OK, let's see them motorbikes...

[rammercmc]

I think the point I was trying to make is The bang For your Buck !

A rare Luger that most people you know wouldn't have a clue as to its value. A gun you shoot maybe once and clean and put away OR a motorcycle that when you grab a hand full of throtle it puts a smile on your face you walk around with all day !

[lugerholsterrepair]

Know how a pregnant Woman and a motorcyclist are much the same? Neither of them know exactly when but they will both be going to the hospital sooner or later.

[Edward Tinker]

Originally Posted by rammercmc

I think the point I was trying to make is The bang For your Buck !

A rare Luger that most people you know wouldn't have a clue as to its value. A gun you shoot maybe once and clean and put away OR a motorcycle that when you grab a hand full of throtle it puts a smile on your face you walk around with all day !

i’ve always been leery of bikes, but about two years ago, a good friend and his girlfriend had somebody pull right in front of him and most of his major bones in his body were broken.
So it’s a little bit hard for me to get excited about wanting a motorcycle again :-)

[G.T.]

Motorcycles are definitely a, "Risk, skill, thrill" activity. I grew up in a Harley shop, when I was at two and three years old, my dad used to toss me onto the tank of the bike, and I rode there until he thought I was old enough to hang on, and then I was behind him... I drove the smaller Italian made Harley bikes from about nine or ten on … When I was 16 and seventeen, I toured the western states on a 350 Sprint, both bikes fell apart on the last legs of the journeys...
I had rode several 100,000 miles by my eighteenth birthday, and into my freshman year of college, then my dad sold the franchise. I was done with bikes and thru my experiences has three or four near catastrophic, come to Jesus experiences, and two high speed get offs... (amazing how, for a millisecond, you really believe you can run it out? ) Fast forward 35 years, my friends and I buy Harleys to travel to some rally's and tour a'bit…. No accidents in approx. ten years, but a few close calls... Had some medical issues that made it difficult to ride, so all too soon, my bike days were over for good...
So, here's the long and short of my experiences. The risk is constant and always high, doesn't matter how good, physically, you are on the bike, survival is totally dependent on you ability to smoothly choose defensive and preplanned options when the boogieman pops up? Of course skill and experience are definitely factors to consider, sometimes they are rendered moot just by circumstance.. Got'ta be lucky as well?
The thrill, it's the whole deal, freedom and fun, plus a "Walter Mitty" type adventure ever time you leave the drive way...
But, freedom doesn't mean safety... All might end well, but the odds are not in your favor? I've always liked motorcycles, like freedom even more.. Love my family even more... best to all, til...lat'r…..GT....

[DonVoigt]

I just thank God I'm old enough to not want to ride anymore!
And a new, old luger can make me smile multiple times - on many days.

[rammercmc]

Burn out or rust out, I would like to pick somewhere in between. We moved out to the boonies, a little town Inglis florida. Bought a place on the river, actually three little houses. One is sort of my man cave, upstairs I have a couple of easy chairs. The chairs have foot stools which open up and you can guess there are several pistols inside. I keep a luger and a large ring hammer mauser among others. Good place to read a book and watch the wildlife on the river.

We have a lot of two lane country roads with little or no traffic, great place to ride. I like sport bikes so own a Sportster and a Buell among others. Near by is a little town Ozello , ten miles of twisties ! A fun ride on the Busa or Ducatti but like GT said you have to be aware of the RISKS !

At 72 I should be selling instead of buying or will end up like one of our members who is trying to bring himself to sell his collection. A tough decision deciding when to part with things we love -------

[John Sabato]

but here goes:

<SOAP BOX ON>
I am 71 years old, and have at least a 100,000 miles on motorcycles that I can account for, The last time I 'dropped' a bike while in motion was 1972 when a corner intersection that I turned on at least 4 times a day and knew exactly how fast I could take the turn, and how far I could lean in the turn was unexpectedly modified by two workmen digging a ditch alongside the road and happened to throw a couple of shovels full of dirt in the path of my tires... No injuries except a wounded pride and a broken turn signal perch shaft.

That was 46 years ago. I am still riding... and don't plan to stop until I no longer feel safe... not anytime soon I can assure you.

Safety is every driver's business. Not just the motorcyclist. I am often asked by "young" people how fast my motorcycle will go... my reply is 0-60 in about 5 seconds, and a top end of 125 MPH... BUT NOT WITH ME ON IT.

Ride safe my friends... to quote an old beer slogan, "You only go around once in life, and you have to grab for all the gusto you can!
<SOAP BOX OFF.

[sheepherder]

Also off-topic...

I've only had one 'serious' accident on a cycle...A 650 Triumph Bonneville, back in the early 80's...Hot Summer day, coming home from a picnic, turned onto a newly constructed freeway on-ramp, accelerated up to 55 and hit a sandpile right in the middle of the on-ramp...Knocked me out for a few minutes, got up, forks were twisted but not bent, rode it slowly home with some scrapes & bruises, nothing serious...Except a headache (Goggles & helmet were on!).

Another related point: What the young riders of today don't accept is that during the time you own a motorcycle, you need to realize that there will come a time when you will have to push it five miles...Or lose it.

