Letter Of The Month: 40-Plus Years In The Making

It was the summer of 1974 and my dad, at 39 years of age, had just bought his first motorcycle—a slightly used 1974 Honda CB360. My older brother, David, had got a 1972 Kawasaki G5 100cc enduro that same summer. The year before that, I was 12 years old, and Pop bought me my first motorcycle, a 1971 Honda CL70 Scrambler. (I really wanted the SL70, but at least I had a trail bike!) Needless to say, those bikes came and went.

Fast forward to July 2017, and all three of us go for a ride on the same year, make and model of bikes we had 40-plus years ago! This was something I had planned for many years.

I have been involved with motorcycles since my dad bought me my first bike. While I was in high school (class of ’78), I attended Portland Regional Vocational Technical Center in Portland, Maine, for my junior and senior years. After graduation, I went to work as a service technician at a local Kawasaki shop. During the next 22 years of my career, I worked at various dealerships in Maine and as far south as Tampa, Fla. I was fortunate enough to have had factory Honda and Yamaha training in those early years.

I currently teach motorcycle, ATV and snowmobile repair in Brunswick, Maine. About 15 years ago I purchased a 1971 Honda CL70 with only 323 miles on it. I felt like I was 12 years old again! Three years ago, I found a very used 1974 CB360 on Craigslist and I bought it. That winter my students and I restored it to give to my 79-year-old dad for Father’s Day. This past winter I happened to find a roached-out 1972 Kawasaki G5 in the local classifieds. I bought it for $200. We did a frame-up restoration that became a special gift for my older brother’s 60th birthday.

This past July, my 82-year-old Pop, my 60-year-old brother and myself all went for the ride of a lifetime (again) some 40-plus years later, just like we did so many years ago.

Now, if I can just find a 1979 Yamaha DT175 like my little brother had when he was 18!

Bill Ross | Topsham, Maine

Small Motos Work

Good article by Bonnie Gerald on lightweight moto touring (“Tiny Touring,” November issue). She gives a lot of good tips on riding a small-displacement moto that also apply to riding full-size bikes.

Bonnie is right that riding a lightweight motorcycle provides as much enjoyment as a big motorcycle. Like Bonnie, I have switched to lightweight motorcycles, mostly because as I got into old age with arthritis, weakening muscles and old moto racing injuries, I appreciate more the lighter more easily maneuverable smaller bikes.

I’ve been there and done that high-speed stuff, but now touring at 65 mph, looking at the scenery and smelling the roses is what I enjoy. I now have a 2012 Suzuki TU250X and a 2014 Yamaha XT250E. I have them each setup for touring with removable Pelican side cases, rear top case and windscreen.

I have taken longer trips on my smaller bikes. In 2009, I did a four-month, 13,444-mile trip on a Yamaha XT225 from Las Cruces, N.M., to Ushuaia, Argentina, at the southern end of South America. In 2013, I rode the TU250X up north of Fairbanks, Alaska, part way up the Dalton Highway haul road on a 1-1/2 month, 9,854-mile round trip. Both of these lightweight motorcycles were great rides, I never wanted for anything larger.

Small motorcycles are not just for beginners to learn on, they’re great for all-around motorcycling.

Pete Chester
Charter Life Member Plus
Las Cruces, N.M.

25 Years And Counting

I just received my 25-year member packet. What a thrill it was to tear it open and find my AMA Life Member pin, certificate and patch! Over the years, I’ve made an effort to keep all my membership cards and pins. I had lost a couple of pins along the way but was able to reorder them from the AMA.

I went to the local hobby store in town and bought a 16- by 20-inch shadowbox and placed 24 years of pins and cards in it, along with my Charter Life Member certificate proudly on my office wall for all to see.

I’m looking forward to many more years of riding, reading the AMA magazine and being a part of the motorcycle community.

Barry Dennis | Oakland, Ky.

Plus Two

A big thumb’s up to AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer Scot Harden and American Motorcyclist magazine for “Advocating for Motorcycling’s Future” in the January issue. It’s nice to see a positive spin on the annoying problem of new bike sales being in the crapper.

I also think it’s important to keep things in perspective. While the industry might not be making money hands over fists with new bike sales like it has in past years, there are a lot of used bikes changing hands out there from what I can see, and that has to be helping bottom lines somewhere.

Every industry faces fundamental shifts from time to time and has to readjust. The winners roll up their sleeves and get to work, and the losers whine about salad days gone by.

Me? I’m going to do what Mr. Harden says and get to work. Scot, I’ll do my job, and I’ll do someone else’s too.

I’m going to help save our passion by coming up with two new riders this year. Count on it.

Mike Keefe | Chicago, Ill.