The first bike I went motorcycle touring on was a '74 Honda CB250 and since then I have traveled around 200,000 miles seeing two continents on various bikes. For 35 years and a period without a bike at all due to money priorities, this is not a great amount of miles by any means but I was almost always on a very limited budget and as one gets older free time gets less and slips away faster and faster. Hopefully I can add to those miles, maybe even double them before age gets to me and I just cant ride any longer. So much to see and do. Unfortunately most of my photos are lost forever due to various moves in Australia and then to the USA but I have found a few survivors recently which I post here. My 2nd bike, a 1974 Honda CB250 - This is the first bike I took touring in 1976. I would load it up for bear and hit the road. It wasn't fast nor was it particularly comfortable for my 6'4" frame but it would get me to where ever I was going and back every time. The motorcycle touring bug had bitten me. Circa 1977 - The original gang about to hit the road for a couple of weeks. To tour with others was rare for me and still is, most trips are just by myself. Circa 1977/78 - I believe this is in the Brindabella Ranges in the Australian Alps, West of Canberra in Eastern Australia. I would ride anywhere, on any road to see the unspoilt country, far away from the bustle of modern life and people. Circa 1978 - On some touring adventure, I think in the Victorian high country. OOPS, bogged down to the pipes. Well it looked solid enough to ride on at the time. Shouldn't be too hard to extract. No idea exactly when or where. Now with my dream touring bike (at that point in time), a BMW R75/6. First things first. Get the cask of white wine out and sample before pitching the tent ... A good plan? Probably not. Circa 1980 - Riding across to the WA/SA border (1300kms) for drinks with friends. Wow! I even had hair back then. Circa 1981 - Another jaunt across Australia. A 155w high beam + 2 x 100w Cibie Oscar long range driving lights would make it daylight for a half mile plus down the road. It really helped when night cruising, at 160+kph (100+mph) speeds in the outback. Circa 1981 - Boys just doing what boys do at the Border Village bar at the SA/WA, (Australia) border. Why just these photos survived and all the others are lost I have no idea. I took hundreds and hundreds of them on trips over the years. Its sad but that's life. Wish I had more photos to fill the 20 year void but alas they are lost. Maybe I can find some more in some buried album or box somewhere, one day. June, 2009 - Still riding and still touring. This time riding to the 2009 SV Rally, NC. Oct, 2010 - Riding a section of Historic Route 66 near Galena, KS I would not trade a second in the saddle and all the awesome people I have met for anything in the world. I am hoping for at least another 20 years or at least until I just cant ride any longer. Then I have the memories to keep me going. For the new and/or younger riders here's some advice ... just go out and do it. There aint no better way to see the world than atop a motorcycle. Like the saying goes, you only live once. It's getting harder to find unspoiled country but there is still plenty of it out there. The memories of motorcycle travel last forever as do the friendships of fellow motorcycle enthusiasts encountered along the way.
I love it! Most of my history on motorbikes, up until the past 6-7 years or so, is in odd photo albums and shoeboxes full of photos. Maybe one day I should dig through them...
So I dont lose any more I have started to document current trips on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/user/wwwbghius and all my latest bike and trip pics at http://sv650.metromain.net/photos/ and at http://sv650.metromain.net/misc_photos/
Absolutely! I agree. Being 50 years old now I try to ride as much as possible, and look forward to many more years in the saddle. Thanks for sharing your early touring history, it takes me back to my early days aboard a Moto Morini 350, which I took my first out of state ride on from Washington to California. Cheers!
WOW! A Moto Morini. Have not heard that name in years. To me the trips are great but it's the people met and sometimes sadly lost along the way that are most memorable. Cheers.
Circa 1981 - Boys just doing what boys do at the Border Village bar at the SA/WA, (Australia) border. MG66 That look like the Border Run, first weekend in August. Is that The Bear from WA far right standing? Can you name some of the others in the pix Done a few Broder runs myself and a lot of fun. Done the 4500kms in four days once but now I take a week to do it.
Give that man a prize. It most certainly is a Border Run. First full weekend of August each year I believe. So what is this Border Run? It was decided at some point in time that the WA/SA border was an ideal place for friends from West and East to get together and renew old friendships and have a drink together. The border is out in the middle of nowhere, literally. Basically all there is there is a gas station that has a small bar. We would camp in the scrub nearby and renew friendships and drink around a campfire telling tall tales of true from our legendary motorcycling past. I believe one year we even drank that little bar dry or maybe the years have begun to mist up my memories :) For me it was a 2600kms (~1600 miles) round trip. I would leave after work on the Friday around 4pm and get back home Sunday around 7pm. Quite a ride, but worth it to blow the froth off a few cold ones with mates. There are only 4 including myself I can put names of any kind to, some 30 years on. The others, I remember faces but the names need some coercion from my old and for the longest time, unused memory cells. At table in BMW t-shirt is me (Mal) At table wearing blue and black leathers is Ed(?) Behind me wearing black jacket and rally beanie is Bailey The bearded one standing is indeed Bear - one of those people that epitomize the true essence of motorcycle touring or what they now call adventure riding. If you have some photos of that era please post them. I would love to see them.
