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I was living in Brooklyn, Ct. back in the mid '80s. At 16 I was workin full time for a welding/iron working company. A friend had given me his old '72 Suzuki Gt 750 "waterbuffalo" that had just been sitting in his shed. It was kinda big and heavy for a first street bike. But it was FREE
. It was also UGLY!
. Had one of those '70s custom paint jobs. The stock blue green color had purple panels painted on the sides of the tank and side covers. Within the purple panels were white squares shooting out at you from a tiny point on the horizon. I hated it. But i was off in a cloud of blue smoke. This bike was NOT my first love. Neither was the Gorgeous '78 Kawasaki KZ650B i replaced it with, though it was beautiful and quick and nimble.
My first love was the '83 GS1100E that the mechanic at my local Kawasaki shop had. Every time I took my 650 there for parts or just to b.s. I would stand and stare at that GS. He had put a Kerker K2 pipe on it and superbike bars. God i wanted that bike. I finally talked him into selling it to me for $2600. Was that a fair price in '84? I didn't care. I was the happiest kid in town.
After a year and a half or so of being in the perfect relationship with my blue beastie, I was riding home from the boston area and happened to be wearing my full face shoei just because there is a helmet law in Mass. Not in Ct. and i went without one quite a bit. This day I was wearing it and a levis denim jacket as it was cool that morning. I stopped for gas just before i got into town and there was an ex-girlfriend (with her new boyfriend) in his souped up amc javelin. She came running over to say hi (probably just to make him jealous) while i pumped my gas. When i left they followed me out onto u.s. 6 and i wheelied off through first gear and half of second. They didn't catch up until I caught the red light at Brooklyn center where there was no one in front of me. When the light changed of course i took off like a shot again . As i cleared a bend in the road I came up on a line of cars going WAY slow. It was on a pretty long straight away but was a no passing zone as it passed between the state correctional center and it's parking lot. I dropped 2 gears and considered staying behind everyone, until i looked in my mirrors and saw that javelin coming. So...being 18 and stupid I dropped another gear and pinned it and started passing everyone at a rapid pace. When suddenly, the first car in line, a 70ish 4 door dodge dart, which was the cause of the slow traffic, decided to turn left into the jail driveway (which by the way was marked do not enter). I locked up the rear tire, pulled in the clutch and grabbed the front brake lever and tried to get around the front of the dart while the woman driving it was looking right at me but not stopping. By the time I hit her we were at the edge of the pavement. I caught her right in the drivers door and went over the roof, doing a somersault as I went as there was green dart paint on my helmet afterward. I landed in the grass of the jails yard luckily. No road rash. But I blacked out at the moment of impact. I woke up with a Ct. State Trooper standing over me. "you been drinkin'?"... "No". "you on drugs?" ..."No" " well here's your ticket." Passin in a no passin zone and travelling too fast for conditions.
I got a ride to my buddies house in the f-ing Javelin. Went back with his truck to get the bike. Some of the inmates were yelling out the windows, "get a Harley!"
. front end was toast, ignition side of the engine was torn off. Went back to my buddies and drank some beer. My leg itches. Took my jeans off and had a 4 inch hole between my calf and shin bone. Off to the hospital for stitches. (Funny but no marks on my jeans.) Put the bike in the paper and a local gs collector bought it for $500. Turns out he put a used front end on it and got it back on the road again. I'm pretty sure the frame was bent though.
Anyway. Young, dumb, and way too fast. Looking back, if I had tried to sneak behind her i would have been ok. But she was lookin right at me and I figured, she's gotta stop. Oh well. Had alot of bikes since then, but I'll never forget my first love.
. It was also UGLY!. Had one of those '70s custom paint jobs. The stock blue green color had purple panels painted on the sides of the tank and side covers. Within the purple panels were white squares shooting out at you from a tiny point on the horizon. I hated it. But i was off in a cloud of blue smoke. This bike was NOT my first love. Neither was the Gorgeous '78 Kawasaki KZ650B i replaced it with, though it was beautiful and quick and nimble. My first love was the '83 GS1100E that the mechanic at my local Kawasaki shop had. Every time I took my 650 there for parts or just to b.s. I would stand and stare at that GS. He had put a Kerker K2 pipe on it and superbike bars. God i wanted that bike. I finally talked him into selling it to me for $2600. Was that a fair price in '84? I didn't care. I was the happiest kid in town.
After a year and a half or so of being in the perfect relationship with my blue beastie, I was riding home from the boston area and happened to be wearing my full face shoei just because there is a helmet law in Mass. Not in Ct. and i went without one quite a bit. This day I was wearing it and a levis denim jacket as it was cool that morning. I stopped for gas just before i got into town and there was an ex-girlfriend (with her new boyfriend) in his souped up amc javelin. She came running over to say hi (probably just to make him jealous) while i pumped my gas. When i left they followed me out onto u.s. 6 and i wheelied off through first gear and half of second. They didn't catch up until I caught the red light at Brooklyn center where there was no one in front of me. When the light changed of course i took off like a shot again . As i cleared a bend in the road I came up on a line of cars going WAY slow. It was on a pretty long straight away but was a no passing zone as it passed between the state correctional center and it's parking lot. I dropped 2 gears and considered staying behind everyone, until i looked in my mirrors and saw that javelin coming. So...being 18 and stupid I dropped another gear and pinned it and started passing everyone at a rapid pace. When suddenly, the first car in line, a 70ish 4 door dodge dart, which was the cause of the slow traffic, decided to turn left into the jail driveway (which by the way was marked do not enter). I locked up the rear tire, pulled in the clutch and grabbed the front brake lever and tried to get around the front of the dart while the woman driving it was looking right at me but not stopping. By the time I hit her we were at the edge of the pavement. I caught her right in the drivers door and went over the roof, doing a somersault as I went as there was green dart paint on my helmet afterward. I landed in the grass of the jails yard luckily. No road rash. But I blacked out at the moment of impact. I woke up with a Ct. State Trooper standing over me. "you been drinkin'?"... "No". "you on drugs?" ..."No" " well here's your ticket." Passin in a no passin zone and travelling too fast for conditions.
I got a ride to my buddies house in the f-ing Javelin. Went back with his truck to get the bike. Some of the inmates were yelling out the windows, "get a Harley!"
. front end was toast, ignition side of the engine was torn off. Went back to my buddies and drank some beer. My leg itches. Took my jeans off and had a 4 inch hole between my calf and shin bone. Off to the hospital for stitches. (Funny but no marks on my jeans.) Put the bike in the paper and a local gs collector bought it for $500. Turns out he put a used front end on it and got it back on the road again. I'm pretty sure the frame was bent though. Anyway. Young, dumb, and way too fast. Looking back, if I had tried to sneak behind her i would have been ok. But she was lookin right at me and I figured, she's gotta stop. Oh well. Had alot of bikes since then, but I'll never forget my first love.
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