The "Your first motorcycle thread"prompted me to think about some of the crazy things that happened on my first motorcycle some intentionally and some not. Remarkably I'm still here at 79 years old in a few months. My first bike was a 56 Harley ex-police hand banger riding on Toronto streets at the age of 15, weight about 120 pounds soaking wet. Here we go...
The throttle had no return spring. I practiced riding on side streets setting the throttle and then standing on the seat weaving side to side.
I rode as much as I could through the winter. One mild morning after a snowfall I pulled into the parking lot of Northview Heights Collegiate, encountering several inches of slush and lost control, low siding towards my geography teacher who was just exiting his car. He jumped out of the way but slipped and fell flat into the slush. My marks were not good that year.
One warm summer night, Bathurst Street between Sheppard and and Finch had just received its first ever asphalt paving. I had never tested top speed on that bike before that so I gave it a whirl. Took a while, but something over 100 mph. I couldn't say exactly as the speedo was bouncing all over.
A friend needed a ride Yonge Finch area to a job interview near Yonge and Eglinton. On the return trip northbound on Yonge at City Limits, I headed downhill into Hoggs Hollow way too fast. Approaching the lights a York Mills. the brakes faded to near nothing. Rather than potentially stopping in the middle of the intersection, I accelerated to pass between two east-west bound cars.
Your crazy things?
The throttle had no return spring. I practiced riding on side streets setting the throttle and then standing on the seat weaving side to side.
I rode as much as I could through the winter. One mild morning after a snowfall I pulled into the parking lot of Northview Heights Collegiate, encountering several inches of slush and lost control, low siding towards my geography teacher who was just exiting his car. He jumped out of the way but slipped and fell flat into the slush. My marks were not good that year.
One warm summer night, Bathurst Street between Sheppard and and Finch had just received its first ever asphalt paving. I had never tested top speed on that bike before that so I gave it a whirl. Took a while, but something over 100 mph. I couldn't say exactly as the speedo was bouncing all over.
A friend needed a ride Yonge Finch area to a job interview near Yonge and Eglinton. On the return trip northbound on Yonge at City Limits, I headed downhill into Hoggs Hollow way too fast. Approaching the lights a York Mills. the brakes faded to near nothing. Rather than potentially stopping in the middle of the intersection, I accelerated to pass between two east-west bound cars.
Your crazy things?
...a stream had cut the dune in two and I came straight down from maybe 3 meters.
