Hi Lister,
Short story first........
About 14 years ago I decided that I wanted an 'Everyday' ride bike....So I decided to build a
'Rat-Bike'.....With the crappy English weather and the winter salt.....It seemed the best way to go..Nothing to polish and rust is not an issue, 'Treat It and Paint Over It'....Summer Shiney bikes for summer days....
.
I was looking for a BMW Twin air-cooled...but could not find one.....or anything in my price range....
CHEAP.....BUT....whilst wandering around the 'storage' yard of a local recovery garage....I found THIS..
Honda GOLDWING........Yes Honestly......

....It looked a right state ( Some say ,it still does

). It had been hit up the back at a set of traffic lights and was 'punted' across the junction into the front of a Ford Sierra.
The GoldWing HAD
half a fairing and
half a set of hard luggage, left intact......and looked like SH1T !!......and was Thus perfect for my plan....I sort of knew the garage owner 'professionally'...and so a deal was struck for the MASSIVE sum of £125.00...DELIVERED...on one of the garages 'Spec-Lifts'.
The ONLY real damage to the 'frame' was a small bent tube that I straightened...and a bent front wheel......Then...striped of fairing and all the rubbish, back to the basics...MOT'd and ridden. I rode it ( rebuilt the brakes )and
loved it so much that after some years I completely rebuilt the engine, gearbox, clutch etc.
Rat-Bikes...
Evolve...over the years....and so has this one...I just regret NOT having taken some 35mm Photos of it when it first arrived at my house....

....I still
Love it though..
Alb.
Never Forget......
The Propaganda of the Victors....... becomes the History of the Vanquished