| Author | Message | ||
     Crusty |
Re-Entry Riders This past year, I've been privileged to help two old friends who had stopped riding to get new bikes and get back in the saddle. The first was Kathryn; she had been instrumental in helping me out back in 1997 by giving me an old R 60/5 when I was healing from a crushed ankle. Healing was a long, slow process and I discovered that it hurt me a lot less to ride a motorcycle than to drive a car. She sold her R 100 back in 1999 or 2000, and hadn’t been on a bike since. When I saw her last year, she expressed an interest in riding again, but as she was poor, she couldn’t afford a bike. I decided that it was Payback time, and set out to find a motorcycle that she would enjoy riding. I remembered that she had loved her first bike, a 1975 or '76 Honda 550, then moved up to first an R75 BMW followed by an R 100. She got the R 60 as a second bike while she had the R100, but never rode it much. Anyhow, she never really cared for the Beemers and eventually she stopped riding altogether. When she told me that she would like to get another bike, I took into consideration that she hadn’t ridden in 15 years, so she was going to be rusty, and anything more than a mid size bike would be a bad choice for a re-entry bike, as her skill set was going to be very diminished. I found an ’81 Yamaha XJ650 Maxim for short money that I thought was a good choice and bought it. I gave it a bit of a cleaning and got it running reasonably well. I sorted out a few minor issues, put new tires on it and turned it over to her. Last time I talked to her she was still loving it. She said she was riding it to work most days, and she was very happy with the bike. The second rider was my lifelong friend Ernie. He just retired from the Post Office and also expressed an interest in riding again. This was a more difficult task. He had a Honda 350 that he’d gotten in 1973 and rode it until 1974. He hadn’t been on a bike in 40 years. He wanted a bike for just riding around locally. He didn’t want a lot of power and he wanted a bike that enabled him to flat foot the bike when it was stopped. He also didn’t have a lot of money to spend, but he wasn’t in a hurry to find a bike. I started looking at ads on a regular basis, and came across an ’86 Suzuki Savage for a good price. After discussing it with Ernie, I went and checked the bike out. It had lots of rust and corrosion, but it ran well enough and I recommended he buy it, which he did. I got it running well enough, did an oil change, lubed the cables and did a little cleaning. It took a good bit of work, more than I anticipated, but it’s running fairly well, and Ernie went to work cleaning it up. He’s put a lot of effort into making the bike look good and it shows. He has bonded with the bike, and he has developed a good bit of enthusiasm. His riding skills were non existent when he first got the bike. I encouraged him to take a MSF riders course, which he did, and we started a slow, easy regimen of developing his skills. We go out one day a week or so and go for a ride. Each time we go out, I take him a little farther and we hit slightly higher speeds. We also ride for longer stretches over more challenging roads. The first time we went out, we went less than 20 miles on back roads, and the fastest we went was 30 MPH. This past Sunday, we went to the IMOC meet in Sturbridge. It was 41 miles each way through a good bit of traffic, hitting speeds of 55 MPH and he handled it just fine. He still doesn’t have as much confidence in his abilities as I do, but he is able to see a lot of improvement. He’s getting a lot more comfortable with the bike and is enjoying riding a lot more. It’s becoming more fun than work. To be honest, it’s not all altruism on my part. Every time Ernie and I go out, we wind up stopping at a donut shop, and he buys me a coffee. I’m also arranging to get the three of us, Kathryn, Ernie and me, on a ride together, and the two of them are going to buy my lunch for me. I told them this, and they both readily agreed. I think it’s a fair price for them, and the amount of satisfaction I’ve gotten from watching them get back into riding is priceless. | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
Its a great feeling helping people find the two wheel passion. Good on you John! | ||
| Zane |
Always knew you were one of the good ones Crusty. You just go around proving it again and again. | ||
| 86129squids |
 Excellent work, friend! I'm a big fan of pre-90's bikes, there were just so many cool ones to appreciate. That Savage in particular is anvil-reliable IIRC, plus there are a few pretty cool kits you can buy to really mutate its look, similar to cafe'ing an old Yamaha twin. I've had a similar experience with a good buddy, but he was a total beginner- he listened to me, and exercised due diligence in coming to the sport- bought the right gear and took the MSF. Now he's on a Yamaha 1100 cruiser, quite happy with his knees in da breeze! More stories, phleeeze! | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Great stories John, thanks for sharing. |
