Bonneville America Forums Forums General Motorcycle Forums Other Bikes Ramblings from an old fart

I had an old Victor 441 back in the dinosaur ages. I ran it through the woods and back trails in Ulster county NY. I would load it with camping gear and take it fishing in some really out of the way places. It alsways ran. It never failed. It was a real fun scoot and as I bought it cheap when I sold it I made out like a thief and I bought a HD full dresser. What a pig. Fun on the straight roads but parts were always falling off and the repairs got tiresome after a while. Sold that one off and bought a Trophy 650. Now that was really a fun bike and I kept it for many years and sold it for more than I paid for it in '77. I was a young dad with responsbilities etc and the wife talked me into getting rid of it. I shoulda got rid of her instead. In '81 I stumbled onto a Bonneville Special. The one with the black paint, gold pinstriping, single megaphone exhaust and mag wheels. That was a great bike. I put over 35k miles on the bike riding back and forth from Massapequa NY to NYC when I was a cop. Great transportation but got squirrley above 70 MPH. It was a light bike and kinda tall and even with a windshield it was a handful above 65 MPH. In '83 I let it go and I have regretted it every day since. I dumped the wife in '86 and that was a very good but expensive move. In '05 I again felt the urge for a Triumph but wife #2 put the kibosh on it. "If you get a motorcycyle, we are getting divorced" is what she said. I was looking at an Adventurer at a low price and it would have not been a good purchase anyway. In '06 wife #2 decided to divorce me and threw me out. I lived on an air mattress for two years until my finances allowed me to finally get a decent place and retreive my bed from storage. Two moves later I am finally into a Senior Mobile Home Park in an older trailer and in '07 I bought a new SM. I love it. The ex (wife #2) started to make some noises about how dangerous etc and wanted me to get rid of it. I reminded her that the days when she could demand, command, control and tell me what to do were over when she threw me out. We get along great as friends and spend time together and we enjoy our company together but we live apart. Two Alpha people cannot abide under the same roof and I ain't gonna knuckle under ever again to a female. So we will live apart but still see each other and provide mutual support to each other. She is my best friend and I am hers. I do not see other gals and neither does she have any entanglements with guys.

Triumphs are my love and I will never give them up. I have a small dog "Sgt. Rambo" who believes that he weighs 200 pounds and can kick anybodys butt. Too bad he only weighs 20 pounds and is a Chiweenie. Chihuahua mixed with Weiner dog. He is a one person dog and only tolerates the ex cuz she feeds him. It has taken a year for him to trust her and allow her to pet him.

Between the Triumph, my target shooting, reloading ammo and efforts to play the guitar my life is full and satisfying.

My goal is to get a small trailer where I can provide a safe place for Sgt. Rambo to ride and carry some camping, fishing and shooting gear and extra gas. This tiny gas tank with a range of about 150 miles gives me a queasy feeling on long rides in the desert where gas stations are few and far between.

I have even gotten the ex to enjoy riding a motorcycle with me. The new Corbin seat and pillion are both very comfortable and we will be taking some longer rides pretty soon if I can find some fellow riders to come with me.

There is safety in numbers and with the crazy cagers around here you need a group of at least 3 bikes for safety and to be seen by these nut cases. Not a week goes by in Vegas without a fatal motorcycle accident. The Motorcycle cops here average about 1 accident a month and these guys have sirens and lights and guns etc. They still get mown down but the nutcases in the city.

Once you get out of the city the traffic thins out and there are a lot of decent rides to be made outside of town. This is where most of my riding is being done. However having another pair of bikes riding with you provide a larger safety margin and a breakdown is not the end of the world if you are not alone. A solo bike broken down with a flat or whatever on a deserted desert road in 110 degrees temperatures can be fatal to the rider. Cell phone coverage in Nevada is spotty outside of the big cities. There are some roads in good shape on which you will not see one car all day long so you need to be prepared for the worst.

I love the Speedy. It has more power than I can use, is reliable, easy to maintain, looks great, rides great and was priced right when purchased. The only improvement I would like is possibly to put on a set of America handlebars. Higher, longer and more swept back would improve my comfort I believe and it would not be a big expense to go for. I really would like to see a 6th gear on this bike for those long road trips. My bike at 65 MPH is turning over 4,500 RPM and I would like to get that back down below 4,000 RMP if possible. Getting a front sprocket with more teeth could give me reduced RPM's but at the expense of acceleration etc. So as I am pondering getting a tow behind trailer for the bike I will put that off.

The next step would be to get a leather scabboard for my shotgun or my Garand so I could have those warm and fuzzy feelings on the long trips. The trailer could solve that problem and I also could possibly install a decent set of air horns with the compressor on the trailer because there is not any place to install a good set of horns on the bike.

I have no plans to sell the bike until I can no longer ride it and that ain't gonna happen anytime soon.

Well that, Mr. Dapper Dan was a great rambling which I enjoyed reading very much. Life experience means having stories to tell, some of which you shared in this thread. Good on ya man for being the man you and doing the things you do. As a fellow "old fart" may I concur on many points made.

There is strength in numbers, and bliss in being one!!

here is a company that makes a pet trailer for motor cycles

web page

Ed

Well, finished that novel You mention changing the handlebars, I recommend getting some longer risers 1st, as these will raise and push back the bars. Easier and cheaper for you.
You also say you speedy does 4500rpm at 65mph, wow I get nearly 75mph at 4500rpm.
What do you other guys get?

At 4500rpm in 5th I'm doing about 85. It should be noted that I swapped out the 18 tooth stock front sprocket for a 19 tooth for that exact reason. I know that some older TBAs came stock with a 16 tooth sprocket, which would explain the discrepancy.

lemme start by sayin good on ya for removin yerself from a couple of bad situations. nobody can step on yer pecker unless you slap it down on the floormat... that said, if you figure out a way to mount the shotgun without it bein bigger than the front end, lemme know.. I'd like to do the same at some point. and if yer ever back in yer old stompin grounds, Im across the river in Dutchess County.. we'll go for a ride. just so long as its not in the next week... i got a clutch to replace.. lol.

wow I grew up in Massapequa Park & now live in Ulster county. small world feeling here. DaemonWulf you wanna ride Im in!

'tis a little ball of mud we inhabit. yeah, man, I just threw the Barnett in Sunday and I'm down for some mileage... shoot me an email and we'll figure it out. MFBA band, by the way.

Hi Dan,
You sound about the same vintage as me. Started off with a 250 japa and then progressed to my first 650 Triumph. Helmets and indicators were optional extas at the stage. Owned quite a few trumps and also a norton combat. Went to harleys in 1988 and then back to Triumph in 2003 with my first America. Done 75,000 trouble free ks and now have my second America-2008 with the fuel injection. Longest road trip was arround Australia in 1995 with my wife on a Electaraglide. Four months on the road with tent etc. To be fair the bike went well with no real probs. Still ride on a regular basis and attend rallies in other states.
Keep the shiny side up and watch those cage drivers.

Kent

Someone had a thread recently about a single wheel trailer they made with good pics including hitch. you might search for it. I saved pics on my work comp. I hope to build one this winter

You mean this one

http://www.bonnevilleamerica.com/forums/...ge=1#Post453665