Just like relationships...

Motorcycles in some ways, are just like people. 

My kinda riding!  Out in the boonies.

They require routine maintenance.  Depending on the bike you have (Velocette, BSA, Indian) some require more than others.  Also like people, motorcycles either have soul or they don't.  Ducati's have soul, old Ducati's even more.

XT and I in the early days.

Like people, bikes need tlc at times, understanding, be given the benefit of the doubt and cherished. 

Still looking good today on red soil!

Some motorcycles like some people, are just bad apples and need to be passed on to someone else that better understands them, or has that peculiar aptitude for dealing with them.  Bikes likes people can give tremendous joy, sorrow or even that orgasmic feeling some of us are familiar with.



No matter how you slice it... bikes, are people too.


Many of my bikes are years old, some even several decades.  I have no hankering for a bicycle framed Harley with starter pedals and a leather belt to drive the wheel, although if I had one I'd sell it and get some bikes I'd rather have.  People often ask me why I don't have a Harley or two?  It's not that I don't like those bikes, just that they have become so commonplace it seems everybody has them.   Same with V Twin cruisers.  They are great bikes, I have ridden and sold countless numbers of them, but they are all "cookie cutter" motorcycles.

We've been around some...

Nope, I am known for having odd or unusual bikes and that's not because I am an odd or unusual fellow (?)  It's just that I find soul or function where many others don't.  Like they say, "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder" right!

Take my XT 600A for example.  The XT series, starting in the late 70's, was Yamaha's four stroke dual purpose bike.  (The TT model was the off road example.)  My 1990 edition was quite ahead of it's time, Yamaha putting to use it's years of experience building such bikes.  It had a reasonable seat height, remember I am vertically challenged as some say, so it's just low enough for me to get a tip toe on the ground at a level stop.  Never a problem off road but can be dicey if I need to come to a halt on the crest of the road vs the trough.  It has adequate power and has carried me around the Cabot Trail, criss-crossed western Canada, pointed a wheel south to Cabo San Lucas with stops at Mike's Sky Ranch, Bahia Conceptione and San Felipe.  It's still light enough for a trek off road on a well used XC enduro course run the day before, but a bit heavy when stuck in axle deep sand or muck.

They were a pair at one point.

Although the model was tried and true, it's SOHC 4 valve engine (which many mistake for a twin) powered the bikes through years in the USA and even longer in Europe.  Unfortunately for whatever reason the big blue XT was only offered for sale one year in the CDN market.  Shame really, as  the bike is modern enough for a vast portion of the riding public. 

Just some other Rocky Mountain back road.

For the typical buyer of a large displacement dualie, they offer a desirable ride even today.  Unlike the "ADVENTURE" bikes being sold at dealerships across the country (and world) a large displacement, lightweight single makes much more sense to me for someone that wishes to throw some bags on and really ride the Baja peninsula rather than Highway one, and who say they've ridden Baja. It's unlikely riders of GS1200 BMW's, 990 KTM's Honda Veradero's or the like, would be suitable for plonking from San Isidro to San Jose de Commondu.  

TLC time

Most of my bikes receive fairly regular routine maintenance with the occasional valve check or parts replacement.  This weekend it became the turn of the big blue XT.

I took the time yesterday to hoist the bike onto my little hydraulic lift and replace tires and tubes front and back, the somewhat kinky (ooh la la) but still perfectly good drive chain, some brake pads and a few other bits.  I will pull the tank today and check the valve lash, easy to adjust with a wrench and feeler gauge.  Although the bike is nearly 25 years old, it still has less than 40,000 kms on the odometer.  This is a direct result of my owning several different types of bikes over the years, and never really putting many miles on a single one.  If I owned just one bike... it would accumulate a lot more mileage.

New rubber and DID O-ring

I've thought about replacing it with something newer.  There are plenty of great bikes that would be a welcome in my garage, the big KLR Kawasaki would do, or an exotic Euro model KTM or Husky, most likely as a replacement I would choose the

Closest thing you can get today, a likely replacement?

DR 650 Suzuki as it most closely resembles what I have now and to me anyway, is an all purpose motorcycle.  Funny thing is... I have these little 'talks' with myself occasionally but can't bring myself to parting with this faithful if dated beast. 

Freshened up

So for now, Big Blue still has my attention and love.  Yes, love.  Remember... bikes are people too.