Travels With Connie #49 Not Connie

Sometimes I know exactly where I am going. In that case it’s easy, pick a route and go.

More often I have an idea where I’d like to end up, and generally speaking a direction to go.

Once in a while I just follow the front wheel and see where it takes me.

I've had more than a few questions about bikes I've owned. This list covers the last 15 years since I started digital photography.

Even though I ride Connie a lot, she's not the only bike in my life. Connie is the best all round motorcycle I've ever ridden, but I knew others before, and have almost always had at least one other in the stable.

This is certainly the best looking bike I've owned, and might be the most fun. A Ducati multi-strada, it's the only bike I've ever named. Pato Rojo (Red Duck). This bike had been lightened and improved when I got it in trade for a Suzuki B King. Not only was it a beautiful beast, it weighed well under 300 pounds.

When it was made this Suzuki Hayabusa was the fastest production motorcycle on earth. This bike had been reprogrammed, lightened, custom intake and exhaust added. Easily capable of speed in excess of 200 mph. I couldn't ride it, I'm just too big to tuck into the riding position for any amount of time. I did ride it enough to triple the speed limit a time or two.

This is the Suzuki B King that was traded for the Ducati. An incredibly interesting motorcycle that was made for only one year (2008). It was a 'naked' Hayabusa that was slightly detuned but still made 180 HP. I toured this bike a couple of times with Uncle Larry Clark on his Blackbird. It was the only bike that I could make keep up with Larry. It had the capability of making objects that were too close in your mirrors disappear.

Speaking of Suzukis, this is the current other half of my stable, a Suzuki V Strom 1000. It's a wonderful back road bike that can take everything I might want to haul with ease. This picture was taken the day I got the bike home.

This is the V Strom today. I've added 30mm ammo cans as saddle bags, a cargo rack and can carry EVERYTHING. It's just a wonderful multi purpose motorcycle that rides good and goes deep. It's not as good long term as Connie, but it's still a pretty good ride.

Talk about beloved bikes. This is my Honda ST1100. It really did introduce me to incredible traveling possibilities with a motorcycle. Sporty, smooth, comfortable. I put over 130,000 miles on that bike. I bought the Corbin seat shown in this picture and wore it out. The bike had 190,000 miles on the clock when I sold it without any major mechanical problems. Engine and transmission were as smooth and powerful the last mile I put on it as the first.

You could always tell my ST. The previous owner had forgotten to lock the saddle bags on one day and one of them came off and skidded down the highway and scuffed it pretty badly. I painted them flat black immediately with the thought I would have them repainted. I never did, and had the most distinctive ST on the planet.

This is one of 3 Suzuki Bandit 1200s that I owned. They are just a hoot to ride, make a great hooligan bike, fast and furious and pretty darn nice to ride. This particular one was a Canadian bike so I had to translate the MPH on the fly. I did OK cause I never got a ticket on it. This picture is taken in my shop with no walls and a motorcycle lift. It's a tough life.

You are right, I've ridden more Suzukis than anything else over the years but there are three that have the bulk of my milage. Connie (Kawasaki), the Honda ST and a Yamaha Venture Royale. I can't find a single picture of that bike but I put well over 100,000 miles on it.

There are a few others that I bought with the intention of selling, though I managed to put a few hundred miles on them.

All words and photographs in this post are mine. For better or worse

You want some real motorcycle travel? Check out Velimir. That’s some kind of motorcycle writing.