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Hi all

2K views 14 replies 9 participants last post by  Ken S 
#1 ·
Hi,
I'm Dave Bower, reside in Wilmington, Delaware (New Castle county), a long time biker, owned a go-cart, 50cc Bronco, 250 Yamaha DT-1, '72 Huaqvarna 360 Sportsman 4sp., '73 250 Husky MX, '74 250 Ossa Phantom, '75 GP250 Husky, '76 250 Penton MX,'77 GS250 Penton, '78 250 Maico Spider Enduro, '79 250 Penton Enduro, a 125 Husky somewhere in there, '76 GT550 Suzuki, '80 GS750 Suzuki, '02 1200 Suzuki Bandit, '01 600 Suzuki bandit, a Honda 750 for a sort period, and now own 5 bikes... three street, two dirtbikes and one yamaha moped.
55y/o, Married with three kids, all grown two flew the coop, youngest still in college, an retired dirtbike racer, MX, enduro's, H/S, DER member, AMA member, ECEA member, industrial mechanic, fully employed, house paid for, inground pool out back, vacatiion anually in Rehoboth Beach, frequent Lewis area, hate the outlets on RT.1, travel an big interest at this point in my life, want a motorhome, been to Sturgis, California, Frorida, Canada, Mexico, Las Vegas(desert dirtbike riding... screw the casino's),

More later, dave
 
#5 · (Edited)
Welcome Dave!

ps:
I ain't reading all that
I wasn't done yet....

Back to my bio:
The 125 Husky, about a '75 or so, I never really rode, took it and cash when selling the Ossa Phantom. And the Ossa Phantom... a great bike... won several races on it in amateur class mx and it got lots of looks... stood out in the sea of Hondas, Yamaha's', Suzuki's, and the sprinkled-in common Euro mx'er's. Super light, great WIDE powerband.

The '75 GP250 Husky, also a bike that got lots of looks .... my buddy and I both raced the exact same model and we sometimes finished 1st - 2nd which got peoples attention, not an easy bike to ride... but still a numerous race's winner and the one I most wish I had back. It was the Heikki Mikolla Replica... which gave it special status.. at least with Husky lovers

The 360 Sportsman Enduro 4 speed.... my first real dirtbike. Only way I could have bought it was to start working at the local shop. The owner was a crazy guy, Joe Martin who obsession with Huskies was contaigous. In that shop I had my choice of a Husky, Puch or DKW, all great bikes but I was a 250 cc type of kid and only Husky offered the bigger engines. 'Sides, Husky was synominous with MX and I was a MX kid. DKW and Puch were great enduro bikes. I was "talked into" the 360 Enduro by Joe ... anyway, all's good.

What other bike was special?? ... I finally transitioned to enduro's... and the '77 Penton GS250 was a bike that served me so well in enduros I reached expert quickly. It .....

"won" me a sponsorship on the Maico 250 Spider Enduro. Also a great bike... legendary Maico handling ... would have loved to comtinue the relationship... but Maico was kinda collapsing fiancially by then.

I'm a Suzuki guy too, as I worked at The Suzuki Shop in New Castle. Suzuki's are.... well, just plain better engineered than other brands, put another way... they make less boner's than the other guys. Their '78 GS750 in-line 4 stroke was their first effort into the 4 stroke m/c market... and voted best bike that year in m/c magazines. (not that those guys know what their talking about, but still).... The GS1000, next model year' was another best bike vote winner. I owned a 1980 GS750, also named best bike that year. See what I mean? .... when they put forth a real effort to build the best.... they do. Suzuki has an envious racing heritage ....
Still .... they're not perfect, (remember I said they make the least boner's of the manufacturers), their '76 RE-5 rotary was... a flop.... they prolly spent a crap load of money developing it ... and with some serious flaws it didn't sell. They prolly regret the day they plunked down the licensing cash to develop a Wankel rotary engine.

Hey, before I forget.... my wifes name is Lynne, and we've been married 31 years. Not bad, huh? Back then she was dating a co-mechanic at my work, The Suzuki Shop, and when he went to Florida to try racing pro, I "stepped in". Kinda sneaky of me, huh? Well, turns out he really didn't care.
She likes the beach so we go there a lot.... and she likes her pool out back.

