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MOTORBIKE DAYS(2) |
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OTHER SHIT MOTORBIKE DAYS(1) |
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I flew right over the Jeep thing and landed on the ground behind it. I was a bit winded, but apart from that, I didn't get a mark on me. The bike didn't do so well though, both forks were badly bent, making the bike unrideable. I left the bike there, hidden off the track, behind bushes, and carried on with the XL, with Darryl on the back. We weren't going to go back to Richmond, with all those coppers out looking for us. We ended up camping out at Murderers Rock, where the Maungatapu murders happened. We had some piss and weed with us, so we just drank and smoked with the intention of staying the night. At about four o'clock in the morning we decided it would be best to ride home, as there wouldn't be many coppers around then, unlike during the day. We got home okay, and came across no cops, by taking back roads and riding with no lights on. After sunrise we met up at Dean's place, to go back with a car and trailor to pick up my CR, which I hoped was still there. Just before we were about to leave the good old coppers came round and busted us. They knew it was us, and we knew they knew it was us. I spose we were hoping they wouldn't bother since we had dragged them off. No such luck. The cops kept saying things like "fuck you guys were moving, fuck you guys moved". There's certainly not many vehicles out there that can accelerate like a 250cc motocross bike. We ended up going to court, and we lost our licenses for nine months, and got fined $500, which was quite hefty back in 1983. Oh yeah, and my CR was still there when we finally went back to get it.
I sold both bikes and bought another DR. I had another rather mean accident on this bike as well. One day I was going along the road, doing about a 100k's, and there was this car, a customized Mark III Zepher, parked on the side of the road. As I was approaching this car, it all of a sudden pulled out, with no indicating, and turned into a driveway on the other side of the road. I slammed straight into the side of it, into the rear guard, and bounced onto the bonnet, and bounced again onto a picket fence. Ouch! It did my back in and I ended up been taken to hospital in an ambulance. My back gave me some trouble, on and off, for a few years, until I got a seasonal job stacking 20KG boxes of apples. The first day it hurt like hell, the second day it didn't so much, and on the third day the pain was gone altogether. I haven't had a single problem since, and that was about ten years ago. I sold that bike shortly afterwards to help finance my new occupation as streetkid / pisshead.
It wasn't until 1988 that I got another motorbike. It was a Honda XR200RE. I swapped it for a stereo and some cash. It was a great little bike, the first of the XR200's that came with the new twin carb motor. These motors had heaps of grunt, but were notorious for blowing themselves up. I treated mine to a rebore, with new piston and rings, and a valve grind. I did a lot of miles after that, giving it shit, |
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and the motor held up really well, and was still sweet when I sold it. It was on the night of Dead Centre's first ever gig, that I got home to find this bike had been stolen. Bit of a bugger, but oh well... I got the idea of never seeing that bike again. Two months later, a friend saw it in a motorbike shop, getting done up. So I got it back, in better condition than it was in when it was stolen. It had a new cam chain and seat cover, and a general tidy-up. Unfortunately, I had to sell it shortly afterwards, to raise some money to prevent myself from going to prison. The fascist judge had given me two weeks to pay a fine, or else he'd put |
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An XR200RE, like the one I had. |
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me in jail. I sold it cheap to a friend, who didn't have it for long. Some brainless bozo stole it (again) and dragged it down the road behind his car, until it was totally fucked. Fuck there are some wankers out there! I didn't have another motorbike for well over ten years, with all of my money going on music gear.
My next bike was a Yamaha XT400, which I bought in about 2000. Bit of a classic really, not many of them left. It was in quite good nick for its age, and went okay, but it didn't have much of a top speed. I sold it pretty quickly, as I wanted something a bit faster, and something more suitable for carrying passengers on. I couldn't afford another trailbike, but I found a nice tidy 1980 Honda CB400N, for a good price, so I traded the XT in on it. The CB is a road bike, the first road bike I have ever owned. |
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Riding a road bike is pretty wierd, when you've ridden nothing but trailbikes all your life. I don't really like it that much, and it spends all of its life in the garage, with a cover over it. The suspension is primative as fuck, compared to single shocker trailbikes, and I always feel as if it's going to fall out from underneath of me all the time. Still, it is an old design, going back to the seventys, if not the sixtys. I think I'll just keep it, and take it for a ride now and then, and keep it in good condition. There's not many of them around anymore, and it will be quite rare and collectable one day. I think I'll get me another trailbike soon, something like an XR250, an older one that I can afford. Preferably one with front and rear disc brakes. Something that you can chuck around like a BMX bike. |
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My CB400N. |
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OTHER SHIT MOTORBIKE DAYS(1) |
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