Gary "DrBlackbird" S. - Houston, Tx

[DrBlackbird]

Hey all,..........Glad to have found this site......
........Joined up in November of last year, but I didn't do any group rides. I already had a circle of riding buddies. Well I thought I did, one thing or another,..... wives, children, jobs, finances, I could never depend on any of them to saddle up on a nice day and put down some miles.

Out of the clear blue, I get an E-mail about TWT again, I make some rides and meet some great people that "WANT" to ride. So here I put down my kick-stand and look forward to making some new friends and ride till I need a Trike.

I started riding when I was 14 on a Honda 50 mini-trail with my Dad, Mom, and younger brother, we all 4 had mini-trails. Looked like Father duck and his little ones following him through the woods.....As I aged I progressed to 90's, 125's, 250's, 490's 500's. Learning in the dirt really sets down a good foundation for your riding skills. I had a great time growing up riding in the dirt, camping and doing the family thing. I see from some of the posts, dad's doing the bike thing with their kid's, I know the kid's will remember it for a long time to come.

Got older and had to come to the realization that collar-bones, wrists and the rest just don't heal like they did when you were 18. Things go "Snap-Crakle-Pop" when you abuse them by trying to do triples and jump rivers, and ride like your brain still thinks you can.....So I traded in the mud for some chrome. My first street bike was a 1975 Honda Goldwing GL1000........Back then, talk about turn some heads with it's horizontaly opposed cylinders, the biggest bike Honda had till then was the Honda750. Loved that bike, wish I'd had the foresight to keep it.

Have a number hobbies, but I have to say, if the sun's out and someone say let's go for a ride,......I'm there........Looking forward to doing as many rides as my job permits ( Chiropractor ) and hope to meet as many riders of TWT as I can.

Here are some Pics of what I'm riding now and back Then.

......Gary S.



.Honda CBR1100XX ( Blackbird )
http://img109.exs.cx/img109/898/aaablackbirdbearcreek0225nx.jpg

Honda GL1800 ( The Pumpkin )
http://img109.exs.cx/img109/9425/bluebonnetapril5thgary25dh.jpg

http://img109.exs.cx/img109/6255/coloradotrip0157kj.jpg

http://img109.exs.cx/img109/6933/hillcountry1015040635vt.jpg

Yamaha FJ1200 ( Completly restored, R1 brakes, wheels,..Flamed paint job.)
http://img109.exs.cx/img109/4696/flamedfjrrside4gz.jpg

http://img109.exs.cx/img109/3290/garysbike16gg.jpg

Yamaha XVZ1300 Venture
http://img109.exs.cx/img109/29/venture8mz.jpg

http://img109.exs.cx/img109/4598/yamahaventure1sa.jpg

Yamaha GTS1000 ( Bike before it's time, great bike, made for 2 yrs)
http://img109.exs.cx/img109/1440/yamahagts1wa.jpg

My Wild Adrenaline Puppies.....( Honda CR500, Kaw KX500)
http://img109.exs.cx/img109/6721/cr5000az.jpg

http://img109.exs.cx/img109/1820/kx5007lx.jpg


One of my other Hobbies......A soon to be restored Porsche 928....( Took the porsche V8 expensive to maintain power train out (310 Hp), and replaced with all new ZZ502 Chevrolet crate motor, (550hp),.. McLeod clutch, new Air Conditioner, new brakes, etc.......
http://img109.exs.cx/img109/6972/blackporsche31aj.jpg

[Squeaky]

Cool little picture history of bikes there.

Tell us more about the bone bending....

[DrBlackbird]

Well Squeaky,..........In my professional opinion, and after looking at the X-rays......Your "Jaw Bone" works just fine..........:wink:
.
For all of you out there without "Helibars",.....I may just have to become your best friend..........While on a ride, don't be shy and not come up to me and ask what to do about your sore back......
...... I love what I do,......I've always been Health conscious, love working with my hands, and like people. I'll talk with you and give you all the advice I can.
.
........Doc

[pinecone]

Well Squeaky,..........In my professional opinion, and after looking at the X-rays......Your "Jaw Bone" works just fine..........:wink:
.
For all of you out there without "Helibars",.....I may just have to become your best friend..........While on a ride, don't be shy and not come up to me and ask what to do about your sore back......
...... I love what I do,......I've always been Health conscious, love working with my hands, and like people. I'll talk with you and give you all the advice I can.
.
........Doc

Welcome.

I tend to interface best with machines.

What can I say? I'm gearhead. :dude:

[scratch]

Hey Gary!

