damn lloyd,you`re a hard mutha.
Well, sarcasm was never an elusive concept for me. I suppose all that sneering from the Harley riders (and now sport bike riders) at my "little" CB550 over the years has me clutching for a bit of payback.
I’ve known four owners of new Harleys who ran up a total of 2000 miles or less in five years of ownership. When they got together to talk bikes in the lunchroom, it was downright comical, and a bit sad at the same time, the airs they put on.
After I resurrected my first CB550 in 75, my neighbor saw how much fun I was having with it, and found a "real" bike. Harley of course, with a bunch of go fast goodies in the engine, bored, stroked, cam, etc. Lot’s of teasing about my toy wheels for a couple of weeks. Until one day I challenged him to a drag race. He scoffingly accepted. I was worried ‘cause I hadn’t yet changed the STP soaked clutch plates from the P.O., and there was way more slipping under power than I was happy with. Didn’t matter. Smoked him off the line and was waiting for him to catch up when up to higher speed, but he didn’t do it. He then gave up after a block and a half, as I still had three or four lengths on him. I chased him back to the barn, and found him unusually quiet, and carefully examining his bike. I asked, "what happened?" He says, "I hit some mud or sand on the road and couldn’t get traction". "Wanna try again on a different road?" I says. He says, "Naw, I think my bike is more of a top speed bike than a drag bike". Of course, there is no where in 100 miles to test machines for top speed safely. He then looks over at my bike and says, "I’m surprised that bike is as fast as it is with half the engine size as the Harley". Having even less tact in my younger years, I mention, "should be even faster when I get the clutch to stop slipping". He just gave me a look that was indescribable. He never called it a "toy" bike again, though.
I realize this was more a contest of riders than machines. I probably had 8 years of riding more than he did, some of that on the edge of performance during my "invulnerable" years, plus a couple years drag racing experience. Perhaps he learned that experience doesn’t come with the machine you buy. But, the guys in the lunchroom would never believe that, especially from a guy that rode Honda 550. He couldn’t possibly "get it".
