Interesting motorcycles and interesting people

[mikenixon]

I drove by the place nearly every day for years before it hit me. A retirement home with a sign out front, "Vintage Village"! Wow! That's me, I said to myself. Vintage! I'd never thought of the word in relation to human beings before, but why not? It fits!

But normally we think of inanimate things in relation to the word, especially when it comes to the value folks put on those things. People get dressed up in revolutionary war outfits and shoot black powder guns. They collect memorabilia from interesting times in history. They become recognized academic experts in the evolution and timeline and nuances of you name it -- dolls or plants or guns or hygiene or machinery or soda bottles or music or world civilizations or Pez dispensers.

And of course, motor vehicles. Ever notice the "vintage" of that guy who pulls up next to you at the light in his meticulously restored 54 Chevy? Yup. Old guy. Reliving his youth. (Aren't we all?) In powersports we see this also, old farts on old bikes. Relics on relics. But interestingly, at the same time we see a newish trend: vintage bikes increasingly being ridden by owners less than half as old as their machines. Millennials mad about maggoty motorbikes. Ha! There's hope for that generation yet!

Okay. But, do you prefer a dishwasher that is 20 years old? Or a 30-year-old lawnmower? How about a cell phone more than, say, 5 years old? Discounting nostalgia, and it is not certain that we should, what is behind this illogical fascination with motoring relics? Is it harkening back to a simpler time? Is it refusing to acknowledge progress? Maybe having a midlife crisis or indulging in a second childhood? Or is it simply the admiration of an era in motorcycling when, though flawed by today's standards, machines were more whole, their combination of utility and beauty more contiguous, more integrated, more complete? Or just plain more beautiful? What is driving this huge wave of appreciation for 40-50 year old motorcycles that has rather suddenly but powerfully loomed in the background of the industry, threatening to overtake it with the help of hundreds of retailers, many of them quite new, ready to feed this growing monster?

I don't know. But it's fun being a part of it. I slid into the vintage world in a very honest manner. I simply awoke one day and realized, despite being at the time the manager of a Big Four manufacturer's dealer training department and thus more than comfortable with modern technology, that the bikes I took for granted as the best in the industry were, ahem, almost 50 years old. Egad! It was a revelation, I can tell you!

Now, on to people. Being kind of quiet by nature, I can't really say I am a student of people, not really. But perhaps in 46-plus years in powersports I've had a greater than average opportunity to observe types. And boy have I observed them! I was talking with a longtime acquaintance the other day, and at one point I said, "You know, the greatest concentration of weird people is found in the motorcycle industry, and I'll include myself in that!" You probably don't know what I'm talking about, so let me tell you.

I once had a customer, who was waiting just outside my workbay for me to finish his job, with his girlfriend get on the floor and start making out. Guess they couldn't wait. Another time a customer, unhappy with his bill, stood in the back of his pickup truck in the parking lot and cussed us all out for several minutes straight. I've seen a new bike buyer drop the clutch on his machine, uncontrollably wheelie out to the street and slam into a parked car. Could have used more pre-sale prep, hmm? I've had customers who were famous musicians, actors, and other celebrities, magazine editors, and the like, most of whom have been great, not at all what I expected. And then there was the customer who kept wearing out rear tires, one per week. Two free replacement tires later we learned he was doing hour-long burnouts in his garage, with the front wheel up aginst the wall. Full throttle. Not sure what his problem was!

Even more interesting was a customer who always had a girl clinging to him and friends in tow, pretty obviously going from one good time to another, buying his friends new motorcycles with money awarded in a lawsuit. But eventually his money was gone, the "friends" gone too. I have always wondered what happened to him. Sad.

I had a service writer working for me once who took in a valve adjustment. In a box! And he had gone to a tech school!

