Motor Bikes

This was inspired by Laurie asking about hiring a bike in the Philippines.  It got me thinking about the bikes I have had….
I have owed two motor bikes in my life.  Both were Honda’s.  The first was a 100 and the second was a 360.
I lived in Townsville and few things compare with the exhilaration of riding a bike.  Ok it does not get cold in Townsville but we thought it did.  I would don gloves and the full protective gear.
Things were different a while ago and in small country towns.  I really did not know the answers to the written test, and the policeman waited impatiently for me.  When I handed it to him, he had a very cursory peruse of it and screwed it up and through it in the bin.  His words were “looks alright to me.” There were half a dozen of us doing the test that day.  We had to ride to some place, turn around, and go past him and come back, all the while negotiating traffic lights.  During this time he was at the front of the station talking to a mate who had walked up.  When we all took off together it was like a race.  Only one of us failed.  He ran out of petrol during the test. 
When I had the 100 there was not much smaller.  At stop lights something smaller was to my left.  This was my chance.  I revved my engine to let him know who was boss.  At that point to my right I heard a deep throttled rev.  When I looked there was another bike and it was ginormous.
There was one S bend I really liked.  It was a pity the police liked it too.
A mate of mine liked to ride as well, but at stop lights he got his foot stuck and fell (very stiffly and like in slow motion) sideways, bike and all.  The car behind him was a police car.
One bike I bought was advertised as coming with a “free helmet.”  Really, they should not have bothered.  The helmet would not have protected anything.
My bro and I did a trip from Townsville to Brisbane on our bikes.  It was a real adventure.  It was a pity I hit an oil patch in Mackay.  Control was non-existent.  While I sat on the side of the road waiting for my brother to get parts a shirtless guy on a Ducati hit the same patch.  My last memory of him was pushing his bike up to the hospital.
Someone came through a sign they should not have and hit me on my bike.  We were going for pizza, so I was very disappointed.  That was my first trip in an ambulance.  At the hospital, they put a neck brace on me that I wore for two weeks.  When I went to the hospital to have it taken off, I was told it was on backwards.  I don’t think I suffered any permanent damage except maybe to my personality.
My brother and I were camping I think at Maroochydore.  He had his bike.  We needed milk.  It was really important to look cool.  My brother put his key in the ignition but had forgotten he had locked the front steering wheel.  He revved the engine and did a fast circle and unceremoniously fell off.  Looking “cool” went out the window at that point.
I literally rode my 360 into the ground.  It would back fire big time.  It was really hard to look cool with the bike unexpectedly exploding underneath you.  A friend of mine bought it as a “project.”
My bike experience was good.  These were my stand out memories excluding the time the policeman told me my bike had been reported stolen.  Back at the station I told him I felt when the bike was registered there was something weird that went on.  He told me at that point that I didn’t “look like a criminal.”  Apparently criminals have a look that I gladly did not have.  I never heard from them again.
Oh and there was the time….. never mind…..
Some people understandably really hate motor bikes.  Coming off is never fun, but it is hitting something that does the damage.
However those who have ridden them, know how good that can feel.