OK...................deep breath.........
Seeing as my 3 yo post of this story is awol now I will tell it again with some background info as I go.
It is not about a Sprint because at the time the only popular Triumphs were leaky twins (I had one a couple of years later).
Anyhoo.................... turn your clocks back to when I was 17 and some odd months, let see that would be around............1976.
I was the very proud owner of my first bike a 1975 shiny green metalic Yamaha RD 250.
Now for the younger folks hear these puppies were the fastest 250's on the market, a two stroke twin, bred for racing when two strokes were very popular and very fast.................yes that is right once upon a time it was actually very cool to make lots of burnt super two stroke oil in clouds behind you and nobody batted an eye lid.
This was when Honda fours and the mighty 900 Kwakaduckies were scaring European bike manufacturers to death.......................
When Sealey made custom Honda 750's and Rickman made fast Honda 750's too.........
Yes in a far distant galaxy................etc etc Well you get the general idea..........on with the story!:sleeping:
I also was the proud owner of a Lewis Leathers M/c Jacket and a nice racey pair of Belstaff leather pants and some big ass Monza 4 buckle motorcycle boots not dissimilar to what the traffic cops of the day wore.
So you can see I was one really really COOL Dude!
So I am on my way to a mates place for a big ride, I am riding up this hill near home see and on the right hand side up ahead is a servo (gas station) and some shops (3 or 4).
I am doing the flipper thing with my left foot dancing a merry jig on my 6 speed gearbox so as I can keep the beast between 6,000 rpm and 8,000rpm cos that is where the power is (there isn't any anywhere else but between that range is warp factor 9).
So I am smoking and screaming ( the stroker that is) up the road knowing that there is NO One else as cool as me on the planet (no one in NZ at this stage has leathers like my Gran brought me over from Scotland see).
Well my well honed testosterone powered eye sight spies me some little lovely cute and sexy young ladies up ahead outside these shops see.
Now am close to warp 6 and accelerating faster than my brain can think (not usually that difficult), but my mind is now starting to wander from my very few motorcycling skills thought pattern.
So wanting to look extra impressive I thought I would lean down and fiddle with my right boot buckle to draw attention to those fantastic big ass Monza 4 buckle boots.
What I did not factor is that while dangling down there my wonderfully powerfull Yammarocket was subtly changing direction towards the kerb.
By the time I looked up and glance over looking very debonair at the girls.......I am now almost parrallel to them.
EEEkkkk Faaaack! :motorbike:I am now riding at warp 8 with both wheels hard up against the high side kerb and heading for a small gap about the size of my tyres which is a driveway cross over.
Apply full brakes you bloody idiot and get away from this f@@#king kerb quick!
I rattled through the 4" gap (yes children once tyres were skinny) and came to a stop with tyre hard against the high kerb directly adjacent the sexy teenage girls.
I then proceeded to fall over on my left into the muddy grass verge in slow motion!:wubclub:
They saw me smokin up the road hit the curb and fall in the mud in all my flash new kit................ then it wouldn't kick start (like all good yammie strokers!)
Eventually I got her running sort of and took off in a huge cloud of blue smoke and running half on one cylinder , and MAN WAS IT HOT INSIDE MY HELMUT!!!!!
For those of you still awake thank you for reading, I hope you had a good laugh at me as I do when ever I remember the first of many many offs.
cheers,
DaveM