Topic: Newbie from the netherlands

[Ghanz]

Hi, My name is Hans and I just bought a CB550 F1 (76) ...and a CB550 K3 (78) both in a rather poor condition. I am running towards 40 and.. well...I say no more..(and I wasn't sure that one bike would cure my upcomming midlife-crisis). I have had cheap and crappy bikes all my life (always a lack of funds) and loved the mechanical work rather than riding them. It began with a CB500T, then there was a MZ150, A URAL IMZ with sidecar and a Suzuki GS1000 caferacer etc. For 10 years back I owned a CB550 for a while to ride to my work and for over a year it was my best friend. Eventually I bought my dream-machine a Suzuki GS850 and it ran great but I was reluctant to do any mechanical work on it because it always ran and never broke down. It was just boring and I sold it to a friend. I got a new hobby (soaring) and forgot all about motorbikes. But for a few weeks back I saw a CB550 on the internet and suddenly my motorpassion awakened. Eventually I had to choose between a runner (the F1 from 76) and a no-runner (K3 from 78) and decided that with two kids there isnt much time left to spend in the workshop so I bought the runner. But the no-runner kept me awake at night and my wife (who is anxious to get her licence) sais that it would be a nice first motor for her. So now I have two oldies and both need a lot of work. I just read the story of Tvak and his rusty thunder and I fear that a similar story will be up in a few weeks .......

[nickjtc]

Welcome to the forum, Hans.

No wonder you did not have much money if you did a lot of soaring!!

[Ghanz]

Don't get me wrong...Soaring is cheap in the Netherlands (about 500 $ a year and no extra costs because we use a winch) and altough I have a plane with a few friends we (offcourse) bought an old wooden crappy one from 1963 fot about 2000 $. I understand that soaring in the USA is something for the happy few...over here you don't have to be rich or something special to do it.

[eldar]

Greetings! It is always nice to expand our European base!

[andy750]

There are a few of you in the Netherlands - JohnK6 has posted on this board, Chris in Utrecht (has a CB550), Rene in Appledorn (he runs the Dutch SOHC site) etc etc....I came across from the UK for the Western European Ride (WER) a few times and always came into the Hague. Now in Boston, USA so a little far to come. PM Johnny from Belgium if you fancy joining the next WER ride this summer. 
Welcome to the Forum!
Andy

[nickjtc]

My Dutch girlfriend is flying home today to Amsterdam....
Andy

Riding with Japanese biker chicks and you have a Dutch girlfriend. You are a god, Andy.

[johnny-from-bel]

Hans,

Nice to see an other lowlander. If you, and the rest of you, fancy a camping weekend with good bear and sohc4-storlies. Keep your eye open for this years WER. It will be its 10 th anniversary.

Johnny-from-belgium

[Ghanz]

Thank you all for this warm welcome!  I have never heard of the WER but I will certainly look into it, Johnny...Today the no-runner I bought has become a runner ! It turned out to be a sloppy dead-switch. A new battery and two firm kicks were enough to give life to granny after 7 months of deep sleep.  But there is still a lot to do and I can use all the help and advise from this forum. I'll send some pics soon!

[johnny-from-bel]

Thank you all for this warm welcome!  I have never heard of the WER but I will certainly look into it

The WER stands for West European Ride. First ran in 1997. 
It is a camping weekend somewhere in July.
It is quite loose and has no real program but it usualy goes like this.

- descide on a meeting place (camping), someone is designated to give the camping place a call to see if we are welcome.
- people arrive on friday and get to know each other over a beer or two, three,.... and we decide what we want to do on saturday.
- Saturday, beat major hangover do whatever we descided to do
- Saturday evening, tell storlies ( a storlie, is a somewhat beefed up story but not a complete lie)
- Sunday, beat mega hangover, packup and ride home.

The WER has been host to members from the USA, Sweden, Holland, Germany, ...