1986

- Are we there? Are we back in '86?

- Wait... No... Fuck...

- NOOOOOOOOO!

-Yeah, we're still in the fucked up future of this fucked up timeline.

- ...

#NewYear #NewYear2022 #TimeTravel #GSXR #RG500 #RG500Gamma #Suzuki #SuzukiGamma #SuzukiSlabSide #GSXRSlabSide #SettingThePaceIn1986 #Mercenary #MercenaryMotorcycles #MercenaryGarage

Museum

My friend Melissa the Honeybadger managed to secure an invite to a private motorcycle museum in Dublin. It's an amazing and varied collection of machines and memorabilia, with a very gracious host.

It was a lovely day out.

Two Sunbeams...

Honda CBX 1000 - In-line 6 cylinder motor making 105 BHP in the mid-seventies!

Honda CBX 1000B - As above, but with mono-shock rear suspension and a fairing and (very small) cases.

Neither of these CBX 1000s have ever been run on the road. They're as new.

Gilera CX 125 with single sided suspension front and rear. I read an article a while back claiming that this was one of the 50 most iconic bikes in history. Oh, really?

Early 60's Suzuki/Colledas

1960's BSA Gold Star

Kawasaki Scrambler

Bridgestone, the tyre manufacturing powerhouse, used to make motorcycles.

Honda CB 250.

The Bridgestone again.

The blue bike in the background is also a Bridgestone.

Kawasaki Z1 - Now that is iconic!

Kawasaki Z1 R.

Kawasaki Z1300 cutaway engine and drive-train. I remember this when it was in KDI in Golden Lane

Kawasaki Z1300, liquid cooled, 6 cylinders and quite heavy!

Yamaha RD350 YPVS. Iconic? Maybe. But probably not as iconic as the LC.

Yamaha RD400.

Sunbeam S7, air-cooled inline twin with shaft-drive. There's something very appealing about this machine. It just looks... right.

Bimota SB8.

EXUP engined Bimota YB11

Bimota 500 V-Due. A 500cc 2-stroke twin with Direct Fuel Injection and electronic ignition.

It was a fantastic idea, but it didn't work.

The bike was so unreliable that it bankrupted Bimota - Read the story Here

Ducati 160cc Single.

Kawasaki 2-stroke triple.

Melissa and the Soviet.

Melissa.

HRD Vincent. Also iconic...

Kawasaki GPz 1100.

Kawasaki Z1000 Mk II

Kawasaki Z650.

Honda CB900F and Suzuki GT750 Kettle.

Yamaha TZ350 Race-bike.

Honda VFR750 RC45

Suzuki RG500.

Melissa imagines herself pootling down a country lane in Berkshire or Kent or somewhere like that...

BSA M20.

Triumph Trident triple.

Skoal Bandit

Today I learned that Skoal Bandit is a type of chewing tobacco - I googled it. Up until now I had assumed it was some kind of mysterious automotive product for fearless lunatics. Chewing tobacco isn't really very popular in this part of the world and as far as I know, Skoal never sold here. I guess I'm a bit disappointed.

Y'see, my introduction to Skoal Bandit was a big sticker on the side of a matte black VFR 400 driven by a lunatic courier. A big-hearted, talented, lovable courier, but a lunatic nonetheless. I was negotiating the Leopardstown roundabout one sunny, summery day when I heard a howling cacophony behind me. I pulled out of the way and this matte-black thing came past so fast that all I could take in was a Skoal Bandit sticker, a silencer made out of Heineken cans and a long leather leg stuck out in salute. I met him again more formally, later that day hanging out on Mount Street bridge with the rest of my colleagues.

I used to admire his fearlessness and his unrelenting energy and enthusiasm and I was simultaneously awed and appalled by his irresponsibility. He was the greatest, fastest, most natural rider I ever knew. He was heedless of risk and heedless of rules - he just didn't give a fuck! Everyone loved him. He was legend.


The other thing I associate with Skoal Bandit is a green Suzuki RG 500. I don't really know why this is so. Maybe I saw it in a magazine or maybe I saw it in real life - I can't remember. Anyway, the RG 500 was also legend and just didn't give a fuck!

It had a 500cc, four cylinder two-stroke motor, barely contained by a mid-eighties aluminum chassis shod with skinny wheels. It weighed a little over 150kg and made 94 horsepower with a vicious powerband. It was a lunatic bike. Some 30 years on, RG 500 motors are still highly sought after by specials builders. They're rare now and command high prices.


The last time I saw an RG500 was about ten years ago. I was stopped on Westmoreland Street waiting for the lights to change. The thing howled up beside me and sat there ring-ding-burbling in a cloud of blue incense.

Its pilot was wearing faded jeans and a khaki nylon bomber jacket with a telescopic aluminium crutch strapped across his back. His left lower leg was in plaster with his bare toes sticking out vulnerably. The lights went green, he crunched down into first gear with his plaster-cast and with a noise like tearing cloth, took off across O'Connell bridge in a rush of unashamed, infectious, mechanical joie de vivre, front wheel in the air. Into second, then third with his plaster shod foot, he maintained the power wheelie the length of the bridge.

I laughed so hard I cried.

Some things are just larger than life...

#SkoalBandit #SuzukiRG500 #RG500 #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage