Maggy,,,, the little 1000cc Yamaha that could!!

[cowpuc]

A long time ago,,, in an era far far away,,, as a family we would pile into our Motor Home and sneak off during the "off season" to ride coasters.. We were fairly avid - always at least 2 times a year = early Spring and late Fall.. Many times we would shoot to Six Flags Over Illinois and ride such awesome rides as "The Bat Man" but our mainstay was this park in Sandusky Ohio called Cedar Point where our favorite ride - The Magnum - waited patiently for our arrival.. We grew to love and respect that massive coaster for its tear jerking speeds and it's awesome ability to fill us with the adrenaline rush it offered those who were brave enough to climb in one of its little boxes and head for the hills.

As a family, we were spoiled by our lifestyle that afforded us those amazing off season times. Unlike people who visited these types of parks during normal season and waited HOURS for just one ride - we literally would get off after the Magnum finished doing its thing, listen to the attendants voice announce "Welcome back Magnum riders, enjoy the rest of your day here at Cedar Point, America's roller coast!!" - then we would jump out, run around and get right back on.. Later in life when my kids legs got longer and they could run faster - we actually had a visit to Cedar Point that we rode the Magnum 36 consecutive times - it was almost like OWNING that amazing contraption!! Below is a picture of my son and I doing our thing on that mighty ride!!

 

Besides being known for my love for coasters, my family (and several others) grew to know of my love for motorcycles.. Being an odd ball sort of motorcycle lover - the intrensic admiration I had for two wheels with a motor is unlimited = makes no difference in size, brand, cc's, 2 stroke or 4, 1 speed 2 speed 3-4-5-6 or even fully automatic - I love em all... One of the great things about my family (especially my wife Tip) is the endless understanding of how deeply I am overtaken by that tender spot in my heart for "my bikes" - its a blessing, and a curse.

Being my life long partner/best friend and being there while I owned, rode, maintained and even built a HUGE variety of scoots and watching me flip em, twist em, hill climb em, sink em in mud up to their bars, ice race em, ride em on the Salt Flats at The Bonneville, MX em, jump em, crash em and smash em it really didn't surprise me much when not to long ago when I began reminding Tip that my urge to own a Yamaha "Super Bike" was once again troubling me during the night hours and she took it in stride.. Tip knows/understands me far better than anyone I know - oft times even better than myself. Her response was Puc,, the kids are grown up and gone, our reflexes and response times aren't getting any easier to maintain,, might not be a bad idea to take a serious look at answering the call of the wild that comes in the form of the need for owning that bike = gotta love that lady!! Then she asked me to explain exactly what a Yamaha "Super Bike" "R1" is..

I instructed her to google "the top ten fastest production bikes in the world".. Fortunately, other bikes like the 350 mph Rolls Royce jet turbine bike were listed ahead of the little 1000cc Yamaha "Liter" bike I have dreamed of owning... She smiled when she noticed the little Yammer held a humble #5 in that top ten list and said "yea,, I can see why you want one" = THAT IS GORGEOUS.

Tip has rare blood and is an avid blood donor. She gets regular phone calls asking her to donate and its not uncommon for her to jump and oblige the Red Cross. I currently cannot donate because of some medical stuff I am going thru but I did take her into town last week to donate. She gave me that pretty smile of hers as she stepped out of the car and said - see ya in an hour or so - have fun at the bike shop around the corner.. At the bike shop I got yapping with another geezer who, like me,, had a developed need for speed - we laughed as we concluded our need or "urge" was similar to a woman's strange food desires during pregnancy = maybe a hormonal thing?

Mike, my new friend at "the shop" - was telling me that what I REALLY needed was one of the new "upright" crotch rockets like he was riding... We looked at the Kawasaki like he rode - the shop was even having a REALLY neat special on the model = a 13000 dollar scoot for 7500,, it was a left over.. I told Mike that I did like it (I like all bikes) but what I really needed and was urging for was a real deal, not detuned, flat out liter bike,, a Super Bike, a genuine Crotch Rocket - like an R1...

