Itches scratched and unscratched…

One nice thing about these iPhones…it sure is handy having a camera with me all the time.  When I was on the Cal Poly campus earlier today, I spotted a couple of very interesting bikes.   Remembering that I had my iPhone by my side, I snapped a couple of quick shots.

This first shot is an older Yamaha XS650, and it looks like the owner of this one is on his way to turning it into a retro cafe racer of sorts…

Those old 650 Yamahas were interesting bikes.  I always thought I wanted one because I reasoned it would be like one of the old Triumph Bonnevilles I used to ride.   Those would be the real ones, back in the 1960s and 1970s, except the Yamaha would be reliable.  You know…a vertical 650 twin, great handling, good looks, the works.   

Well, the Yamaha was reliable, but it was boring.   I found an XS650 with only 1000 miles on the odometer.   It was virtually a brand new bike and I got it for a song.   It didn’t take too long for me to decide I didn’t like it, though.   The old Bonnevilles were torquey and the handling was incredible.   The Yamaha felt like it had no bottom end torque, and it didn’t handle at all.   The Bonnevilles tipped the scales at right around 370 pounds; I’ll bet that Yamaha was a good 80 to 100 lbs heavier. 

I put a couple of thousand miles on the Yamaha and then traded it to Steve’s brother Ron for a brand new TL1000S Suzuki (well, not quite…I had to throw in another $8,000).   That Suzuki was a great motorcycle, but that’s another story.   One of these days if I can dig up photos of my TL1000S and my Yamaha 650 I’ll post them here (let me know if you want to see them).   The bottom line is that the Yamaha 650 was an itch I had for a while, I scratched it, and then the itch went away.   Onward and upward, like they say.

So, on to the next itch, which has been bothering me a bit since I spotted this bike on campus.  It’s another one I always wanted to own…

It’s a Buell, and this one is an older one with the tubular steel frame.   For some reason I always wanted one.   I saw a similar one at the Long Beach show several years ago with an orange frame and a metallic charcoal tank, fairing, and fenders, and folks…those colors just worked.   The Buell itch struck and I haven’t scratched it yet.

I rode a newer Buell at a Harley dealer in Victorville once.  It was the later model that used the frame as a gas tank.   It was okay, but not cool enough to make me pull out my checkbook.    The older Buells (like the yellow one in the photo above) are much more appealing to me.   If I came across one in gray and orange….well, who knows?   In any event, it’s nice to see some of these younger riders (our Cal Poly students) showing such excellent taste in motorcycles.   If I see more cool older bikes on campus, I’ll grab photos and post them, too.

Ride safe.