I am Tom Brown, AKA "Sarge", a title I received from my 23 years as a police officer. Below you will find a little history of my fascination with motorcycles over the years and at the bottom some photos for your amusement.
In the above photo please notice the suspenders, a tribute to that television legend, Red Green. Duct Tape Forever!
I began riding back around 1968 when I bought a Honda 305 Scrambler. I had to keep it hidden at work as Mom didn't know about it. I first learned to ride in the city park next to where I worked. I would go in early each day and practice for my test. I finally took it (And told Mom - what a fight!) and my career as a biker began. Unfortunately, I never took a photo of the Honda - at least that I can find.
In the late 60's, Triumph and BSA were pretty much THE big-bore bikes. Harley was around but was not considered the "hot" thing to own. Pretty soon came my first Beezer, a black Thunderbolt. Then a Firebird Scrambler. Then a BSA Hornet. Then another Hornet. Then, my first brand new bike, a 1974 Triumph Trident 750.
I moved and sold off the BSA's as I found little time to ride anything but the Triumph. As you can (not) see, no photos of the Hornets nor the Triumph.
In 1985, I was going to ride to work one day and decided the weather was just too "iffy". I drove my pickup instead. Well, I ended up in an argument with a semi-tractor. You can imagine who lost!
After that, all I could think about was what would have happened had I ridden the Triumph that day. The bike sat for nine years before I finally sold it. Hell of a waste.
In January 1999 a buddy told me about the Cleveland Cycle Show and how he had seen the darndest bike called a Royal Enfield. It was built in India but was 110% a "new-old" British bike. It even had a warranty! It piqued my curiosity and, somehow, lit a little flicker in me. I have emphysema - a quite debilitating disease. But the Enfield got me to think, "Hey, you're going to die anyhow. So what if it is as 'street pizza'? Get off your butt and enjoy yourself!" I continued to research the bike and hooked up with Pete Askey at Uncommon Motorcycles up in Northeast, PA. He was the nearest dealer at the time. On 10 April 1999 my new Enfield - the first cycle I had ridden in 14 years - came home with me.
The Bullet, known to my friends and I as "The Holy Cow" is a Royal Enfield Bullet Military. Believe me, however, it didn't look all that military when I bought it. It was olive drab, but had much chrome on it. Over the next couple years, I re-did it to the vastly more authentic state you see in the second photo above.
If there ever was a motorcycle that speaks the word "Fun", the RE Bullet is it. It is not fast. Being a single cylinder, it is not comfortable over long distances. It is designed for one thing and one thing only, cruising back roads at 40-60 mph and just enjoying the scenery. Many are the times I have put a couple hundred miles on one of my BMW's, only to come home and take the Holy Cow out for a relaxing 50-75 miles of pure FUN!
In simple terms, the only person that is going to be selling The Holy Cow will be my executor after I'm dead!
As I said above, I love my Royal Enfield but there is no way to candy coat the fact it is NOT a long distance bike. No single-cylinder bike is. In early 2000 I bought my first BMW, a 1973 R60/5 "Toaster Tank". It had been sitting for years due to a legal dispute and only had 5700 miles on it when I took posession. Over the next five years I put another 24,000 on it. WONDERFUL bike! Here in the spring of 2006 it is up for sale. I have realized my days as a solo bike rider are winding down and it is time for it to go.
In early 2001 I bought "Frankenbeemer", a 1960 BMW R60/2 with a 1971 BMW R60/5 motor installed. Hence the name. I put about 8000 miles on it over the next three years and had a ball. It was sold to a restorer last fall and I look forward to seeing it returned to its pristine state at a veteran BMW rally soon.
In August of 2002, I took the plunge and bought a "big" cycle, a 1000cc 1984 BMW R100RS touring bike. I was tired of my riding buddy Guido-San (Moto Guzzi and two Hondas) always blowing my doors off as I tried to keep up with his Guzzi California EV with my relatively puny R60's. The RS had a few issues, but they were remedied in late August and early September. Then came a glorious ride on a beautiful Sunday, September 29th, 2002. The scene was Pennsylvania's Allegheny National Forest and the road the infamous "Devil's Highway", State Route 666. SR666 is a wonderful ride. Incredibly scenic and it holds its own as western PA's answer to Deal's Gap. On a nice weekend day, an incredible number of bikes will be found there.