Mg66, This thread and your photos of your early days of touring stirs up my own memories of my early days of touring and how I got from there to here. At first I wasn't going to clutter your thread with my babbling but decided since you ask . . . . In my basement tucked away and probably being ruined are boxes and boxes of pictures that I hope to one day sort and scan but in the meantime all I have are a few from the early days so I will share those. The first bike I owned was a early '70s Kawasaki 100 - I think it was a KE100. It was street legal and a two stroke. I rode it all over the place and the plug fouled about every time I was out with riding it on highways wide open. I always had a emery board and a spark plug wrench with me so I could pull the plug and clean it then I'd be on my way. It was just part of the riding fun. I don't think I even have a picture of that bike in my basement. I wish I did since it was the first bike I owned. That bike was totaled when I ran into the side of a box van in a residential area. I replaced it with a '76? Honda 360. I hated that bike. It was too heavy for dirt (for me), handled like crap on gravel (probably the wrong tires) and it was to light on the highway (or so I was told). The totalled 100, the 360 and a bit of cash was traded for a '77 Yamaha XS750 and my touring passion began. I knew nothing about motorcycle touring, how to pack or even how to learn these skills. The internet was not available with all the information we now have at our finger tips. I learned from people in motorcycle shops, any magazine I could get my hands on and finally found a club to join. While the packing is a mess on my bike and it's is embarrassing compared to the way people pack their bikes now it wasn't uncommon to see bikes packed just like this. All the people I hung out with did it the same way and if it rained we threw a garbage bag over the entire mess and continued on. I loved that bike, it fit me well and I had tons of fun on it but it was getting old and worn out so I bought a '83 (I think it was an '83) Yamaha XJ750 Maxium, added a fairing and side bags and had myself a new touring bike and my packing didn't improve....... The bike took me all over the Northwest and into Canada until one day I totaled it too. :eek1 It was time to get a new bike, again. As years went by it became harder and harder for me to find bikes that fit. I'm only 5'0" and the bikes were getting bigger and bigger, with taller seat heights but I wasn't getting any taller. After doing a lot of searching for my next perfect bike I went with an '86 Harley FXRD (Grand Tour Edition). It was lowered and the seat was changed out so I could touch ground and it was a wonderful touring bike for me and boy did I ever tour on it. At least my packing on this bike wasn't such a mess. I didn't want to use the Harley to run back and forth to work or for taking short rides so I added a '74 Honda CB200 to my garage. Yep, it was set up for touring. The '70s were a great time in the motorcycling world you could buy fairings and hard bags for just about anything. The Harley was sold after I toured the United States and Canada on it for 6 months. The bike had over 100,000 miles on it and someone wanted it bad enough he gave me about as much for it as I paid for it new. With that many miles on it I was no longer confident in taking it on long trips so I bought a used Honda PC800 also known as a Pacific Coast or Tupperware bike. While the Pacific Coast was smooth, ran well, handle gravel great and never missed a beat I was bored with it and figure my motorcycling had run it's course and it was time to give touring. Somehow during that time I got a wild hair and decided to start dirt riding and bought this '74 Honda XR100. Sometimes you have to wash a bike Dirt riding (falling) in the Tillamook Forest (Oregon) Break time I started missing the good old days and the Hondas of the '70 and these bikes found their way into my garage. This was four days of touring forest service roads in Montana with my friend Rainbow007, oh yeah - that's her taking a break with me above too. Here's a close up of the '76 Honda CB400F. I still have the 400 however it now has blue body parts as the paint on the red tank was in bad shape on the top. The '72 Honda SL350 has made it's way to better days and more riding with Oregon Coast and it ran the Mexican 1000 last year. You can read about it here: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=617607 It might not be in my garage any longer but I'm still in it's life as a spectator. It's not touring but I thought it was pretty awesome that a 40 year old bike completed the Mexican 1000 About 2003 I wasn't enjoying my PC800 but I sure was having fun with my XR100 so motorcycling was still in my life. Then I discovered a BMW F650 that I fit. In my younger days of touring I wanted a BMW but they were too tall so I put them out of my mind until I sat on one at the International Motorcycle Show in Seattle. I kept thinking about getting one but a new bike really wasn't in the budget at the time and then a friend made a '99 BMW F650 Classic easy for me to buy so I flew to TX and rode it home. I decided by the time I got home I would know if my passion for street riding/touring was over or if it was the bike. I discovered it was the bike and the PC800 was sold as soon as I got home. I was having a blast touring on the F650 and it was great knowing I could head off on dirt roads with this bike. With finding the bike of my dreams I had the opportunity to complete another dream, a solo ride to AK. I didn't go as far into AK as I would have liked but I did make it to Skagway and took the ferry through the inland passage back to Canada (another