RIP-motorcycle brands of my youth

 When I started riding in 1967, Kawasaki was just importing bikes to the States.  Suzuki was a two stroke 250cc Hustler, Yamaha was a DT-1, today called an adventure bike, then it was a scrambler, or dual purpose ,or an enduro.  However you rode it, it would be.  All names we recognize today, but what of the ones we don’t remember, that went away never to return?  Legendary names like The Vincent, BSA, Indian-again and again, brands like Bultaco, Ossa, Penton, Montesa, Jawa CZ, Cotton, Matchless, and Hodaka, who didn’t want to race a Wombat as a kid?  So many of these I only saw in garages or shops, as they were too old or fragile to ride by this 13 year old, yet I can remember the sights and smells.  The real steel, the smell of racing castor....and then Honda changed all the rules.  Almost single handedly shutting down the Brits, the Spanish, the Italians, and Honda became synonomous with motorcycles.  In fact look at early Honda ads, they never call them motorcycles, they really did change the world.  Motorcycling was changing, you were meeting the nicest people, and a ride out of town, past the city lights was possible without fear of a breakdown.  Race bikes went more than one race between teardowns, and money spent on parts was now spent on more motorcycles.  Never a bad thing.....
But how much have things changed?  Harley Davidson now sells more bikes domestically than Honda.  Yeah, that Harley.  Triumph quit making bikes, but never went under, and now is a luxury brand.  Indian left, then returned, then repeated said process two or three times.  No one makes two strokes any more, Ducati is owned by Audi, Honda dealers feel cheated at dealer meetings because they don’t have the product Yamaha has, it’s great FZ series, or Suzuki with its GSX-S series, or even Kawasaki, Ninjas and Versys.  Moto Guzzi still sells bikes, Aprilia and KTM have high end but very expensive rides, Polaris just left us, but some models absorbed into Indian, and now you meet the nicest people on all brands, including BMW if you can keep up with their SS1000R, or its GS1200.  BMW making high performance bikes, weren’t they the Cadillac back then?  In case you haven’t noticed, Cadillac has changed too.  Some we mourn, some it’s good grief, some are forgotten or mispronounced, some are just a figment of an historian’s bookshelf.  But we still ride, motorcycles still excite, and all those who thought we could never get by without the Brits were shown to be wrong.  The times and bikes change, but the spirit that calls us to ride never does.  It just gets more exciting.....
As bike brands left, the void was filled with others, no one quit riding.  But we found as the bikes got better, so did our skills, our rides, and despite the ones who left, we really never missed them.  What had been given to us was much better.  Jesus had a similar discussion with his disciples, telling them they would do greater things after he was gone.  Because he was going to the father.  That unless he goes away, the counselor, the holy spirit will not come.  You mean there is more to God than just the father and his son?  Yes, and we have him today upon salvation when the holy spirit enters us.  He releases the life of Jesus in us, so it is still Jesus doing these greater things.  Spiritual, not only physical.  Not us doing better things than Jesus himself, but through us he continues, in spirit like when he was here in the flesh.  Nothing we can do of ourselves, don’t waste your time trying, it is the spirit that gives life and power, for without him we are nothing.
Yet today with only remnants of the past of motorcycling found in museums or textbooks, the physical is gone, the spiritual aspect found through memories only remains.  We rely on the physical so much we deny the spiritual aspect of Jesus, but if the miracles and signs were so powerful, where were all those healed, fed, taught, rescued, or touched physically by Jesus?  Why did only a few meet him at the cross, where were the crowds then?  Miracles do not change men, they are only superficial, they only touched the surface.  Jesus offers more, do you desire more?  Is it not strange those who he healed did not follow him to the cross, yet the 11 how his spirit entered did the greater things he promised?  The fact they stayed with him, took the gospel to the multitudes, and were all martyred for it, the fact they faced death with Jesus rather than flee in the face of it was this greater thing.  Something so deep spiritually it defies words, but remains after death.  Things done in the flesh are temporary, anything done by his spirit is permanent.  All that Jesus healed or raised from the dead died again.  Only those who were and are changed by his spirit live eternally.  That is the greater works, and he calls us to be part of them, by his spirit.  There are miracles, and then there are eternal miracles.  You get to choose which is the better....
At one time 14 second quarter mile times were considered quick.  Breaking into the 12’s, the 11’s, the 10’s and now the 9’s.  Faster and quicker with reliability than we ever dreamed.  In each generation of bikes, new ones come and the old ones fade away.  Don’t let your life reflect that, but let it be reflected in Jesus.  Follow his spirit today, let him work through you today, and see the greater things Jesus talked of.  RIP the motorcycles of my youth, but when I finally go to my rest, let me go with Jesus.  So while here, let his words of “on earth as it is in heaven” be real.  By his spirit, for when the gift becomes more important than the giver, we both lose.  We remember the names, do we remember the logos?  Something to remember about your last ride, and your next.  Jesus never met the nicest people....can we say the same.  Now that’s a greater thing we all need.....possible because he went to the father.  So we can go farther.
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com