This was where the paths diverged. Two cute kids on identical bikes having a ball…. and then it morphed into Hazel and John. Which was a big pity.
My Bikes – RD125
I ran away from home and ended up in Auckland. Someone had an RD125 that I got to borrow. I can still remember racing down the Southern Motorway at night on it. It seemed so rapid and awesome for such a little bike. It also has such classic styling – it still looks like a real bike. This one never worked as well as it should have – the carbs had been scavenged for a racing go-kart and the replacements never seemed to work as well as they should have. Jean rode it to work at Highden for a while.
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…Then Came Bronson
from little acorns…
A few of these must have been on TV in NZ back in the day… I saw just enough to have the image of a modern day drifter on his trusty iron horse burned into my brain. The memory of the program is not of episodes, but of concept. I’m absolutely sure that watching this program now would break the spell.
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Learning to Ride
The thing that I remember most about the magazines of the late 70’s and the early 80’s, especially the American magazines, is the awesome multi-page advertisements. They absolutely fascinated me. Not the products they advertised, but the advertisements themselves. Great copy, great photos, highly emotive,… and aimed at a mass rather than a niche market. It was “Playboy” on two wheels.
These rose-tinted magazines also contained high quality editorials, detailed technical articles, and in-depth analysis on all aspects of the sport.
“Six Trips” is remembered especially fondly. I must have re-read this one dozens of times. It seems to stand up reasonably well today.
Six Trips Down Your Favorite Road
The sport seemed to be still driven by enthusiasts, and be marketed and accessible to the the every-man.
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Babes Ride Out
“I’m not gonna lie. Like, I was scared, this is fuckin’ dangerous. Practice makes perfect and you’ve just got to get out there and just get after it and force confidence in yourself.”
– Jenny Czinder, Portland Oregon
“I ride alone a lot. It puts me at peace. Whatever bullshit I have going on at home, it’s gone. I can throw head phones in and I just go, and it makes me so happy.”
“No one wants anyone to get hurt. It sucks stuff like that happens but it does happen. You know, when you jump on a bike you’ve got to realise that you might not be getting back off that bike. So, it’s scary, but you’re not always guaranteed to come back and throw it on the kickstand at the end of the day.”
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It’s Better In The Wind
“I think that we all share one unique fact and that’s that when we started it was all about finding something new, finding something outside of our comfort zone, that really helped us to understand where we wanted to go in our lives and it’s funny that a simple machine like a motorcycle can really take you away from your comfort zones and really help you focus on what’s really important.”
– 7:03
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My Bikes – Big Day Out
- 1972 BMW R75/5
- 1977 R100S
- 1978 R80/7 (1000cc)
- 1983 BMW R100 RS
- 1985 Honda 250 RS
- 1992 BMW K1
- 1994 Honda NSR250R SE
- 2000 KDX200
- 2001 Triumph Sprint RS
- 2007 Gasgas TXT 50
- 2007 Gasgas TXT 125
- 2010 Gasgas TXT 300
- 2012 KTM 300 EXC
- 2012 Gasgas TXT 125
- Echo 20″
- Echo 26″
- Apologies: 2013 Beta 125, Beta Zero 125
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