Today motorcycling has become an expensive hobby or sport. Only the elite upper middle class folks or above participate on larger scales. But this was not true or the norm 30 years ago. I confess I have had my fair share of rat bikes over the years. Sometimes they ran, and … Well .. sometimes they didn’t. Where I grew up in the southern foothills of the White Mountains in NH, we had a whole 5 to 6 months to work on the bike. Translation, winter! So my rat bikes were at their peak during summer months.
This brings me to a memory way back in NH riding my 1972 650 Triumph Bonneville on a meandering, fully forested road in the White Mountains or "the notch"... I had been riding all day. My butt was killing me. Bad seat. Seats were luxuries back then, sometimes none was acceptable! I stood up on the pegs and rode slowly through some tunnel of green. Stretched my legs. Was about to sit down, when the right peg on the bike broke off. In micro moments my boot hit the pavement at 35 MPH. My leg, generated by the inertia and velocity flew backwards, any Shaolin monk would have been proud.
My leg and foot went around my back and proceeded to kick the left side of my helmet in the head. I almost lost the bike. I was wavering all over the road. Luckily there was no oncoming traffic. I weaved the bike back and forth between white lines, barely on the road. I returned my foot to the right empty spot, of my missing peg. I regained control and tried to breath smoothly in order to keep my emotions at bay during the evasive maneuvers, and with a lot of luck.
I nursed the bike some 100 miles back to the barn at my folks, where I repaired the problem. I had retrieved my foot peg off the side of the road. One calming stop... and 3 cigarettes later!
The next day and for the next 2 weeks I could barely walk. My right leg, had been sprained completely from hip to big toe. Being young and more pliable. I did recover. We all have a little part of Gumby in us - when young.
That’s when I learned the baby powder method. An old biker mechanic told me this, and was right. To discover any cracks or major metal fatigue in a bike’s frame. Use baby powder (Especially when you can’t afford the expensive way) after cleaning and drying the frame thoroughly. Powder it up, let it sit and hang. Wait till morning, do this in a garage, no wind allowed. The next morning if there are hair-line or large cracks, you will find them. Flip the frame over and repeat for a thorough check. The powder marks them under close inspection. Inspect it without touching, but blow away the powder gently as you check it out inch by inch.
So even without a lot of money, but the need to ride on two wheels. We would get rat bikes, make them ride-able for summer. Bikes would come and go, based on deals that came your way, and the condition of your current rat bike. We would even trade a bike for a bike with a set of snow tires for their car. One of my favorite, functional bikes, was a Yamaha Virago 650. I forget the year, but Yamaha made hundreds of thousands of them like cookies. They sold a lot of them in Europe. Unexciting to look at, but for a cruiser V-Twin copy from Japan, it was really dependable. It never left me on the side of the road mechanically. I rode it for a 4 year stint. Good bike. I got it cheap with less than 2000 miles. It had 80-90 K miles on it when I upgraded to the next rat bike.
I had a rat car too...
Oh well.
Ride