BACK IN THE DAY

Where the photos are blurry but the memories are clear!

This was my second bike, a 1974 Honda XR75, and the photo was taken around 1977. This shot is when my brother talked me into grabbing another gear before the jump, as evidenced by my expression. Great times and memories. Glad our neighbor was practicing his photography skills!

Geoff Ball

6The first photo is me on my 1972 Yamaha YDS7 250cc (little brother to the R5 350) in 1972. I put over 14,000 miles on that bike in just over a year. The second photo is me on my 2012 Honda ST1300. I have had five ST1300s — three of which I still own — and have put over 396,000 miles on STs since November 2005. My first ST1300 I sold to one of my sons after I put 174.3K miles on it in less than eight years. Most, but not all, of my ST1300 riding has been from commuting 125 miles a day in SoCal, Murrieta to San Diego, 2008 to 2020. In this picture I was heading for a weeklong motorcycle gathering in the Topaz Lake area of Nevada.

Bob Hampton

Attached is a photo taken of me on my 1966 Yamaha 250 Big Bear Scrambler on top of the rock tunnel at Sequoia National Park. It was taken in May 1969 just after I got out of the Marine Corps and back from Vietnam. (Note the boots and jacket.) A Marine friend was heading to Vietnam and wanted a motorcycle trip; he rented a Honda 125 and I had mine. I soon sold my Big Bear due to my preference for my new, just-ordered 1969 Z28 Camaro. I now ride a BMW K1600GTL.

Jim Harris, former Lance Corporal, always a Marine

Thanks for your service, Corporal Harris. —Ed.

6This is me on my 1970 Kawasaki 90 posing for our high school yearbook’s “informal picture.” It’s ironic that it was taken with the school as a backdrop since the school forbade us from parking our bikes in the parking lot, and we were made to park on a strip of grass between the school property and the community tennis courts!

Bob Joyce

Love those bell bottoms, Bob! —Ed.

My parents were supportive of my brother’s and my obsession with motorcycles in the early ’70s, and my father brought home a couple of very used bikes — a Honda step-thru and CL90 — that we rode on fire roads on Long Island, N.Y., until they were stolen out of our backyard shed. They then got us a brand-new 1972 Honda

SL100 we shared until they could afford a second one. First thing we did was strip off the lights and fenders and replace with Preston Petty plastic ones. We rode those bikes all around the back yard, on fire roads, and on what I recall was a giant dirt track, which may have been the start of a shopping center. We rode there every Sunday for years while my father sat in the van and read the Sunday Times. We would get roosted by the other big-bore bikes and dreamed we were flying over the crest of a hill, even if we were only six inches in the air on those little bikes with no suspension. We graduated to dozens of street bikes over the years, but still have those two little Hondas and boxes of the original lights and fenders wrapped in 1972/73 newspapers.

4Inspired by Fonzie and powered by girl determination, this is me on my second bike, a Honda 200, in Tucson, Ariz., around 1976. I’d moved up from a Honda 125. I was about 20 years old here, and yes, that’s my “riding gear.” I was a college student at the time at the University of Arizona, and motorcycles were my only means of transportation. That meant things like grocery shopping and going to the laundromat were all two-wheeled challenges. Bring it on! Forty-six years, six broken bones and umpteen bikes later, I’m still in the game and wouldn’t change a thing!

Lori Weiniger

Joe and Mike Savino

This was taken in 1970 or ’71 on my first motorcycle, a ’67 Honda 305 scrambler. Got my MC endorsement on it. No written test back then. I was told to just ride over and apply. When I questioned about riding it to the DMV without an endorsement, I was told to not worry about it. Easiest test I ever took. I was out of sight of the examiner for more than half the route. I swear that if you didn’t return in a certain amount of time, you would fail. The rest is history. I called it good on riding some years ago, 40-plus was enough. Made my wife happy. But I’m still a member of AMA…gotta keep my hand in a little.

Paul Landau

You go, girl! —Ed.

This is a photo of me in 1969 with my first “big” bike, a 1947 Norton 500cc single. I added lights so I could ride it legally. It shook like crazy but seemed to me — at the time — to be lightning fast.

Wayne Kuipers

After having had three Cushman scooters to deliver papers, I bought this new 1964 Harley-Davidson 175 BTH Scat when I was 14. I rode it 7 days a week 365 days a year delivering papers. It got around well in snow, and I stopped several times to help push cars that were stuck.

Steve Kruger

Snow? You are a brave man, Steve. —Ed.