Yep, folks can be interesting, no doubt about it. But, motorcycle shop bosses are a study all by themselves. Believe it! My first boss used to fling his still-lit cigarette across the shop into the used oil/bad gas drum. Just to get a rise out of us, I think, and always on a cold day, I later figured out. He also believed in revving the crap out of a newly assembled engine to "bed her in." I had another boss who, when I was doing a wreck estimate, tried to convince me that motorcycles only ever get damaged on one side when they go down. I'm not kidding. And still another who was famous for taking in "tune-ups" that showed up in the back of a pickup truck, and was unfortunately incredibly mechanically naive and more than willing to believe every customer who told him, "Aw, it just needs new plugs."

A mechanic who worked for me drew a swastika on a customer's fuel tank, and in the same shop I suffered a service writer who wouldn't leave his space heater to talk to customers. Both were fired.

But the most interesting and educational time I think I ever had in a shop was when I worked for a fella that had his parents on the payroll. They would wander all around the workshop, getting in your way, telling you how to do things, muttering to themselves as they tottered around the place, sometimes with a broom in hand but never seeming to make a difference in the mess. Strange folks.

And of course people in motorcycling can be be unusual in a good sense too. I'm blessed to have rubbed shoulders with some really great ones. Norris Barsumian, Nigel Patrick, Udo Geitl, Joe Minton, and many more.

Yup, people everywhere can be pretty interesting. But I suspect this is even more true in motorcycling!

[WingMan71]

... Or is it simply the admiration of an era in motorcycling when, though flawed by today's standards, machines were more whole, their combination of utility and beauty more contiguous, more integrated, more complete? Or just plain more beautiful? ...

YES. Exactly!

And, thanks for the great read. I can see much of it in my (old) mind's eye!

***

[Rednaxs60]

Is it refusing to acknowledge progress? Maybe having a midlife crisis or indulging in a second childhood?

Mike - you're quite the philosopher, good article and well articulated. I think it's that we have a skill set that is quickly disappearing and we want to keep our share alive. We appreciate the older styles and vehicles as these have character, and were different in many ways from the other of the day. Enjoyed the read. Cheers

[Aberdale]

Interesting ramblings, Mike. I suppose if we deliberate on anything long enough we can find most anything interesting.

When it comes to motorcycles, I find myself attracted to bikes that are a bit off-the-beaten-path. As a design engineer for my working life, I like to see how others defined and solved problems. Motorcycles like the Honda CX500 Turbo, Yamaha GTS, Suzuki GT750, Harley Davidson V-Rod, Victory Vision, Honda Pacific Coast, BMW K1, and many others are a bit of a curiosity. All were introduced with much hype and fanfare. And to some they are just downright weird. But I'm intrigued by their approach to defining a motorcycle outside the mainstream.

I now own a few of these odd ball motorcycles, along with a hodge-podge of others. I can remember many of them coming out as state-of-the-art when new. They were expensive, and we all wondered if we were seeing a glimpse of the future. Once the novelty wore off, many were criticized for being too heavy, or didn't live up to performance expectations. Once they fell out of favor, they could be bought on the cheap, but to me the original design and engineering is just as interesting now as it was when new.

So much for interesting motorcycles. When it comes to people, there is a never ending supply of interesting behavior. We'll leave it at that.

'dale

[mikenixon]

Interesting ramblings, Mike. I suppose if we deliberate on anything long enough we can find most anything interesting.

When it comes to motorcycles, I find myself attracted to bikes that are a bit off-the-beaten-path. As a design engineer for my working life, I like to see how others defined and solved problems. Motorcycles like the Honda CX500 Turbo, Yamaha GTS, Suzuki GT750, Harley Davidson V-Rod, Victory Vision, Honda Pacific Coast, BMW K1, and many others are a bit of a curiosity. All were introduced with much hype and fanfare. And to some they are just downright weird. But I'm intrigued by their approach to defining a motorcycle outside the mainstream.

I now own a few of these odd ball motorcycles, along with a hodge-podge of others. I can remember many of them coming out as state-of-the-art when new. They were expensive, and we all wondered if we were seeing a glimpse of the future. Once the novelty wore off, many were criticized for being too heavy, or didn't live up to performance expectations. Once they fell out of favor, they could be bought on the cheap, but to me the original design and engineering is just as interesting now as it was when new.

