Yes, but I'm currently pretending to be a mechanic.
The steering on my old Suzuki felt peculiar, with a notch at the centre position, an issue I was familiar with on bicycles:
View attachment 522727
Hardly any grease left in the bearings:
View attachment 522728
Which has worn indents on the races:
View attachment 522729
Ahm, I never had that happen on any of my 6 Honda's or 1 Harley Davidson.
None of which stayed stock & most of which were daily drivers for years while I had them.
None where newer than a 1980 model:
(in order of ownership starting on Thursday, Dec 23, 1971 [when I was 14]) when a new 1971 Honda CL 175 (which I had paid 1/2 for and my parents paid the other half + a pair of helmets and the insurance for a year as my Christmas present) was delivered to our house (and I was not allowed to ride it until Christmas Day [I became a legal, licensed driver of it on my 15th birthday, Wednesday, March 8 1972 [in the meantime, I had used trails in our rural area to get anywhere I wanted to go to]). With my parents help, I was able to convince my girlfriend (whom I dated from age 15-27)'s mother that I was safety oriented an she allowed her to ride anywhere with me (with me at 150 lb & her at 94 lb, the power was OK, I would borrow my father's station wagon for many 'date nights' but we were mostly on one of my motorcycles and within 100 miles of home).
Next up: a Honda SL350 (theoretically a street legal dirt bike) fitted with tires that were more street friendly than knobbie's and with a sprocket for a little less RPM at 70 MPH for 100 mile trips.
Then, a (for the time) HWY. bike: a 1966 CB77 (similar to what Elvis Presley rode in the film Roustabout [to avoid motorcycles outlaw image from films like The Wild One], in contrast to the Harley Davidson's that he later rode).
Next up, an unknown year (registered as a 1979) Harley Davidson that was a bastardized combination of XR-750, Sportster-based 900 cc (55 cu in) XLR magneto-equipped race engine with a 3.0000 in (7.620 cm) bore and a 3.8125 in (9.684 cm) stroke, the frame and the running gear from the KRTT racer, with a Ceriani front fork and two Girling rear shocks. It seemed like a cool idea but was a high maintenance bike and rode like the bastard that it was. It was the bike that I had in my possession for the least amount of time.
Next up (one of my 2 street favorites [of the ones that I owned back then] a 1976 CB550F{1}) for 1 up riding (or with under 110 lb. passengers [I was about 165 lb by then) that I had for a few years.
I then got the opportunity to get a 1980 Honda CB750, so I sold my 550. This was my other bike mistake (the Harley bastard being the first one). I did not like it's bulk. For me, the only good thing was the acceleration, when riding 2 up, with a heavier passenger (120 lbs.).
So, I sold it after about a year of tolerating it (maybe it was better as a touring bike) but I liked the 'tosability' of the 550.
I found another CB550 (but a 77 F2 this time). In 2001, I moved overseas to islands in the tropics of the Indian Ocean, Western Pacific and Oceana. In 2018, I came back home to Charleston, SC but I have not ridden a motorcycle of my own since 2001.
I married in Saipan in 2005 & she has placed a motorcycle ban on me (part of our prenup agreement (don't worry too much, I got some things that I wanted, too).
But the motorcycle itch is still there (I guess inherited from my father's father [who, in the 1920's was a motorcycle police officer and also sometimes performed in a 'wall of death' {motodrome}) and I definitely still go on rides with friends that have multiple bikes.