Judging from our ride a couple of weeks ago, we might want to award you the nickname of "Doctor of Speed" because you don't seem to mind cracking the throttle on that Blackbird. Be sure to put this guy in the fast group! :eek: ;-)

Nice bikes you have/had there. Since you've owned both 'Wings and a Venture, how would you rate the Yamaha touring bike? I'm kind of puzzled that they didn't have a bigger following, but I suppose there had to be a reason.

[DrBlackbird]

Hey Gary!

Nice bikes you have/had there. Since you've owned both 'Wings and a Venture, how would you rate the Yamaha touring bike? I'm kind of puzzled that they didn't have a bigger following, but I supposed there had to be a reason.
.
When Yamaha decided to discontinue that style of Venture, there were groans across America. It was a great bike. Yamaha took the Honda Goldwing of that day and took it apart and improved on it. The Yamaha Venture was faster, handled better, stopped better, had removable hard luggage (hotel time), was lighter.......etc. The touring croud however didn't fully embrace it, kinda like the Harley V-rod and the hard core Harley nuts.........There was a national Venture touring society with a pretty good following, but never to the magnitude of GWRRA. I owned a burgandy 83 Venture that was stolen, then the Black one you see in the pics........I have a friend that is in the process of making payments on the black Venture and trailer.....He's just about to take possession of it and make it his own. Will be sad to see part of my riding history ride off into the sun-set. The new 1800 Wings of today are another story.......Honda really did their homework........
.
.........But I must say that if I didn't have the smoothest and fastest bikes Honda makes, and had to have just one bike..........There are many opinions out there, but mine would be .........Yamaha FJR1300...........On the East Texas ride of 03-05-05, I watched and followed 3 FJR's through the twisties.......was impressed with their handling, and acceleration out of the corners. One FJR was packing a good lookin S.O. and she was leaning with the best of us. The bike just looks rock solid......I'm impressed.
.
I was also surprised at how well those dual-sport BMW GS's performed on the street........Scott lead on his and Mark and passenger on his tore up those twisties on semi-knobby tires and big square samsonite foot-lockers hanging off the rear. Changed my opinion about those multi-personality boxers...........things that make you go, Hmmmmnnnn................

[scratch]

.
.........But I must say that if I didn't have the smoothest and fastest bikes Honda makes, and had to have just one bike..........There are many opinions out there, but mine would be .........Yamaha FJR1300...........On the East Texas ride of 03-05-05, I watched and followed 3 FJR's through the twisties.......was impressed with their handling, and acceleration out of the corners. One FJR was packing a good lookin S.O. and she was leaning with the best of us. The bike just looks rock solid......I'm impressed.


That seems to be the consensus of the overwhelming majority who've ridden and/or bought them too. Yamaha has a big winner with the FJR. In a sense, maybe we could think of it as the sportier descendant of the Venture that hits all the sweet spots just right. 8-)

[Ajax]

Any more pics or details of your Porsche 502 project? I'd like to see how you shoe-horned that beast in there. :-)

[Hotboot]

A belated welcome Gary.

I am a fan of the FJ1200, and that is a prime specimen. NICE !

FJR's are awesome BTW....and no chiropractor needed after a long ride.

8-)

[Dragwn]

Gary..I'll have to sit down and talk to you about the bone doc bit, went to one here in the dfw area, and turned out to want more to do with my "spiritual" well being than my bones..tell me that's the far left of what ya do, and not the mainstream thinking :rofl

I'd like to see that Porsche-olet sometime, always nice to see a sleeper.

[DrBlackbird]

Gary..I'll have to sit down and talk to you about the bone doc bit, went to one here in the dfw area, and turned out to want more to do with my "spiritual" .
.
Extreme "FAR LEFT", Every health care discipline has it's wacko's,.....and the one you happened onto I'm ashamed to say gives the rest of us a bad light. When I want to treat someone spiritually,....I grab them by the collar, look them in the eye, and tell them to go take a long ride on their bike........99% of the time it works........only problem is that I don't know how to bill the insurance company for that office visit.........
.
I meant to post some pics of the ZZ502 motor in the Porsche 928,....will get around to it soon.........
.
What I do need, is a volunteer to ride shot-gun with the video camera and film the ride when I break 200 mph.............any takers?....."wink"

[Dragwn]

Depends on where you're gonna do the 200 mph club entry run...fairly controlled environment, I might be up for it, best I've seen so far is 170mph indicated on a bike.

How about the Silver City Classic..the against the clock run out west, on a closed road.

[Dragwn]

Oh, and it's too bad you're so far away, an office visit would take me a full day, if I rode down and back in the same day.

