The next generation

this picture was taken in Toronto Ontario Canada , Rexdale for those that are familiar
along the Humber river at the 401

Knucles said:

a friend just sent me this picture . It is 50 years old .
I still have the same bike , the Buco helmet and the leather shirt I had made . Lost the bell bottoms and the hair.
fun to see these old pics.
the attached pics are from 50 years ago and the bike as is sits today .

Click to expand...

Does the shirt still fit ?

Talking about the next generation. - My friend is 83 and is dying from lung cancer. I said to him the other day, that I think we have probably lived in the best time ever. We had cars and motorcycles we could actually work on to get better performance. Our kids will be reliant on computers. As a scientist, I worked with the first computers in Australia - we wrote all our own software. In Australia these days, if a car has not got chromed bumper bars, you cannot work on it. And motorcycles are probably even worse. Our kids will probably never know the joy of building their own race bike and winning races with it. I have never liked cars much - but now might be a good tone to buy a muscle car which has a 400 cubic inch V8 motor. In a minute there might be none. The guys who will be really laughing will be those who own 30's Blower Bentleys.
'Some things are so bad that they are good' ? - It is all about values - regardless of the cost. We probably don't appreciate what we have and have had..

One of my friends is an expert on modern Ducatis. He had a business in Melbourne. He told me that no bill he ever issued for his work, was ever under 5000 dollars. And he used to pull the bikes apart in front of the customers, so they could see what they had done. Most of his work was due to guys trying to fix their own bikes. - That might be the future.
If you were really stuck with a Norton Commando, you could probably make any part without too much difficulty, from scratch.

I don't know anybody other than folks of my age group who currently rides/is interested in motorcycles.

"Although I may be a motorcycle outlier in my age bracket, I am seeing more and more engagement from my age group around the country. Especially from people who grew up in the “counter culture“ - punks, skateboarders, etc."

The "Counter Culture" was the media term for "us" in the 60's. Skate boards were a big deal then as well - as Jan and Dean's 1964 song "Sidewalk Surfin'" attests. My college roommate used his every day to get to/from campus/classes from our apartment. I wouldn't get on one - too dangerous!

I don't know personally know anybody younger than mid-50s who is interested in motorcycles. For that matter, we are good friends with the parents of a former GP Moto world champ and even HE doesn't ride motos on the street and discourages his dad from doing so!

But it's good to hear that young folks somewhere in the US are interested!

Well as a few know I've had my 650ss since I was 22, 68 Commando at 30 n wd16h at 31

Had my first rd350lc at 18 n ride all year all weathers on the 650ss. Had close to 25 different bikes now over the years but the Nortons never go anywhere.

Do all my own work on the bikes, I think the main thing is not being afraid to have a go at stuff to often people get put off from just having a go for the fear of making a mistake, n that's not good otherwise we will never get newbies into working n restoring bikes. Half the reason I started my YouTube channel was to try get more people my age into bikes an the fun of working on them.

I think the main thing is being open to showing n encouraging people to learn about them if a kid comes up with there parent Ill always let em have a sit on the bike that's all it takes for someone to get into them.

Made lifetime friends through bikes, don't drink don't smoke every penny goes into the bikes from when I was doing 70+ hour weeks as a Litho printer out of work at the mo as many are.

For me it started with my dads bro racing his 68 Commando n hearing all about the stories etc although all the work on them has been self taught for me not shown etc as I've enjoyed learning on my own journey.

I know over here in the UK there's a few of us now around n under my age into the classics. N that's really encouraging. I know my Norton's will be life time keepers most of my Japanese bikes are going soon in favour of a classic Harley a WLA or a WLC the older WW2 bikes are really doing it for me lately I guess its a natural progression to want to get back to the core of biking.

I love the pleasure of being able to work on them myself the only bikes that have ever left me stranded have been modern with major electrical faults ie a Bmw GSA the classics always get me home n the 650ss has been my most reliable bike ever.

Fast Eddie said:

Does the shirt still fit ?

Click to expand...

i Can still put it on .
up and down over the decades , but fits today . Maybe not after the corona non activity .

acotrel said:

Talking about the next generation. - My friend is 83 and is dying from lung cancer. I said to him the other day, that I think we have probably lived in the best time ever. We had cars and motorcycles we could actually work on to get better performance. Our kids will be reliant on computers. As a scientist, I worked with the first computers in Australia - we wrote all our own software. In Australia these days, if a car has not got chromed bumper bars, you cannot work on it. And motorcycles are probably even worse. Our kids will probably never know the joy of building their own race bike and winning races with it. I have never liked cars much - but now might be a good tone to buy a muscle car which has a 400 cubic inch V8 motor. In a minute there might be none. The guys who will be really laughing will be those who own 30's Blower Bentleys.
'Some things are so bad that they are good' ? - It is all about values - regardless of the cost. We probably don't appreciate what we have and have had..

Click to expand...

I too agree with the thought that we may have gone thru one of the best times .
grew up in the city slums , was young and did not know anything better . It was alright , made many friends there that almost all are still good friends , they have done well for themselves .
learned that if we wanted something , we worked for it . Our parents had no money .
the hippie era was great , had a lot of fun .
started a family very early , (at 19 ) and took good care of them .
pit was time to grow up and take care of your kids.
worked a lot of hours , changed jobs every time a better wage was available. Learned a lot different trades by changing.
was a master of none.
but learned to support myself and have been self employed most of my life. Also enjoyed what I worked at .
health care was pretty good , better than previous generations .
was able to buy a home , car , motorcycles , boats . All the things I did not need , but did not realize it till later years.
jobs and work were always available , you had to look for it but it was there . Maybe not high wages but better than nothing .
better things came along with age and experience .
what I did learn was that hard work makes you lucky .
I have said to friends many times that I think we have lived thru the best of times .

