I started riding scooters at a young age. I had neighbors that always had a scooter or two around. Usually a Cushman of some type. I had to sneek around to ride them because my Dad always said I would never ride as long as he had anything to say about it. He was a motorcycle messenger for the Second Armored Division during WWII. He never talked about what he did, but said he knew how dangerous they could be. I only have one picture of him with his Harley during the war. If anyone has any WWII pictures of the Second Armored, I'd love to see them.
Back to the bike history. My parents divorced when I was 13. When I turned 14 my mother bought me a Yamaha Twin Jet 100 from my cousin. I rode it for about a year and started delivering papers to make a few bucks. I installed a skid pan and knobby tires because I lived near a dirt pit. I decided to trade it on a new Kawasaki 120 trail bike with the help of my Stepfather. When I was 17 I traded it for a VW bug. Over the next few years I rode anything that someone else would let me. I even built a bike from scrap parts with a couple of friends while in the service. We traded for this big pile of bike parts from a club that will remain un named. We ended up putting a Kawasaki 500 triple engine in a BSA frame. It was strange looking, but pretty fast and at least it got me on two wheels. After that came family bills etc. I was without a bike for quite a while.
When I decided I was going to buy a motorcycle (after 25 years of being bikeless) I began to research. I shopped locally and on the internet. I researched all types of bikes. I finally decided that I would buy the BMW that I had always wanted. The question now was which BMW.
I was leaning towards a K-bike when I happened across this RT in Tenn. I drove to Birmingham to test ride some bikes. All I was able to ride were some GS models. A R100GS and a couple of R1100GS'. One was an ABS bike ( I liked that). I looked at a new RT at the dealer. The next morning, I got up at 2:30 and drove to Tenn. for the test ride. It was love at first site. The day I test drove it, I put down a deposit. Dave Bullington (The man I bought it from) was kind enough to work with me while I was getting the rest of the money. It took about a month and a half of sleepless nights, but I finally got it. I had to drive 285 mi to pick it up. I wanted to ride it home, but couldn't make arrangements for a ride. I ended up bringing it home in the back of my truck.
I sold my BMW R1100RT and replaced it with a 1986 Honda GL1200SE-I Gold Wing and a 1995 Suzuki LS650 Savage. I found out that a Gold Wing is not the bike for me and the Savage was fun to ride, but it was just too short for me. I sold the Gold Wing and the Suzuki and returned to my first love, a BMW. I bought a 1978 BMW R100/7.
Then I added a toy to the carport. I found a good deal on a 1995 Kawasaki EX500D Ninja. This was a real fun bike and a great little commuter.
I sold the airhead to a friend that added a side car to it.
Then I sold the Ninja and bought a new Suzuki DL 650 V-Strom for when I wanted to ride something lighter.
I just can't seem to make up my mind. I settled with the K1100 and the V-Strom for a while until a friend offered me a good deal on a 1999 R1100RT. I missed the old RT, so I took him up on it. I call this one Silver.
I sold the K1100LT and the V-Strom. Now I pull the camper with the RT (Silver).
I found a camper that I really liked, so I sold the Kwik Kamp and bought a Quicksilver by Livin' Lite. It's a lot bigger when set up, but also takes more time to set up. I think that the Kwik Kamp is hard to beat if you are traveling and want a quick and easy camper to set up. If you are going to be spending more time in it and want more room the Quicksilver is nice. It's a lot easier to set up the Quicksilver if there are two of you.
Not many men have a wife as understanding as mine. She has never complained as many times as I've changed my mind and it doesn't matter which bike I ride, She will ride on the back as far as I want to go.
These are my previous bikes.
Kwik Kamp
