last weekend I was out riding and stopped at a place for a bite to eat. I had been by this place quite often and decided to give it a try.

Candy and I went in and suddenly struck a conversation with the owners, there wasn’t many people in there. They mentioned thy would like to get more of the biker crowd in and asked us what we thought should be done. We gave some suggestions what to do to get them in, but the food was so fantastic it would bing them back.

The lady likes to collect old things and She took us to Her warehouses to look at some of the items, totally unbelievable!

She then said She had sold 2 motorcycles She had. She had gotten them from some relation and they had been kept covered in a building out of the weather. She said they had an Indian head on the front fenders. I described the front fenders and founf out they were 2 original late 40′s Indian Chiefs both Indian red and in great condition. They both ran and the people who bought them actually rode them.

She thought She just had 2 old motorcycles and sold the pair for $1500.00 (750.00 each).

I immediately started to get sick to my stomach.

When I informed Her of what She had and how much they would actually be worth then She was also sick to Her stomach.

The moral of this true story is if you don’t know what you have, a little reseach can go a long way to helping avoid a blunder such as this one.

We saw Her tonight, She is still sick about this.

Ron Ottow (Dancing Bear) VDOG #1621

” Oh ” came the reply and he turned and started to walk away so I called after him and said ” Well I’m truly sorry to disappoint you but it is what it is and I bought it knowing it was a Kawasaki and I’m happy with that so I guess if you’re disappointed at least it didn’t personally cost you a dime “……. he just kept walking.

A friend of mine that used to ride a Yamaha Virago bought a new Harley FLH Standard in 04. Since then he’s become a hard core Harley worshipper….. which is fine as that’s his choice. What really got me though is that when I bought a Harley Police Special last spring he showed up at my workplace all excited and said ” Man… ya finally bought a Harley eh”…… it’s great to see you on a real bike…. you’ll enjoy it so much more than that jap scrap… blah… blah … blah….. bash… bash … bash… till I finally said ” Look…. I haven’t FINALLY bought a Harley…. I’ve had 3 of em since I started to ride way before you met me….. this is my 4th one….. I still have my Drifter as does my wife and we love them…. I like the Harley as well but it isn’t my first love….. I bought it cause I’ve never had a Police Special and always wanted one… not because I was embarrased to ride a Jap bike…. and by the way, that Kia Sportage SUV of your wifes that you pulled up in just isn’t cuttin’ it in my opinion…. whats up with this Korean junk….why don’t you buy her a Ford or a G.M. or Chrysler product…. then you’d have a REAL vehicle”

The only time I see him now is if we meet each other going the opposite direction…. and he has a hard time lifting his hand to wave.

So be it . As my dear ole dad used to say ” If ya don’t like my yard …. don’t swing on my gate”

Spud

Back when Kamac first got her motorcycle licence, we were taking ever increasing short trips away from the house and back. As you all remember she had some problems at first.

We needed to get gas and we were hungry so we decided to go to a Pilot truck stop near us, get gas and enjoy a Subway sub. The place is easy in and out with the Subway in the same building so it was ideal. When we got there the pumps were all being used so we just pulled up to the store and went in and ate.

While we were eating I noticed a guy walking around the Drifter checking it out. We finished eating and exited the store and the guy was still there. I said “hi” but got no response. I guess I expected a,”nice bike” or “nice Indian. Oh silly me! I jumped on Karen’s bike and rode it to a pump so she could start pumping gas.

As I returned to my drifter the guy says to me,”ain’t if a F__king shame that Indian let the japs build that thing”. I looked up in disbelief and he said it again. I was just about to say something when I noticed that sitting in a small import car parked next to me was a pretty little Asian lady and two of the prettiest little Asian/American children you have ever seen. I could tell by the look on their faces that this nut was their husband/daddy and they were afraid of what he was getting himself into. Can you believe the irony!

He continued on about japs, outright shames, import junk and so on as I climbed on the Drifter and started it up. As I was backing out of my parking space he climbed into his import and was still mouthing off as he drove away.

Kamac could hear most of it and she was amazed that I handled it so well. The guy was a lot smaller than me so I guess I could have tried to teach him some manners. But I tell you, the look of relief on the faces of the women and kids as they drove away was worth the self control on my part.

That poor woman and those two pretty little kids has to live with that punk everyday. I am glad I didn’t add to their miserable lives.

Wilmac

I have a story to tell… I finally have one! Waiting in line to pay for gas I was approached by a guy who looked like a biker. He said that he & his girlfriend were passing by, noticed my bike & made a u-turn. He wanted to take a picture of her on my bike. I told him to go right ahead. He was a good looking fella so I figured that his chick had to be a looker. I yelled after him to email me that picture & gave him my email address.
When I finally walked outside I was dumbfounded. His girlfriend… all 350 plus pounds of her was still straddling my bike while he was trying to figure out how to work the camera. My big beautiful fenders were almost touching the ground! Other bikers were passing by… few yelled-out rude comments & wolf whistles but mostly they just stared (mouth wide open) at the sight. Unphased, he finally snapped a shot & helped her to dismount my bike (which rose at least 6 inches). He gave me thumbs up, helped her into his pick-up & left. I stood there for a minute, checked the welds for fractures, determined that the bike has survived the ordeal & went home.
If he does email the picture I will post it… you almost have to see it to fully appreciate just how small 1500′s look when paired up with certain body types.