Topic: Great day, shake down new bike, met a childhood hero!

[cb550fcafe]

I was enjoying my afternoon ride on my newest bike. Shake down ride was in it's second hour. I stopped for a coffee. An older gent in his 60's wandered over to my bike, walked back to me and struck up a converstaion. Immediately we had common ground and knew the same people. When he told me his name, I was overwhelmed with happiness. First reason I heard he may have passed years ago, so no he didn't. Second was because as a little kid, I would ride my bike to his motorcycle shop to buy parts for my mini bikes and later dirtbikes. You see, this gent operated a small family owned motorcycle shop, they were a dealer for Suzuki, Norton, BSA, and I'm pretty sure Moto Guzzi. This guy always spent time talking to a 7 year old who was paying for parts with change. I bet I never had enough since I never got any change, he probably sold it for what I had. This guy would create motorcycles from pieces and parts of this and that. I always looked up to him and couldn't wait until my parents would allow me to make the 12 mile round trip bike ride to his shop again. Last summer I rode to his shop to find it closed, grass waist high, signs removed. It looked like no-one had been there for years. It was a low for me. Looking through the huge glass windows, I saw a Norton Commando partially covered with a blanket. A BSA of unknown model and a dirtbike in the back. It looked like someone turned out the lights and never returned. I spent weeks trying to find out what happened.

So today, he said to me while looking at my new bike "that is the essence of a motorcycle, you have captured what it should look like"  I couldn't believe it. Oh my god! This little kid that was inspired to love motorcycles meets his hero 32 years later and we talked for an hour. Today has been a great day. You know you meet the nicest people......

[fastbroshi]

  Good people have a way of making it back into our lives at one point or another.  Call it God or good karma or whatever you want but it happens.  It's happened to me more than a couple times where I'll have a dream, out of the blue, of that person that I haven't seen or thought about in years and then whaddya know, here they are almost running me over on their bicycle.

[seaweb11]

Sounds like a great moment.....for both of you I imagine

[KeithTurk]

Thanks for sharing your story...

[CaféElite]

Last summer I rode to his shop to find it closed, grass waist high, signs removed. It looked like no-one had been there for years. It was a low for me. Looking through the huge glass windows, I saw a Norton Commando partially covered with a blanket. A BSA of unknown model and a dirtbike in the back. It looked like someone turned out the lights and never returned. I spent weeks trying to find out what happened.

So did you ask about the norton 

[Don R]

Cool story. There is an old boy waiting for me to buy his old extended fork custom K1 750, it ain't my style but I remember it was very cool when I was 20 and it was built. Now it is in perfect shape except the tail and turn lights, trailer stuff.

[cb550fcafe]

So did you ask about the norton 

Indeed. And he still has it, pristine condition. He also has so many other Nortons in different stages of build. Some are to be custom(maybe), some to be original. He has so many bikes, I lost count during our conversation. Lyme disease has taken a toll on his knees so he doesn't ride as much and it appears he had lost some motivation. He told me to look him up in the phone book and we could get together at his shop.

He mentioned that someone had broken into his shop a little while back and they stole some strange items, his catalog rack and unfortunatley two sets of Dunstall exhaust pipes for a Norton, one set was new. That part was a bummer.

I hope we are somehow inspiring some 7 year old kids in America. My kids don't have much of a choice 

[74cb750]

Cool story.

[754]

Cool story, I like ones like that..

 BTW.. go look him up Sooner.. rather than later..the clock is ticking...


 And you probably know this.. a lot of bike people WANT their bikes to go to the RiGHT home, not just get sold..

 Spend some time with him, I bet he is just tickled to see you all grown up, and that some of him, maybe rubbed off on you.. way back in the day..