On the way back to Muskegon after picking Maggy up at the home where she lived with her previous owner, I patted her on her pretty blue tank and began the bonding process between us by speaking to her in answer to her soft tones coming from the Vance and Hines pipes mount on her side.. We were effortlessly flowing along on the highway with Tippy following behind us in our KIA.. I was deeply admiring her amazing design attributes and how smoothly she puttered along at 70 miles an hour in 6th gear.. I complimented her non existent motor vibrations and told her how she somewhat reminded me of Tips Singer Sewing Machine and its smooth transitions of R's when I stepped on that little black button while doing maintenance on it..

While we were chatting, a man in a Black Ford pickup came flying by us.. He was moving at a pretty good clip and as he passed by I noticed him glaring at Maggy and I. I somewhat got the impression that he was kind of shocked to see an older gentleman with a grey beard, wearing a distinctly worn leather Arctic Cat snowmobile jacket while perched on the back of one of Yamaha's Super Bikes..

As the fellow in the Ford put a hundred yards of distance between us, I slid out into the passing lane and backed off the throttle a few thou (like a micrometer) so Tip's pretty face was now traveling next to Maggie and I.. I looked over at her, smiled and motioned a horizontal "rocket launch" motion to her as I pointed to the Black truck. She smiled, gave us the thumbs up and waved bye..

I had heard that Maggy's breed loves to rev and loves to search the skys for airplanes with their headlights.. I had also heard that, due to their thoroughbred racing heritage and being fairly tall in the gears - speeds of 100 mph in 1st gear are not uncommon with her type.. Not quite being ready to test all the rumors I heard concerning the matter I decided that even if I did drop her down from 6th to 1st while doing 70 mph next to Tip - I probably wasnt quite ready the result of that test.. I decided to just try second.

I quickly learned that second gear pretty much has the same attitude about it as first does - Maggy's true colors come out at about 6500 rpm and - to an unsuspecting beat up ol geezer from Venture land - those true colors can be down right intimidating.. I quickly changed to 3rd in an attempt to gain some room between the "ok,, we are friends" spot in Maggies personality and the split second change where she shows you she would just as soon not have anyone on her back..

A couple years ago one of my buddies (Raggy) came from the other side of the state to visit with us.. His daughter, obviously a young lady who would rather be outdoors on a bike trip with her dad than home playing video games, followed him to our home on her motorcycle.. As Raggy and his daughter packed up for their journey home, Tip - Tweeks and I decided we would ride part way across Michigan with them.. Knowing the "better" roads in the area and wanting to see Raggy's daughter go at it on her race bike - I headed us toward the twisties. I watched as she tucked down behind the shield and precisely guided her machine thru the curves - precision is an amazing thing - an art form IMHO..

Calling that experience into memory, I had tucked myself down across Maggy's tank the best I could not only to watch where I was going but I could also glance her tach/speedo.. Somewhere between 125 and 130 in 3rd gear Maggy thought she heard a jet or something flying above her and once again she decided to signal it and we were fastly approaching 140 before I was able to shut her heaven word climb off and slow her instantly down by applying a gentle one finger pull on her front brake lever. . The guy in the Black Ford that had passed us early smiled and gave us the thumbs up as we casually passed him now as if the solid fuel boosters in Maggies fuel cell's had emptied themselves and we were gradually slowing down.

Other than shaking off some left over adrenalin and having an indepth discussion with my new bike about how much she reminded me of that great big beautiful coaster named The Magnum down in Ohio and about how she made me feel like I actually now own a "Magnum" of my very own I could tell that Maggy really appreciates her new name!!

 

[slowrollwv]

Puc that is some story and no one could tell it like you do. Congrats on the new bike. Now I will tell you to be careful on that thing. A good friend of mine had the same bike and was a racer in his younger days and always wanted to ride the Dragon on it. His wife gave him his wish with an all expenses paid vacation to go ride the Dragon with a friend he road with. On a Wednesday they had decided to do some time triles. The third time through he said he could do better so they took off and on the eleventh turn he missed his mark and went off the road and he died from the crash. The tree has a piece of his bike hanging in it but I lost a good friend. So I will say it again Please be careful on it.

