A Few of the Bike's I've Owned

B.C.: I figured while Joey added many pictures of his bikes over the years and I had not, It might be a cool idea for me to show you the various bike's I've owned over the years in chronological succession as well.

As I mentioned briefly in a previous post,  the first bike I had wasn't so much a 'bike' as it was a moped, but what a moped it was.  It was a 1982 Honda PA50 II, and it was given to me by a neighbor who was moving at the time, and told me I could have it, as he didn't know how to get it running, and he couldn't take it with him.

 Here's me at a stoplight on the PA50 II

I ended up finding a tuned pipe for the bike right before I sold it, in the trash no less!

Tuned pipe I found in the trash!

After I sold the moped, and envious of Joey's sporty 50cc Tank scooter, I found out that a man who lived on my street had an old Yamaha CV50 Riva that was sitting in his garage.  So, I took a shot in the dark and made him an offer, and what do you know, he accepted it!

The '81 Riva 50 with Windscreen

Man, I loved that Riva.  I couldn't wait to take it to school and show it off.  I mean, the thing looked like it came right out of the showroom!  It had 1098 original miles when I bought it.  That scooter always started, never with the electric start ( I was too lazy to buy a new battery) but always with the kick start.

A while after riding the Riva 50 around town with joey, I began to realize that the 31mph top speed of the Riva was not enough to keep up with the brisk 40mph top speed of Joey's tank 50cc, so I began to look for something faster.  After much searching on craigslist, I found a 1988 Yamaha Riva 200z, which I ended up buying for $530

The 1988 Yamaha Riva 200z

At first, the Riva stood for freedom and ultimate mobility.  Prior to that, I had found myself confined to the bike lane, cringing as traffic flew past me.  But this was different, now I could actually keep up with traffic!  What a relief that was.

One night, while at a local In N' Out Burger, I was approached by a man who told me he had a scooter that looked just like what I was on, and that it hadn't moved in years, and if I wanted it, I could come pick it up.  A little worried about what I might find upon arrival, Joey and I were stunned to see a Yamaha Riva 180 that was in decent condition upon initial inspection, so we agreed to take it off of the guy's hands.  It was a bit of a handful for me, but I realized that the plastics which were on this bike would look far better than the plastics that were currently on my 200, so with quite a bit of work, I swapped all the panels and had a scooter that finally looked as good as it (appeared) to operate.

Some pictures of the plastics after they were swapped.

Then, the headaches started.  First, the bike began to leak questionable fluids all over the place, and upon inspection, I was not able to locate the issue.  I kept riding, but noticed that the bike was becoming harder and harder to start, and figuring it was the carburetor, I removed it and took a look at it.  I was horrified to find that there were a great many things broken in the carburetor, the worst of it being that the float was not being held on, and therefore was not drawing fuel.  Then, to my horror, I realized that part of the engine case appeared to be cracked, and after much fretting, realized that this may have also been due to fluids leaking out of the carburetor.  When I re-installed the carburetor, the bike refused to start at all.  For a long time, I could not, and did not want to try to solve the problem.  This issue was made worse when I realized that Yamaha's parts support for the Riva 200/180 was very limited, and I wasn't about to be able to find what I needed easily.  So after some ingenuity, I was finally able to get the Riva running again, and soon afterwards, sold it.

About this time, Joey had just purchased his 1986 Honda Elite 250, and I took a liking to the bike and its many features, such as liquid cooling and larger wheels.  I decided to look for one for myself, and eventually found one.  It had been spray painted by the previous owner, but it ran like a charm.  As a matter of fact, it still does to this day.  Needless to say, I still have it. I've put around 3500 miles on it, and it functions as my daily driver.  It's held up incredibly well in the time that I've owned it, and I can't say enough good things about it.  Honda quality is a given, but you really have to experience it to understand the brilliance of the design.  Not once has it slipped up, the only work I've ever done mechanically to it was to clean out the carburetor and replace the seal, other than that I've only ever changed the oil and added fuel to the thing.

The day I brought the 1985 Honda Elite 250 home.

The scooter has taken me on many scenic journeys, including a trip to Silverado Canyon and Malibu.

Upper photo:  Malibu, CA

Lower photo: Silverado Canyon, CA

And that's where I'm at right now.  Hopefully sometime in the near future, I'll be able to find a good commuter motorcycle, because as well as the Elite 250 works, it's not as stable on the road as I'd prefer, and I do get pushed around by the wind quite often.  The larger stance of a motorcycle and the larger tires would do well to correct this, but all in good time.

-Brody

A Little Bit About Myself

J.A.:  So as you know, my start into riding came from that one fateful event.  Barring that, I may have had to resort to driving a ca-car.  The plan has changed, and for the better if I may say so, and my, no, our goal is to have as many people as possible on the road on bikes, not cars.  It should look like Vietnam here, except with less accidents ;p

Let me key you in on my story after the loss of my beloved Honda Spree:

(This is the only photo I have of my first vehicle D:)

I was lost, in a blind confusion, not knowing what to do now that my only source of transportation was gone.  I had to resort to getting rides from my parents and walking places.  That was not my style.  

I had thought that my riding days were over, but as fate would have it, an new segment of my journey was about to begin.  I found, on craigslist, a 2005 Tank Urban Sporty scooter for $150!

I know it is a Chinese scooter, and for those that are unaware, Chinese scooters have a bad rap for being unreliable, hard to repair, and of shoddy quality.  Most of the time, this is true.  This scooter, however, was an anomaly.  

