My first bike was a 1970 BSA A65L, bought in 1980, that ran about one day out of each week. Only had the bike about six months before the need for more reliable transport forced me to sell it on. About 2 years later, I went into a Yamaha dealership to buy an XS650, but walked out with an XJ650 dealer demo for the same $1995 they had the XS advertized for. That bike was my main transport until about a year after marriage, when the need to carry a car seat meant getting 4-wheel transport. Like many here, My motorcycle riding trickled down to almost nothing while raising a family, and sometime in 1996, the XJ stopped running. Lack of use had caused the carbs to gum up, and they needed a total rebuild. It languished in a corner of my garage until early 2006. At this time, my youngest was in high school, and I had gone back to college to finish a degree. My wife said,"You're about to get your degree. How are you going to reward yourself?" I replied that i would get the old Yamaha running and ride it, or sell it and get a new bike. After a few weeks, I had the motor turning over, and was rebuilding the Hitachi carbs - which there are zero parts for anymore, BTW. The wife was quite shocked the day it started. Son #3 went with me to the various dealers, looking at what was available. We narrowed the field of new bikes down to three - the BMW R1150R, Ducati Monster 1000 S2, and the Triumph 1050 Speed Triple. Of the three, the Triumph had the best motor by far - easy in traffic, lots of low-end grunt, willing to rev up to 10k - and was the cheapest. I bought the Speed Triple and it is easily the best bike I've ever owned or ridden.
After about a year and a half, the youngest was about to graduate high school and move on to college, and I was itching for a project. I heard about a local guy, Wes Scott, who worked on vintage English bikes. I was told, "If you pull up on a new Triumph, he won't even talk to you." I went over one day on the Speed Triple, and Wes comes out of his shop and says, "Nice bike!". I let take it around the block, and told him of my desire to get a project. He showed me a 1967 A65L project that one of his customers was forced to sell - frame powder-coated, engine assembled, everything there except those items one would buy new, anyway (bearing, seals, tires, hoses, cables and such), and the guy wanted $2000. I told him I would think about it and let him know the following week. In the meantime, I researched the Lightning, and looked at prices for bikes in various conditions. It was during this research I noticed an auction on ebay for an 850 Commando basket case. I had always wanted a Commando, but knew very little about them. I went ahead and bid on the bike, setting a personal limit of $2200. I got the bike for $2179. It was in Orlando, and I had to go to Melbourne that week, only about 50 miles away. I picked up the bike on the last Friday of January, 2008.
The next day, I went to Wes' shop. He asked, "Did you make a decision on the BSA?" I replied that I had gotten an 850 for about the same money. He replied, "The Norton is a much better bike for you. You made a good decision."
My wife named the bike, 'Ed'. She names all our vehicles (the Triumph is called 'The Irritant'). Ed was running by September of 2008, and well sorted by the end of that year. I started rotating between the Norton, Triumph and Yamaha, and the Yamaha spent more and more time in the garage. Finally sold it to a kid who needed cheap transport, and he was quite happy with it.
Since there was now room in the garage, I started itching for a new project. Went to Wes in early 2010, and told him of my dilemma. He said, 'You came at a good time. I need some money, and am willing to sell my two long-term projects. Take your pick.' I went into the next bay of his shop and saw the two bikes - a 1960 Matchless G12 deluxe, and a 1968 P11. I decided on the P11, and further research showed it was actually a Ranger, not a P11A. It was titled as a '68, but should have been titled as a '69, but this is quite common with. That bike came home at the end of May, 2010, and I started it on June 2, 2011. The bike was supposed to be a project I was building with my father-in-law, who was living with us at the time, but he grew too ill to help, and passed away about 10 weeks after the bike started. June 2 was also the anniversary of my old man's passing, so the bike carries special significance to me. Wes sold it to me on the condition that it not be a 'trailer queen', and that he have the right of first refusal if I ever decide to sell it. The 'Lone Ranger' (as my wife calls it) has about 4000 miles logged since its resurrection.
The G15 came this year. I had just taken the Ranger to a show, where it won a trophy, and I had a friend of mine take the trophy home with him, since I couldn't carry it on the bike (my buddy and I were two of only a handful that rode to the show). He asked me what my next project was going to be, and I said that I'd like to find an AJS 33CS - the AJS version of the Atlas Scrambler. He replied that he knew of a G15CS for sale locally, but it was too far gone to warrant the $600 the guy was asking. I went right over, and bought the bike at first site. Like the Ranger, this bike is titled as a 1968, though in this case its really a '67, dispatched in July. Pics are posted over on the 'Other Classic Motorcycles' section. My wife calls the G15 'Bones', owing to the way it looked when it came home - just a dusty skeleton of a bike and a handful of boxes. I've only seen pictures of 1 33CS, and have never seen another G15CS in the flesh. Even at the Barber Museum, there's a G15/45, G15 mkII and a G15CSR, but no G15CS.
I don't know what it is about these bikes, but I smile every time I walk into the garage. Looks like the Triumph will need to find a new home, though. It gets ridden less than once a month these days. Though it is the best bike I've ever owned, but doesn't 'grab' me the way the Nortons do. It will definitely need to go when the new project comes home (hopefully a '68 Commando or Atlas)
