Well, hello there.
I wonder why I bought a GS1000S back then?
It was partly youthful recklessness and impulse.
There were good things about buying and riding it, but there were also plenty of things that made me go hmm? Maybe that’s the charm of vintage bikes?
Looking back now, there were probably more painful things than good ones.
From getting my large motorcycle license onwards,
maybe I’ll write about that sometime.
First, before I could ride a big bike.
Back then, the only way to get a large motorcycle license was through a direct test. I was still in my teens and didn’t have money to go to a training school.
I was already working, so after work I’d practice night after night in my own bike at a parking lot (Komozawa Park).
Then I’d take the test, fail, and repeat the practice cycle.
The bike I had back then.
Ah, what memories—it was a Kawasaki ZX-4 (and a hand-me-down at that), completely stock.
Looking at it now, it was a ZZR.
Back then, you could get bikes as gifts or buy them from acquaintances and seniors for fifty or a hundred thousand yen.
Now, about the large motorcycle license.
People say the pass rate is low, it’s difficult!
But
I’m starting to think that maybe the real issue is that “people just aren’t reaching the passing level in the first place.”
Like, a half helmet and sandals? That’s not going to work!
There’s always some guy who acts like he knows everything, saying “Today on Course A, the key is here,”
but then you think, “Wait, isn’t this the same guy who’s here every time? And hasn’t he failed?”
There was also the nerves, I suppose.
As for my test,
being the klutz I am, I went through so many application forms I had to ask for refills. (Seriously.)
It was like, “You can’t paste any more stamps, here’s another form!” (´；∀；)
Then, unexpectedly, I somehow passed that summer when I was nineteen.
Luck is a terrifying thing.
And then
Even if you bought magazines like this, without a large motorcycle license you were limited to 400cc bikes.
It’s really nostalgic. But the internet is amazing—you can see images like this now.
Now,
after getting my large license, I felt like “I can ride a GL1500 too!” (even though I couldn’t afford one). My heart swelled with the feeling that I could ride any bike.
When you get a large license, you want a big bike, but
with no money at all, the options for big bikes I could actually afford were
CB750F
Back in the 90s, you could find them at shops for maybe 100,000 yen or less. I thought maybe I could afford that.
In the end, I didn’t buy a CB. To be continued.
