A never-ending quest to fill the stable.

Carl and I met in the mid 1980s due to our common interest in motorcycles, and we’ve remained friends ever since. He road raced in the ’80s and ’90s, and although auto racing diverted his interest away from motorcycles for a couple of decades, he’s always had motorcycles. 

Ten years ago, a deeper interest in motorcycles reignited, and during a discussion among friends, he inquired about maybe buying a new bike — something special that would perhaps have some future significance. He had a budget of about $25K, and he’d narrowed down his search to two bikes: An Aprilia RSV4 RR or a Ducati 1299 Panigale. His collective support group (his riding friends) weighed in on the pros and cons of each bike, and discussed which one could possibly evolve into a future classic. He remained undecided. 

A few weeks later Carl gave me a call. He’d devised a new plan. “You know, I was thinking,” he told me. “Why should I spend $25,000 on one bike, when I could maybe buy 25 thousand-dollar bikes?” Wait… What? He went on to tell me that he would look into motorcycles that he’d lusted after when he’d gotten into motorcycling four decades ago. 

“Brilliant!” I told him. A couple of weeks later we found ourselves in a rented cube van heading out to see a handful of motorcycles that he had tagged in online ads. We looked at several bikes, and drove home with three: a 1985 Yamaha FZ750, a 1980 Kawasaki KZ550, and a 1981 Yamaha RD350LC. 

Needless to say that the initial spark that reignited Carl’s interest in motorcycles has since turned into a full-blown inferno. He has made many more such trips, buying up mid-1970s to the late 1980s Japanese bikes, with a handful of machines outside those parameters. Yes, he’s blown past his original budget, but pre-COVID pricing meant most of the machines he’s acquired were within the low thousand-dollar range. 

He has paid as little as $75 for a rough 1985 Kawasaki GPZ550 just to grab an emblem off its muffler for a pristine GPZ he’d previously acquired, and he’s gone above his price range to get his hands on a very clean 1988 Honda RC30. His motorcycle count is now somewhere around 80 bikes. Just to be clear, Carl doesn’t have ties to any Colombian drug cartels; a successful family-run auto parts business helps feed his addiction.

While many of Carl’s motorcycles are clean runners, most of them are in need of some love and some are donor bikes. But his goal is to get as many of them running as he can. I’ve helped him work on several bikes, the latest being a nearly pristine, all-original 1970 Honda CB750K, and a less-fortunate 1978 Kawasaki Z1R, which was being used as a daily rider by its previous owner, who did not have a delicate hand. 

A few weeks ago, 10 years after our first bike-hunting road trip, Carl and I hopped into his pickup to go see five Hondas being sold by a gentleman named David, in Barrie, Ont. Carl had told me of these bikes beforehand, and a discussion ensued as to how I believed that all but one were outside of his normal criteria. Part of the joy of picking up older bikes is working on them; Carl even schedules occasional “garage days” in which friends gather to chat and tinker on his machines. Most of these were fully restored, older machines.

David greeted us warmly and immediately led us into his basement, where three of his machines were parked. We were immediately transfixed by the immaculate 1966 CL77, 1968 CL175 and 1972 CB350 Four, displayed as if in a mini museum. David told us he’d restored them using mostly new-old-stock OEM parts, which in some cases had proven to be extremely difficult to find, and at considerable cost. 

We also found out that the CL175 is quite rare; it’s the last of the CLs to use Honda’s slanted twin (later twins were upright), and the first with five speeds. We then moved to the garage, where sat a nearly spotless 1978 CB550K, and an equally clean 1984 CX650E. More enlightening conversation ensued, in which David expressed his passion for rebuilding these machines. A handshake sealed the deal for all five bikes. 

Carl holds an annual “vintage ride,” where he invites friends to either show up on their own vintage bikes or ride one of his. His search for bikes continues, and the day after we returned from Barrie, we headed out to pick up a 1988 Honda Hawk GT, which will either be a runner or a donor for a race bike he owns. He also has plans to eventually open an informal museum, where his collection can be enjoyed by many more enthusiasts.