Have I become a collector?

(Camera - Sony DSC-F717)

Another 'bike has been added to the stable........a 1982 CM250 Custom. (Click on image for full-size).
I had original thoughts of buying this to strip for spare parts to support the CM400A (they are identical except for engine capacity) but on reflection have decided to refurbish it instead.

Two reasons for this decision :-

• It's in too-good a state to butcher and needs very little in the way of anything to make it usable. After all, it only ran out of registration three month's ago.
• Second is the fact that the cost of registering a motorcycle in the ACT is determined by its engine capacity. Anything over 300 cc costs TWO AND A HALF TIMES more than anything under that capacity. To register the CM400A will cost (next February) $511 yet to register the CM250C will cost a mere $197.

As I am only riding a motorcycle for pleasure and leisure I have no desire to cough up $500+ just to stoke up the coffers of our local government, so I'll do a mild restoration of the smaller-capacity 'bike and then register it.

The plan is to have this done within the next three to four months.....but plans have been known to fall apart before!

I'll update in due course.

Father's Day 2009.

Weather-wise, just a superb early-spring day in Canberra and, with the weather warming up, an opportunity to continue getting to grips with my motorbike.

This was only the second weekend on which I'd had a chance to ride it in good conditions, so I ventured forth into Sunday traffic at about 10:00 AM, heading off into the city to a favourite second-hand book-store.
The experience was exhilarating and I was reluctant to get off the 'bike after returning home, some 25 kilometres later.

This afternoon, when my children & grandchildren came over for a traditional Father's Day b-b-q, my son-in-law took these two photos - the first of me on the 'bike.

He was very kind in not taking a shot when I gently laid the machine down on its side as I ran out of momentum whilst trying to do 360 in the cul-de-sac outside my home!
But I learned a lesson - one cannot turn a motorcycle if it is not proceeding in a forward direction.
I also discovered that I can lift the CM400A back into an upright position if I drop it.......something which I was wondering about.

My son, Drew, asking me how come I dropped the 'bike!