Super bike -or- "superbike" ????

[Steve Swan]

I worked as a lot boy for Art Olson Honda-Triumph, mid-Summer 1970. A young guy, named "Grasshopper," riding a CL450 from the east coast to the west coast brought his bike in for service and needed a place to stay overnight, so i invited him to stay the night at my place. I remember he said he had returned from Viet Nam earlier in the year, bought a motorcycle to travel the US. He had a grasshopper painted on his tank. He was short, slender with dark hair, a red bandana, trimmed mustache, and dark aviator glasses, no helmet, just like so many of the rest of us.

[kp]

Ron sent me this picture an comment to upload into the BB
Ron wrote:
Here I am in 1973 at the airport in Lock Haven, PA. If it had wings, I know it would fly. Sorry about the photo. It was taken by a rookie with a Polaroid which I re-photographed with a digital camera. Notice the vintage side burns. By the time this was taken the bike had been repainted from it's original red color to candy blue.

[kp]

Hi Ron, I really did enjoy those stories which brought back teenage memories for me. I was in the last call up in Australia in 1972. There was a bunch of us who used to knock about together in those days but I was the only one called up for national service. In Oz, the call up was done on birthdays and every six months a public ballot was run. Around 1 in 5 birthdays were drawn at random. I remember going to the recruitment centre in Brisbane, had the medicals, psycho test (and that was a f'ken failure as I'm as mad as a cut cat, yet I passed) and a bunch of other tests. Australia had a change of Government and pulled it's national service program so I didn't have to continue with the draft. At that time I was as happy as a pig in sh*t not to do army service (although Australia had pulled out of Vietnam by then) but I said many years later that I wished I could have gone. Deep down I probably wouldn't have liked to go at all. I do remember that our troops were treated like dirt when they returned home and this disgrace will always be a blight on the history of my country. Viet Vets are treated with a lot more respect now than they were then. Cheers and more great stories. KP   

[1941wld]

I'd like to say "Thank You" to all the men and women who served. I got my draft card in '73 with an H2 deferment. Then they stopped the draft.

Got my '69 sand-cast out yesterday for a short fast trip up and down the I10. I have not had it long enough to learn how fast it will go. Now I know it will do a 100. Got a 16 tooth on the front, need a smaller tooth sprocket on the rear. Man this thing still had more to go just didn't want risk anymore. Happy Mardi Gras.

[mcreviver]

Claimed top speed was 125. I never saw my speedometer above 115 but I rode with another CB750 and he said we were doing 125 so I guess my speedo was a bit pessimistic. Whenever I was WFO I always was asking myself questions like, are those spokes okay? What about the tires? Boy, I hope that chain doesn't break now. I never worry about my ST1100 which has seen more than 130mph. If you get a chance to own one and at a fair price, go for it. Mine gets 45-48 mpg and once saw 55mpg on a slow ride with other smaller bikes.

[donzie]

Ron the picture.... no kick stand... either you were "driving" while in the horizontal position or you have a heck of a good balance man!

[mcreviver]

I was in second gear around 30 mph I would guess. I was steering with my feet on the turn signals.