Motorcycle.htm             This web-page contains info about Mr. Zuroff interests in riding.

I really love to ride my motorcycle.  I own a 2003 BMW RT1150.  It's my first motorcycle that I bought new.  Well, almost new.  It had 790 miles on it.

I've always ridden old Hondas that I bought cheap and I put back into semi-original condition.  The first bike was a red 1971 CB350 twin.  It was physically beautiful, but mechanically a disaster.  I got to the point of being able to pull the motor off of the frame and pull apart the motor and transmission in minutes.  It ate the cam-chain tensioner and dispersed metal chips EVERYWHERE.  The oil filtration system was awful.  I kept having to break down the engine and clean the thing out all of the time.  Eventually I got rid of the chips and rode it to Florida.  Yes, I rode a little 350, fully loaded down with Christmas gifts to Florida.

First Motorcycle Trip New Jersey to Florida:  I left Dec 18, 1979; it was 18F degrees out.  I was almost prepared for the trip.  I bought a cheap snowsuit from Caldors.  I bought a very warm pair of mittens.  I was well prepared, except I rode with work-boots and cotton socks.  The cotton socks were the big mistake.  I just didn't figure it out then.  It took me a couple of years to figure out that you can wear wool socks and wear even sneakers in freezing cold weather and be warm.  It was a COLD trip, and my feet made it even colder.  Things turned warm in the Carolinas.  I rode down on US95.  Had a great time riding past some kind of military base where helicopters had fun doing mock strafes over me.  My boss at the Citgo station in Mahwah, NJ put up a sign that said "Pete made it to Florida."  And I did.  Unfortunately, one of the two bolts that held the gear on the camshaft broke in Bunnel, FL.  I hitchhiked back into town ( there was a Honda dealer there ).  I got back to the bike and found all of my gear and Christmas presents stolen.  At least they left me the bike and the tools.  The trip deteriorated from there.  Eventually I sold the bike for a plane ticket back home.  The only thing that I kept was the plexifairing.

Second Motorcycle Trip NJ to Michigan and back.  A couple of months after my Florida trip I bought a dark green 1973 Honda CB350F from one of the gas station customers.  It was ( and still is ) a very cool bike.  It was a 4 cylinder.  Yes, 4 tiny pistons.  This machine was made for riding.  It was light years ahead in engineering from the twin.  It had a better console, a paper oil filter, a throttle lock, a much better seat and air filter.  In every way it was like a larger cruising bike, just with a tiny engine.  This trip was to see my father get married in Michigan.  I rode the bike through West Virginia, Ohio, and I got lost wandering around Wayne, Indiana.  I made it just barely in time to the wedding in Michigan and then rode back across Ontario, Canada past Niagra Falls, NY.  I met a crazy couple from Australia with a Suzuki GS750.  They were touring the US and Canada with the speedometer disconnected.  Their goal was to tour all over and sell the bike as semi-new after the trip.  They rode 85+ mph across Ontario.  When I finally caught up with them and told them how much work it was to catch up to them, the woman then hit her male partner.  She didn't know how fast they were traveling at.  Oops.

A few motorcycle trips on my 1981 Honda CB900C I stopped riding for several years after my children were born.  I just had no time to engage in any hobbies.  My 350F was just rotting in my shed.  I didn’t dare sell it because I figured that if I did then my wife would never let me get another motorcycle.  After 10+ years I bought a worn out old blue 1981 Honda CB900C.  It was another bike I dreamed of owning when I was in high school.  But this bike was my first shaft driven bike, and it had power.  It came with a fair amount of electrical problems that were easy to clean up.  I rode it to Florida and accidentally discovered US 19/129 along the Smoky Mountains, informally known as “The Dragon’s Tail.”  I later rode up the Hudson Valley retracing Revolutionary War sites up into Canada.  I rode it up Mt. Washington, NH.  I really enjoyed that bike.  I gave it away when I bought the RT.  Oh, I forgot to mention what happened to the CB350F.  I made a promise to my friend.  He’s the guy that told me about the cheap CB900C.  I told him that if the deal went through on the 900, I’d just give him the 350.  So I did.  He really worked hard on it to clean it up.  It’s a real beauty now.  Not much power, but it’s one of the smoothest bikes I’ve ever ridden.  With the rebuilt carburetors and the new solid state ignition system, it lights right up.  You can even kick start it with your hand.

Many motorcycle trips on my 2003 BMW RT1150:  When I bought the 2003 BMW RT1150, I discovered that I was always a BMW rider.  These are touring bikes and the riders that own them tend to really ride.  Not just putt around town, polish it, and show off the chrome.  I truly love riding and touring.  And that's what BMW riders do.  They travel.  I put over 25k miles in the first year.   I rode to Florida, rode across New England, I retraced Benedict Arnold’s path on the assault of Quebec.  I followed the Kennebec River up into Quebec, Canada, back down to Lake Megantic, and down the Hudson Valley.  The logging roads in northern Maine were just pure heaven.  I've made it a yearly ritual to ride down the entire length of Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway and through the Smokies to Atlanta, GA and Florida every Spring Break.  I rode across the country to Spokane, Washington.  On the way out there I retraced the path from "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance."  I rode through Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks.  I wandered around Washington State, Oregon and Idaho.  It was a wonderful trip - 6400 miles in 16 days.  I now have 46,000 miles on this bike.  It's the best bike I've owned and probably the last bike that I'll ever buy.

I've been on two motorcycle trips with my father.  He has a beat up BMW K75 ( 750cc ).  I took him up into the Hudson Valley.  Which was basically a replay of the trips that I have done into New England.  I took him to the White Mountains and up Mt. Washington.  ( I've done that trip once on the CB900C and once before on the RT ).  I lent him my sheep skin seat cover because his seat is rock hard.  I carried double the gear in case he didn’t pack what was needed.  We had a pretty good time.  We even spent one night camping in the White National Forest.  This past spring we rode together to Florida.  I packed as I normally would have.  Although I love my father; our riding abilities, styles, and preparedness are incompatible for long rides.  I'll continue on my rides alone.

I'd like to bring my family to some of the places that I've been to.  So I bought a beat up old 1982 VW Westfalia diesel vanagon camper that I'm restoring.  It's s breast, but it’s very slowly getting together.

I really love riding.  I've met some really cool people in my travels.  The motorcycle leads people into conversations.  Think about it.  How many times have you said hello to strangers while walking and you get silence?  But if you walk a dog past the same people, they will stop and talk.  It's a similar thing with the motorcycle.  It's unusual, it's a conversation starter.  My hippie-van performs a similar function.  It's so ugly, unique, and old; that people like to talk or ask about it.  So I'm looking forward to traveling in it.