One of my favorite bikes.
It was the summer of 1989 and I had a good buddy that just bought a Honda Magna 750. He had a Suzuki GN400 prior to this and let me borrow it for a week or so. Having ridden mainly dirt bikes prior to this, I fell in love with that GN. It was so simple. Easy kick start, low seat height, lightweight, fun to hop on and get the mail, run to the store, etc. This was a major factor in me wanting to ride a bike on the street. My friend just bought a Honda Magna 750, and it was a sweet ride. But alas two teenage boys riding two up, was not very high on the cool scale.
I was 19 at the time and still living at home. Looking back I didn't really have any expenses at the time (thanks Mom and Dad). Had a job and started saving my money to buy a bike of my own. After a month of working on a farm, hauling hay, driving truck, spraying weeds, I had saved $1500. Enough to start the search for a suitable bike.
I was watching the classifieds in the local paper daily. And after looking at quite a few bikes. A 1984 Honda Shadow 700 came up for sale. I remember going to look at it. It was a really clean bike, had 7500 miles on it. It belonged to a pilot, who died in a plane crash. His widow was selling the bike. She didn't know much about the bike. I seen it and it was CLEAN. Definitely the best bike I came across in my search. I offered her $1100 cash and bought it.
Now I had the dilemma of explaining my bike purchase to my Mother. My Mother was 100% against motorcycles in general and especially street motorcycles. I stored the bike at my buddy's house for about a week, hiding it from my Mother. After priming my parents about wanting a motorcycle during the week, I summoned up the courage to bring it home.
My Mother was furious. I can remember clearly her saying "You are going to take that back right now". My Dad however seen the bike and rode it around the block and commented on how nice it was. That was my in. I told my Mother that I saved up the money, was an "adult" and I was keeping the bike. The atmosphere in our house was hotter than two rats in a wool sock. She ultimately relented, and told me I could not ride it until I had some proper safety gear. I had enough money to buy a helmet, a leather jacket, and some gloves.
It was one of the funnest summers, I can remember. My buddy and I put many miles on our bikes that summer.
Life happened pretty quickly after that. My riding buddy enlisted with the Marines. I got busy with school, and marriage. I had kids, and it got pretty hard to ride a street bike with small kids. I kept that Shadow inside and in excellent shape. My oldest boy got into racing pee wee motocross, and my hobbies changed to ones that I could do with all of my family.
I ended up selling that Honda Shadow, in 2003 when I needed some money to build a house. I had that bike 14 years and 30,000 miles and sold it for $2200. The memories now are priceless.
My Children are all adults now, and here's to finding some new memories on the Super Tenere!
What is the bike that got you into Motorcycling?
It was the summer of 1989 and I had a good buddy that just bought a Honda Magna 750. He had a Suzuki GN400 prior to this and let me borrow it for a week or so. Having ridden mainly dirt bikes prior to this, I fell in love with that GN. It was so simple. Easy kick start, low seat height, lightweight, fun to hop on and get the mail, run to the store, etc. This was a major factor in me wanting to ride a bike on the street. My friend just bought a Honda Magna 750, and it was a sweet ride. But alas two teenage boys riding two up, was not very high on the cool scale.
I was 19 at the time and still living at home. Looking back I didn't really have any expenses at the time (thanks Mom and Dad). Had a job and started saving my money to buy a bike of my own. After a month of working on a farm, hauling hay, driving truck, spraying weeds, I had saved $1500. Enough to start the search for a suitable bike.
I was watching the classifieds in the local paper daily. And after looking at quite a few bikes. A 1984 Honda Shadow 700 came up for sale. I remember going to look at it. It was a really clean bike, had 7500 miles on it. It belonged to a pilot, who died in a plane crash. His widow was selling the bike. She didn't know much about the bike. I seen it and it was CLEAN. Definitely the best bike I came across in my search. I offered her $1100 cash and bought it.
Now I had the dilemma of explaining my bike purchase to my Mother. My Mother was 100% against motorcycles in general and especially street motorcycles. I stored the bike at my buddy's house for about a week, hiding it from my Mother. After priming my parents about wanting a motorcycle during the week, I summoned up the courage to bring it home.
My Mother was furious. I can remember clearly her saying "You are going to take that back right now". My Dad however seen the bike and rode it around the block and commented on how nice it was. That was my in. I told my Mother that I saved up the money, was an "adult" and I was keeping the bike. The atmosphere in our house was hotter than two rats in a wool sock. She ultimately relented, and told me I could not ride it until I had some proper safety gear. I had enough money to buy a helmet, a leather jacket, and some gloves.
It was one of the funnest summers, I can remember. My buddy and I put many miles on our bikes that summer.
Life happened pretty quickly after that. My riding buddy enlisted with the Marines. I got busy with school, and marriage. I had kids, and it got pretty hard to ride a street bike with small kids. I kept that Shadow inside and in excellent shape. My oldest boy got into racing pee wee motocross, and my hobbies changed to ones that I could do with all of my family.
I ended up selling that Honda Shadow, in 2003 when I needed some money to build a house. I had that bike 14 years and 30,000 miles and sold it for $2200. The memories now are priceless.
My Children are all adults now, and here's to finding some new memories on the Super Tenere!
What is the bike that got you into Motorcycling?