Motorbikes anyone ?

[Mc Tool]

All resurrected by me, the yellow one is the one I planted into the car ....... might sound strange to some but Im more pissed off about loosing that bike than I am about loosing my leg .... go figure

[Fordoholic Nick]

Jesus Hamish, I can see how that bike accident was proper life changing shit for you mate. Absolutely terrible injuries and some major rebuilding work too. Must have been desperate for you to lose one of your legs at the time but always inspirational to hear how you always seem to be positive about it fella. Dam that was a lovely bike that got wrecked mate. You done an amazing job on all those bikes mate if you restored them all. Wow.!!

But Hamish, I just have to mention it. One of your xrays is amazingly near on identical to a great game back in the day Ker Plunk




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[Mc Tool]

Yeah it does a bit aye , the round ball things are some sort of packing (cant remember what its called )used to replace lost bone ......they found bits of my femur on the road and the roof of the car , poor old Di sat next to me as I was air ambulanced to Christchurch spinal unit holding a bag of bone fragments. That leg in the xrays is the one I got chopped off but that didnt happen until nov 2019 . Nothing they could do ,inc removing my fibula and related blood vessels and grafting the whole lot into where my femur was could unite my femur and ,well,I just got sick of carting it round . After 29 opps it was time to call it a day.
The yellow bike I got with a blown motor ....broke a cambelt . Dianne hated that bike on sight and berated me every time I rode it . Day of the crash she got called into work and as she walked down the side of the house she stuck her head in the bedroom window and said "and you stay off that fuckin motorbike" in fairness to her I had just got out of hospital day before after having a hernia fixed . So anyhow , as I was riding into town I thought I would call past her work .......well I had (at that time )never seen her so upset , she was fair wailing and crying ,saying over and over she had a really bad feeling ,begging me to just go home and I promised her I would but at the last minute I hung a right at Appleby corner and headed for the Moutere hills to grind a bit off my footpegs......didnt get far.......107 Seaton valley road. I really thought I was going to get up and walk away when I got my breath back...untill I tried to sit up. Dianne came outa this crash worse than I did , and she wasn't even there....thats the worst part ....everyone close to me got dragged in to it too . I will never forget the look on my Mum's face when she got to the ICU.
The white bike also came with a blown motor, most of the piston , the gudgeon pin and the top half of the con rod were in the exhaust pipe .
The red bike came with a host of electrical issues ....dropped it on the Takaka hill when I ran over some honey ,some apairist had left a trail of it right up the hill, looked at it all week from the van wondering what it was , then rode over it on Saturday and found out
The black one ... The "Guzzi " , technically Dianne's was given to her by her brother Tony ( she has 9 brothers and 2 sisters ). He had scored it with a seized motor after some guy paid a mint to have a rural garage do an engine rebuild ( ) and they just bored it a bit tight and it cold seized ,it then sat in a shed for 10 years , we had to use hedge cutters to free it from all the ivy that had grown up thru it . New pistons , bit of a hone (garage had bored out the chrome bore and fitted steel liners ) new Dyna ignition and coils , made whole new wiring harness , fitted yamaha switches ,Suzuki blinkers , chinese made Norton copy mufflers and a paint job ( rattle cans and a total failure ,paint all cracked as it dried .......but I can ride this one

[Caprigear]

I have a couple in the back of my workshop, plan was to tinker with them while the Capri stuff is quiet - Not a bloody chance. Almost finished my 1979 Honda CB75O FA but not got near it in the past four years.
My 1984 Kawasaki GPZ1000RX is presently covered in a thick coat of dust and cobwebs, I suppose this makes them worth a small fortune - certainly seems to with Capris.
Plan is to ship all of my bike stuff, ramp, tools etc back home and install it all in my garage so I can work on them in evenings/weekends.

