Saturday, November 12, 2016

The Other 850

Decided to bring it home with the rest of them.

After breakfast with Mike and some more sorting at Mom's house, I hauled Dad's '80 Suzuki 850 home.  I bought my '79 right after he and I got home from Aspencade in early October of 1978.  My shafty Suzuki instantly became a favorite and my summer-long Maritime/New England trip the following summer must have been enough to convince dad to get an 850 of his own.

Not sure and only very recently making up my mind, the decision has been made to see if I can't make it go again.  I've flip flopped numerous times back and forth as to whether it was a way that I wanted to spend my time and it seems that my heels have now become dug in.  As I've said before, we are going to need longer winters.


When Minnesota stopped supplying new plates every year or so, Dad wasn't happy and decided to take a stand......


Our neighbor Paul has been really working hard dismantling our barn and yesterday between removing barn boards and salvaging the old hay fork track, he rode his old Honda down the valley.  He bought it brand new from our local Honda dealer (I have 2 in the garage that originated from the same store) and has had it ever since....3250 miles.  Starts and runs first kick every time.


This morning it was once again  up to the Big Town for coffee at Diamond's.  From there, back to mom's and more treasures uncovered, some of which will be shared very soon on these very pages.  Spending more time there going through the many items and then with a stop at mom's current residence the afternoon almost got away from me.  Certainly cooler today than it's been with a hard frost here overnight, it was still a lovely afternoon.  A very quick and short loop on the KLR just to say that I had.


I've been seeing this pretty thing parked at our local marina and today had to stop for a photo; it isn't what we normally see here plying our local waters.  Lord Nelson Victory Tug
Sorry, I can't get Little Lord Fauntleroy out of my head once I saw the description on the boat....it must be a phonics thing; how my brain is wired.



Aired and oiled up the Helix, most of the bugs cleared from the windscreen.  Tomorrow's nice weather is expected to include some miles on the bright yellow one.

8 comments:

  1. Restoring your dad's motorcycle seems a worthwhile project....that tug boat is teeny.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dom, I sure hope so. Based on others' experience I'm wary, mostly of the 4 CV carbs. Can be and most of the time is hard to justify. We'll call it a labor of love.

      Delete
  2. Restoring your Dad's bike sounds like a very worthy case of spending time in the garage during winter time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sonja, as we all know, winter just races by :) I barely have time to keep the runners running, let alone make runners out of those that have given up.

      Delete
  3. Doug one day you should begin publishing a separate history for each of your bikes, including those that were once but are no longer in the family.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. David, I appreciate the suggestion and hope to sometime soon shed more light on at least some of the details. I can tell you that each and every one of my sessions sorting through mom's house brings a little or a lot of reference material.

      As an example, found a couple of my postcards home from the Maritime trip and little tidbits stir other tidbits of memories. One was to my parents, one to my grandparents. I didn't need the postcard from Cavendish to remember how much I loved the place.

      Hope to share a fun one in my next Post.

      Delete
  4. Wow, how do you know which project to work on first? I like how your dad took a stand with the plates and his registration tags.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brandy, I need and could use guidance. I'll admit publicly that the Riders get preference but those 850's are already gnawing at me.

      Delete