Back then had a Yamaha vision 550, shaft drive, '82.
Had it pretty modded. Took the stock double pipes and ran em into a modern yoshi exhaust. Modded air intake, bored out and modded carbs, lowered bars, dropped a bit of weight off of it. Modded suspension.
It was a good bike. Something screwy with the electrical system though. Ended up having to trouble shoot stuff every week or so. That and kept going through starters. It was a crappy design, the oilpan/starter seal kept blowing and flooding the starter with oil. It was stock when I got it but by the time I sold it to my mechanic, who was turning into a "vintage 500 series race bike", I'd been through the entire thing stem to stern. Was fun to wrench on, even more so to ride.
I know what ya mean about twisty roads. You get that zen thing going on between you and the bike, everything else fades away and you're just one... it's so exhilarating. Used to love it.
After my accident my bike was fine but I was pretty jacked up. Went down inside a corner, sand across the road, I was tucked in pretty tight, had some new tires with sticky compound. Taking a 25mph corner at about 65...done it several times before, leaning way down, keepin my knees tucked in tight.
That day there was sand... didn't see it till I was down and sliding
I mentioned this in another thread before... got strapped to a paramedic's backboard, lying there for about 2 hrs on the side of the road cuz my ambulance got lost. Had a hole in my knee big enough you could stick your thumb in and touch the *underside* of my patella. (knee bone)
Gonna buy a Moto Guzzi 1200 "California" edition from my current Landlord. I'll post pics later. It's more of a cruiser. More relaxed riding, not pushing the edge so close anymore.