This has happened to me twice; the first time on a Norton Atlas 750 in the late 60's, when a loose magneto kill-switch wire sidelined me on a busy thoroughfare in the middle of the city. Pushed it 76 blocks/5 miles all the way home, with a cop stopping me to ask WTF was I doing? (License & registration, please). The second time was in the early 90's, one o'clock in the morning at a popular bar with my Harley XR-1000. Wouldn't start. (Corrosion/patina on the starter relay). No kickstart on this dual-carb Sportster. Leave it at the bar? Yeah...No. Friends all asleep. So I pushed it 5 miles to the air base where I was known and it was under the watchful eye of the DoD Police. Then I walked another 4 or 5 miles home. Three cars stopped and asked if I needed help, while pushing. I declined.

It's not quite a rite of passage...But if you're not prepared to push it, then you have no cause to complain if you lose it...

[rammercmc]

I had a Norton Atlas 750 BACK IN 64 and pushed it more than once, not too bad when you are 18. More recently I had to push my PCW 300 bobber back to my storage unit when I had electrical problems.Not much fun when you are 72. Thankfully I was fairly close and about a year ago I got a motorcycle added to my AAA just encase.

I think Eugene will come through but it will be pushing two years. I was happy to help bankroll his project as few would take on something like this.

[Norme]

Years ago I met a guy at my skeet range who was hobbling around on a new prosthetic leg. I asked him how he'd lost it and he told me he had taken a corner too fast and laid his Harley down. I commiserated with his misfortune and he told me that that was not the worst of it, "my wife was on the back and lost the same leg, things are a little tense at home right now".
Norm

[ithacaartist]

A buddy of mine had a Norton 750 Commando in the late 60s. While ascending Dry Hill road, up to the former DEW 3-domed radar site (now a NYS prison), he got tangled up in some wire at a construction area at, he said, about 80 MPH. The mishap left him without a lot of skin on the left side of his body, his leg in particular. When recovered to a state that was the new normal, he stuck with his AMC AMX. I guess its 390 kept him happy/thrilled...but with some actual protection.

YouTube has stacks of videos and compilations of mishaps, accidents, close calls, etc. Some are very sobering displays of driver error and its results. Others demonstrate just how invisible a bike is to other motorists.

Risky business, for sure. Nonetheless, I ride, too.

I have a question, though, inspired by those videos. When did it become a "thing" to use the throttle instead of the horn?!

[John Sabato]

Originally Posted by ithacaartist

...

I have a question, though, inspired by those videos. When did it become a "thing" to use the throttle instead of the horn?!

If it IS a thing, it is a STUPID thing... A little patience goes a long way to many years of riding safely, instead of watching others ride while you are adjusting your prosthetic limb which you acquired by being STUPID.

[ttarp]

Yeah, the revving thing instead of the horn is pretty weird. Since folks are making their bikes so loud these days, it might be a more effective way of getting a drivers attention than a horn?

Most of the youtube videos show the riders to be at fault in one way or another in wrecks, yes a lot of cars pull out in front, but many of the riders simply aren't prepared for it when they should be, or exceeding the speed limit. My own close call was 100% my fault, was distracted by a car pulling out of a parking lot, and didn't see the light turn. I narrowly missed the back of a truck turning left.

Money and spending is a weird thing, I've spent well over $6500 building my small collection, but I balk at paying that much outright. Even at half that cost, I'd hesitate, but I'm really glad someone is building new Lugers, and maybe one day I'll bite the(.45) bullet.

[Zorba]

I quit riding on the street about 37 years ago - got tired of being the "invisible man" - and I can tell you stories too!

[rhuff]

I finally decided no more riding last year. I can't bring myself to sell my H-D Softtail Springer. I have put nearly 100K miles on it, with no significant accidents. Three(3) trips to Sturgis, SD, plus many, many more ralleys. I started my "motorized two wheeled thing" in the very early 1950s and became addicted!! I went through the Whizzer motor bikes, Cushmans , Triumph 650s, and H-Ds starting with a 1948 Flathead and progressing through Sportsters, all the way to my STS. No regrets, but finally realized my balance and reaction time was not what it needs to be to ride safe. A hard decision to make, and I might change my mind in the future....who knows??

[Dwight Gruber]

I have been a motorcycle rider.



Can we please get this discussion back on Eugene's .45 Luger project, or close it?


--Dwight

[Zorba]

Here's one way:

[ithacaartist]

Originally Posted by Dwight Gruber

I have been a motorcycle rider.



Can we please get this discussion back on Eugene's .45 Luger project, or close it?


--Dwight

I agree, this baby has wandered waay off topic--I was hesitant to post for this reason.

Would it be possible for a moderator to take this side-tracked portion of the thread to a post of its very own in the "Off topic" section? Somehow, the recent accumulation of snow has made a discussion about motorcycles imperative!

[DavidJayUden]

I ride every Wed. evening with a small group of gents, we never really travel, never go much over the speed limit, don't go to the bar, but we just like to take the pretty winding roads and smell the roses for a bit.

During our dinner the conversation usually revolves around motorcycles, guns, airplanes and occasionally wives and politics. But we all recognize that persons who are interested in firearms are frequently motorcyclists too.

So instead of hijacking other threads, let's see some of these bikes I keep hearing about.

Here's my 1973 850 Commando. It is in perfect order but just doesn't see much daylight. I don't ride it enough to justify owning it, but can't bear to see it go as it is one of the last in a very long line of British cycles I have had over the years:

[rolandtg]

My 1976 Yamaha XS650. Original paint, pipes, seat, etc.
I got this bike from a co-worker who took pretty good care of it.
It was an easy restore compared to some of my other bikes.