[Drews]

congratulations

[XV1100SE]

Congratulations. Quite the story...didn't see how you found Maggy and how she adopted you. I'd add my voice to telling you to be careful but with a bike like that it is more of respect "her" power...which I know you do.

[Dragonslayer]

Puc,

First off nice read. Second pretty bike, Third......................... I used to like roller coasters too when I was much younger. But, recently I scored some free tickets to Dollywood and figured we'd plan a long weekend and invite my oldest and his family to spend some quality time with my new step grand daughter, who has a similar roller coaster fascination as you. Well I rode the first one and quickly discovered that my more advanced equilibrium leaned more to the "I'm gonna barf" state then the "weeeeeeeeeeee" state of mind.

 

For the rest of the day I rode the park benches around the park while the younger crowd went merrily on their way riding every coaster in the park over and over and over again. I actually wanted to rent a little rascal to ride around the park. I thought that would be a lot more fun than riding stationary park benches. But my travel companions nixed that by saying it made me seem to old. and park benches didn't go figure.

 

Now don't get me wrong, I can appreciate that pushing the envelope has a way to keep us stimulated, vibrant and alive. I get it. But I also remember over stimulating my self into a wheel chair for three years and the body wide collection of road rash and motorcycle related scars I have accumulated through the years.

 

I say all of that to say this, I no longer feel the need to push the envelope knowing that my body takes longer to heal then it did in the past. I'll just ride along upright on my pillow top seat at a respectable and legal speed and be quite alright with that.

 

Please be careful, people all over the world would be heartbroken if anything was ever to happen to you.

[cowpuc]

Puc,

First off nice read. Second pretty bike, Third......................... I used to like roller coasters too when I was much younger. But, recently I scored some free tickets to Dollywood and figured we'd plan a long weekend and invite my oldest and his family to spend some quality time with my new step grand daughter, who has a similar roller coaster fascination as you. Well I rode the first one and quickly discovered that my more advanced equilibrium leaned more to the "I'm gonna barf" state then the "weeeeeeeeeeee" state of mind.

 

For the rest of the day I rode the park benches around the park while the younger crowd went merrily on their way riding every coaster in the park over and over and over again. I actually wanted to rent a little rascal to ride around the park. I thought that would be a lot more fun than riding stationary park benches. But my travel companions nixed that by saying it made me seem to old. and park benches didn't go figure.

 

Now don't get me wrong, I can appreciate that pushing the envelope has a way to keep us stimulated, vibrant and alive. I get it. But I also remember over stimulating my self into a wheel chair for three years and the body wide collection of road rash and motorcycle related scars I have accumulated through the years.

 

I say all of that to say this, I no longer feel the need to push the envelope knowing that my body takes longer to heal then it did in the past. I'll just ride along upright on my pillow top seat at a respectable and legal speed and be quite alright with that.

 

Please be careful, people all over the world would be heartbroken if anything was ever to happen to you.

 

I get that brother - I really do... My 2nd born daughter, "Cappy", video of her n I singin attached - who now practices medicine out in California, has had "Second Hand Lions" on her favorite movie list for years now.. Cappy grew up with me as her "Poppers",, chasing around the back roads of Montana/Utah/Nevada and the likes on our 1st 1st Gen - sleeping in a $20 Menards tents and living off apples and water - crazy stuff.. Any way, here is a copy/paste of her response to her hearing of my latest act of immaturity = ""She's gorgeous! Just don't hit any barns upside down too soon!!! Love u!"".. You may have to watch the movie to get that one..

