The Steel Guitar Forum

With the price of gas I thought I'd upgrade to something bigger and more comfortable on which I could take a long ride if I wanted. I looked at a couple of Goldwings and a Heritage Softail and a couple of other large Honda Shadows as well as a Vulcan 1500 before I settled on a Royal Star Tour Deluxe by Yamaha. I bought a used (2005) one in great shape with 20,000 highway miles on it at a very good price.

It looks like a V-Twin but it's actually a V-Four cylinder with shaft drive, cruise control, dash clock, and a bunch of other stuff. The engine is a 1300 so it's big enough to haul the wife and I. What's cool is if you want to just street cruise, the windshield and sissy bar come off in about 10 seconds with no tools needed, just a couple of levers.

I added the whitewall tires for a more retro look to it and I've been riding the fire out of this thing for the last two months and am going out again after I get off the computer.....

How 'bout showing us your favorite ride and gas saver......JH in Va.

2006 Ural Tourist 750 - This is what I drive most of the time. Plenty of room for my SD-10, a 112, and a Pack-A-Seat. Or a Golden Retriever, a weeks groceries, or whatever. About 32 MPG.

Jerry,

When I need to get there a while ago I take this one, a 2007 Triumph 900, about 50 MPG.

My current ride, a 1996 Harley Soft-tail Heritage

Mine is the 1961 Triumph Thunderbird, and the 1975 Bonneville... they only come out when the sun shines but I don`t know how to post a picture here????
wait a min..whats that up the top right ....I will try.....

Nope! guess I`m computer ignorant!
I could email it if theres someone knows how to post it???

Here's my old '72 Honda cb750 hot rod. Good year, same vintage as my fatback Emmons. My much newer and faster BMW is in the background. A great bike but it doesn't get the attention the old Honda does.

My Brough Superior SS 100


Just kidding of course!
I haven't ridden a motorcycle since 1989 when I had a serious accident in Spain that nearly killed me. I still love to look at em though.

Well I emailed my picture to Ricky Davis hoping he could post it for me but so far nothing:( don`t know why it won`t upload very dissapointed as I wanted to show off my Back and silver T.bird and my Bonney is the "Tangerine Dream" I don`t know how much longer I will be able to ride them the kick start plays hell with the hip arthritas......

'01 Fatboy. 37 mpg, but I take the long way, wherever I'm going, so..... it's a push..

WOW! it took me forever!! don`t think I could do it again! The Black and silver one has to go soon If anyone fancy`s riding it across the pond???

Davis,

That Bathtub Bird is to die for! Very nice!

John Davis, you've got good taste in bikes!
here's a few from my stable.

Wow, those are some great looking bikes for sure!

John D. where did you get your Ural? Those are well made bikes. For anyone who doesn't know anything about them, at the end of WW2 the Russians took most of the tooling and parts of the BMW factory back to Russian and that's where the Ural motorcycle comes from. I don't know if they're still made the same but for many years they featured the same cylinder configuration as a BMW cycle with the cylinders going out both sides. John, can you post a picture from the other side of the bike?....JH

Gene, that's a great looking Heritage Softtail. I had one of those at one point before I left SoCal but it wasn't as pretty as yours. I looked at the 105th anniversary copper and black model at the local Harley dealer but it was a fortune for the thing and I really wanted to have a liquid cooled engine this time...........

Peter, great shot of that old Honda, I'd love to have that one here in Va. One of the guys I ride with found an old '82 Goldwing with only a little over 6,000 miles on the thing, what a find. He got it from a widow who'd had it in the garage for almost 15 years and only paid $4,000 for it.....JH in Va.

John Davis wrote:WOW! it took me forever!! don`t think I could do it again! The Black and silver one has to go soon If anyone fancy`s riding it across the pond???

WhooHoo! Lotta Triumphs in this thread...my favorite.
John - that looks like a '73 in the back (first model year for the 750cc Bonnie). Is that right? I had a '73 myself back in the day...

Steve,

That is indeed a 73 "Oiler". It reminds me of my 1966 T120TT White tank, tangerine stripe. The bike was way fast!

John Drury wrote:Steve,

That is indeed a 73 "Oiler".

Don't remind me!

Yep - White tank/tangerine stripe: The 'Creamsicle'....

Jerry,

The bike came from Cyclerama, McMinnville, TN.

I hope Bobbe stumbles up on this thread, he has just finished a very high dollar customization of an 80's BMW "Flying Brick" complete with blower no less, and an amazing paint scheme. Maybe he will post some pics, the bike is beautiful!

the Ural is a copy of the Bmw R75 & Zundapp KS 750 that the germans made during the war
you got a reverse on yours Tony ?
they have been popular in Russia for decades along w: Dniepr
the ones found in France, England & Germany often have a BMW engine in them

i rode BMWs for years, R50/2 - R60/2 - R69S - R75/5
in ended up ridin'a R80 GS that was totally adapted to this mountain region i live in
plenty of dirt roads into Spain & Andorra
boo hoo hoo, i sold it 5 years ago & now i ain't got no bike



those BSAs are gorgeous Richard
those Triumphs look like new editions of yesteryears models
that scrambler sho' looks neet
English bikes were tops even if one had to have mechanical notions to keep 'em goin'

My Suzuki Alto ain't a motorbike,
but she returns 60 mpg,
plus I don't get wet.
(It rains all the time in Britain,
especially during the summer months )

John, thanks for the shot of your Ural. I have a book on motorcycle history which features every brand ever made I believe. The Ural chapter was especially interesting as I stated before about the Russians taking more or less the whole factory from Germany and moving it to Russia. I see your's has those BMW style cylinders sticking out the sides. The book said that the BMW engineering was so advanced that Ural felt no need to do anything except put their name on them so essentially you've got a BMW bike. Cool sidecar too!.......JH in Va.

It's nice to see so many old British bikes, nothing sounds like them. Here's my 69 Bonneville, which I think gets around 50 mpg. The older I get, the slower I ride.

My current ride. 1981 Goldwing, 38,000 km. 49.77 mpg. on trip last weekend.
Added an electronic Audiovox automobile cruise control to it last month. Probably helped with the gas mileage.

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My Bonney was registered here in 1975 it is the oil in frame model and has the gear lever located on the proper side! (only way to go IMHO )But I do have to take it back to the factory soon to get an oil leak put in it (for some reason it does`ent have one at the moment

I'm not into bikes, but I loved my wee convertible, which I wrote off two weeks ago.





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