So I create a blog.
Small things can have big effects. This is 1 January 2014, and I am excited about a new year. Last year was a difficult year for me in many ways. I was injured in a motor vehicle accident.
Now however, I have taken a few steps back, back to a place from which I departed in about 1984. This was the last year I remember being happy and feeling competent in my life. It was the last year before my first marriage. A year in which I was a salesman at a Honda motorcycle dealership, and truly completely enjoyed what I was doing. Then I went to law school.
The reasons I went to law school seem vague to me now, poorly formed and ephemeral. I was not a good student at university, and chose a liberal arts curriculum. This left me largely unemployable, as I had no real skills I could market. I felt lost largely, without a plan.
My girlfriend at the time, dismayed that I had no plan, decided to marry her ex boyfriend. This made my feckless state even more apparent to me, and seemed to demand a change in circumstance. I went to law school seeking a change of circumstance.
Instead, law school changed me. I went to a bottom tier law school. I felt very alone. I tried so hard to be somebody I thought I was supposed to be, rather than the person I am. I am still an uncomfortable lawyer, practicing a profession which I don't enjoy, not at all.
However, this is now, that was then, and while I might like to start over, I am where my reluctant path has deposited me.
So I bought some classic British motorcycles. These machines are works of art, raw, unrestrained, finicky, and sensitive. They demand regular maintenance, and in these demands I have rediscovered a sense of confidence in myself, as I simply must fix these issues as they arise. I may not be able to be a callow youth selling modern machines again, but I have a sense of purpose in my adventures in motorcycle mechanics.
The primary motivation was to acquire something that will not depreciate, something tangible, in which I find subjective value, and objective investment qualities. My first acquisition was a 1962 Triumph Thunderbird, in original condition. I should say mostly original, as a prior owner installed an electronic ignition, which has proven a worthwhile modification. I had always liked BSA motorcycles, and had never owned a Triumph before. I stepped out of my comfort zone quite a ways when I bought the bike, and for quite a little while I learned how it worked. It has proven to be a good first step, reliable, with adequate power, and marginal brakes.
The dealership where I bought the thing is Baxter Cycles in Marne, Iowa. Somewhere nearby, in a barn I take it, is a gentleman in whom Baxter has great confidence, 3 years into a 1 year restoration project on a Velocette Thruxton. I decided to purchase said Velocette at the time of the Triumph purchase, and embarked on a road of reading and learning about these neat old, lesser known, British motorbikes. In my quest to quench this newfound passion, this thirst for knowledge, I felt a rejuvenation in my spirit. I felt a world of possibility open to me again. This was a feeling left long ago at the front door of Roadrunner's Honda Kawasaki the day I embarked on my journey to Oklahoma City University law school.
I still haven't purchased this bike, as frankly I am skeptical it will ever be completed in a condition where it will be salable. It doesn't really matter to me now, as the fire of joy and learning brought about at the prospect of owning the bike has led me to other projects. One of these projects is a nicely restored 1953 AJS 350cc thumper. It is a magnificent little motorcycle, fun to ride, and really nice to look at. The other is a dream bike, a 1958 BSA Gold Star 500 cc motorcycle.
I still don't remember where my passion for the Gold Star first arose. It must have been stories or tales swapped by more mature motorcyclists I would meet. Maybe it was in magazine stories. Maybe it was as a child I saw one or something. Nonetheless, again at the point of departure from a life of happiness, to one of obligation, I became enamored with this iconic motorcycle, and have wanted one ever since. I found this one in Canada, sold thru Ebay, by a dealer named Mike at Walridge Motors, in Ontario.
I stepped way out on a limb, and bid on the machine. I had never bought a vehicle on Ebay sight unseen before. I had never imported anything from Canada before. I learned much of what is required to get an old bike from Canada to the US. The previous owner has owned two, consecutively numbered, bikes, one of which was sold to a gentleman in New York. The previous owner had a form of dementia, and his conservator was selling his prizes to fund his care, and so this one came into my possession. It shows signs of an abortive restoration, in that the gas tank had been painted a uniform silver, thus obscuring the traditional chrome flashes on the sides of the tank. Some of the metal bits had been lovingly painted over with a silver paint which at first blush resembles plating. The bike started and ran well, although a bit rich. Someone had flagged the battery terminals indicating with writing on a strip of masking tape that this was a positive ground machine, in anticipation of it being sold perhaps?
The tires are older Dunlops, bearing the legend, "Made in Great Britain." The chrome on the wheels is pitting, and many of the fasteners are a bit rusty. It seems to have been cared for, but stored for a long while, unridden.
Now it is mine. Initially I was intimidated by the Goldie, and was only at the beginning of the learning curve. As I familiarize myself with the bike, I can see that it has scant if any modification, and appears to be mostly original, or at least all original parts are where they are supposed to be. I look forward to learning more about this, as well as the other, magnificent machines, and in my explorations of them mechanically, and as conveyances, I hope to continue to grow in joy.