My son (P-Dog) called last night to let us known he, his wife and his boys would be here today to celebrate 3 birthdays - grillin and all that.. First thing out of his mouth was "Dad still alive"? My last borns (Tottr - she is in the process of locating a publishing company to publish a "book" of all my insane actions - her words - says she wants them in print so my new born grandson can have something to learn to read by) response was: YOU GOT A ROCKET?!?!?!

 

Promised em all I would be very careful and I am.. Notice ya aint seeing any one handed riding video's of me holding the camera while test n tuning like ya did on Crud theVmax> yet? Proof - I am being very careful!!!

 

 

 

 

 

[cowpuc]

Puc that is some story and no one could tell it like you do. Congrats on the new bike. Now I will tell you to be careful on that thing. A good friend of mine had the same bike and was a racer in his younger days and always wanted to ride the Dragon on it. His wife gave him his wish with an all expenses paid vacation to go ride the Dragon with a friend he road with. On a Wednesday they had decided to do some time triles. The third time through he said he could do better so they took off and on the eleventh turn he missed his mark and went off the road and he died from the crash. The tree has a piece of his bike hanging in it but I lost a good friend. So I will say it again Please be careful on it.

 

Sorry about the loss of your friend Roller, can totally relate! Lost my best friend the 2 years after we graduated high school together. He had a turboed 74 Z1 kawi that he got in fight with a car with and lost everything - I have never been the same and still mourning his loss,, Mike and I Motocrossed and Harescrambled for years together (did other stuff too but VR being a family site and all that).

I am hearing your warning my friend and heeding it - THANK YOU.

 

Love you brother!!

Puc

[mirider]

A long time ago,,, in an era far far away,,,

 

 

WOW Puc, nice looking ride....glad you finally got something that can keep up with the TriGlide

 

One question - where does Tip ride on that thing

 

Be Safe !!!

[cowpuc]

WOW Puc, nice looking ride....glad you finally got something that can keep up with the TriGlide

 

One question - where does Tip ride on that thing

 

Be Safe !!!

 

CANDY'S DANDY BUT AN R1 WONT ROT YOUR TEETH :crackup::crackup::crackup::crackup::crackup: gosh I love when stuff like that pops into my worn out, tired ol , beat up beaner

 

Not even go there brother - I KNOW Candy's got like twice the motor = this thing is a minibike in comparison,,,,, a really really really fast minibike:stickpoke:

 

Mags got a rear seat - didnt you notice it? I actually took my buddy for a ride on it down to another neighbors house this morning to help help the other neighbors dad get a tire off his tractor.. He grabbed onto those little things on my chest (cant say nipp,,, here) when he climbed on and said "if you even think about wickin this thing up I am gonna stretch these things till,,,,,,... What a blast - should seen the other neighbors face when we pulled in.. Think you may have met larry and dave? Larry is the one with the Blue '10 limited and dave just swapped off his '11 limited for a ultra low = both GORGEOUS scoots..

 

Anyway,, look closely above the pipe behind my leg - see the little foot peg there for Tip!!

 

Aint gonna happen Mirider - her and Tweeksis are inseperatable

[Drews]

LET'S have a hot dog & celebrate

[mirider]

LET'S have a hot dog & celebrate

 

I second that brother......let's rock and roll :guitarist 2:

[CaseyJ955]

What a great fun looking bike! I know you know your way around a scoot so I wont tell you to be careful, so go have a blast with her... And ya know... Be careful brutha'.

[WildBill1]

All I can say Cowpuc is "Let Her Rip Tater Chip". Great looking scoot.

[snyper316]

Nice bike, I am rather suprised that you got a Crotch Rocket... be careful:Im not listening to:missingtooth:

[snyper316]

Hey while you gloat in all your hyper drive I just got back from Riding bikes with my son, while you was buying super bikes I was buying a cruiser.

It will have motor buy the end of this week but.... only to get me up the mountain when I am done riding it.

 

[Venturous Randy]

Years ago my son Brian had an FZ1 that had some tuning and exhaust upgrades. I rode it several times and I have to say that it was the adrenalin rush from hell. I found my self just looking for a place to crank it on, even just for a few seconds and a few seconds was all it took to get going really fast. It was one of those bikes that at about 6,500 RPM's you had to be careful, or you would be looking at the sky, even when you did not want to.

