I rode my first motorcycle at age 18 while stationed with the U.S. Air Force in Japan.  I purchased a HONDA 300cc Scrambler in 1964 while stationed near Tokyo.  I left my motorcycle riding behind when I left the Air Force in 1967 and headed for college. 

It wasn't until 1978 when I decided to return to the fun of riding a motorcycle again.  My first purchase was a HONDA 400cc bike.
I only had this bike for a few months as it just wasn't big enough for the long weekend trips with the Honda Club of Frederick.
Below is a picture of my smaller Honda 400cc bike - of course,
it had a radio on it !   Note the "horn" speaker on the right handlebar and microphone on the left side.  Radio unit was in the trunk over the back fender.


After several road trips with the Honda Club I decided to upgrade to a much larger motorcycle that would make highway travel more enjoyable.  I traded in the 400cc model for a new Honda 900cc ( 10 speed ) bike.  This bike was much bigger and heavier and in the upper gears the road vibration that was so annoying with the smaller bike was GONE!  Below is a picture of the Honda 900 the day I brought it home from the Honda dealer.

Note: I had already transferred the speaker, microphone, radio unit/trunk, and antenna to the new bike.  The radio unit in this picture is a CB unit used to keep in touch with other riders when on Honda Club group rides.  At a later date, I added a 2 meter Clegg FM22 rig to the trunk with a remote control unit on the handlebars:


As any "biker" will tell you - bikes get more attention than most anything else and my bike was no exception.  It was "spit" shined after every trip, washed and cleaned every week and polished on a continual basis.  I enjoyed the Honda 900 for 18 years of riding fun and the day I sold it . . . the bike had all the original parts ( except for tires ) and there was not a speck of rust to be found anywhere.  The exhaust pipes were just as shiny and clean as the day I brought it home as seen above.

Below is a picture of the same motorcycle after about 10 or 11 years of riding ( ~ 30,000 miles ):


Riding a motorcycle is an experience that is hard to describe to non-riders.  I can imagine it is akin to open cockpit flying as compared to riding in an enclosed airliner.  You can smell the fresh cut hay or grass as you pass by farms and fields.  On night rides you can feel the temperature change as you hit cooler pockets of air on a moonlit night. You can hear the little peeper frogs alongside the roadway or the locust on a hot summer day in the countryside.  People everywhere wave "hello".  Often when we would stop for food in a town somewhere, folks would come over to see the motorcycles and ask about our adventures. 

Alas, Frederick is no longer the sleepy little town that it once was when I was enjoying my biking days.  It has grown into a very congested highway system with heavy road traffic everywhere, 7 days a week.  So when I sold my Honda 900 after 18 years of wonderful memories I decided to not "push my luck" any further and ended my motorcycle riding days.  But when I see a group of bikers or even a lone biker, I always wave and remember the good times, when I too rode " open cockpit" .



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