Any motorcyclists on this forum?

[Gringoaudio1]

My first bike was a 1984 500VFR I bought as a teenager working at a bike shop. The V4 was a miracle of engineering. Then Suzuki came out with a 600 that was much faster, and uglier.

Suzuki does ugly so well! Nothing worse looking than the Haybusa.

 

[Rottmannash]

My Suzuki GS850G just flipped in his grave!
View attachment 328934
I just looked at a photo of one.
Boy, oh boy! If I was the doctor; I would have slapped the father!
Generic UJM to the max!

My 1st bike (bought by me) was a 1981 Suzuki GS650L. Shaft drive. Burgundy but looked very similar to the above 850.

 

[pseudoid]

My 1st bike (bought by me) was a 1981 Suzuki GS650L. Shaft drive. Burgundy but looked very similar to the above 850.

Go ahead and admit it. When you bought that bike (w/shaft drive) you thought it could not be considered a UJM!
Mine was like the energizer-bunny and had over 65k miles before trading it in for another... and another... and another...
I don't know what had made me buy the GS850G. It may have been the desire to have more torque than a Bonnie triple.

 

[Sparkles]

My 1st bike (bought by me) was a 1981 Suzuki GS650L. Shaft drive. Burgundy but looked very similar to the above 850.

I respect the utilitarian vibes. I admired my economics teacher who in the late 70s rode a BMW R100.

My first was a Yamaha RD350LC. Unforgettable. Sigh.

 

[EJ3]

Aye, rekon KTM make excellent motos. Miss my Superduke, stolen by f**kwits 2014. Also, now consistently better than most everything bar Ducati in MotoGP too now. No mean feat by all accounts.

Vintage two stroke chainsaws. Now there's something that sounds almost riskier than vintage two stroke race bikes. Vicious power bands. Snapping chains with teeth.
Whoa.

We used a pair of these on a Go-Cart, the engines were modified from the original 12.5 HP at 9000 RPM to 15 HP at 13,500 RPM, 18,000 RPM REDLINE.
This was in the early 1970's, there is a lot of fun to be had by 14 year old boys with a 30 HP Go-Kart.

We tried one of these engines on a Mini-Bike but that experiment did not go so well.
Something about our 155 LB. butt being on the seat (with the rear wheel almost directly under it), VASTLY excessive power & the fact that it would wheelie at NO notice at any speed we dared to get it up to.

 

[pseudoid]

I had something similar to this '70s Rupp Roadster with a 3.5HP Tecumseh engine. Mine was a no-frills version; without the fenders, chain/exhaust guards and no front/rear lights. Paper routes, shoveling snow, mowing lawns, etc. paid for it. They were illegal and I had to hide mine in a friend's garage.

As 'slow' as it was, that Rupp was my mentor in all things that involved speed!
First thing I learned was that you needed these things called "tools" to fix things on a minibike. Duh!
Next thing I learned was that the Rupp seriously needed more get-away speed. Duh!
A 'dead' donor 6HP Briggs&Stratton lawn-mower engine taught me about more HP=more Speed. Duh!
I also learned that more Speed=more Fuel. Duh!

TL&DR: Never crashed it, never got caught but became addicted to go-fast machines. I also learned about economics by pulling a profit on its sale!

 

[EJ3]

View attachment 329343
I had something similar to this '70s Rupp Roadster with a 3.5HP Tecumseh engine. Mine was a no-frills version; without the fenders, chain/exhaust guards and no front/rear lights. Paper routes, shoveling snow, mowing lawns, etc. paid for it. They were illegal and I had to hide mine in a friend's garage.

As 'slow' as it was, that Rupp was my mentor in all things that involved speed!
First thing I learned was that you needed these things called "tools" to fix things on a minibike. Duh!
Next thing I learned was that the Rupp seriously needed more get-away speed. Duh!
A 'dead' donor 6HP Briggs&Stratton lawn-mower engine taught me about more HP=more Speed. Duh!
I also learned that more Speed=more Fuel. Duh!

TL&DR: Never crashed it, never got caught but became addicted to go-fast machines. I also learned about economics by pulling a profit on its sale!

Ours was not as fancy: (No suspension)

3 months before I turned 15 (& got my motorcycle license), I got a new, 1971 Honda CL 175, a real 85 MPH, 85 MPG street legal motorcycle in the Candy Apple Orange color shown here. I immediately stopped messing with Mini-Bikes (but the high powered Go-Karts stayed in my life for a while):

Lawn mowing paid for 1/2 of it, the other half was a gift from my parents for Christmas & my birthday, I had to pay the insurance after the first 6 months (as wellas any registration fee's, etc) & wear a helmet if leaving the neighbor hood (I just put the helmet on anyway, I did not see any point to using the motorcycle & staying in the neighbor hood.
The most interesting thing was that it was titled to only me. (at 14 years of age). I don't think that that can be done today.

 

[Gringoaudio1]

I wanted a minibike so badly as a kid. Finally got a mini motorcycle, a 50cc Suzuki Gaucho new old stock at 14. I had ridden the cousins’ Honda CT70 a lot and was hooked. It took several years of saving earnings from newspaper and flyer deliveries and a lot of begging the parents to kick in a portion of the price. Thanks parents! Learned skills on that that never went away and served me well on later bikes and for mountain biking.

 

[EJ3]

I wanted a minibike so badly as a kid. Finally got a mini motorcycle, a 50cc Suzuki Gaucho new old stock at 14. I had ridden the cousins’ Honda CT70 a lot and was hooked. It took several years of saving earnings from newspaper and flyer deliveries and a lot of begging the parents to kick in a portion of the price. Thanks parents! Learned skills on that that never went away and served me well on later bikes and for mountain biking.

