Sports: RE: [DucatiST] Goodbye, and thankyou

Hi Hopper,

Thanks for your thoughts.

I don't know Norman White, but the name rings a bell. I did get to know Norman Hyde, and he could do fabulous things with Tridents, including 1,000 cc conversions. One of the only two new motorcycles I ever owned was a 1975 T150V Trident, and what a revelation that was after the twins. It was the first bike I rode that didn't have any speed limitations due to vibration or an uneasy feeling that something was about to break or drop off! Just dial your speed in and go, with one eye open for the law.

Never had a Norton, although I did build a Triton with a wideline featherbed and dropped in a brand new factory tuned pre-unitT100c engine. Twin carbs, race cams, high compression, gas flowed head, small bore pipes. Great bike, I took it to Spain with the girl friend the same day I finished it (there's confidence for you!) No problems, apart from 4 punctures in 100 miles, at night, in France. Not very fast top end, about a hundred, but brilliant acceleration. Guess I got the gearing wrong!

I've got a 1965 6T I use, plus a 1954 T110 which I built up, stripped down, and never re-built. Also all the bits for a 1959 T110.

Talking of weighty bikes, a lot of it is in the mind of course. Many, many, years ago I knew a strong young guy who owned a nearly new Triumph 350cc 3TA (that's a 21 for you over there) Going to work one morning he trickled past a bus line of young office girls and whilst giving them the full eye treatment and confident smirk, as only a randy 20 year old can do,(or get away with), ran straight into the back of the waiting bus! No real damage to the bike, only his pride. Red faced, and to the tune of shrieks of laughter he picked the bike up all on his own!! This is the same guy who used to tell us how heavy his 3TA was! Heavy? A 3TA? By today's standards it is a feather. Road testers back in the 50's would often remark how heavy some of the old 500 singles were. They only weighed about 390 ibs. I wonder what they would have to say about my Duke, if they were still around!

All the best

Jeff

From: st2_owners@yahoogroups.com [mailto:st2_owners@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of HOPPER ELDRIDGE
Sent: 09 July 2012 14:54
To: st2_owners@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [DucatiST] Goodbye, and thankyou

Hate to see you parting ways but I can commensurate with you...my ST4s went over and I had to get someone to give me a hand to pick it up. I don't have the strength of my yesteryears either!

Have fun with the ye olde Trumpet! I have a Bonnie, Trident and Commando, all '74s. I also have a Norman White 750 Norton Commando that I had built and raced in anger back when I was living in Merry Olde England and he did an 850 Commando Mk III streeter for me too. If you ever come across him, tell him Hopper says Howdy from Texas! Oh...and tell him "Dallas" is back on TV with the old...and I do mean old! cast along with the new yong ones: [DucatiST] Goodbye, and thankyou

Hopper

To: st2_owners@yahoogroups.com
Date: Monday, July 9, 2012, 6:38 AM

Hi all,
After 3 ½ years with the group, and thoroughly enjoying reading, and sometimes contributing, to all your tales and exchanges of information, I have decided it is time to hang up my Ducati ST2 leathers. At the age of (nearly) 70 the bike is simply too big and powerful for this old boy to handle safely, so it's back to my lightweight vintage Triumphs.
To be fair I have only ridden the beast a handful of times, but always felt that it was in charge of me. It fell slowly over on me once in the garage, and in my efforts to keep that precious damn mirror away from the floor, I ended up trapped underneath it and wedged against the wall. I could have thrown one of the Triumphs back on its wheels in seconds, but it took me several minutes to extradite myself from underneath Luigi, and some superhuman strength to get it back on its legs again! All to no avail, I still had to fit a new mirror spring!
Anyway, the deed is done and it's on Ebay. Anybody interested in a genuine 7,500 mile 2001 ST2 in yellow, hardly ever out of its heated garage since I bought it back in '09? Read about it anyway, just out of interest. Price? I've started it at £2,500 and we'll see what happens.
So, thanks again for all the fun, and sorry I've let you down by not using it the way it should have been. 20 years ago it would have been a different story....................!
All the best,
Jeff Lindsay and Luigi