The FSSNOC Hysterical Page
... making history by making miles and smiles,
FSSNOC - since 1986! It's what we do, you and I ...
02 - 02 - 23
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(PHOTO ABOVE) FOR YOU YOUNG BUCKS, THIS IS HOW THE WORLD LOOKED IN THE OLD DAYS ... BEFORE COLOR!
... YUP, it's true. That's my first motorcycle trailer, the guy I bought it from said it was a trash trailer, can you believe that? $30 was never better spent! Pulled it behind a fast GTO Pontiac, it is said that sometimes the wheels weren't touching the pavement!
Anyway, we wanted to talk about Honda S90s, from the ThumperGarage Page. I had two and loved them both. Both were converted into dirt bikes for off-road and for riding around town or where we needed to go. Note in this photo, the front tire appears to be a smooth tread street tire, something we don't see these days of knobs on both ends. Back then, if we had money for only one knob, of course, it went on the back, and usually we never thought we needed a knob on the front, what for? The back tire was the power tire, all the front had to do was ... roll, or so we thought.
Buy a used S90, take off everything that wasn't needed to rotate the wheels, including lights, horn, turnsignals (if it came with them), mirrors, and horn, and most of all, fenders and sidestands and/or centerstands. Just extra weight, we all knew that... a four inch megaphone, a 60 tooth rear sprocket, some handlebars with a real twist-throttle ... viola, we had a dirt machine!
I shared with Jon, our newest member, that I had an S90 back in the day, it was before the Yamaha Enduro took the dirt world by storm with the DT-1, etc. Hodaka was the only "real" dirt bike on the market and in its out-of-the-crate form was more of a street trail bike ... and, of course, prior to being at the Honda-Yamaha shop in 1970, my friend Wes and I sold Hodakas. The above shown Honda was just prior to our Hodaka venture.
I used to stop by the Harley dealership in those days. Everyone else was in love with the Honda Scrambler, I wanted a Harley Davidson Sprint 250, a big single in those times. Kick start. Made in Italy. Went "thump,thump,thump" with authority, enough authority to cause all my garden tools to rain down on me in my garage the day I discovered how to take off the Louisville Slugger stock muffler ... every tool!
Back to the S90, one day I rode it to the HD shop, it had no stand so I casually leaned it against the outside wall of the Harley Shop, never thought anything about it. I wandered inside to look around which was a weekly custom in those days. The owner's name was Swede. He had arms as big as my legs! It was said that he could load a Sportster into a pickup truck without using a ramp. Big guy ... and he was ANGRY when he noticed my little Honda leaning against his building! Of course, he read my the riot act, told me to get the $%#@^& Honda off his lot, afterwhich I timidly asked if I could come back to his store.
He paused for a moment, then said, "I never want to see even the tracks of that Honda on my property again! You can come back but do NOT bring that Honda on my lot!!"
I never did. I did lean it again the fence, a variety of nearby trees, whatever would hold it up, but I made sure it never graced his property again. Within a year, I bought that Sprint. Later that same year, I rode double on a 2000 mile road trip into Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico ... on a 250cc one-lunger, as Thumpers were often referred to ... Swede actually loaned me his personal rainsuits, a rare item in those days, they were made of rubber ... but that's another story. - #000.
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Below is from an earlier update, and it talks about Mileage Logs ... Anyone got a report on how they did for the month of January, 2023?
Email it to us: FSSNOCthumpers@yahoo.com
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Hi Jack.
Forgot to say who this is!
John Stanley
#3590 .............. photo above (Mileage Log)
(REPLY) Hey, John ! Great job! Ya' beat your miles ridden total from 2021 by 27 miles! I love this log, so interesting to see the variety of machines in your stable. And, thrilled to see that the DR650 THUMPER is at the top-of-the-heap!! Hope your new year of 2023 is higher yet ... and we hope you can attend the June 21 Fearless & Faithful Thumper Reunion! See you then... Yes! - #000
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REMEMBER TH0SE FABULOUS FIFTY'S?
ROYAL ENFIELD DOES!
CLASSIC 350 is the model,
$4599,00 is the retail price, so I'm told.
I will tell you this, it is a stunning machine, if motorcycles can be such a thing. Silky smooth. Regal in appearance and performance. This is my personal ride ... photographed a few days ago while on an afternoon back-road cruise. When asked earlier in the day, what I thought of it, I said it was "beguiling"... I had work to do at home and instead I was out whiling away the afternoon ... Awesome! - #000.
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A PODCAST ...
FSSNOC ... is on a national YouTube Podcast - don't miss it. Advise your friends to view it as well...
Wanna listen/view a podcast ... DO CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZb4CgjfmEk
The podcast above was generated by Janus Motorcycles in Goshen, Indiana. EP.#1 ... In this podcast, FSSNOC #000 (Jack) is the guest, hereby being interviewed by Richard and Grant from JANUS MOTORCYCLES.
Play/View time is a tick over an hour so some popcorn might be nice, I like the chocolate drizzle kind, btw. Formal wear (FSSNOC club t-shirts, cap, etc...) adds to the mood, but not mandatory. Contact your friends, invite them in, share as you like. No cheat sheets, no prompt boards, no prior discussion was used to make this podcast.
If you like it, tell JANUS at 574-538-1350 JANUSMOTORCYCLES.COM
And, this podcast is for entertainment only...
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