Triumphrat

ohiorider · 05-02-2007, 11:20 PM

Monte has inspired me to find a photo of my first ride ... in this case a brochure. I bought this bike over 40 years ago, in October, 1965. She belonged to a local fireman in my hometown of Charleston, W.Va., by the name of Larry Field. Johnny Lucenti was the original owner. I was absolutely mesmerized when I first saw this bike, and especially after hearing her fired up with nothing but straight pipes. The bike was on the centerstand, and actually vibrated backward each time larry gave her the throttle. I was hooked!

I only owned the Beezer from Oct 1965 until summer of 1967, by which time I was married and needed the $$ for other things.

But prior to the sale, I took this BritBike on one heck of a trip, from Charleston, W Va to Port Isabelle TX and back.

I left Charleston with clothes strapped in a tote bag on the rear fender, and wore an Army Reserve backpack to carry clothes, a few cans of Coke, Baked Beans, and Vienna Sausage.

Only made it past Beckley WV on day one (left late) to Meridian MS on day #2, to Lake Charles LA on day #3, and into Port Isabella TX on day #4.

Lots of adventures along the way .... mostly typical BSA breakdowns, and lots of nice folks who helped me get on the road again.

The trip home was about the same. Minimal money in pocket, had to leave the Western Kentucky Parkway when I discovered they wanted a quarter avery 15-20 miles, and it was either pay tolls and run out of gas money or .....

The choice was simple. I found a break in the guardrail, and rode the Beezer through the woods until I came to a road that had no tolls. This did require a State of Kentucky road grader to pull me out of a very deep drainage culvert I'd tried to navigate.

Ended up sleeping in a wrecked tractor trailer rig in Olive Hill, KY that night, and d***** glad to be able to.

Hometown never looked so good to me as when I made it back on fumes.

Was I actually that crazy? Oh, yeah! But we did have a lot of faith in ourselves, and in our fellow man back then.

Bob

50yrDream · 05-02-2007, 11:26 PM

Great Story! Thanks for sharing! And yeah, I remember seeing em vibrate backwards!!

dazco · 05-02-2007, 11:50 PM

Dem was da days......

tba-golfer · 05-02-2007, 11:53 PM

Great story.

Wish you had pics of those times.

Thanks for sharing.

raproe · 05-03-2007, 01:03 PM

I actually found a bike like my first one at last year's Vintage Motorcycle Days; a ~1963 400cc Norton Electra. It was one of the first (and maybe actually the first) Brit bike with electric start and electric turn signals. Fortunately it also had a kick start since the Lucas starter was long dead when I bought the bike used in '66. The turn signals were also long gone.

ravnhaus · 05-03-2007, 01:08 PM

Cool bike and a great story. Thanks for sharing.

mecscc · 05-03-2007, 02:00 PM

Nice story. We all have them, don't we? Good to share with others who can understand why they are important. The Maico, incidentally, was not my first bike, but was a reliable and important part of my early riding history. I always wonder how much interest I would have had in motorcycling if my early experiences had included owning some real dog of a bike, and there were a lot of them out there! Would I have continued riding or gone back to hot rods?

The BSA brings back many fond memories. I had several buddies who swore by BSA (before the companies merged) and looked down of Triumphs. Of course, we Triumph riders looked down on them! and there was quite a "one upmanship" rivalry between "Trumpet" riders and "Beezer" riders. Do you remember that rivalry?

The Brit bike rivalries were sort of "family" teasing and messing around, all in good fun, and was nothing so extreme as the one between "British Iron" in general and "Harley." The Harley/Brit bike rivalry was serious stuff and manifested itself in full glory in the days of Grand National Flat Track racing. Now those were some races!
Thanks for the memories.

Monte

ssjones · 05-03-2007, 10:29 PM

Cool stories!

I bought a '74 Bultaco Alpina when I was 15. Rode it on the street for a bit, than my dad me me trade it in on a '77 Kawasaki KZ400. I was really hoping for an RD...

These aren't mine, sadly no pictures exist that I'm aware of. But mine were the same colors. I remember for my High School graduation getting a set of Hooker headers. I could never resist tinkering....