[Mc Tool]

They were both good bikes in their day ,the gpz was underated as a sports tourer, one of them things when the release could have been better timed opposition wise. A lot of their motors found their way into side car racers , both speedway and road racing...pretty bullet proof and capable of a fair bit of ned.
Big thing with the honda is frequent oil changes ....like every 2-3000 kms. I sure wouldnt part with either of them .

[Fordoholic Nick]

Yeah it does a bit aye , the round ball things are some sort of packing (cant remember what its called )used to replace lost bone ......they found bits of my femur on the road and the roof of the car , poor old Di sat next to me as I was air ambulanced to Christchurch spinal unit holding a bag of bone fragments. That leg in the xrays is the one I got chopped off but that didnt happen until nov 2019 . Nothing they could do ,inc removing my fibula and related blood vessels and grafting the whole lot into where my femur was could unite my femur and ,well,I just got sick of carting it round . After 29 opps it was time to call it a day.
The yellow bike I got with a blown motor ....broke a cambelt . Dianne hated that bike on sight and berated me every time I rode it . Day of the crash she got called into work and as she walked down the side of the house she stuck her head in the bedroom window and said "and you stay off that fuckin motorbike" in fairness to her I had just got out of hospital day before after having a hernia fixed . So anyhow , as I was riding into town I thought I would call past her work .......well I had (at that time )never seen her so upset , she was fair wailing and crying ,saying over and over she had a really bad feeling ,begging me to just go home and I promised her I would but at the last minute I hung a right at Appleby corner and headed for the Moutere hills to grind a bit off my footpegs......didnt get far.......107 Seaton valley road. I really thought I was going to get up and walk away when I got my breath back...untill I tried to sit up. Dianne came outa this crash worse than I did , and she wasn't even there....thats the worst part ....everyone close to me got dragged in to it too . I will never forget the look on my Mum's face when she got to the ICU.

Christ Hamish. So many 'if only' moments on that terrible day of your crash. Bleedin hell mate it's just scary to hell that Dianne really had a bad feeling that day and did not want you on on that bike. And then to have decided last min to make that right hand turn rather than go straight home.!! Christ it must have been just totally devestating when Dianne got the call mate... devestating and yes for close family and friends too. Such a violent impact not only on your life but theirs too. So very sad. But you're still with us and seems like the right choice to get rid of that leg from what you say of all those operations and constant complications. Thanks for the info on those bikes mate. Wow some amazing work fella. Never had a motorbike myself Hamish but did get a back seat on a mates bike for ,a weekend down to Wales once and at one point we hit 138mph and I was shitting myself. Mate said beforehand if I'm worried at any time squeeze my legs on his and he'll slow down but that was the last thing on my mind at the time

[Fordoholic Nick]

Plan is to ship all of my bike stuff, ramp, tools etc back home and install it all in my garage so I can work on them in evenings/weekends.

This sounds like a nice retirement plan Martin. The 'tinkering years"

[Mc Tool]

That isnt the only time she has had these feelings . Just recently we were looking at a new car ....the ford focus and she turned and looked at me ......with that face ,and said she didnt want that car . I have learnt to listen , so not the car for us .
Bikes are a lot of fun but you're on your own when it goes wrong . Di's slow down message was thumping me between the shoulder blades .
A decent crash sure is a life changer . I think about 2 weeks into hospital ,I looked down at the external fixators ( sorta like scaffolding ) holding my legs and pelvis together , and all the other bits , and just accepted it ,cant change it now, and decided to move forward . I met a couple of other bikers that crashed hard but they were all angry and bitter ...let it ruin their lives . Ha one Dr said from the armpits down I had either fractured , lacerated or ruptured at least one of everything . Funny coz I had bit right thru my tongue and broke 2 fingers on my right hand but I dont recall any of that while taking my helmet and gloves off or talking to the ambulance guys .....they were giving me shit about how much I weighed as they carted me to the chopper . That ketamine is good shit, everything was like being in the Simpsons, all animated ,even the people