I
’m going to go out on a limb here, but
I’ve met a lot of motorcyclists in my
life, and I bet 75 percent of you would
agree with me on this: Motorcycles can
speak to you.
Some days they audibly speak: they
misfire, they squeak, they squeal, or
when things go really wrong, they grind,
growl or just go bang. But that’s not
what I mean. I’m talking about the way
sometimes a motorcycle tells you some-
thing. Maybe it doesn’t even tell your
brain. I think maybe it tells your gut.
The bike says, “Hey man, you need one
of these.” The last time this happened
to me was in July 2016. At our yearly
MC Ride ’Em, Don't Hide ’Em event
in Pennsylvania, we’d finished up our
Sunday Morning Ride, the last of the
official events for the weekend. After we
helped attendees pack up and get their
bikes loaded, we decided it was time
for lunch.
This was to be the inaugural unof-
ficial lunch ride. All weekend we had
been riding a selection of vintage twins
brought to the event by Joel Samick of
RetroTours (retrotours.com). I’d spent
most of the weekend riding his 1970
Triumph T100C (dutifully named Purple
Rain by ad man Shane Powers). Light,
agile, simple and almost quaint, it did
the job and got me around all weekend.
But the hard part was over. No more
leading a group or trying to figure outwhere I was going. Get on a bike, fol-
low editor Backus and see where we
can find some grub. (We wound up at
See-Mor’s All Star Grill in Normalville,
Pennsylvania. We now try to go every
year!) We all swapped bikes for the
lunch ride. Joel had also brought his
1973 Norton Commando Fastback 750
for us to use (that's me with the 750
below). I’d pulled the Norton out Friday
night to start it and run it around the
parking lot. I was taught the kickstarting
ritual by none other than Brian Slark (!)
who was our guest of honor that year.
Riding the Triumph all weekend had
me trained on shifting on the right, so
I had that down, but the Norton had an
upside-down shift pattern to boot. Yep,
one up, three down. Don’t mis-shift!
A few miles into our ride, we got to a
clear, open two-lane road and everyone
picked up the pace. It was time to see
what full throttle sounded like. I opened
it wide, nailed the shift from second to
third and opened that throttle again.
And that’s when I heard it.
Right in the gut.
That bike told me one thing, clear as
day and louder than the glorious growl
from those open mufflers:
“You need one of these.”
Apparently I was too busy listen-
ing to the bike rather than keeping up
the pace. We soon stopped for fuel,
and Powers said something to the
effect of “Hey, I thought those things
were fast?” My response shouldn't be
repeated here. Shane Powers, ballbuster
extraordinaire.
Our crew spent lunch talking bikes.
Backus knows Commandos inside and
out. He knew what was going on here. It
was obvious. I think he even said it. “You
need one of those.” Two months later I had
one, but that’s a story for another day.
What ride do you remember that led
you to buy another old bike? Send me
an email at lhall@motorcycleclassics.
com. Even better, If you’ve got a hi-res
photo of the bike, send that along too.
And next time a bike talks to you, listen.
Cheers,The bike made me do it
6 MOTORCYCLE CLASSICS September/October 2019
SHINY SIDE
UP
®OSCAR H. WILL III, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
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MOTORCYCLE CLASSICS (ISSN 1556-0880)
September/October 2019, Volume 15 Issue 1
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