Let me back up.
I bought this 1975 Honda 550Four in 1980, used, and put abut 2 years on it before I left for the Army. Probably only put on about 4,000 miles total while I owned it. I think when I bought it it had 2,500 miles on it.
Since I was leaving and couldn't ride it, I sold it to my buddy's dad. He was going to ride it back and forth to work. I think he paid me $300. I probably only paid $500 for it so that wasn't bad. Shortly after "Dad" got it, he hurt his back at work and could barely ride. So he gave it to his son (my buddy) John.
John rode it for a few years, added a fairing and changed the sissy bar into a luggage rack and some other minor things. I don't think either of them replaced tires the entire time they owned it, but they were still in good shape. There were lots of little things that needed attention, but the bike was serviceable so they got ignored. Nothing worse than when I owned it.
Finally, the head gasket started leaking and John decided it was time to pull it in the garage and work on it. He got as far as buying parts and pulling it in the garage. John has great ambition and super skill. He just doesn't have time. Rarely does he have time.
So it sat in the garage for a couple years before John's wife told him to move it somewhere - anywhere. So he parked it behind the garage and threw a tarp over it.
And there it sat for years. and years. and a couple more years.
Enter me. I visit and ask "whatever happened to that old bike?" and John's wife Sue shoots back, "You want it back? You can have it!"
Short version is that yes, I got it back. Then I decided just fixing it up to ride again wouldn't be near as much fun as customizing it. So I did.
I decided to chop it and turn it into a Honda version of the Easy Rider bike (from the movie).
Many dollars and a few years later, she was re-christened as "Lady Liberty". But for fun, I added apehangers. You know, just to make it different.
So then I wanted to share this with John again. After all, his dad has passed but we both enjoyed riding this bike back 'in the day'. I figured he'd wanna ride it again.
Fast forward to last weekend.
I knew riding with apehangers from Fort Wayne to Detroit would be a challenge by itself. Plus, the weather looked questionable, so I decided to trailer it up. So off I go and trailer the bike the 200 miles up there. I pull it out of the trailer and fire it up. Ride the 5 miles or so from where I parked the trailer to John's house. Pull up and wait for the reaction.
It wasn't overly giddy or crazy, but you could tell John wouldn't have guessed this was the same bike. I tossed him the red, white and blue helmet (yeah, I went old school) and reminded him of the leaky carb overflows that continue to be problematic. Off he goes, around the block in his neighborhood.
Then I ride back to the trailer, load it up and (the next morning) trailer it back home, another 200 miles.
So I traveled about 400 miles to ride it about 10 myself and John probably put on two miles in the neighborhood.
Worth it?
You bet your ass. It was worth every bit. Sharing the joy of this bike with John was unlike anything else. I knew he could appreciate the struggles I had (I have always been very mechanically challenged, but I've obviously gotten better). I knew he could relate to the joy that this bike brought both of us over the years.
And I knew he'd dig sticking out like a sore thumb on a Honda-Davidson Easy Rider knock off, wearing a red, white and blue helmet in suburban Detroit on a busy Saturday afternoon.
And I did too.
Thanks John, for giving me the chance to learn a lot about old bikes and bike building. And thanks for sharing the joy that is the old Blue Bomber and now Lady Liberty.
And thanks to Matt and Roger and countless others for helping me learn how to do all this.
And thanks to Jannette for letting me go WAY over budget on a dream.
