Hi Gail,
Congrats on the new scoot!
I have very fond memories of Triumphs (aka 'Trumpets'). My very first bike was a '67 500cc Trumpet that I chopped...front end about a foot longer than the factory intended, straight VERY LOUD pipes, etc. That was followed by a '69 Trident with equally outrageous treatment.
Then I finally decided to take the plunge (and eat macaroni-n-cheese for months so I could afford the plunge) and got my first Harley...a cast iron '67 Sportster. Here's a picture of a few of my riding buddies back in NYC looking over the damage that was caused when a drunk/drugged driver decided that red lights didn't apply to him:
I rebuilt that bike, but shortly after found a way to move out of NYC and up into the country of Upstate New York. I replaced the Sportster with an '81 Harley Lowrider. Here's a few shots of that one:
........
I also had a radical '60s style chopped 1957 Harley Panhead:
I did a ground-up build of a WWII 1942 Harley Flathead for my ex-wife. Hard to get in trouble when it's the WIFE'S tranmission on the kitchen table!
I can't find pictures of that one...but I have them somewhere.
And then there's the bike I have now. It's a 1981 Harley FLTP Police "Highway Interceptor". I bought it new in 1981 when the Washington DC Park Police bought one too many, and the dealer they bought them from was getting ready to send it back to the factory. I talked them into selling it to me, and after removing the blinking red/blue lights, the siren, and the police radio, I've been riding it ever since...to the current tune of 158,000 miles. (That's as close as I can estimate the actual miles since I rode it for about two years without a speedometer when I lived in Scottsdale, AZ. Heck, if I felt ok doing it, I wasn't speeding...
Here's a shot of it in my backyard in AZ:
As you can tell, I've been around bikes for a VERY LONG TIME!
Looks sweet. How's the muffler on that? I think motorcycles are fine, as long as they have a decent muffler on them.
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Art,
Not one of my bikes ever had anything but STRAIGHT PIPES. Ie, NO MUFFLER!
They were/are all VERY LOUD, but that's for a reason. Folks driving cars (cages) might not SEE me on the road, but when their cages start vibrating from the sound of me coming up on the road, they might stop talking on the phone, fighting with the kids, arguing with their spouse, etc., long enough to see where the vibration is coming from. If I suceeded in getting their attention, my noise is worth every decibel!
As it says on t-shirts I have:
LOUD PIPES...SAVE LIVES!
And of course Stu, I can't completely agree with you either...
I believe in ATGATT which stands for "All The Gear All The Time" and it is important to me.
Even riding my little 50 cc scooter around the hood doing deliveries, I have a Good 3/4 helmet on, glove, good boots and a Joe Rocket Phoenix jacket, and long pants.
People think I'm nuts, but for me, even falling off at 10 mph is going to hurt in a t-shirt, without gloves, so I wear the gear, all the time.Cheers!
I won't get on a bike if I'm not wearing boots, and jeans. But helmets...well, that's a sore subject to me. I rode for over ten years in AZ without one. The only reason I owned a helmet at all was so I could slip it onto my elbow when I crossed over into California. (The law said you had to wear one, but not WHERE to wear it. Helmet'ed elbow kept me from getting tickets...although CHP wasn't thrilled...
)
I've had two really nasty accidents, in almost forty years of riding, so I know the pain and scars of failing to keep the shiny side up and the rubber side down. Both accidents were 100% the fault of the cage-drivers that hit me. Knowing how to fall is more important than having the right safety gear on...
Ok, that's enough...Gail was just gloating on her new Trumpet. I'm going off on a tirade. Sorry Gail!
Good luck with the new bike. The new ones are really sweet. I know you'll have a ball on it. And don't forget...RESPECT IT...DON'T FEAR IT!
"Chrome Don't Get You Home"...
- Marty -