Randy

[Dale124]

Wow, Puc, you certainly can paint a picture with your words. Congrats on your new bike, she looks like fun!

If your daughter ever gets that book published, please let us know. I for one would buy it, as I know that there would be some great stories in it, judging by the stories I have read on this site from you.

Dale.

[cowpuc]

wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What an amazing piece of precision motorcycling machinery!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Flyinfool]

Someone was out playing again....................

[cowpuc]

Tip, Tweeksis and I beat foot it home after hot shoeing it across Canada out running massive thunderstorms, experiencing the "Peace Bridge"and checking out a castle on the New York side of that bridge (anyone have a clue what that castle is all about?), touring the Adirondack mountains in New York in the rain, watching the unveiling of the new Yam, hydroplaning at speed and hitting that water so hard it knocked Tips feet off the riders pegs and soaked her legs up to her knees, completing Tweeksis's break in period by adding over 2200 miles to her all while making it home in time for my most recent Cancer checkup.. It all worked out with us just barely getting home in time for me to get my blood work for the followup today (oh wait - its after midnight,, make that yesterday).

I had more internal biopsies taken a couple weeks ago and the results were waiting for us when the Doctor greeted us.. He also had the results of the recent blood work. He also complimented me on seeing my weight finally headed back up as I had been on a steady downward spiral for the 8 months prior to removing that grapefruit sized tumor from my abdomen and my weight had dropped to below what I weighed in High School - basically giving me the look of someone being starved to death even though I was gobbling food like crazy - I had gained another 4 pounds since my last appointment!

After giving us all the GREAT results, he said "what ever your doing = keep up the good work!"

After making that comment he glared at me over his glasses and asked "so what have been up to?" (I got a hunch these Cancer doctors are always keeping an eye out for Depression and the like). He recoiled slightly when I told him I had been goofing around working on my motorcycles.. He REALLY drew back when I told him we had just hauled butt back from Americade after touring and camping in the rain/cold of New York state. I didnt bother to tell him about how much fun Maggy and I been having and how much headway we had been making in our bonding during these bucket list days and that my spirited recovery process may actually have something to do with that putzy little 1000cc Super Bike too. Before I left today,, yesterday,, he smacked me on the knee, smiled and said "well I am glad to hear your enjoying your retirement = all's good here = keep up the good work"..

When we pulled into the garage after arriving home from the Dr.'s office on Tweeksis I noticed a funny grin on Maggies pretty little face - any one who has ever owned an R1 can probably attest to the characters they can be. I honestly believe that Mom Yam created them with a permanent grin on their faces (next time you see one = look carefully at that gorgeous set of headlights and see if you dont agree) cause she KNEW that permanent grin would escalate and instantly become part of anyone fortunate enough to be found as caretaker of such a magnificent piece of machinery. I walked over to Mags, scratched her belly pan and padded her on her rear tire and asked if she wanted to go celebrate the good news.. Of course she did...

The private road that we play on is just barely long enough for Mags to stretch out in 5th gear. Tip keeps telling the two of us that she is gonna take us out to The Bonneville so we can find out if Mags 6th gear even works = Tip, Tweeks and I had a BLAST out there a few years ago and now Tippy just cannot wait to get back out there!!

Me n Maggy - we just look at each other and giggle fiendishly when Tip talks like that!!

 

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiNH0-swxUo

Edited June 10, 2017 by cowpuc

[snyper316]

Umm I'd be puckering in 5th lol don't think I could make it to 6th...

 

Sent from my LG-K371 using Tapatalk

[CMCOFFEY]

Nice new toy. I have always loved Yamaha sport bikes. I owned 2 R6s myself and will probably own another one in the future.

 

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j169/coffeyR6/R6137a.jpg

 

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j169/coffeyR6/IMG_4950.jpg