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Iflybikes

Well-Known Member
Hello All,

Just bought my 1st Triumph after 45 yrs of BMW's (and a KLR) The Beemers abandoned their earlier build philosophy long ago and my experience with the local dealer has been disappointing. I sold my 2017 GS800 Adventure and wanting to get a more classic look and a bike that when I came to a stop I could put my feet flat on the pavement. My wife and I used to love to ride on jeep trails and wilderness roads but have aged to the point where that is not possible. From the 1st twist of the throttle out on the street and then onto the freeway here in Tucson I started smiling and that smile has become a silly grin. it's been a long long time since I took a chair out to sit and just admire the beauty of a motorcycle.It takes me back to my very early days in high school. It's that same feeling of admiration and excitement that's so hards to define to people who don't get it. It's so hot here and for the past few weeks raining with thunderstorms but I get up early and try to put some miles on it. Just a little over 200 in this 1st week. I've washed it twice. My wife would be jealous except that I bought it for us to ride on long trips together. She used to compete in trials and is usually the one to suggest getting up early for a ride on the weekends. I'm a retired flight instructor and still have a few students that I fly with, but she's a year out and we are looking forward to many miles and years on this beautiful stunning classic.

Mike
 

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Greyfell said:
:five: Welcome, from Northern California. That T120 should provide smiles for years. I lived in Tucson, from 1969-1971, just across the street from where Sabino High School was going to be built.
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We just missed each other, I moved here to stay in 1971 and have been here every since. The wife and I can no longer take the 8hr ride up to cooler northern states on the bike without risk of some permanent spinal damage and so trailer up, set a base and in a day, day and a 1/2 we're in reach of all the western states beauty. BTW is used to live up near Yuba city/Marysvillle area for a time. Some great riding up there too.
 
sikatri said:
Howdy and welcome! Beautiful Bonnie!
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She IS a beauty (I've got her set up on the back porch so I can look at her while I do the dishes:-) Funny story goes with that: Bought a 9mm several years ago and went to the range to try it out with my wife. I got the 9mm so my wife could shoot it too without breaking her wrist(she's rather slight of build). We are older, and live alone a little off the main grid. I took my 1st try at the target from about 25 feet and I got them within about 5 inches of each other. My wife smiles, says she needed something she could aim at, proceeded to pull a stamp out of her purse, stick it on and sent the target back out to 25 feet. Where she fired all the rounds and erased the stamp with no rounds out side the grouping. One of the men observing quipped, "So who's doing the dishes tonight?" We all just exploded in laughter. And a tradition was born.
 
Iflybikes said:
She IS a beauty (I've got her set up on the back porch so I can look at her while I do the dishes:) Funny story goes with that: Bought a 9mm several years ago and went to the range to try it out with my wife. I got the 9mm so my wife could shoot it too without breaking her wrist(she's rather slight of build). We are older, and live alone a little off the main grid. I took my 1st try at the target from about 25 feet and I got them within about 5 inches of each other. My wife smiles, says she needed something she could aim at, proceeded to pull a stamp out of her purse, stick it on and sent the target back out to 25 feet. Where she fired all the rounds and erased the stamp with no rounds out side the grouping. One of the men observing quipped, "So who's doing the dishes tonight?" We all just exploded in laughter. And a tradition was born.
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I’m the target shooting enthusiast in the family, but my wife has more natural ability. LoL. I usually do the dishes too. LoL.
 
brooke said:
Welcome from Prince Edward Island . Enjoy that beauty and the Bonnie too !
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I have been there! And a more beautiful place could hardly be imagined. Drove up from Boothbay Harbor several years ago just as the trees were in maximum Fall colors. Another road to be travelled properly on the Bonne.
 
Qship said:
Welcome to TT as well from Eastern Canada.
That is indeed a great looking Bonnie and hope you enjoy it a lot.
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Well, any of you who have reached an age where you find yourself wide awake will understand my being in that state at 4:00 in the morning, with your mind musing and wandering. Not too many years ago my wife and I were returning from Europe after a trip to Italy and the weather and upper winds forced the plane into a more northerly path across Iceland, then Greenland and straight down through Canada finally to land in Chicago. Everyone who could was at a window and to the view below as we flew at 1st over the most desolate frozen wastes in wondering silence. You could almost hear the collective prayer of “hold together baby, hold together. We don’t want to go down anywhere around here!!” This finally gave way to the wilds of northern Canada, which I knew we were over but couldn’t have named a single feature of the obviously massive forests and lakes. Being from and acclimatized to a hot dry climate where it rains more and moré sporadically as the years go by I know a year of winter in the north would likely kill me, but that flight over that beauty put me in mind of a poem by Robert W Service put to music by Country Joe Mcdonald. His poetry and writings stem from his experiences in the trenches during WWI. I’m not sure if he was anti war or just a keen observer of the many various effects on the lives of those who participated. I’m pretty old now, a year from 70, but I 1st heard this at 25 and it and that silent few hours at the window, 36000 feet up formed my impressions of Canada. They are very good impressions and later this year I will be with friends up in Glacier National Park. I look forward to it. My apologies for the lengthy post. Age. Awake. Can’t sleep.

