Pennyrick
11-30-2014, 02:42 PM
I was looking through some old stuff this morning and came across an article my wife wrote for Touring Bike Magazine (long ago out of business) about our trip around Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. I dug into the old photos and found a couple of pics from that trip.
In 1974 we were riding brand new Honda 360 Ts'. This was the old 350 twin design, punched out to 360 so it delivered 34 horse power. The T designated the fact that it had a disc brake on the front but I never did figure out where the T came in.
Shortly after we bought the bikes my wife painted hers pink and not to be outdone I painted mine a sickly frog green. We had added clear fairings, sissy bars to strap our luggage to and 23 channel (40 channels were not available back then) CB units so we could talk to each other.
We lived in Michigan at the time so we headed north toward Sault Ste. Marie and began our trek up the Trans Canada highway along the coast of Lake Superior. Even though it was June we encountered below freezing temperatures and most days we rode with several layers of clothing as the wind coming off of the lake was pretty severe.
One memorable experience was coming down into Thunder Bay in a freezing rainstorm that iced up the road and made it pretty hairy on those little Hondas.
We crossed back to the USA and headed for Duluth and then back along the bottom of Lake Michigan and back home.
It was a ten-day trip that was very memorable but I am amazed to think back on the fact that we did it on two little V-twins that combined, didn't have the power that one of our Spyders do today. They did have six speed transmissions that used the power of those little twins to the best of their ability.
We've come a long way but the thrill stays pretty much the same.
In 1974 we were riding brand new Honda 360 Ts'. This was the old 350 twin design, punched out to 360 so it delivered 34 horse power. The T designated the fact that it had a disc brake on the front but I never did figure out where the T came in.
Shortly after we bought the bikes my wife painted hers pink and not to be outdone I painted mine a sickly frog green. We had added clear fairings, sissy bars to strap our luggage to and 23 channel (40 channels were not available back then) CB units so we could talk to each other.
We lived in Michigan at the time so we headed north toward Sault Ste. Marie and began our trek up the Trans Canada highway along the coast of Lake Superior. Even though it was June we encountered below freezing temperatures and most days we rode with several layers of clothing as the wind coming off of the lake was pretty severe.
One memorable experience was coming down into Thunder Bay in a freezing rainstorm that iced up the road and made it pretty hairy on those little Hondas.
We crossed back to the USA and headed for Duluth and then back along the bottom of Lake Michigan and back home.
It was a ten-day trip that was very memorable but I am amazed to think back on the fact that we did it on two little V-twins that combined, didn't have the power that one of our Spyders do today. They did have six speed transmissions that used the power of those little twins to the best of their ability.
We've come a long way but the thrill stays pretty much the same.