Knucles said:

I too agree with the thought that we may have gone thru one of the best times .
grew up in the city slums , was young and did not know anything better . It was alright , made many friends there that almost all are still good friends , they have done well for themselves .
learned that if we wanted something , we worked for it . Our parents had no money .
the hippie era was great , had a lot of fun .
started a family very early , (at 19 ) and took good care of them .
pit was time to grow up and take care of your kids.
worked a lot of hours , changed jobs every time a better wage was available. Learned a lot different trades by changing.
was a master of none.
but learned to support myself and have been self employed most of my life. Also enjoyed what I worked at .
health care was pretty good , better than previous generations .
was able to buy a home , car , motorcycles , boats . All the things I did not need , but did not realize it till later years.
jobs and work were always available , you had to look for it but it was there . Maybe not high wages but better than nothing .
better things came along with age and experience .
what I did learn was that hard work makes you lucky .
I have said to friends many times that I think we have lived thru the best of times .

Click to expand...

I relly like this from your post "what I did learn was that hard work makes you lucky" I couldn't agree more....

Yeah, "hard work makes you lucky" is a great way to put it.

I have always been interested in old motorcycles, especially British bikes. I have a cousin who took me for a ride once when I was maybe 5 or 6 years old. I'm not sure if that's where it started or not. There were no motorbikes in my immediate family until I built one with the help of my father and my son (I convinced them to help) when I was in my 20s. Sort of spontaneous combustion. My grandfather and uncles on my mothers side were all apparently born with a passion for engines and with a natural gift for building and fixing them, so maybe there's a machinery gene that I happened to inherit .

My parents certainly taught my siblings and I about the value, and the fun of hard work. I got my first classic bike when I was 30-something, and rebuilt it with my daughter, who was about 4-5 years old at the time. She's 7, almost 8 now. She helped me every step of the way and we always call it 'our bike'. Every time I would head out to the shed she would be right behind me and was as excited about working on it as I was. She tells her friends 'that's the motorcycle that me and Daddy made'. Here she is replacing the wiring in our 1972 Norton Commando Roadster in a snowy shed in northern Labrador:

I suppose I'm fortunate to have a son who's into all things that I was. He has a Jeep CJ5 with a 350 Chevy engine that I've helped him with and he knows he'll someday have a Norton. He sends me a lot of things he's read about Nortons on the net. I'm the original owner of the '71 750, so he'll get that. I have to put it back together this year for it's 50th anniversary which will make for an interesting year. Not sure I'll be able to have it all together with all I want to do to it, but at least it will be more than a bare frame and boxes that it is now. Still, he's ridden the '73 850, so he's familiar with shifter and rear brake confusion and the downside of stalling it and having to kick it back to life. It was amusing to watch.
I have 3 granddaughters, so not sure they'll have any interest in motorcycles eventually. I smile when I remember them as very young around them. They were fun to sit on, but scary when you started them and became noisy at idle

I suspect those home schooled by drunks, have a better shot at filling their mental toolboxes than those that go to
the Centralized School with robot teachers stamped out at Lockstep Uni.
Sorry, old people always think civilization ends with them.

One of the best maxims taught me.....

The harder I work, the luckier I get.

Supercat said:

Yeah, "hard work makes you lucky" is a great way to put it.

I have always been interested in old motorcycles, especially British bikes. I have a cousin who took me for a ride once when I was maybe 5 or 6 years old. I'm not sure if that's where it started or not. There were no motorbikes in my immediate family until I built one with the help of my father and my son (I convinced them to help) when I was in my 20s. Sort of spontaneous combustion. My grandfather and uncles on my mothers side were all apparently born with a passion for engines and with a natural gift for building and fixing them, so maybe there's a machinery gene that I happened to inherit .

My parents certainly taught my siblings and I about the value, and the fun of hard work. I got my first classic bike when I was 30-something, and rebuilt it with my daughter, who was about 4-5 years old at the time. She's 7, almost 8 now. She helped me every step of the way and we always call it 'our bike'. Every time I would head out to the shed she would be right behind me and was as excited about working on it as I was. She tells her friends 'that's the motorcycle that me and Daddy made'. Here she is replacing the wiring in our 1972 Norton Commando Roadster in a snowy shed in northern Labrador:

Click to expand...

Wonderful. As a fisherman I will always remember flying over Labrador in April , Thousands of lakes covered in snow , at 650 MPH at 30,000 ft. , thinking " How would I fish that in summer ?" No roads I could see to ride the Norton , no lights , no towns. Wilderness.

I spent many years traveling the Maritime provinces for sales .
NFLD is a great place with the best people .
I did not know when traveling there that my grandmother (last name May ) was born there .
I met many very friendly people there .
I also used to fish near Burgeo , great fishing .

Deckard said:

I suppose I'm fortunate to have a son who's into all things that I was. He has a Jeep CJ5 with a 350 Chevy engine that I've helped him with and he knows he'll someday have a Norton. He sends me a lot of things he's read about Nortons on the net. I'm the original owner of the '71 750, so he'll get that. I have to put it back together this year for it's 50th anniversary which will make for an interesting year. Not sure I'll be able to have it all together with all I want to do to it, but at least it will be more than a bare frame and boxes that it is now. Still, he's ridden the '73 850, so he's familiar with shifter and rear brake confusion and the downside of stalling it and having to kick it back to life. It was amusing to watch.
I have 3 granddaughters, so not sure they'll have any interest in motorcycles eventually. I smile when I remember them as very young around them. They were fun to sit on, but scary when you started them and became noisy at idle

Click to expand...

I too have a 71 commando project , just started the rebuild yesterday .
I will start a new thread tomorrow under the projects .