Uncle Paul (where the P comes from in rphazen) had a Duo-glide. I was certainly intrigued as a 6 year old, though this was "forbidden fruit" as far as the parents were concerned. According to my folks Uncle Paul had a wild reputation in the area and I was to never ride on the back of his "Death Trap".



So I had to be HAPPY with riding bicycles. Summer of 1968 brought a new bicycle for me and a revelation. If you can picture this 9 year old riding his gold Schwinn Stingray Fastback 5spd up and down a 1/4 mile farm drive and seeing a motorcycle coming up the road. Now of course I had to see this machine up close so I waited at the end of the drive. How cool can a boy really look on a Schwinn Stingray?



Well I hung my wrists over the schwinn's "ape hangers" in order to give a cool wave. When he got to where I was he slowed did a u-turn gave me a nod, a FINGER POINT and promptly brought the front end up then was gone. The whole time I never moved, so much for that cool wave I planned. Inquiries around the neighborhood gave me the information I needed. It was a brand new 1968 Kawasaki 500 triple. My life's course was set. I will ride!



So how? This was the dilemma. By 1975 I'm 16 and getting plenty rebellious. Well as rebellious as a farm boy with Methodist parents can be, anyway. I bought a 74 Honda 360 from what would later become my brother-in-law. I hid the bike at the other farm behind hay bales. I would go up to feed animals then escape to go ride. The hard to believe part is I did this for 2 riding seasons till I turned 18. Ride, hide the bike, repeat!!!




To this day if there's a youngster checkin' out the bike while we're going down the road I give them the "cool nod and point". The rest of ya I just give ya a Goober wave, like I'm from from Mayberry!


Whew ..........long story, huh.

Dude, That was a good story! You need to start writing books............

Flashback wrote:
Dude, That was a good story! You need to start writing books............

Yup, that was good story!!! by 1975 I was back from my first tour in the Far East...( which included Thailand ).

Think by the time I was seven, I knew. Friends brothers
were riding HD's, and my little pea sized brain just
new.

Rphazen, that Schwinn was the bomb. I had a CCM that looked just like it.

In my case, Dad had various bikes during my younger years, but for my 8th birthday he bought me a Suzuki MT50. That was it, I was hooked. Now, I laugh and tell him this is all his fault.

My uncle picked me up by the back of my jeans when I was seven years old (1955), put me astride the tank on his Indian, I grabbed hold of the handle bars in front of the grips and we took off down the road with both of us laughing like hell and my grandmother screaming at my uncle that he was going to kill us both. He kept going and we both kept laughing. Started riding when I was 14, bought my first bike, HONDA 750, in 1973 and have been going ever since. WORK SUCKS, LETS RIDE!

rphazen wrote:
Uncle Paul (where the P comes from in rphazen) had a Duo-glide. I was certainly intrigued as a 6 year old, though this was "forbidden fruit" as far as the parents were concerned. According to my folks Uncle Paul had a wild reputation in the area and I was to never ride on the back of his "Death Trap".



So I had to be HAPPY with riding bicycles. Summer of 1968 brought a new bicycle for me and a revelation. If you can picture this 9 year old riding his gold Schwinn Stingray Fastback 5spd up and down a 1/4 mile farm drive and seeing a motorcycle coming up the road. Now of course I had to see this machine up close so I waited at the end of the drive. How cool can a boy really look on a Schwinn Stingray?



Well I hung my wrists over the schwinn's "ape hangers" in order to give a cool wave. When he got to where I was he slowed did a u-turn gave me a nod, a FINGER POINT and promptly brought the front end up then was gone. The whole time I never moved, so much for that cool wave I planned. Inquiries around the neighborhood gave me the information I needed. It was a brand new 1968 Kawasaki 500 triple. My life's course was set. I will ride!



So how? This was the dilemma. By 1975 I'm 16 and getting plenty rebellious. Well as rebellious as a farm boy with Methodist parents can be, anyway. I bought a 74 Honda 360 from what would later become my brother-in-law. I hid the bike at the other farm behind hay bales. I would go up to feed animals then escape to go ride. The hard to believe part is I did this for 2 riding seasons till I turned 18. Ride, hide the bike, repeat!!!




To this day if there's a youngster checkin' out the bike while we're going down the road I give them the "cool nod and point". The rest of ya I just give ya a Goober wave, like I'm from from Mayberry!


Whew ..........long story, huh.


RP, great story, really great. Where's the book?