Car Shows

When summer arrived, I decided to take my Suzuki to a car show. I knew it wasn't a show bike, but it was the spirit of adventure. A friend of mine started a car show on Monday night. Why Monday? He thought "it's the only night in the northwest suburbs of Chicago that doesn't have a car show." These shows, of course, feature automobiles of all years. Corvettes, Mustangs, Chevelles, GTOs,
32 Fords-just about any car you can think of. Mike who runs the show owns a store in a local shopping mall. He convinced the tenants and the Village to allow him to host the show on Monday. It took alot of work. The Village didn't want trouble so they made him jump through hoops to get their consent. After he received permission, he roped off an area for around 400 cars. He also created an area for motorcycles. I mentioned to him that I bought a motorcycle and he urged me to bring it to the show. He said "your Bike, it's not American Iron, but you can bring it to the show."
Monday arrived (the shows start in June and run to the end of September) so I, clad in a full face HJC helmet, Joe Rocket armored jacket, jeans and steel toed boots, mounted the C50. The motor roared to life effortlessly. Up with the kickstand, tap the bike into first, twist the throttle while slowly releasing the clutch and I was on my way. I had to travel about three miles through moderate traffic. When I arrived at the show, I pulled up to where Mike and his son were standing. They had tee shirts on that said Security on the back. They direct the cars into the lot during show hours.
When I brought the bike to a stop, I flipped up the visor and Larry, Mike's son didn't recognize me. I took the helmet off and he was both surprised and happy to see me. He called his Dad over and they spent ten minutes looking at the bike. Mike had a Chrysler with a Hemi in it and Larry owns an 80's Camaro Z28 that he restored-so they're not motorcycle guys. They couldn't get over how nice the Bike was. They don't like metric products, but they said my son was welcome at their show also.

Bicycle Mishap

The day after we took delivery of our machines (C50 and Hyabusa) turned out to be a nice sunny day. Being a bicyclist I decided to get a little exercise. It wasn't long after I was riding that I had an accident, hit the curb and landed on my shoulder. I seemed to be o.k., I ached, but other than that I was fine. I continued my ride for the rest of the hour. When I got home, I took a look at my shoulder area and it was very red and started to feel sore. We went to the hospital. After an x-ray, they thought it was dislocated. The emergency room personnel had another doctor read the x-ray. The conclusion was that I had a broken collarbone. I would be out of commission for at least six weeks would have to have physical therapy. I was heartbroken. I had a new Suzuki C50 in the garage and all I could do was look at it. How disappointing!

Fortunately I was able to go to work during my healing time. Everyday when I got home I would go out to the garage and sit in a folding chair and look at my motorcycle-how pathetic! I passed time by reading motorcycle magazines, how-to-books, and by watching motorcycle shows on TV. During this time my wife and I took a three day trip to Starved Rock and stayed in the lodge. Weather was nice and we were able to sit on the veranda overlooking the Rock River. From this vantage point, we were able to see the roads that ran throughout the park. Watching motorcyclists enjoying excursions through the park was agonizing. Beautiful, bright sunny days-it looked like they were having a great time.
After biweekly trips to the orthopedic surgeon for x-rays and consultation, I was ready for physical therapy. The therapists were helpful. Each session lasted thirty to forty minutes. I was given various exercises to strengthen the muscles that had gone unused for over six weeks. Additional exercises for home were prescribed. After a months time, I was beginning to feel fine and was ready to ride the motorcycle again.

For many weeks I practiced riding throughout the area where I live. As I gained more experience my practice area increased in size. I had goals, I had places I wanted to go. As the weather got better, I carried out my plans.

One place to go was the Illinois Railway Museum, a thirty mile ride one way-basically on a two lane road. On a hot July day, I left home at 10:30 A.M. and headed west on Illinois Route 72. Riding through picturesque towns like East and West Dundee and Sleepy Hollow cannot be described. On the way I crossed the majestic Fox River, passed new housing developments, rode past countless farms. In a modern car with filtration systems you seldom experience the smells of nature. In the spring with blossoms on the trees, you are there first hand, when fall arrives and people burn leaves, you are there. It's just great, what a beautiful world we live in.

The Big Day

After a sleepless night dreaming of motorcycles-Saturday finally arrived. Wouldn't you know it-forecast rain! We anticipated delivery of our bikes in the afternoon and went about our usual Saturday routine. As noon arrived, the skies opened up and suddenly the already high of 38 degrees seemed twice as cold. All the while, we're thinking, "gee we haven't had much experience riding, now we'll have to ride in the rain". Just like picking up a new car, you never want it to rain, especially the first day. After many calls to Bob, around three o'clock, we set off for the Suzuki Dealer. We had my younger son take us over to the store.
The skies lightened, rain stopped for the moment, the parking lot in front of the store was loaded with customers. Everyone caught the motorcycle bug.
After waiting for a few minutes, Bob came out, greeted us and took us in to finalize the license plate procedure. Immediately after, we purchased helmets, and Bob brought our bikes out from the back. We felt like the kid that got a BB gun on Christmas morning-what excitement! Both bikes were beautiful in our eyes.
Bob explained the features of each and told my son to "take baby steps with the Hyabusa". At the time it was said to be the most powerful machine our of a showroom in America!
When Bob rolled my Suzuki Boulevard C50 out, it was one of the most beautiful black motorcycles I have ever seen. Bob explained several features of the C50 and mentioned a few do's and don'ts. After hearing his explanation, we were finally ready to ride for the first time.
Dan was the first to go, he mounted the Hyabusa, started it, warmed it up a little, put it in first gear and away he went. I soon followed after I did the following: Put on my helmet, adjusted the mirrors, put the bike in neutral, squeezed the clutch, moved the key to the start position and pressed the starter switch. All 805cc of the C50 roared to life. I put the bike in gear, slowly released the clutch while gently twisting the throttle, and away I went. I took a few laps around the lot, gave Dan the sign and we started on our way home. We crossed the major highway, filled-up on gas and took side streets back. This allowed us to become more familiar with our new machines before we encountered major traffic. As long as I live, I will never forget how cold it was. This was one of the greatest days of my life.

During the cold winter, my son and I visited a very large motorcycle showroom in Chicago. This particular facility featured metric bikes (Japanese and European Made). Since my son was zeroing in on a Suzuki Hyabusa and I on a Boulevard it was the ideal place to be in.
The building contained over 400 motorcycles. We spent at least two hours sitting on, gawking at, pricing, viewing the service area, and gathering brochures on available motorcycles.
We later discussed our trip. Because this facility was a distance from our home, we started to look for a store closer to our home. We had several nearby and visited each keeping in mind our original choices.
We finally decided on a local Suzuki dealer and on the 31st of March, emboldened by a sales add, we both visited the dealer.
Here we met Bob. Now he was an interesting character. Bob was covered with tatoos, had two earings, smoked, and had a collection of antique hand to hand weapons on his office wall. After introductions, we viewed the choices avialable. Bob was knowledgeable, gave us a good initial price and explained the warranties on each bike and introduced us to the service department manager.
After some negotiating, we became the proud owners of the above mentioned machines. We would take delivery of our first motorcylces the next day (Saturday).