Living in The Past!

[XTreme]

On a FB Group for mainly older guys......which can make quite depressing reading at times with everybody listing their health conditions, and complaining about their low Pensions......the talk went to old vs new bikes.

A lot of these guys have classic bikes or modern retros like Bonnies etc......very few seem to ride my type of bike or do that type of riding.

So I said......."I love looking at the old bikes but I have no mechanical ability whatsoever, and they'd end up being a money pit. And also if I rode one I think I'd be disappointed compared to modern machinery. Probably find out my H1 500 triple from 75 wasn't quite as rapid as I remembered it".

A guy replied....."If you are 65 + you would probably think your H1 is a hell of lot faster than you remember".

I asked him......"How exactly does that work given the Strom does 0-60 in 3.6, and the H1 does it in 4 seconds? Standing quarter of the Strom is 12.5 seconds, and the H1 13 seconds! Top speed on the Strom is also higher as well".

The irony is that the H1 had the reputation of being a fire-breathing monster, yet it's totally blitzed by the 650 Strom which is considered an old mans' bike in this era.

The world has moved on.......and because I never stopped riding (I think a lot of them there are BAB) my perception of things has moved on incrementally over that period.

But it seems like some people just can't move on! Don't get me wrong.....I'd love it to be 1973 again........but it ain't gonna happen.

What you say?

 

[Tym]

I cant remember what i had for dinner last night.... 19 when? 

[Pedro]

for more or less the same theoretical acceleration times, 12 seconds on a 70s bike is going to feel a lot more aggressive than 12 seconds on a 2000's bike.

It's like riding at over 150kmh with a poorly fitting crap old helmet, and a brand new properly fitting Shoei, speed is the same, feels a little different.

[XTreme]

4 minutes ago, Pedro said:

12 seconds on a 70s bike is going to feel a lot more aggressive than 12 seconds on a 2000's bike.

Especially when the tank slapper kicks in!

And then of course there's braking in the wet! 

[XTreme]

1 minute ago, BusBoy said:

your hands were numb and your bell end had pins and needles

 

[Pedro]

Penicillin is usually the answer for pins and needles on your bell end.

[XTreme]

Just now, Pedro said:

Penicillin is usually the answer for pins and needles on your bell end.

Bruce needs a lot more medication than just Penicillin Pedro!

[Pedro]

I do like a competent chassis and fuel injection. Character doesn't need to die, you can still have twin cylinder bikes and buy bikes with no gear change assistance and riding modes and stuff like that, but why would you choose to have worst suspension or brakes just because? It's like choosing to buy shit tires and brake pads just to make it more of a challenge.

 

[Buckster]

I had a GT550 ram air, the power band used to come in when it felt like it, usually mid corner and given the shit handling it made me intimately familiar with the back of the tank as it went into a tank slapper. Amazing that I was able to father children in later years. I have zero interest in reliving those years.

[Gnomad]

it's like that for cars and electronics and everything!

"they don't make them like they used too" and thank heavens for that.

We all thought our old V8 Chevy pickups were the greatest thing ever, and then I inheritred the old man's 79. Good lord what a slug, and all that lack of performance for 10 mpg. We recently owned a GMC with the 8.1 liter monster motor that made twice the power with better mileage and air conditioning. The Kids think it's pretty cool though.

[Muddy]

Where I lived there was kid who used to scream around the town on his Yamaha YDS7. I just loved the look and sound of that bike, but lost my license before I could graduate from Fizzy to a 2 stroke twin and my passion turned to sex, drugs and rocknroll. Naturally, at that age, we were all enthralled by those classic powerful bikes, the 2 stroke triples and the 4 stroke 4's. But as you say Pete, most mid-capacity modern bikes would trounce those monsters. My TDM 900 would've left any of those classics standing. The only thing I'd say is that there's something about the way a 2 stroke sounds and that sudden surge when it hits that sweet spot. I would still love to have a 2 stoke, but can't see it happening now.

[XTreme]

@Muddy.......given the choice of any classic.....I'd choose one of these: a red GT380J from 1973.

Why? Well it's certainly not because it's the best bike I had in that era......that was my GS750.

It's because it was my first NEW bike.......April 18th 1973......the week before my 19th birthday. When I got that it felt like I'd finally become a real biker so to speak. Don't forget, that was considered a big bike back then.

If I had one now......how would it improve my life? I certainly wouldn't have young birds eyeing me up as I went down the street cos they don't do that anymore. And if they did I'd probably get put on the Sex Offenders Register.

And thinking back was it so great in 1973 really?  A month after buying the bike......My alltime hero Jarno Saarinen got killed at Monza, and a month after that I met my first wife. Then it was downhill all the fucking way! Mistakes like that last a lifetime.

[XTreme]

15 minutes ago, Clive said:

And 1970,s Bridgestone (nylon) tyres!

Remember those Yokohama's? 

[XTreme]

2 hours ago, Clive said:

My Suzuki GT550m (new) came fitted with Bridgestone,s...........where soon replaced with TT100,s.........never rode on Yokohamas

Yeh.......first job in those days was ditch the stock tyres.

Remember the weird feeling when you first put TT100's on........the bike kept on wanting to drop to the side!

[Muddy]

I had a go on my mate's GT250, but he was running it in so I didn't wring it. Never really liked the looks of those Ram Air Suzukis. This amber and black YDS7 though is a thing of beauty. I still think the Japs had bike aesthetics just right in the 70s and it's been hit and miss since then.

[XTreme]

Love them.......and the YR5.

And looking back the GS750/GS1000 and Z1/Z900 have aged well too.

Once it went into the 80's all the ludicrous angular styling came in.......that stuff looks really weird now.

[Pedro]

That is a pretty bike

[boboneleg]

I remember watching a programme where they put an E-Type Jag on the grid against a Honda Accord saloon.  The Honda thrashed the Jag off the line and right up to the 1/4 mile finish line, old ain't always better.

[Pedro]

BMW 320d sales rep vs. E30 M3, the result is not good for the soul

[XTreme]

I left that FB group after only a day there.......thick twats are now going on about fucking Politics! I can't take any more of that shit! Or ludicrous conspiracy theories!

That's why I made sure I included this in the Forum Guidelines: 

It would be helpful if you could refrain from posting topics of a contentious nature such as those related to Politics or Religion.

[Tym]

13 hours ago, Pedro said:

BMW 320d sales rep vs. E30 M3, the result is not good for the soul

Still got Mums 325e in the garage!

[Specs]

18 hours ago, Clive said:

And 1970,s Bridgestone (nylon) tyres!

[Pedro]

1 hour ago, Tym said:

Still got Mums 325e in the garage!

See, everyone thinks you're just a sad twat but sometimes you just surprise people with little gems of coolness. I hope it's not an auto 

[Catteeclan]

4 hours ago, Tym said:

Still got Mums 325e in the garage!

What year is that Tym?
I'm on a WhatsApp group with a lot of the old bikers from this area of my era. Most of them have z9, z1000s and the like stashed away. Only one regularly ride his. They've all got more modern bikes which they ride all the time.

Sums it up really.

[XTreme]

1 minute ago, Catteeclan said:

Most of them have z9, z1000s and the like stashed away. Only one regularly ride his. They've all got more modern bikes which they ride all the time.

Makes no sense to me!

It's like having a bird on the side and not fucking it!