Pretty view, isn't it? As I rode up the road (travelling in the opposite direction from the photo), I was enjoying the scenery and the beautiful day. There was, literally, just a flash of brown as the whitetail doe came off the high bank and hit me. I went airborne and then hit the pavement. Next came the Intensive Care Unit, "Guarded Condition", the whole nine yards. Two weeks in the hospital with a collapsed lung, broken bones, etc. But I was the lucky one. Firstly, the surgeons said a big contributor to my survival was the helmet and protective riding clothing I was wearing. Secondly, I later learned mine was the fourth cycle-deer accident in the area in the previous six weeks. I was the only rider that lived!
Intensive Care, Titusville, PA
Here is the R100RS after the accident. Actually, it doesn't look too bad. Both sides of the fairing were smashed, as was the right valve cover, the windshield and both saddle bags. Other than that, the bike was actually (as it turned out) still ridable! Now the bad news. Progressive Insurance wanted photos and an appraisal before they would issue collision and comprehensive insurance. I hadn't had a chance to get the appraisal, so there was only liability insurance on the bike. All repairs would be out of my pocket.
And here is the "after" photograph. The RS, now known as "Bambi Killer", was rebuilt, refurbished and repainted. As the original paint job was prohibitive to re-do ($600 for the paint, alone, not including the painter's fee, etc.!) I opted for good, old "refrigerator white". This was the summer of 2003. I put almost 6000 miles on the RS that summer but was coming to the realization that, while it was a dream out on the road, I was having more and more problems with "horsing" it around in parking lots and especially in my gravel driveway. That fall I sold it. The new owner didn't have it two weeks before he dropped it in his garage trying to manouver it around.
It was time for a change of plan. For some years I had toyed with the idea of a sidecar rig and my preference was toward the Ural sidecar rigs from Russia. Well, right then Ural brought out a totally new model, the Retro. Hand-built and special order only, the Retro shared only the sidecar body and the drive train with other Ural models. Other than that, Ural did all they could to make it similar to the good, old BMW /2 from the '60's. They did a darned good job!
In 2004, Ural was importing the grand total of 13 Retros for the entire year. Through some sheer, unadulterated luck, I latched on to one from a dealer in New York. Then came a month-and-a-half of waiting for the ship to come in! Finally on 22 April 2004 I drove to North Country Cycles in Utica, NY, and my new Retro "Boris Badenov" was mine!
AT NORTH COUNTRY CYCLE
STOPPING IN AT UNCOMMON MC ON THE WAY HOME
"OFFICIAL" PORTRAIT BY MY FAVORITE COVERED BRIDGE
There is a bit of a story to this photo. August 2005 was the Second Annual Internet Sidecar Owners Klub Ron-Dee-Voo in central PA. This year, they held a sidecar manuvering class and I jumped at taking it. Part of the class involves forcing the student to lift the sidecar wheel so he/she can learn to deal with it safely when it happens out on the road. Here you are seeing me doing exactly that. I did not even know a photo had been taken until it turned up on the ISOK 2006 calendar months later! As for lifting the wheel, I must point out I have only done it twice, both times in that training class. The first time I did it, it was by accident and it scared the shit out of me. The second time I did it, it was done on purpose and it scared the shit out of me. The next time I do it, it will scare the shit out of me. THANK GOD I am full of shit!
No motorcycle is perfect. I love the Ural but it, too, has its shortcomings. Like the Enfield, it is mainly a "back road bike", at home on secondary highways. And, even though it is a 750 and the Enfield is a 500, the Ural is even less capable of keeping up with my buddies on their solo bikes because of that 250 pound "saddle bag" on the side.
So, I pretty much need a sidecar rig because of my physical situation but also need one with much higher performance capabilities than the Ural. Hence comes the K-Monster!
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In Memory of Marty Schoenen. Many considered him a classic "One Percenter" but when I needed help, he was there.
Site Last Updated Saturday, May 27, 2006. 10:07:51