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Interests Personal

Motorcycle ownership

I have a feeling I’ll be coming back to this post every so often to update it but wanted to get the list down now while I was thinking about it.

Unlike my brother, I don’t have a picture of every vehicle I’ve owned and detailed records of every aspect of every vehicle. Don’t get me wrong, I wish I did, really I do, I just didn’t get that particular gene.

So, here goes, as close as I can recall, from first to most recent in chronological order of ownership.

  1. 1970 Honda CL450 (1989/1990?) – I bought this particular motorcycle with funds from a student loan. It had a sunk float (or I believe that was the issue with it. I didn’t know much about vehicles at the time and finding parts was more difficult without all the resources of the internet.
  2. 1985 Honda NightHawk CB450 (1995?) – I don’t remember the specifics, but I think I traded a computer built for this bike from a high school classmate. He had wrecked it and the handlebars were tweaked ever so slightly – rode it that way – no, not just rode it that way, rode the piss out if that way!
  3. 1985 Harley Davidson Sportster 1100 (1997/1998?) – Bought this from a coworker, had a lot of fun on this bike. Last year they made the 1100 Sportster. Part of me wishes I still had that bike.
  4. 1990 Harley Davidson Sportster 883 bored to 1200 according to owner (2007) – I actually bought this for my wife, lowered it, thought she’d like to ride it, no such luck.
  5. 2006 Suziki C90 (2008) – Bought this bike brand new off the dealer, never been tagged, put 30+ thousand miles on it and sold it to a friend. Still on the road today (2019/05/23). Helluva bike, comfortable, smooth ride, bought it so I’d have something big enough for my wife and I to both ride on.
  6. 2001 Honda Rebel 250 (2008) – and this folks was the beginning of the end. Bought this little beastie off a student worker who was graduating and didn’t want to move the bike. He was going to have it repaired and sell it, so I asked him what was wrong with it and how much he’d take for it as is. Needless to say, I’d learned a bit more about mechanics along the way and what needed to be done with the bike was well within my abilities. I do believe this is the ONLY bike I’ve owned that I actually sold and made money on. But the beginning of the end was my wife set on this bike and decided she liked it. She could touch the ground and at that moment a motorcycle momma was born.
  7. 1986 Honda Rebel 450 (2009) – so Honda made a 450 Rebel for two years, 1986 and 1987. My wife decided that if she could ride a 250 Rebel she could definitely handle a 450 and started waking me up about 450 Rebels she found listed for sale all over the country. We ended up driving up to northern Ohio to buy one, still have it because she refuses to sell it. BTW, it’s Pum-Crazy Purple a color made famous by the 1969 line-up of cars like the Charger, Challenger and Road Runner.
  8. 1986 Honda Rebel 450 (2010) – no, that’s not a typo. For some reason I thought it would be cool to own the same bike as my wife and bought another one. I did ride it a little bit, but it was too small for my comfort and ended up selling it.
  9. 2004 Suzuki VStrom 650 (2014) – I always wanted to own an adventure touring bike and this thing was FUN. Had a blast on this bike it was fun to ride and zippy. I remember some kid in a sports car sitting beside me revving his engine at a red light… Not sure the wheel came off the ground or not, but it was close. The wheel coming off that ground, not him keeping up, that was nowhere near close.
  10. 2014 Yamaha VStar 950 Tourer (2015) – bought new from the dealer. Once again, one of those motorcycles I bought thinking the wife would ride it, but it just didn’t fit right, so I ended up riding it. But wait, there’s more…
  11. 2007 Yamaha VStar 1100 (2016) – See, the wife didn’t want to ride the 950 because the 1100 sat lower (after lowering links and a custom seat).
  12. 2014 Honda Valkyrie 1800 cc (2018) – ever have one of those motorcycles you’ve always just wanted to own, the dream ride, they end all be all? Well, this is mine. All those other bikes that I thought were smooth riding, zippy, fun to ride. Well, I loved them all, but so far this tops them all.

But, that’s not all, I’ve had other bikes, temporarily housed them until they found a new home.

  1. 2002 VStar 650 – a friend from high school bought this bike, didn’t end up riding it hardly at all. It sat in a garage for about 7 years, neglected, sad and alone. I got it running and passed it along to another rider
  2. 1976 Honda CB360 – I got this in a deal with a truck. Thought I was going to fix it up, never did and eventually passed it off to another tinkerer.
  3. 1986 Suzuki Katana 650 – bought this off a coworker for a friend that wanted a bike, his style of riding not mine.
  4. 200? Honda CBR 600 – second bike I’ve purchased for a friend off a coworker. This one isn’t quite running yet.

Some might say I have a problem, I prefer to think of it a vivid interest in two-wheeled vehicles.

By Mark

I work in IT and ride Motorcycles. I do one to support the other.