What Did You See Today

[Nic]

They do look immaculate Nic, fabulous resto on them.  Shame it cost so much to do though, would you be able to recover your costs ya reckon?

Thanks Col, I've since moved on n sold both. I lost my arse on the Honda and made a small profit on the Z900. It was a case of falling out of love with both bikes, once I realised that, well it was obvious what I had to do.
It was pretty funny in a not so funny way though, when I was doing up the Honda all I could think was that I'm going back to the good ol 70s. Rebuilding the engine I think was the best part of it, I used to be a bike mech at a Honda dealer and when I think back, the best part of the whole Honda build was working on the engine. Riding the darn thing was a different matter.
 Once I rego'd the bike it hit me straight away. I was never going back to the 70s, it just never felt like the 70s. I had to work my way back into riding, hahah, at first I couldn't ride on the hiway at 100kph, it was just too fast, the thing that helped me push back up and be able to ride at 100 were all the cages right up my arse, that got old real quick. For a couple of years I rode the bike but it was always a chore really, wind noise freaked me out, I don't remember ever thinking of wind noise back then but now it was intolerable, even with ear plugs it was a real bummer.
One day I took a Blackbird on a test ride just because the opportunity presented itself, enter preferred expletive here:   
After that it was only a matter of time before the old clunkers went their merry way. I've been riding now for 11 years and that's longer than I did back then. It's been a trip, arse pain almost put an end to riding a few years ago but the ZX14 is great in that regard, I've had about 6 or 7 bikes since 2013 and the ZX is the best as far as arse pain goes.
Anyway, yeah, did my arse on the Honda, learnt a thing or two and went better with the Kwaka. Now I just buy ready made cheapish bikes. The old clunkers are alive n well only in my memory now.
 I'm thankful that I do actually love the ZX14 and that I'm still riding, I would love to upgrade to a gen 2 but for now I'll just stick with the gen 1.
Cheers, thanks for letting an old fool tell a tale or two  

[KiwiCol]

You're very welcome mate & good on ya.   Love the 'ole tales' 

[Tony Nitrous]

A lot of that rings true for me too Nic.

I have a couple of bikes that are 40+ years old, I like the history, but I accept them for what they are, no rose tinted glasses, no living in the 80's, we have a roll top desk and a 12 gauge with Damascus barrels, they make me smile, but not for being better than the latest versions. I do love older stuff, even my little Villiers concrete mixer or old Fergie tractor, but I accept the gains made in cars, bikes and houses too.  It's good to mix it up, what you are passionate about, and what works best.

[grog]

Agree about older bikes/ cars, a big shock to use, memory certainly lies about how good they were. Cruise control, were all different.Never tried on a bike, just not for me in cars, had several cars with it,tried to use but dont like it.

[Tony Nitrous]

Agree about older bikes/ cars, a big shock to use, memory certainly lies about how good they were. Cruise control, were all different.Never tried on a bike, just not for me in cars, had several cars with it,tried to use but dont like it.

My Mrs has a 180k drive to work, her cars have had cruise control for many years, she's never used it once and has zero interest in it.

I pull out of my driveway and the moment I hit the speed limit it's on.

[Nic]

The first car I had with CC I thought it was fantastic and still do, on a bike I'm pretty sure I'd use it mostly to rest the hand but you never know?

[Eric GSX1400K3]

Love the cc on my BMW K1300GT, never thought i would on a bike,  but having it is very nice

[grog]

Sorry fellas, throttle rocker on 14, been there multiple years, wish id had one back in Ducati days, all i need now.No cruise control, no led screen,no abs, probably lots of other crap missing. I can charge my phone, look for speed traps on Waze, about all i need.

[Nic]

All this talk about cruise control just reminded me of this little anecdote:
Was probably around 1971, I was 17 and had this old 59 FC Holden, those who know the old grey motor Holdens know how gutless they were. So I'm driving this thing with a few o the boys from Canberra to Queensland up through the inland route via Dubbo etc.
The drive is full of long boring straight stretches of road. Somehow I came across this piece of 2 inch plastic pipe, it was the exact length so that you could jam it in between the accelerator and the underside of the dash, you'd have the car goin flat stick down these straights at about 90 MPH, if you needed to slow down you just kicked the pipe outta there.
I reckon this is probably the worlds first cruise control 
At least Australia's first  Oh what memories what memories brfff.

[grog]

Very good Nic FC one of my all time favourites. My old wagon Fc, unreal car but motor used copious oil, i carried 20l drum of sump oil to keep topping it up.

[Nic]

Very good Nic FC one of my all time favourites. My old wagon Fc, unreal car but motor used copious oil, i carried 20l drum of sump oil to keep topping it up.

Yes Grog, sump oil was the way to go. I had so many of those grey motor Holdens, you'd get em for forty bucks with 3 months rego and bald tyres. You learned quickly that it was pointless trying to re rego them and just went n bought another one, so many I had. Couldn't afford the EH ( came out in 64 ) that had the first of the red motors, such a way better car but I just couldn't afford the EH. So many great memories from the grey motor days though.
Here's a pic of my FB panel van, did many miles in that one, put triple carbs on it and it glazed up the bore    got a pic of the engine somewhere. That's me on the left.

[grog]

Just saw whats just on the horizon. Hoping no hail or huge winds. Thunder already announcing its arrival

[Mick_J]

Agree about older bikes/ cars, a big shock to use, memory certainly lies about how good they were. Cruise control, were all different.Never tried on a bike, just not for me in cars, had several cars with it,tried to use but dont like it.

My Mrs has a 180k drive to work, her cars have had cruise control for many years, she's never used it once and has zero interest in it.

I pull out of my driveway and the moment I hit the speed limit it's on.

HaHa, my wife is exactly the same.

[Kiwifruit]

I'll second that Col. They look real smart Nic. Nice work well done.

[KiwiCol]

Mrs KC won't use one either & has no interest in them, I on the other hand, use it constantly.