I went to college on an Army ROTC scholarship. When I was fixin' to graduate, went for a pre-commissioning physical. Found out I'm partially color-blind - prevented me from being a pilot. I tell people I ride a motorcycle because I am not permitted to fly a fighter jet.
I'm old and I was a pilot also. Yep, practical bikes just don't do well here. I don't understand it.
Back in the 1960s, there was a bike called the Honda Dream.......About one in 700 people are licensed pilots.
I went to college on an Army ROTC scholarship. When I was fixin' to graduate, went for a pre-commissioning physical. Found out I'm partially color-blind - prevented me from being a pilot. I tell people I ride a motorcycle because I am not permitted to fly a fighter jet.
The USAF was smart enough to give me a physical before the end of my first ROTC year. At land grant colleges like the University of Illinois, Urbana, circa 1960, Males HAD to take so many semesters of ROTC.I went to college on an Army ROTC scholarship. When I was fixin' to graduate, went for a pre-commissioning physical. Found out I'm partially color-blind - prevented me from being a pilot. I tell people I ride a motorcycle because I am not permitted to fly a fighter jet.
That is the 305 cc Dream, I had a 150 cc Dream. Quickest way to tell them apart is the 305 had the chrome piece around the front fender. Those enclosed chains lasted forever and they weren't o-ring chains.
Correct . My first college roomate had a 150 cc. After the first few adjustments on my Yamaha XV920 RH, the enclosed chain in a lithium grease bath never changed till I changed the grease at 20,ooo miles. After that bike, I was convinced that enclosed chains were the bomb. So of course they were killed, as were the chains with one easy to pop off clip. Easy to change sprokets, and easy to clean non O ring chains. Not putting down shafts by any means. I would love to see a report on salvaged 15,000 mile chains and the condition of the O rings.
I had one of those. It was my first motorcycle that didn't come to me in the form of assorted parts from a junk yard. I bought it new and it was my transportation to everywhere I went. It had the bare minimum everything to be street legal and I spent most of my earnings paying for it. (I had taken a year off college and was supposed to be working for college money at the time) Those were the days that I was learning how to make better decisions. Yes, easy to work on but also required more attention that bikes we have now.
I do agree that the older bikes required more attention. How many of our younger members have replaced points plugs and condensor? But they in general were not hard tasks. And were common sense. I now understand why Triump charges $1800 to set the valves on a 900 triple. If I took an hour to set them on my Yamaha 650, it was because I was sick or drunk or something. (BTW, there is alot of AI garbage out there about there being a new retro 650 in the Works at Yamaha. These yahoos dont understand new emissions laws, designers bent on all sorts of electronic ge gaws that no one wants or needs, can bus schist. etc. I dare them to bring out a RE like XS650 with fork gaiters and solid wire wheels with Tubless tires and keep the steam gages. Never happen. RE did keep the screw adjusters but made the valve cover hard to get off and put on an ABS system.
The rear tire is flat.