From the day I owned it, it only broke down once.  Of course that one time had to be at 3:30 in the morning at a closed gas station, and I really had to go to the bathroom.  That was the night I almost got arrested.  But that's another story for another time.

Let's just say that scooter was promptly sold, and another one was being searched for (on craigslist.)

Soon after, I found a new ride.  It began the next chapter in my riding career.  I was off the 50cc bikes,and onto a 150.  I could now go on the street, in traffic, and was finally out of the bike lane. I had picked up a 1986 Honda Elite 150 Deluxe.

(The day I got it, with Brody's Yamaha Riva 200z in the background) 

It was a beautiful bike, actually my most expensive investment ($725) but it only had 4000 miles on it, and I really wanted it.  The price, was understandably, worth it.

I worked on that thing constantly; it was my prized possession, the only thing I had ever really owned for myself, purchased with my own money.  I bought little things here and there for it, and enjoyed the hell out of it.  Then I sold it on craigslist, because I finished this chapter.

(Some photos I took right before the sale. I'm going to miss that pop-up head light most of all.  Sold $1100)

The day I sold that bike, I picked up another one.  A 1986 (man I just love that year) Honda Elite 250.  Freeway legal BABY!!!!  Purchased for $600, but there were some things I needed to get for this bike; it had off-road tires for starters.  The tranny was louder than I wanted, as well.

(I got rid of that hideous "Hot tub time machine" signal guard immediately)

This was my dream scooter.  And it became a reality.  There was nowhere we couldn't go.  No more slow rides down side streets to get anywhere. Freeways were open and ready to be used.  Since Brody bought one of these shortly after, we took some trips up and down the coast. It was a blast.

(On top of Malibu, with Catalina in the distance)

Sadly, in a twisted turn of events, that chapter of my life, drew to a close.  It was bittersweet to see her go, as she was a wonderful bike, but on the other hand, I grew up to a motorcycle.  

I had had the scooter as a means of quicker transportation, but not a "motorcycle" because my mom was frightened to death about them.  But after I picked this up for $250, and got it running, and joked a bit about riding it around, she grew used to the idea of me riding a motorcycle, and submissed.  Happiest day of my life! 

This is where I am right now, but there is a newcomer into my life, and that may just begin the next chapter in my book of riding.  

So What's Our Blog All About?

B.C.:  Having never blogged before in my life, I'm really unsure as of what to post, so I'll go ahead and state the basics.  My name's Brody, and together with my good friend Joey, we've created a small, unassuming blog that chronicles our endeavors into the world of motorcycling.  If you're following us, you'll be seeing posts from me ( preceded by "B.C.")  and posts from Joey (J.A.) so as to know who is writing/blogging.

First off, a brief history.

I won't bore you with a lot of unnecessary details (yeah right) and I'll try to stick to the story.  A few years ago, I acquired a 1986 Honda Spree from a neighbor of mine who told me his girlfriend had no use for the thing.  Being the time it was, I really found myself with no interest in the small, shoddy looking bike that now stood before me, until he told me I could have it for free.  Yea, the magic 'F' word.  Really works wonders.  What was I supposed to say?  So it sat there in my garage for a few weeks, not really moving from the spot where it was initially parked.  My neighbor had originally told me that he was looking for the pink slip, and would deliver it to me when he found it, but that never happened.  Pretty soon, it caught my friend Joey's eye, and he asked me if I was ever going to do anything with it.  I told him he could have it for $50 if he wanted, as I had no use for it.  So he brought his truck over, picked it up, and took it home.

The next day, he and his dad had it running.

Man, he was the coolest guy ever, cruising to band camp on a 50cc scooter.  And once I saw that, I was kicking myself for having sold it.  I mean, I could have been riding that! Oh well..... So a little while later, I acquired a 1982 Honda PA50 II moped from a neighbor that was moving, and I was finally able to be that guy who would cruise to school on the moped.  We were on top of the world.  That is, until my neighbor noticed that Joey was cruising around on the scooter he had given me, which apparently was news to him, and having never found the pink slip, he started demanding that the scooter be placed back in his possession now that it was running.  As it is widely known, a vehicle does not have to be in one's possession in order for the title to be transferred, but this didn't stop him.  When Joey refused (with good reason) my neighbor called the police, and said we had stolen the scooter from his property.

Wanting to avoid any complications with the matter, Joey returned the scooter to my neighbor, who promptly sold it on craigslist.com with the pink slip in hand, and in running condition for $450.


Second, a look at where we are now:

Fast-forward about 3 years, and here we are now.  Collectively, we've now owned around 30+ motorcycles and scooters, and we're not stopping any time soon.  Thanks to the one fateful incident that allowed us to experience the joy of riding, we're hooked.

Because of the vast number of motorcycles and scooters that we've owned so far, we've been able to learn our way around the inner-workings of the machines, and with every bike we bring home, we learn just a little bit more about the mechanical aspects specific to each model and manufacturer.

It wasn't long ago that we decided to move quite a bit of stuff out of both our garages, and to scour craigslist for good deals which we can then, in turn, restore to proper working condition, and re-sell as running and riding machines.  We're both in this for the spirit of the hobby, as it has become something of a lifestyle for the both of us.

Third:  So where does this blog fit in?

This blog was created 1) For us to be able to chronicle our work on various projects, 2) for us to write about anything related to motorcycling and how it has affected us, and 3) for anyone interested in following us along our journey in this hobby.

Thanks for reading!
-Brody