I started riding 53 years ago when I was just 13. As I recall, Pop brought home a mini-bike and after having it about a week, he loaded me and the bike up and we went to the Honda dealer. For some reason Pop wasn’t happy with the mini-bike and decided we needed a motorcycle. After a bit of looking we came home with a blue 1972 Honda SL70.
Looking back, this was one of the best things that has ever happened to me. In addition to the pure joy of riding, I learned about mechanical things. I learned about oil changes, valve adjustment, and ignition systems. I also learned that if you neglected these items, bad things would happen to the bike.
After a couple of years, I managed to buy myself a Honda SL175. Once again, it was just about too big for a 15 year old boy.
This thing would really fly across the farm fields that I spent my days exploring. My grand parents owned a 44 acre farm just down the road from home and grandpa left most of the fields uncultivated. These two bikes started a life-long love of riding.
I’ve had countless bikes over the years, and before my wife and I had children, we would take weekend and vacation trips on the bikes. At one time she was evening learning to ride on her own. Unfortunately she developed health issues and the bikes went into storage for about 30 years.
After a lengthy illness, my wife passed away in July of 2016. In January of 2017 I started working to get them “Back on the road again…” It had been so long, I had forgotten the pure joy of riding! Now I’m trying to make up for lost time before I’m too old to enjoy the thrill of the open road.