Motorcycling

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- Started out with a Honda Mini-Trail Z50 when I was around 12 or so. Sold it to save up for my first car. (This is not a picture of the one I had, but it was like this, but yellow) - Bought another bike. Don't remember what kind, but I think it was a 90cc or so. I'll put up more details when I find the picture I took of it. I ended up selling it to my friend's brother (Hi Kyle!). I think it broke down on him, but I don't remember all of the details. - Bought a Honda FT500 Ascot from my girlfriend in 1989, for $500. Her ex-boyfriend ditched her for Arizona (and the price of the round-trip airplane ticket), so she sold me the bike to make up the cost of the ticket. I dumped so much money into this bike. I replaced just about every piece that had anything wrong with it. The parts department at the local Honda dealership knew me by first name. I'm sure I put at least $500 or more into it, in parts. I remember riding up to Lake Tahoe with my friend Keith (Hi Keith!). He was on his bike (I think it was a Suzuki GS700ES). That ride was a blast! The bike loved going up the mountains. No problems whatsoever. (This is not a picture of the one I had, but it was identical to this) - I had been throwing around the idea of getting a bigger bike. I had narrowed it down to 2 models: Honda V65 Sabre or Honda Nighthawk S. One day I was going over to a salvage shop to pick up a part for the Ascot (see above), and low-and-behold, they had a Nighthawk. It didn't run, but all of the parts were there. The documentation indicated the timing chain broke. It had a little over 21k miles. So, I went home to mull it over. In the meantime, my Ascot stopped running. Looking back now, it was probably a very simple problem. Anyway, I made a deal to trade it in toward the Nighthawk. They only gave me $500 trade-in for it (I wish I could buy it back now). I tried to fix it myself, but ended up breaking 2 bolts off in the engine (which I had to pay someone to remove). I fixed the timing chain, but there were bad valves, and I didn't know much about those. So, somewhere around $800 later, a shop got it running for me (a place called Grumpy Bear Machine and Performance Shop). Here is the list of things I've needed to do, to bring it back to life: New battery New tires Rebuild starter Flush gas tank Re-cover seat Change oil and filter New K&N air filter New blinker and blinker-stay New fork reflectors New lower instrument panel case Left and right handlebar switch assemblies New toolbox lid Install inline fuel filter Replace brake fluid Repair 2 broken side cover tabs/standoffs Replace various hoses Replace various missing screws I'm currently trying to trace down a small oil leak, but I have a gasket on order, that I'm hoping fixes the problem. There's more, but I'll add it later. Right now, I'm just enjoying this piece of art... Ok, I finally did it! I salivated over a bike back in the early 90s, but never thought I'd be able to afford one. Well, guess what? I just bought it. Sure, it's 11 years old, but it looks almost new. Here it is! It's a 1998 Honda ST1100!