N15CS ride report - here's mine, warts and all. What about yours?

I have transitioned from the 'Can/should this pile of parts I got for $150 be restored?' phase, to the 'Wow it starts and runs!' phase, and finally to the 'I can turn the key, kick it, and go anywhere' phase. I like all these phases but today's phase 3 shined for me because my bike, while not perfect, took me on a cool adventure. It is always great to stumble upon something and this place is only 10 miles away. It might as well be 500 miles.

I started on a quick spin down the only local road with decent bends, Live Oak Canyon Road near Rancho Santa Margarita CA. Then I made it up to Modjeska Canyon and kept going up the road till I made it to Arden House, owned by Helena Modjeska, a famous Polish actress in the 1800s who settled far up a remote canyon (prone to floods and wildfires) in the 1880s. I had never been to this location even though it is only 10 miles away. So nice to go to a little paradise and think about what those fine people did with their lives in such a beautiful place.

https://www.ocparks.com/modjeska

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_Modjeska

Way down in Southern California. Must be warm down there right now. Nice house

Sounds like a good ride with an interesting destination.

I got nothing ride wise.

Schwany said:

Way down in Southern California. Must be warm down there right now. Nice house

Sounds like a good ride with an interesting destination.

I got nothing ride wise.

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It's warm but not hot. At the beach it's been foggy and cool, which is a bummer because the Pacific Airshow in Huntington Beach is affected.

Here are a couple photos of my G15, it's getting close to the finish line. I still need to get another coat of clear on tank and side covers, but we just had our first snow up a little higher than us, but it's the temps that are getting to cold to ride so I'm now looking at next year.

That is looking great. You have a few bits and bobs I wouldn't mind on mine, that's for sure. Will you do a video of the first startup? I'm glad I did on the last few bikes I restored.

I was at the finish line for a long time, lots going on in my life at that point, and it was delay after delay. I made a big push when my older brother visited from Connecticut last Christmas. He was the inspiration for my love of motorcycles, and it was so good that I got my N15 to fire over when he was here in California. We were like kids again.

He was just 16 when he got his first 'real' bike, a '68 Triumph Tiger 650, by saving up money from paper routes and jobs at the 'sulky' race track nearby. He used to wake my brother and me up on Saturdays, make us all breakfast, and take us on rides around the eastern Massachusetts towns. What a guy, what a brother. My other brother and I flipped a coin to see who would go first. Good stuff. This pic is around '69, all three of us in a typical mom pose. It was taken with her 1956 Rollefliex 3.5, with Schneider-Kreuznach lens, which I still have. Me on far back. Ahh memories!

Thats a cool picture! And a nice bike.

Hortons Norton said:

Thats a cool picture! And a nice bike.

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Yeah he was always wheelin' and dealin'. By '72 he had an oil-in-frame Bonneville and rode it to Colorado and back. That had the conical brake and I remember he could really stop well with that bike, by comparison at least. Maybe he had the one good one? He still rides, after 55 years. HDs and a Moto Guzzi currently.