Firewood Transporter

[sailorman1617]

Scanning some old photos, and came across this one, taken in 1982 in a campground in Cape Bretton highlands park, Nova Scotia. I'd been sent to fetch firewood. The guy selling it made the mistake of telling me "you'll never get that whole bundle of wood on that bike." Two week, 2000 mile trip from the Philadelphia area, with friends riding the '79 GS1000 I'd sold them. Had rain on 10 days :-( Still riding the GS1100.

 

[Nessism]

You survived obviously, but that doesn't mean you made the right decision to ride with all that weight out on the backend of the bike. Oh well, makes for a fun story I suppose.

 

[storm 64]

And I thought I've seen everything. Nope. The Suzuki looked at that pile of wood and said "Why me" then it said "okay let's get it done"

 

[sailorman1617]

Might appear dangerous, but I don't think it weighed anywhere close to a passenger back there. Also carried 2 saddlepacks, tank bag, tent and sleeping bag when packed for the road. Never really had a stability problem, but again, I don't think that stuff added up to having a passenger, which has the additional challenge of moving around while you're going 5 mph

 

[Steve]

Have never carried that much firewood, but we have had some unusual loads. :-k

About 35 years ago, we lived in the Los Angeles area. Went for a ride down the entire length of Angeles Crest Highway on the KZ1300. The full trip was about 200 miles, which was a NICE ride. As we approached home, my wife said that we needed to stop at the grocery store to get milk and cereal for breakfast the next day. As we were checking out, we looked at each other and just said "oops". We just asked the cashier to double-bag the groceries (only paper bags available back then), we put one bag in each saddlebag, two in the trunk, my wife held one on each leg and I had one on the (padded) tank between my legs for the one block trip home.

.

 

[Sandy]

You survived obviously, but that doesn't mean you made the right decision to ride with all that weight out on the backend of the bike. Oh well, makes for a fun story I suppose.

Probably no worst than this. Returning from showers while camping on the infield at Laguna in mid 1980s.


soates50, on Flickr

 

[Brendan W]

Wet or dry ?
I burn at 45% of the weight on felling day.

 

[sailorman1617]

Wet or dry ?
I burn at 45% of the weight on felling day.

Well, it burned later that evening, so dry enough to burn. We got so hammered that night we missed the ferry to Newfoundland the next day; oh well Great memories of things I could/would do when I was 30 but not today.

Here's how it looked when I got home. Green thing on the seat is my tent which is fairly heavy, but would go under the sleeping bag on the luggage rack if I had a passenger. Probably rode 10,000 miles with that setup.

 

[Gorminrider]

ha ha! nice load! Racks rule.

 

[argonsagas]

ha ha! nice load! Racks rule.

I can already hear the repercussions....and I did not even say those words to my wife!

 

[argonsagas]

I have carried a few loads on the bike that were .....unusual....but never firewood.

Today, whenever the subject comes up, I am reminded of trips to Pakistan, where it is common to see very strange loads. Ten gallon milk cans, two of them strapped to each side, is one of them. And these are all small bikes.

Then there is the much more common sight of whole families on a 150 or 175cc bike.
Their bike It is their only means of transportation, so you will often see three people, but also four or five and, occasionally, six people on one bike.

https://ca.images.search.yahoo.com/...a.images.search.yahoo.com&ei=UTF-8&n=60&x=wrt

 

[Zagg]

Scanning some old photos, and came across this one, taken in 1982 in a campground in Cape Bretton highlands park, Nova Scotia. I'd been sent to fetch firewood. The guy selling it made the mistake of telling me "you'll never get that whole bundle of wood on that bike." Two week, 2000 mile trip from the Philadelphia area, with friends riding the '79 GS1000 I'd sold them. Had rain on 10 days :-( Still riding the GS1100.

View attachment 49302

That's awesome! The pics and story brought back memories of backpacking adventures I had with my friends in my 20's. They were all on foot, but I am trying to have some new adventures now that I am passing through middle age. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Zagg]

I have carried a few loads on the bike that were .....unusual....but never firewood.

Today, whenever the subject comes up, I am reminded of trips to Pakistan, where it is common to see very strange loads. Ten gallon milk cans, two of them strapped to each side, is one of them. And these are all small bikes.

Then there is the much more common sight of whole families on a 150 or 175cc bike.
Their bike It is their only means of transportation, so you will often see three people, but also four or five and, occasionally, six people on one bike.

https://ca.images.search.yahoo.com/...a.images.search.yahoo.com&ei=UTF-8&n=60&x=wrt

I was on a super cheap all inclusive vacation to the Dominican Republic back when I had more money than kids and the streets in town were just like middle east images where scooters and little motorcycles were everywhere and very few had only one person riding. I tried to get a shot of the bikes with entire families but none came out, but there were several with dad driving, 3 kids in the middle, and mom on the back. I was talking to the guide because I couldn't figure out the lanes or patterns and nobody stopped for anything... I asked the guide about turn signals and he just laughed "We use the horn." Hah! We were on a bus.

 

[bonanzadave]

taken in 1982

In 1982 I got nervous when dust settled on my EZ ! A load of firewood would have killed me...

 

[sailorman1617]

In 1982 I got nervous when dust settled on my EZ ! A load of firewood would have killed me...

Note the towel on the seat under the wood. Thought there was indeed quite a bit of dust and road grime at that point of the trip

 

[dorkburger]

Sailorman, is that the same bike you are currently working on?

 

[sailorman1617]

Sailorman, is that the same bike you are currently working on?

Yes it is. It had been sitting for a few years, so has the usual items to address: brake lines/master cylinders, carbs, adjusted valves, tires, chain/sprocket set. Still needs ignition wires and some other wierd electrical gremlins like warning lights coming on and off. And some cosmetics. But I put about 2-300 miles on it this summer, so progress.

 

[dorkburger]

Nice. Cool that you still have it.

 

[850 Combat]

I've been wanting to ride up to Nova Scotia. I hear that there is a ferry from Maine again.