dream achieved). One day I will return to AK and spend more time there. A few years later a new bike was in the budget and a '07 BMW F650GS found it's way into my garage via Florida. Bike wash day before winter set in a few years back. Even with all those bikes I was still searching and in '08 I decided I needed a smaller dual sport bike to ride to Baja with friends and I bought a '07 Suzuki DR200SE "The Superbug". What a blast this bike is and yes I use it for touring and my packing is the pits again. Once we returned to the United States I ventured out on my own as I headed home. with a stop on RT 66 - had to include this picture since you had a RT 66 picture. A 9 day tour from Spokane, WA to Jarbidge, NV - packed for camping. The DR200 might be small but it packs a big punch of fun and I ride it all over. I do most of my riding solo and having a smaller bike is nice since it is so much easier for me to handle when I get in tight spots. As time passed so did my riding skills, it keeps getting more and more difficult to do fairly simple things. A little tune up was needed and decided to get some training on my F650GS at an all Women's Adventure Camp. It was great fun. I did pretty good with this a few times. And then not so good. :eek1 I'm OK The '70s motorcycles still tug at me and I needed another one . . . . . I just picked this '76 Yamaha TY175 last month. It might not be a tour bike but if I can tour on a DR200 maybe I can figure out how to tour on a TY175, at least for a weekend but first I need to learn to ride it. Just wanted to end this with a tour picture soooooooo ~ After I got home from picking up my latest bike I took a little tour through a local bar on my F650GS. Thanks for letting me take a trip down the memory lane in your thread and I hope you enjoy the pictures.
Thanks for sharing the pics wish I would have taken a few years ago heres one of setting out on the 67 Bonny
Hi Mal The Bear is still going strong. Saw him at this year's Border run. The others I'm not sure about. Was that Bailey Grifiths? The preson to get in contact is Chirs McArdle aka MaCardigin who would photos of the time. Also you would be please to know that The Pudding is also going strong doing the rounds of Australia on two wheels only.
Circa August 1978 on the Whiteface Memorial Highway, near Lake Placid, NY, riding my 1975 GL1000. My 24 yr old body not in need of too much in the way of 'creature comforts' for camping.. This past summer, one of two times riding over the Beartooth, on my 21,000mi multiple cross country tour. The older I get, the more Creature Comforts I seem to 'need'. :huh .
Here's some old 70's stuff from the other side of the pond. First few pictures are from a trip from London to Morocco in 1970. We were two up on a Yamaha 250 YDS6 and we covered about 4500 miles in just over two weeks traveling through France and Spain and then a ferry across to Morocco. Pic above is me sitting in a campsite in Tangiers writing a postcard home. No email etc then and a phone call would have cost about half our total budget. We posted various cards and then beat them back by about 10 days. This is John, the owner of the Yamaha, with some junior Tangiers hustlers. You could hardly move in the city without someone trying to sell you something. If you wanted something to drink (and were brave enough) the water sellers would sell you a cupful from their container made out of sheep intestines or something. We stuck to Coca Cola! The next year, 1971, we thought we'd head east instead and convinced two female friends to go with us to the Athens wine festival in Greece and then on to the island of Corfu. John still had the YDS6 and I'd bought a 300cc Honda CB77 - This was an overnight stop forced upon us on the Belgian motorway when the Honda got a puncture. I'm just refitting the rear wheel after putting in a new tube. This one is John and Brigid on the Yamaha riding up the Brenner pass in Austria Our traveling companions Brigid and Jacqui in a picture taken in the northern Greek mountains. We'd just stopped at the side of the road overnight and were just packing the bikes for departure. The Parthanon in Athens, our furthest point from London. I showed this picture to someone else a few years ago saying that I hadn't been back since but I don't suppose it's changed much. They told me that they'd been there recently and it's being restored so it doesn't look anything like that now! Our campsite in the north of Corfu. Since then the whole area has become a tourist development and is now covered in package tour hotels. This saga could go on and on as there are hundreds of pictures from bike trips we did right through the 70's and even right up to the present day - Jumping rapidly forward - A couple of years later - mid 1973 and another campsite. I'm on the left doing something to the 650 Yamaha I had at the time More up to date - John now lives in NJ and in 2009 went coast to coast on his Triumph visiting clients. This was him just setting off from home. Picture below is of him camping somewhere out west - Not to be outdone this is a picture of me a few years ago taken in the Sahara. The bike's a Honda XR600 and I'd ridden from the UK aiming to get to Mali in West Africa. A couple of years ago in the French Alps during winter. The bike's my current overlander, a CCM 604.
I sure do like the pictures of days gone by and then brought up to present time with current pictures.
Hi All, What a great thread, so thanks to mg66 for starting it. Like others my photos of motorcycling in the 70's have gone astray, though there where never that many anyway. So, looking forward to seeing other folks photos and hearing of their travel tales... keep em coming. Subscribed !! Cheers Potski