Sometimes we load a couple of similar bikes (Honda SL 70's) into the Jon boat 12" long, narrow beam (yep, 2 people, 2 small bikes, it's tight) powered by a vintage 30 HP 2 stroke Johnson Seahorse engine (I run Amsoil synthetic outboard 2 stroke oil at an 80/1 ratio (it says that you can run it at 100/1 but I suspect that my boat has more load than what the Amsoil factory was using. There is no visible smoke at 80/1 & I haven't had any failures due to a lack of oiling and want to keep it that way.
We typically stay within a mile (2 at the most) of the bigger islands or mainland and go exploring (gently riding these moderately off road capable "mini-bikes) on these pristine, uninhabited islands that would take days to explore otherwise.
Of course, we always bring back everything that we brought (and many times some [or all] of what people on foot left), on our way back.
Most times it's very little of others remnants that we bring back (either because they did like we do & brought it back [or that they actually spent time burying it & we did not see it]).

 

[pseudoid]

Ours was not as fancy: (No suspension)

Hey @EJ3, yours seems to be also missing something else.
As always, I am here to help with excellent suggestions:

I would highly suggest the XTO but that would have to depend on your finances.

 

[EJ3]

Hey @EJ3, yours seems to be also missing something else.
As always, I am here to help with excellent suggestions:
View attachment 329686
I would highly suggest the XTO but that would have to depend on your finances.

I would need a bigger boat, too. Mine would probably sink if you laid it in it.
As long as outboards are the topic how 'bout this 654 HP one?

Boats more along my liking, though are these (SJX [and they are not outboards]):

 

[pseudoid]

There has been a few iterations of the "Wally" boat since introduction about few decades ago, but it still makes me go 'woah' when I think it...

It looks mean and evil when you see it at speed... I got the heebie-jeebies standing along-side of it, while berthed!

 

[EJ3]

There has been a few iterations of the "Wally" boat since introduction about few decades ago, but it still makes me go 'woah' when I think it...
View attachment 329842
It looks mean and evil when you see it at speed... I got the heebie-jeebies standing along-side of it, while berthed!
View attachment 329841

I have been very close for periods of time to the somewhat distant cousins of these, I think, except that when you are close to them you discover that the design is a tunnel hull.

 

[pseudoid]

I have been very close for periods of time to the somewhat distant cousins of these,

You mean like cigarettes? or

San Diego Bayfair's World Series of Powerboat Racing - a family festival tradition for more than 40 years speeds to the finish line.
The 2023 event has been postponed to September 13-15, 2024.​

San Diego Bayfair has a long and rich tradition in Mission Bay Park. The first race was staged in 1964 thanks to the foresight of the great Unlimited hydroplane racer Bill Muncey. Muncey was the driving force behind Bayfair and getting the racecourse built to host the event.
The 2.5-mile racecourse, which was named after the late Bill Muncey, is the longest and fastest racecourse on the H1 Unlimited hydroplane circuit. Driver Dave Villwock set the World Lap Speed Record of 173.384 mph in 1999 at Bayfair. Villwock has won a record nine Bill Muncey Cups, including his first ever Unlimited hydroplane race victory on the waters of Mission Bay.
Over the years, more than 5 million people have enjoyed the races on Mission Bay. Bayfair has grown from just a hydroplane race in 1964 to an event that featured drag boats, international competitors, live music and aerial demonstrations. Boat-racing tours including Formula One tunnel boats, Grand Prix West, P1 USA, Pacific Offshore Powerboat Racing Association and various semi-professional classes have competed at Bayfair. link

They are cool when they are doing their aerial acrobatic tricks!

 

[EJ3]

I have been very close for periods of time to the somewhat distant cousins of these, I think, except that when you are close to them you discover that the design is a tunnel hull.

But I still like these the best for my use:

 

[EJ3]

You mean like cigarettes? or
View attachment 329961

They are cool when they are doing their aerial acrobatic tricks!

More like this!
For speed, their is this:

Spirit of Australia is currently the world’s fastest boat with a water speed record of an eye-watering 317.6 MPH. Just to put that in context, Nascar and Formula drivers reach top speeds of around 200 MPH. Spirit of Australia was designed and built by Australian motorboat racer Ken Warby who holds the 317.6 MPH record that has been in place since 1978. The Spirit of Australia can today be found on display at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney.

 

[pablolie]

Spirit 30 - that's my kind of boat.

 

[EJ3]

Spirit 30 - that's my kind of boat.

In something like that, I like it to be big enough to anchor & overnight in.
Maybe 10 meters or so. Not 2 big but comfortable for 1 or 2 couples.
Kind of hard to go hunting in it, though.

 

[pseudoid]

If you were an environmentalist, support ESG and all that jazz... but like speed 'au naturel', you'd choose this:

I am none of the above but...

They are cool when they are doing their aerial acrobatic tricks!

If single-person foiling cats were around in my youth, I may have chosen that hobby over audio/music... but definitely NOT motorcycling.

 

[EJ3]

If you were an environmentalist, support ESG and all that jazz... but like speed 'au naturel', you'd choose this:
View attachment 330077
I am none of the above but...

If single-person foiling cats were around in my youth, I may have chosen that hobby over audio/music... but definitely NOT motorcycling.
View attachment 330078

I LIKE them very much when they are fast enough to water ski behind!