My first son is a Univ. of Del. grad in civil engineering and while the recent economy decimated his profession, he's gainfully employed again now and back on track. I'm busting with pride.

Son two, .... also a U. of D. grad, chose a business major.... he was snapped-up by Walgreens Pharmacies drug stores before he could get the diploma hung on the wall. Yeah, more major pride for me. He's a manager now.... huh? manager that young? ....that companies nuts. He-he.

Youngest.... my daughter, got a 2 year degree at the local community college, Del Tech. .... more business schooling in the family... but that might change... who knows... she's likely heading to Wilmington College for a Bachelors. Sheeesh .... more pride... I'm blessed.

My knees are less-than-perfect due to dirtbikes but I can still ride ok. Snow skiing?? well .... if I'm careful. No physical reason's why I couldn't ride streetbikes more... just time constraints. I ride too work when it's dry and take mini rides on the week-ends. I want to take more long rides .... someday.

The DL650 I have is perfect for that. I trailered it to Sturgis and rode for 2000 miles last year and couldn't ask for anything better. The 1250 Bandit I have is the perfect in-line four "standard" bike. I don't care for bikes with lower cowls...hiding the motor... motors are made to be seen. The SV1000 twin is ... well, a big twin and it's light, so it's sorta my bad-boy bike. Can't ride it for a long trip though... bad ergo's. I have a Yamaha C-50 moped.... bought to fart around on when I'm down at the beach and bored with that scene. My buddy has a beach place very near us too and he's suposed to get a moped too so we can have some fun. DID YOU HEAR THAT, SCOTT?

The two dirtbikes.... a 2001 250 KTM 2 stroke... 2 strokes are really the only proper dirtbike... true old bikers know what I mean.

But still, the other dirtbike is a 2007 Husky TE450 4 stroke. It's purpose ..... to own a bike I can ride the Mexican Baja Penninsula someday on, (among other things).

I can see where this "adventure" bike craze is coming from.... it's cool to go explore back-country scenery and still be able to ride the street back home, (or to the campground for multiple day events). But I'd almost rather trailer a real dirtbike to cool places across the country. My old arse NEEDS comfort time between bike riding sessions.

What I can't understand .... never could.... is the HD scene. I dunno, I don't get it. And I generally prefer to avoid heavy bike as a whole. Just my opinion, but I think avoiding hitting something is inversly proportional to the manuverability of the bike ..... and the shear weight of the bike is number one enemy of manuverability. Number two is rider position.... cruiser position just doesn't feel as "in charge" of the bike.

Go ahead, flame me now ............. ha! I'm still here.......nomex.

dave
 
#13 · (Edited)
I wasn't done yet....

Back to my bio:

"And on the Seventh day, He rested...":rolleyes:

I'm used to a forum like mazimum-suzuki.com, with thousands of posts members.
Still, all's good.

Dave
As one of those "younger members" closer to 70 than 60, I'm guessing that this being a Yamaha forum, people spend more time riding than talking about it?;)

Hey I was thinking of starting a survey......

"What foot do you put down when you come to a stop light"?
Dave

Neither; I use crutches...:)
 
#6 ·
Hey I was thinking of starting a survey......

"What foot do you put down when you come to a stop light"?

Left _______

Right ______

Both ______

And more importantly than that..... how far down the road do you ride before you get both feet back on the pegs?

I think it's a riot when I see a fella take off and go so darned far .....feet down. Like they don't trust their sense of balance. I mean.... sometimes for like almost a whole city block. Maybe they can't chew gum and walk at the same time either.:D
Dave
 
#11 ·
Wow... this must be a young-in-age forum..... members with senior status.....with very low "post" numbers. (I saw someone with like 150 posts... and a senior member. Several with 400-500 posts.).

I'm used to a forum like mazimum-suzuki.com, with thousands of posts members.
Still, all's good.

Dave
 
#14 ·
As far as the survey goes, it depends upon which hip is cramping. Usually it's the right hip that cramps first...but I like to properly brake, i.e. using both front and rear, so I try to get the left foot down first.
 
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