The Man from Athabasca​

Oh the wife she tried to tell me that 'twas nothing but the thrumming
Of a woodpecker a-rapping on the hollow of a tree;
And she thought that I was fooling when I said it was the drumming
Of the mustering of legions and 'twas calling unto me;
'Twas calling me to pull my freight and hop across the sea.

And a-mending of my fish-nets sure I started up in wonder,
For I heard a savage roaring and 'twas coming from afar;
Oh the wife she tried to tell me that 'twas only summer thunder,
And she laughed a bit sarcastic when I told her it was War:
'Twas the chariots of battle where the mighty armies are.

Then down the lake came Half-breed Tom with russet sail a-flying
And the word he said was "War" again, so what was I to do ?
Oh the dogs they took to howling and the missis took to crying,
As I flung my silver foxes in the little birch canoe;
Yes, the old girl stood a-bubbling till an island hid the view.

Says the factor, "Mike, you're crazy! They have soldier men a-plenty.
You're as grizzled as a badger and you're sixty year or so."
"But I haven't missed a scrap," says I, "Since I was one and twenty.
And shall I miss the biggest ? You can bet your whiskers — no!"
So I sold my furs and started ... and that's eighteen months ago.

For I joined the Foreign Legion and they put me for a starter
In the trenches of the Argonne with the Boche a step away;
And the partner on my right hand was an apache from Montmartre;
And on my left there was a millionaire from Pittsburgh, U.S.A.
(Poor fellow! They collected him in bits the other day.)

Well I'm sprier than a chipmunk, save a touch of the lumbago,
And they calls me Old Methoosalah, and plagues me all the day.
I'm their exhibition sniper and they work me like a Dago,
And laugh to see me plug a Boche a half a mile away.
Oh I hold the highest record in the regiment, they say.

And at night they gather round me, and I tell them of my roaming
In the Country of the Crepuscule beside the Frozen Sea,
Where the musk-ox run unchallenged and the cariboo goes homing;
And they sit like little children, just as quiet as can be:
Men of every clime and color, how they harken unto me!

And I tell them of the Furland, of the tumpline and the paddle,
Of secret rivers loitering, that no one will explore;
And I tell them of the ranges, of the pack-strap and the saddle,
And they fill their pipes in silence, and their eyes beseech for more;
While above the star-shells fizzle and the high explosives roar.

And I tell of lakes fish-haunted where the big bull moose are calling,
And forests still as sepulchers with never trail or track;
And valleys packed with purple bloom, and mountain peaks appalling,
And I tell them of my cabin on the shore at Fond du Lac;
And I find myself a-thinking: Sure I wish that I was back.

So I brag of bear and beaver while the batteries are soaring,
And the fellows on the firing steps are blazing at the foe;
And I yarn fur and feather when the marmites are a-soaring,
And they listen to my stories, seven poilus in a row,
Seven lean and lousy poilus with their cigarettes aglow.

And I tell them when it's over how I'll hike for Athabaska;
And those seven greasy poilus they are crazy to go too.
And I'll give the wife the "pickle-tub" I promised, and I'll ask her
The price of mink and marten, and the run of cariboo,
And I'll get my traps in order, and I'll start to work anew.

For I've had my fill of fighting, and I've seen a nation scattered,
And an army swung to slaughter, and a river red with gore,
And a city all a-smolder, and ... as if it really mattered,
For the lake is yonder dreaming, and my cabin's on the shore;
And the dogs are leaping madly, and the wife is singing gladly,
And I'll rest in Athabaska, and I'll leave it nevermore,
And I'll leave it nevermore.

Mike, Tucson, at first light.
 
I have that exact saying in my office. I'm a flight instructor by trade for the past 20 yrs and I've pointed to that sign many a time!
I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.
 

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