Half a century of riding
I am reminded by Greg Williams’ wonderful story on the Honda CB350 how far back my wistful motorcycle days go. To my amazement, I realized I bought my first motorcycle, a Honda CL200T brand new in 1974!
Half a century in the saddle and I’m still not saddle sore. It also strikes me that what is perhaps my all-time favorite motorcycle, my 1974 Honda CB350F, has also reached 50 years in service! It still starts instantly and will turn the tachometer needle all the way up to its 10,000rpm redline! I only wish I had aged as well.
Indeed, 10 years ago, when that little Honda was already 40 years old, it carried me to an AMA national production classic class (350P/PC) land speed record. To my amazement, that record still stands 10 years later!
That little motorcycle and the 23 other bikes I’ve had have given me a huge treasury of memories; the vast majority of which are good. One of my favorite memories of the past 19 years I’ve had writing about motorcycles is having a few features published in the pages of Motorcycle Classics!
Keep ridin’ ’em and not hidin’ ’em and all the best!
Gary Ilminen/Lone Rock, Wisconsin
Wow, Gary! Congrats on the land speed record and thanks for sharing your fascinating story. I hope you will continue to share tales with MC in the future. — Ed
Not for sale … ever
Just received my May/June 2024 issue of Motorcycle Classics and could not be more delighted to see the star of this issue on the cover: a 1972 Kawasaki H2. I’ve owned my 1972 H2 since 1978 when I first moved to California from New York. Having never owned a motorcycle before, the friend who was selling it told me this machine really wasn’t a bike for beginners. As a 3-pedal car guy, having just driven (escaped) from New York in my 74 MGB and being in my mid-twenties, I just “knew” better and bought the bike anyway. After showing me where the controls on the bike were and giving me an opportunity for a short road test, my friend sent me on my way. After a week on the bike it was as if I had been riding all my life. Couldn’t get enough of it. Many rides to the Rock Store, Newcombs Ranch, the back roads to Ojai and those wonderful roads around Valencia were all in my backyard. After logging about 60,000 miles on the bike, other interests beckoned and so the H2 went into mothballs. That was around 1996.

Before I knew it, 2010 had crept up. The bug hit me hard once again and so I took inventory to determine what needed to be done to get the old girl back on the road. Paint and frame were factory and near perfect so I did nothing to them. However, after sitting for almost 15 years, a complete mechanical overhaul was called for. Two years later, after a new set of Wiseco pistons, crank seals, fork seals, a brake caliper rebuild and too many other little mechanical bits and items to list here, my old friend and a little of my youth were back. Many of you no doubt identify with similar sentiments; the inaugural slinging a leg over the saddle for the first time in many years, kick-starting her up, listening to that sound and smelling the evocative 2-stroke aroma.

It’s been over ten years since I brought my old friend back online. She now has over 74,000 miles on the clock. There are two reasons why I’ve kept this bike so long. I am an inveterate collector. I rarely sell, but more importantly, this bike has a visual and aural presence about it that no other machine I’ve owned can compare. It gives me a great deal of pleasure whenever I look at, let alone ride, the bike. It’s more than the sum of motorcycle parts. While I have seven other bikes in my stable, she’s still my favorite ride. I suppose if it comes down to my personal somesthesia there are just three sounds in motorcycledom; Harleys, H2s and everything else. Should I ever find the need to seriously cull my automotive collection, this is one of the machines I would never sell.
Mitch Feingersch/Chatsworth, California
1973 Eldorado 850
I’ve owned Moto Guzzis since I was 19 years old, but was in love with them since 1970, where a policeman in my neighborhood had a full dress Ambassador. I bought my Ambassador in 1975 and still own it, 100,000 miles on it. In 1987 I built my 850 T3 police special into a world-known Cafe Racer. It now has 138,000 miles on it. It’s the most photographed motorcycle at Daytona Bike Week because it sits on Main Street every night and people take pictures of it. It’s been there for 32 years and will be there in a week for Bike Week 2024. In 1998, I traded a 1991 Ducati 900SS for a slightly used 1997 Moto Guzzi 1100 Sport, it now has 115,000 miles on it. In 2004 at Mid-Ohio, I picked up a 1953 Moto Guzzi Astore. In 2022, I was lucky to get a 1938 all original Moto Guzzi S. I also have my 25-year-old minimalist project, a 1978 Moto Guzzi 850 T3 in the works! It’s a minimalist bike because the gas tank will be on my back!
Now to the story of the 1973 Eldorado 850. Last spring after returning from Daytona, a friend from my old neighborhood in Kansas City was moving to Boonville and had this thing in his basement. From what I could figure from the title, this thing had been apart since 1987. I’m not sure why someone took it all apart, but the side covers and half of the front fender had been stripped of the paint. It took me a month and a half. The main cost was a new Continental K112 for $250. Some rattle can spray paint and some stickers turned it into the picture you see. It had a little teething pains with a distributor retaining spring screw being released at highway speeds, but I rode it the rest of the summer on very enjoyable evening rides in the country. It’ll be out again this year doing the same thing. Come on 70°F!
Bill Doll “The Guzzi Guru”/via email