Hello from the Philippines!

[DyaniBee]

Hello, all.  I just acquired my 1980 R65 about four or five months back.  Finally found this forum and after a couple of hours wrangling with a bad internet connection I was finally able to register.  Looking forward to fruitful exchanges with you all.  

[Justin B.]

Cool, welcome aboard!  Glad you found us and gutted out the bad connection to be with us.

[its_only_me]

Welcome in.

[suecanada]

WElcome. It is so nice to have someone representing another part of the world..We are truly becoming a world-wide club!

[DyaniBee]

Thanks, guys.  I am turning 44 this year, a personal trainer by profession but I also moonlight as bassist for a couple of bands and write on occasion for a couple of lifestyle magazines.  I first got into motorcycling when I bought a 250cc Chinese cruiser just five years ago and never looked back.  One of my clients had the R65 (same one in the picture, with hard luggage and all) and offered to trade with me in exchange for training sessions.    It had been fully restored to original specs so I didn't need to do anything to it, save for having to replace the throttle cam and cover with parts machined from OEM parts for a newer Beemer (parts can be hard to come by and expensive to obtain from overseas).  It works like a charm now except for a starting problem some mornings, but I've gotten the hang of the kickstarter so I'm not too miffed about it yet.  Rode it with my wife to the beach for our honeymoon and it behaved quite swimmingly.  Riding out again tomorrow for a 200 km. ride around a volcano lake on the way to the beach again and back to Manila for the day... My late Valentine's gift to her.    

[SCJJR65]

That is a sweet looking bike you have there, and I can only imagine the wonderful rides you will get to go on in the beautiful Philippines!  Color me green with envy!!  Looking forward to reading your posts, and hopefully seeing some great photos, too!  Welcome aboard! [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

[msbuck]

Now that's the way to acquire an R65!!   Glad you're having a great time and making wonderful memories with your wife.  It makes riding so much more enjoyable when you have someone along who enjoys it as well.  Welcome and we'd love to see pictures of your beautiful roads there in the Philippines.  

[DyaniBee]

Well, the ride to the beach started out well enough...  Great weather and clear roads.  About 20 minutes before actually getiing there though, a left hander with a negative camber, and presto... We were on our left side in the dirt, just short of a ditch that would've made it impossible to pull the bike out of should we have been going any faster.  Thank heaven Marlette (my wife) was almost completely unharmed... Just a sore hip (she was wearing my body armor).  The bike itself was in pretty good shape, just a twisted petcock and a loose rear view mirror.  I got the worse end of the deal, a wounded shoulder, elbow and knee plus bruised ribs.  Full story here:  http://dyanibee.blogs.friendster.com/ramblings/

Will post pictures by the weekend, hopefully.  Won't be riding anywhere far for the time being til I get the bike checked, top to bottom, just to be certain.

[suecanada]

I am so sorry to hear about the mishap on your shiny R65 but take heart..you both are alive and will heal for another day's riding. These things happen and will be another good learning experience.

If John from South Carolina is envious of riding in the Phillipines, think how I must feel up here in the frozen north...Canada

keep posting! we love to hear from you!!

[SCJJR65]

Wow!!    Glad to hear you and your wife weren't seriously injured!

Absolutely loved reading your blog!  Hope it doesn't cost much to get your bike fixed up like new again.  I'm still envious of the paradise you get to ride in on a daily basis!  Hope you get back out on your bike soon, and post some more pics for us to see!  

[Bob_Roller]

Glad to hear you are in relatively good shape after your incident ! I've been down three times in my 28 year riding 'career'. It's something that everyone has to deal with eventually, think of it as a learning experience. Get back on when you are fit to do so, and put alot more kilometers behind you on your fine choice of motorcycles.

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

I just read about your crash - so sorry!  I am glad it wasn't more serious.  I had a similar one last May, but I had the good fortune not to have a passenger.  My left shoulder still hurts when I lay on it.
Lucky you that you work out, no doubt you will recover better than flabby me!
The crash: http://www.pbase.com/tomfarr/image/64356224/medium

Me the next night: http://www.pbase.com/tomfarr/image/71415054

Like you, I kept on with my trip (my only injury was a cracked collarbone out at the tip), but this happened in the afternoon of day 1 travel, with a 2nd full day ahead of us!  Then the trip back home!  Mostly I only needed help getting my leather jacket on and off.

I just watched a movie about one of your neighboring countries, Indonesia.
The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)
A eye-opening movie (I don't know how The Philippines and Indonesia compare, and it was a "period" peice), but the fact that it is an Austrailian production probably explains a lot of it's value.  
Well, Sigourney Weaver never hurts, either!

John was right, your blog tells a lot, even if you don't write that much in it.  Double-band musician, you have a 2 year-old running around, 15 clients, some lady named Alma bugging you for writing!  Keep it up, you won't have time to notice the pain!

[Ed Miller]

Hola!  (so much for Tagalog)  Glad you found a good bike, sorry you dropped it, glad it wasn't worse!  And I hope for your sake your ribs are just bruised... cracked ribs take a while to heal, and working out before they're done definitely doesn't help.

But I bet you knew that?

Hope to see you around the forum,
Ed

[nhmaf]

Welcome to the club !

So sorry to hear about your mishap, but at least it sounds like you, your wife, and the bike will
all be fine in fairly short order, thank goodness !  Your bike looks very nice !

I've never been to the Philippines, but it sounds like a truly wonderful place to visit someday.

[DyaniBee]

Gosh, I feel so at home here already!  Thank you all for your encouraging words.  I have for the time being limited my students to only two or three a day and as advised have decided not to work out til fully healed.  Worsening pain in my ribs after a full day of work can be very persuasive!    After two days of full rest I am much better and can laugh at a joke without wincing.  

I still get to ride the bike to and from training venues and home as the thing is built like a rock.  Only problem is I think the float valve in the left side carb (a flattop Bing) gets stuck sometimes because it floods on occasion.  I hope I don't have to open the carbs up...

Are most of you from Canada?  I would SO love to ride there.  Someday, someday...