RIDING YOUR BRIDGESTONE.

[reed]

Riding your Bridgestone.
We talk about pulling these fine motorcycles down and rebuilding them and putting back better than new.
But how many of us are riding on the road, if you are like me i rebuild but i don't ride my motorcycles much
Anymore, when i was younger i rode motorcycles all the time went all over Europe and had some of the best
Times, but i don't think it helps working in the motorcycle industry all this time.
Let me know what you think.
Thanks.
Steve.   

[slawsonb]

Riding is my goal. I am rebuilding now, but not for show...hoping for go...(and maybe a little show...;-)
I sold my other bikes to free up the funds to finally redo my 350 GTR...
Since I am not a patient guy (I think I mentioned this before ...lol)...
This is not easy for me....but I will "endeavor to perservere"...
 
...bert

[Steve S.]

For me, I get more satifaction from the restorations than the actual riding anymore.  All the distracted drivers have taken the fun out of it for me lately.  It just seems to get worse with each passing riding season.  I hope to get my passion for riding back, but the crazy drivers are sure making it tough.

Steve S.

[moonpup]

I plan on riding mine when it's finished... albeit carefully! I'll probably be back in Houston then and the traffic there is a nightmare to say the least.

Speaking of bikes vs. cars, sure hope this person is ok...... ( the link sucked, so I just posted the info)

"Michael A. Wagner, 35, of 120 W. 23rd St., Dover, was listed in serious condition Tuesday night in Akron General Hospital where he was flown by helicopter after a motorcycle-car crash in Dover at 8:03 p.m. Monday.
Police Ptl. James Stucin said Wagner was driving a late 1960s model Bridgestone motorcycle west on E. Front Street when the driver of an eastbound car attempted to turn north onto Betscher Avenue and the vehicles collided.
Wagner was flown to Akron from the Tuscarawas County Fairgrounds in Dover.
Investigation is continuing."

[Colin]

grr that happened to me a long time back a car turned right across me at point blank range, said he didn't see me but he was a liar I saw him look at me I was that close but he just went for it, he was in fact turning into a bookmakers car park on a Saturday afternoon and I reckon he was in a hurry to get a bet on, six months I could barely stand up, dislocated kneecap was probably the most painful thing, busted ribs ,hip , toes , shoulder and a few other less serious things which were all totally bearable compared to the knee, I was young at the time 18, and he was middle aged so he's probably be about 90-100 years old now, I seriously hope he had a painful death if he's gone, I had to do a full extra year on my apprenticeship because of him, I also got banned from driving because somebody said I was driving too fast, how they could determine that from a side street is a mystery to me but the judge believed it, I was in fact on the main road and in no way to blame, he got off with it while I had a trashed bike too, my blood boils to remember it.

[grundlegrabber]

I enjoy riding my bikes, but work keeps me busy these days and I don't get to do that as much as I'd like to. I mostly just take them on short trips around town on sundays and ride to some local shows. I enjoy rebuilding and restoring them but the end goal is to ride them. And while I may not ride much these days, I keep all my bikes in good running condition and I do ride all six of them from time to time.

[dcr]

I get a lot more joy out of the restoration process than anything else. Once i am done with this one, i am sure i will ride it a bit, but time and opportunity will dictate that.

[srpackrat49]

Well i,m new here.... so here goes.... i,m retirered and have 9 or 10 bikes now... just got a great 1970 350 GTO and when next summer comes i have a 4K mountian pass to clime with that bike......25 couners to the mile up hill and 25 down some... my other bikes are a lot of yamahas like a 1993 TDM 850 and a 1980 650 and a 1983 Virogo midnite SP and all so a 2005 Royal Enfeild 500 silver bullet.... but back to the brigs... i had them back in the 60s when i was in high school in freeport Ill......my 1967 175 has a back story.... i,ll do that one later.... Ride safe.

[rwgibbon]

I restored my BS 175 HS and have been driving it for the past seven years.

Before I retired I would come home from work and jump on the 175 and drive
around the neighborhood. It was about a 10 mile ride. By the time I got home
my attitude was adjusted and I had a smile on my face.

Now I drive it at least once a week in the summer.

One of the best rides I have had on the 175 was at Mid-Ohio. A friend and I
drove our Bridgestone's three laps around the track. It was the best $10 I
ever spent.

[davis]

If I ever get time to finish mine she'll see some time on country roads during the weekends which may meander a couple hours to Lake Michigan or to a bike show somewhere in the state.  There's a Norton club in town, maybe they'll let me tag along at times.

[farmerdl]

They are bikes.  They were built to be ridden and if they aren't ridden I view them as either wheeled sculptures or a collection of parts.  I've been to bike shows where owners have 'fessed up that their   motors and trannys had no internals.  Easier to load them and move them around they said.  I do appreciate the better than new show bikes and if the people who have them are content to just show them and look at them,  well that's OK.  For me though, if they run they get ridden and if they don't run they get worked on.

dl

[Mike Anderson]

Well said Dick.
Thanks Mike

[slawsonb]

Totally agree with the response from dl. I like to look at the show bikes, but nothing beats firing one up and going!...
...bert

[william anderson]

    i totaly agree guys     having something of beauty an not be able to exprince it would be just plain wrong , william anderson

[timsweet]

I haven't owned a motorcycle in many years.  I've restored 4 cars and as blog's (http://www.average-guys-car-restoration-mods-racing.com)  states "Rebuild them, Show them, Race them.   All three of my cars (1970 Mustang, 1984 Corvette, 2007 Mustang) were driven, shown at car show and raced at the local drag strip, and SCCA events.

I don't think I'll be racing the Dual Twin, but I will take it to shows and it will get driven.

regards
Tim

[moonpup]

They are bikes.  They were built to be ridden....... snip.......

On the other side of the "coin", a little ammo for those who prefer show over go, I present this quote from another blog....


"I have a coin collection I am not spending-isn’t that why the coins were made?"  

[slawsonb]

I think the phrase "to each his (her) own" applies to any collecting/restoring hobby. However each of us enjoys these things  the most is the way it should be...That's the point, in my opinion...
...bert

[coxy]

how do you get that buz if you don't ride them .I rode mine the other day just up and down the street but what a blast

[farmerdl]

I get the coin thing moonpup and I understand that "side" of things too.  It's not necessarily wrong to collect anything just for show.  That said, at the time the coin is no longer spent and in circulation it's true function as a coin, as an object of currency, ceases and it becomes art.  As art it can only be enjoyed in one dimension.  It cannot buy you any other pleasure.  A motorcycle that has become a piece of art cannot take you down the road to whatever pleasures that affords.  I'm not saying that show only is wrong and I don't say that I don't enjoy and appreciate the show only bikes.  I do however, for myself at least, enjoy an object that is still used for it's original purpose more fully.
  Unfortunately for coins, they cannot be restruck.  Bikes on the other hand can always be refurbished.  Parts may become scarce and it becomes more difficult to do, but it can always be done.  It may require a bigger outlay of capital than we can muster, but in the extreme it can always concievably be done.

dl

[Redrust]

Farmerdl that was like pure poetry. Made me feel that much more happy to be working on my Bridgestone.