So much for interesting motorcycles. When it comes to people, there is a never ending supply of interesting behavior. We'll leave it at that.

'dale

Yowzer! That is indeed an eclectic bunch! Of that list, the Turbo strikes a chord with me.

[mikenixon]

I think it's that we have a skill set that is quickly disappearing and we want to keep our share alive. We appreciate the older styles and vehicles as these have character, and were different in many ways from the other of the day.

Yup. Just got into the shop a pair of early 70s Honda twins, both with less than 6,000 miles. I could stare at them for hours.... Am I sick or what?

[mikenixon]

... Or is it simply the admiration of an era in motorcycling when, though flawed by today's standards, machines were more whole, their combination of utility and beauty more contiguous, more integrated, more complete? Or just plain more beautiful? ...

YES. Exactly!

And, thanks for the great read. I can see much of it in my (old) mind's eye!

***

[TNTbefree]

Fired a guy over painting a swastika.... I do not blame you, but I have a funny story about a swastika...

Funny? Yes. Funny.

I spend a lot of my spare time swinging a metal detector, and a little over a week ago, I was in downtown Jacksonville hunting a curbside next to a parking lot. I wasn't there but a minute and the first good signal I got was only an inch or two deep. At that shallow a depth, I figured it was a newish clad coin, but when I dug it out and wiped off the dirt, I saw that it was a large coin/token with a swastika on it.

My first thought was it was a German coin from WWII, but it had English on it. Then I was thinking it was some Neo-Nazi propaganda piece. I took it back to my truck and took a couple pics of it so that I could zoom in and get a better look at it.

When I zoomed in, I could see other little symbols mixed in with the swastika. A wishbone, four leaf clover, and a horseshoe. It has a fifth symbol mixed in with them, I could not make that one out. Now I'm thinking to myself... What kind of mixed up crap is this??? On the reverse, it had a company logo and the words "Good Luck." My mind was blown...

When I got home, I cleaned it up a bit and got online to look it up. Come to find out, the true swastika symbol was a good luck symbol. Still is in some parts of the world. The Nazi party stole it in 1920 and rotated it 45 degrees and made it their state symbol in 1935.

The coin I found was from Albany Alabama. A city that became New Decatur in 1927. The company on it, Decoro, only existed from 1926 to 1936 before it went defunct. So my guess is, the coin is from 1926. The last year of Albany Alabama.

These promo coins were very common. Even the Boy Scouts had swastika coins back in the day. The Boy Scout Swastika Good Luck Club coins are very sought after, by the way...

Good Luck Club swastika.jpg (78.73 KiB) Viewed 379 times

good luck club 2.jpg (136.35 KiB) Viewed 379 times

[mikenixon]

Wow. I have read something about that. Amazing.

[Sugs]

Hmmm...the Nazi swastika is also inverse to that one. Interesting story.

[5speed]

Even more interesting was a customer who always had a girl clinging to him and friends in tow, pretty obviously going from one good time to another, buying his friends new motorcycles with money awarded in a lawsuit. But eventually his money was gone, the "friends" gone too. I have always wondered what happened to him. Sad.

!

We had an elderly guy win 2 million in the local lotto.
He went thru 30 bikes in the 3-4 years it took him to blow all the money..

[OCR]

Because that is not the Nazi Swastika but the Hindu version that is the mirror image and represents the four quarters of the year by planetary movement.

[desertrefugee]

I stumbled onto the "other" swastika last summer on a cycle tour of the California coast. Saw this on an old building in Santa Cruz. Did some research and pretty much discovered the "backwards" swastika. I was bit relieved as this was a bit unnerving:

DSCN4069.JPG (155.34 KiB) Viewed 335 times

[robin1731]

And now back to interesting motorcycles and people.

[rcmatt007]

I still have my Dynakit Pat-4 pre-amp and a dynakit stereo 120 amp for my stereo system