Ralph's Cycle Page !

What can i say ? - But I love Motorcycles !!!          I've owned about a dozen bikes in my lifetime-not as many as some people do, but I tend to keep mine longer than average.  I'm MOST fond of the more simple and raw type of naked motorcycles.  And I really don't like bikes over two cylinders, so several of my bikes have been thumpers or twins.       On this page I'm going to share some photos w/words of a few of my past & present street bikes. Unfortunately, because of back problems(arthritis and degenerative disc disease)-I cannot ride as much, or take the risks of sport riding- like I once used to, but I'm still Riding ;-)   Please sign my Guestbook at the bottom of the page- thanks !

Me on my friend-Don Roberts' FatBoy/Chief !

I Love ALL Bikes, both-BIG and small , and  I'm no novice (I've been riding for over 30 years)!!  In the past I've owned Kawasaki, Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki, BMW, Buell and now Harley!  As much as I love my Buell Blast, it really is a bit small for me, so I've grown up a bit, as I just bought a Brand NEW 2007 Harley Davidson XL883R Sportster ! This ain't no "Girls" bike anymore, and for '07 they added Fuel Injection and hotter cams, which upped the Horsepower and Torque. See pix below of the 883R !

When I was much-much  younger (I'm 50 now) *LINK*-to My Bio Page   , I used to race motorcycles until a very bad crash  ended my racing  career in 1984.  ***Note*** I was actually waay too big to have been a serious threat in racing- back then my racing weight was 180lbs and over 6' tall. That, along with my wreck-  really killed any further(sanctioned)racing aspirations I may have had. My Favorite Race bike was a converted Yamaha TT500 4/stroke Thumper, that I built into a flattrack bike.  I even tried to make a comeback on it in  the late 1980's- but soon retired from racing forever.Currently I only have TWO running bikes in my stable, I own the "lowly" 2001 Buell Blast!  and my Brand NEW 2007 Harley Davidson XL883R Sportster.    I  have an old yamaha dirt bike that I'm tinkering with and trying to resurect into a flattracker. And(LOL), I have this old Honda XR Dirtbike that I have mounted up in an oaktree at the end of my Farmlane, that I just put there as a roadmarker and a conversation starter, see pic at very bottom of page.

The Kawasaki pictured above, is a '77 KE250 Dualsport bike, which was my First licensed streetbike !    I converted this bike for racing Moto-X first, and later I built it into my first (2 cycle) flattrack bike.

The '76 Yamaha TT500 to the left,  was what my First Flattrack Race"Thumper" started out as. It evolved over the many years I owned that bike, and eventually even had an SR500 engine swapped into it. I learned sooooo much about building and tuning thumper engines for Max power with that bike, and it will always hold a spot in my heart as one of my MOST FAVORITE Bikes. Below are actual pix (recently sent to me) of me and my TT500 flattracker taken way back in 1978 ~"memories" !

(Not my actual bike)

Thats me(#15u) to the right and below in 1978 at age 20.  Thats my freshly converted(for Flattrack) '76 Yamaha TT500, wearing my first set of Brand New Leathers and I was even Sponsored !

I've decided to include the two pix below, just to show you what an old Yamaha XS650/750 Flattrack bike looked like, as I have no actual pix of my old racebike. The Bike I raced was almost identical to the one in these pix right down to a similar Kenny Roberts paint scheme. The bike I raced was owned by the dealership that sponsored me, so technically I did not own it. And actually, I only raced it on the Long-tracks for 5 events, and in all 5 events I never qualified for the feature. After the 5th non qualify, I lost my dealer sponsorship, and returned to racing Short-tracks ONLY on my TT500.

(Not my actual bike)

Above is the Stock-'82 Honda FT500 Ascot, the second bike I ever bought NEW, and one that I extensively modified for Roadracing.  It's NOW considered a Classic Thumper !

LEFT-is the only bike over 2 cylinders I ever owned. It was also my fastest bike, the 3-cyl. '79 Yamaha XS750 Special. It was used to Drag Race and it had re-jetted carbs, High lift cams, K&N filters, 3 into 1 Header, oil cooler and Lower/flatter Handlebars.    VERY FAST-after  all my mods !

(Not my actual bike)

The 1983 Kawasaki GPz305 was another bike I really miss...I bought this bike in the summer of 1988 and after only 3 months is was destroyed while parked along a city street, as a Truck didn't see it!  It was a fun bike- but not very fast. Only sold in the USA for one year, and was the First EX model twin. It had Belt Drive,  which was nice.

This little Bike is a'74 Honda CB200T that I picked up for my"then"girlfriend and later re-painted a shade of Pinkish purple....

My '83 Honda CX650 Custom had a simple- liquid cooled, pushrod V-Twin engine. It ran VERY well, and had lots of torque for a 650. I put lots of Touring + Cruising miles on this bike. It looked kinda funny tho.

My '72 BMW R75/5 was in the odd "Curry" color !    This bike showed signs of age, but ran very well(alot like the CX650). I needed money, plus most of my friends said it was too UGLY, so I sold it. Looking back now, I realize that was a mistake- as it was a Classic.

Above-I accumulated many miles on this custom '87 Savage LS650. I bought this bike almost NEW from a girl who just dumped it and got scared. It was a bit small for me, but I liked thumpers and it was VERY Reliable.

Trying out the Buell Blast

RECENT UPDATES : On March 6, 2007 I did something I hardly ever do, I bought a bike on a whim ! The Bike pictured to the right is a 2006 Kawasaki 650R Ninja that was a leftover model from the previous year, that was reduced to a price I could not refuse, so I bought it ! Now I'm not saying it was a bad bike, but it was NOT ME. I've become simplier in my old age, and my wants and needs have changed. I don't ride as fast as I used to- although the occasional wild hair still arises when the mood strikes. Lately, I ride slightly calmer then in my past years(which is funny- as most  of my recent riding buddies think the opposite) and I've always loved the more simple, naked style bikes best. So that plastic faired sportbike was a BIG mistake, and I waited 5 weeks for my title to come from the DMV, and as soon as it arrived, I went bike shopping again, for one that I truly desired.  I traded in the Ninja, and bought a Brand NEW- 2007 Harley Davidson XL883R Sportster. And with the factory update to Fuel Injection and hotter cams for '07 - it makes this Sportster- Very sporty ! I bought the one in the Orange and Black Racing paint scheme, which commemorates the XR750 and 883 Flattrack racers, which is a form of racing I hold near and dear to my heart. See pics to the right of my NEW XL883R ! Sorry, but the color seems to be a little *off in these two pix, it's really a different- brighter shade of Orange. My Sportster may not be very fast, or very comfortable, and it's surely not very contemporary, but it pretty well sums up who I am at this point in my life. I'm old school, a bit slower than the younger folks, but I was born in america, lived a rebelious youth, used to race, but  now just enjoy the simple things....

...Well here it IS !  My infamous TreeBike >>>  Everyone who passes my lane see's this odd site :-)