Motor cycles
Approaching the magical age of eligibility for a driving license was - and still is - an interesting phase in the life of a young man. For me, a boy in a remote farming community, there was the fever for a two-wheel vehicle, too. Obviously not hard enough, however, because I finally got my first motor cycle at the mature age of 24.
This is an obvious strategic error: motor cycle fever is like the mumps: one has to go through it in the juvenile years, because if caught at the adult age, it may have serious side effects.
The first bike was an old
Ariel VB 550 which had carried the local fireman for a number of years since 1932. It was driven home from a barn in a cloud of oil smoke, dismantled into pieces and put together again, after some restauration work.While waiting for the completion of this, my friend sold me an
MZ 175 ES : a veritable DDR work horse where technical simplicity and low cost met individual styling and questionable road handling.Another fireman's vehicle,
Ariel VB of 1952 vintage, came into the stable a short while later. It did not fire up when it came on a truck bed, and did not when it went further after several years.After the military duty was completed, I got my first full time job with the first pay check, and a new ride was due: a run-down
BSA A7 served me for one summer.
Ducati Mk3 450 Desmo is for many of us the 'non-plus-ultra' of the singles: technically refined, exceptionally good looking, and with excellent road handling The characteristical desmodromic valve system design creates warm feelings at tech afficionados regardless of age. .
In 1974, the biker population received a distressing message: Ducati told us that the production of these singles will be discontinued. I panicked: just got to get one before they are gone forever. I got one, and parts for two more, and Ducati has over the years given me many pleasurable hours, even if not so many road miles.
A smaller cousin,
Ducati 175S: completed the stable. And one evening, a Norton Big Four: side valve single arrived in some cardboard boxes, to join the Ariels in the rear of the barn.
Over the years, folding my 193 cm torso onto a bike designed for a sub- 160 cm rider became more and more straining. The ride was still sweet as ever, when not considering the mandatory leg and back stretching stops every 30 minutes or so. Stand-still periodes of the bikes got longer, and finally many sailing summers passed without one single kilometer.
In winter '07 I came to the conclusion that those noble creatures needed new loving homes. An ad at the local Veteran Motor Cycle Club's web pages resulted in almost over night new afficionado owners for all of them..
So - what then ? With the little of money from the 5 old bikes I got one old bike, a set of Rukka riding gear, boots and handshoes. For the helmet, I then had to pitch in a little fresh money. And I went to a driver brush-up training of MP69 Touring Club ( Motorist Survival Day)
BMW R65 GS, a 20 year old ex- Danish Army bike - with a rough youth but low miles - seems to be exactly what the doctor ordered against premature aging of an ever-young boy: simple design for d-i-y maintenance, volumious seating position, and proven handling on dirt roads which we have plenty of in Finland and where I prefer to travel nowadays.
Desmodromic valve system
The 1972 450 Mk3 Desmo was a reasonable road bike.
BMW R65 GS