[STrider]

I love the GTS. That bike was on the showroom floor when I got my Bandit in '93, and I have loved it since. Too bad people lined up to not buy it, maybe it would still be around....

[Texas T]

I'm with Keith... controlled environment, full cage, 5 point harness and I'm your guy. If not, I'll be a spectator. :-D

[190 Octane]

What I do need, is a volunteer to ride shot-gun with the video camera and film the ride when I break 200 mph.............any takers?....."wink"

You should check this out.

http://www.texasmile.com/

A friend of mine ran his Lightning at the first one these guys did. He was the fastest truck, he was also the only truck. I think one viper hit the 200 mph mark along with a couple of guys on moded hayabusas when we went. Looks like they've grown a little since we went. It was mainly the Corvette owners club and a hand full of other that showed up a couple of years ago.

[Fangs]

What I do need, is a volunteer to ride shot-gun with the video camera and film the ride when I break 200 mph.............any takers?....."wink"

A friend of mine ran his Lightning at the first one these guys did. He was the fastest truck, he was also the only truck.

How fast did your friends Ford truck go?

I would like to see a 200 mph run but I am too chicken to ride in the car.

[190 Octane]

He hit 133mph, not bad considering the truck is bone stock.

[Sleepy Weasel]

Ah, the 928... I remember the first (and only) time I drove one. A buddy & I went to visit a Porsche dealer in California. To park out front, we had to do a U-turn at a light, right next to the dealer, and I had a mustang at the time that was happy to pivot around whichever front tire I asked for.

The salesman we found was apparently a little bored, and I think he WANTED to go for a ride, sale or no. We took it for a quick canyon run and came back to that same light. The salesman looks over at me and says "Hey, did you see that guy in the Mustang whip the car around out here earlier?" Apparently he hadn't been paying attention to who got out of it. I said, "I saw it from the driver's seat."

He got a little pale and said "Please don't do it with this car! I'll get SO fired!"
:lol:

Anyway, howdy Gary!

[Squeaky]

And see, I was going to volunteer to hold the camera, but if these guys are too scared, then maybe I should rethink the idea...

[Dragwn]

I'm not scared, I'd just like more controlled circumstances than I-45 at 3am :rofl

[Hotboot]

I have the perfect road, but I drive and you shoot video.
A long stretch of Red River bridge at 0900 any Sunday.
All residents are in church, including Mr. Sheriff....... ;-)

[DrBlackbird]

I was thinking more like the drive way in front of "Ben-Taub Hospital".......... :-P

[Texas T]

but if these guys are too scared, then maybe I should rethink the idea... Ahem.... there is a difference between "scared" and cautious preparation. :angel: :mrgreen:

[DrBlackbird]

Here are two pics of the Porsche project
.
.
http://img109.exs.cx/img109/9962/porschemotor0013bc.jpg
.
http://img109.exs.cx/img109/4188/porschemotor0078ny.jpg

[pinecone]

Here are two pics of the Porsche project
.
.
http://img109.exs.cx/img109/9962/porschemotor0013bc.jpg
.
http://img109.exs.cx/img109/4188/porschemotor0078ny.jpg

I don't know if I should happy or mad on this project. On one hand, it's friggin' BB Chevy stuffed into a Porsche. C'mon! BB Chevy! What's not to like? On the other hand, I see all sorts of technical problems that could arise from such an unholy union. Albeit I have little room to talk. I once owned a 63 Ford PU that had a 58 Ford PU box on the back and a Pontiac 400/Turbo 400 drivetrain. That thing was a money pit. One night I got really, really drunk and had to be tken home in it. I barfed all over the side of that truck. I'm glad I don't own it now. :oops:

[Texas T]

Here are two pics of the Porsche project
Is it an aluminum block/heads? What's the weight difference between the Rat and the Porsche motors?

[Dragwn]

Well, one thing that might be good for a 200 mph run, would be at least a partial cage and 5 point harnesses, better to keep the camera focused.

[Hotboot]

Referring to the Pep Boys commercial....
"we'll make it fit" bang bang whack !
Looks like a magazine article in the making to me Doc, some front suspension upgrades happening ?
I thought the 928 had two seperate sub-frames....pretzel time ?
BTW: I remove my name from the volunteer list......

[BBBH]

Doc. Great story and incredible pics. I too started in the dirt. Honda Z50 back in the day. I can still remember being 15 and getting a used 1983 CR 125. My first "full size" bike. Coudn't touch the ground to save my life. I still have to tippy toe on all bikes except the lowrider type. The Porsche looks wicked cool.