Author Topic: Any way to turn back the years????? (Read 4607 times)

jbrough7 · « **on:** April 10, 2006, 07:38:39 PM »

Okay - so I'm an old dude - I admit it! Almost 47 but still having fun - just wishing for ONE thing!!

Had a little accident on my Kawi 500 triple which, in hindsight, was really not that bad - but this dates back to 1976!! Kinda scared me off biking until just last year when I found a good deal on an older suzuki savage.

Now I've got a bandit and just so freakin' happy! This thing puts more smiles on my face than anything else!

So when I was out getting a mortgage, a wife, two kids and four hundred bills all those years, I coulda been riding a bike instead?!? Not fair!!

Can I dial back the clock to 1976, anybody??

B12NScott · « **Reply #1 on:** April 10, 2006, 07:47:00 PM »

Sounds like every time you swing your leg over the Bandito it automaticlly rolls you back. Its not always Miles Per Hour, but Smiles Per Hour.

Desolation Angel · « **Reply #2 on:** April 11, 2006, 10:13:38 AM »

No way, man! If I can't, you can't! I hopped off my bike in 1981 to do the family/kids/home thing and didn't find my way back until summer of 2004. Didn't read bike mags...didn't look at bikes...didn't keep up with them in any way.

Imagine my surprise when I started looking around and instead of seeing these ...

I saw these ...

My words to the Suzuki dealer as I walked through his showroom? Don't you have any normal motorcycles?

Red01 · « **Reply #3 on:** April 11, 2006, 12:21:14 PM »

Hey DA, did you have one of those GS750's? What's that one, a '78?
I had a '77 GS750B. First year (in the US) Suzuki four-stroke. Mine was blue with a single disc and wire wheels. It was my first brand new motor vehicle.

Never had a Kawi triple. Had a friend with one and rode one of the wicked 750 triples. Man, those things handled like crap, but were fast and great wheelie machines. I opted for a Yamaha RD350. They were great at wheelies, too - and handled a helluva lot better than the Kawis.

Desolation Angel · « **Reply #4 on:** April 11, 2006, 01:51:18 PM »

Quote from: "Red01"

Hey DA, did you have one of those GS750's? What's that one, a '78?...

Yep. Brand new '78. Wish I had taken a few better pictures with it.

Oh, I swear there are no adult beverages in that styro cooler!

jbrough7 · « **Reply #5 on:** April 11, 2006, 09:49:00 PM »

I hear ya, desolation - and I feel your pain!

It must be rose-coloured glasses but my early 70's 500 triple seemed SOOOO fast!!

PaulVS · « **Reply #6 on:** April 11, 2006, 10:53:09 PM »

Pushin' 47 myself. (July)

Guys our age really did grow up in the hey-day of street bikes. Stuff to tell the grandchildren about.

Cargo7 · « **Reply #7 on:** April 12, 2006, 12:59:12 AM »

Yep I liked all of the late '70's 4-stroke Japanese standards and I would have to say that 78/79 GS750E was one of the nicest looking bikes ever designed. I bought my first new machine off the showroom floor - a 76 CB360T right after I turned 16 - my riding buddy at the time ran a 500 Titan stroker.
I rode a 78 GS1000 for several years - great memories that are with me to this day - and maybe one of the reasons that I had no problems whatsoever deciding on my 03 Bandit.

jbrough7 · « **Reply #8 on:** April 12, 2006, 07:30:47 AM »

I don't know why but when it came to look for a bike when I got back into it a couple of years ago, I had no prejudice and no knowledge whatsoever of the new two-wheelers. Studied and read and right away choice came down to a suzuki. had a blast for a time and then wanted something better and faster and looked all over ---and came back to suzuki - it was like nothing else even came close.

Maybe it's just due to the fact they have so many mid-sized bike priced right? Honda's are few and far between and priced out of range. kawi's ninjas are old...yamahas are expensive in Canada...what does that leave?

When I got the Bandit, I also looked at the sv650, the M50 and the c50. Glad I went with the Bandit all the way!

Go Suzuki!!

aussiebandit · « **Reply #9 on:** April 12, 2006, 09:05:22 AM »

I must be a very rare person indeed.

Everyone seems to have given up biking when they got married, got a mortage and had kids.

When I was younger, a teenager, my old man said "You'll get a bike over my dead body"

Well, at the age of 30, I year after my father died, and I'd been married 8 years, had a 6yr old and a not yet 1yr old, I got my licence....I'm 41 this year, my wife now rides a Ducati M750, my 7yr old is nearly 17 and nearly old enough to get his licence. My words to him "There is no way I'm buying you a car, you want transport, I'll help you buy a bike"

B6mick · « **Reply #10 on:** April 12, 2006, 09:11:34 AM »

The day I was legally able to ride a motorcycle, I went and got my learners permit, and ain't ever stopped.
Its the only thing thats kept me going, and sane.
Is all I can say is roll on the next 30 years.

Desolation Angel · « **Reply #11 on:** April 12, 2006, 10:03:33 AM »

Quote from: "jbrough7"

I hear ya, desolation - and I feel your pain!

It must be rose-coloured glasses but my early 70's 500 triple seemed SOOOO fast!!

It was fast! And good lookin', too. One of my friend's dad had one. I guess it would've been around 1972-ish. He'd put velocity stacks on it and done some other stuff to it and it screamed!

Now, it's been 30+ years since I've seen one, but I think it looked like this one ...

GaryB12VA · « **Reply #12 on:** April 12, 2006, 10:13:55 AM »

Quote from: Red01

Hey DA, did you have one of those GS750's? What's that one, a '78?
I had a '77 GS750B. First year (in the US) Suzuki four-stroke. Mine was blue with a single disc and wire wheels. It was my first brand new motor vehicle.

Hey Paul, that looks just like the one I had. '77 GS750. IIRC I paid something like $2100 for it brand new. What a sweet bike.

Red01 · « **Reply #13 on:** April 12, 2006, 11:02:16 AM »

$2100 is what I paid for mine, too.

(Got a Bell Star helmet - the orange one on the backrest in the pic above, full tank of gas and 1st service free.)
IIRC, MSRP was $100 more. When those bikes first got to SoCal, they were selling like hotcakes! I went to find one, I could only find one Suzuki dealer in the LA basin that had one, so I rushed over and bought it. I had really wanted a red one, but had to settle for blue if I was gonna get one at all. Picking up a leftover KZ900 or a new KZ1000 would have been easy, they were plentiful, but I wanted the Zook for it's better handling - and it was only a hair slower than the big KZ's. (IIRC, like 0.1 sec's in the 1/4 and 2 mph in top end difference.)

todius · « **Reply #14 on:** April 12, 2006, 12:50:35 PM »

Quote from: "Desolation Angel"

Quote from: "Red01"
Hey DA, did you have one of those GS750's? What's that one, a '78?...

Yep. Brand new '78. Wish I had taken a few better pictures with it.

Damn. In this photo, you look just like a young version of Dean Haglund who I see you have in your avatar.

I saw him in a comedy club once in Arlington, TX. I see you live in McKinney. You're not Dean Haglund (aka Langly) are you?