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) ) First contact with mechanics This old stationary engine in 15 hp version which was the driving force of my maternal grandfather's sawmill rocked my afternoon sleep in the first years of my life before age 5 years old.  At the age of 3, during a Sunday visit to a family friend. Note that I was dressed all in white. An old 1950 Chevrolet 6-cylinder in-line engine block was lying next to the hangar and I had the idea of exploring it. I come back with a smile to my parents showing them a piston attached to its connecting rod and all dripping with black oil :D It was my first contact with mechanics and a nightmare that began for my mother  Small chronology of the events of the 70's April 1 1974 Purchase of the Triumph Bonneville 1967 First year of riding a motorcycle in my entire life and with this Triumph T120R )
) The first day I drove it was on a forest road in the north of Château-Richer in Quebec in the spring. I was with half a dozen of my friends also driving English motorcycles with more years of motorcycle riding experience. Since I wasn't too familiar with my bike, I was good for the first few kilometers and I wasn't really trying to distance myself from my friends. The further we advanced, the more the road became muddy, icy and snowy; so my friends reduced the throttle as they were not used to this type of terrain. I stayed good for another 2 to 3 kilometers in order to tame this kind of terrain, but at a given moment the same demon of speed, which could inhabit Steve McQueen, Evel Kneivel, Burt Munro, etc..., m It sank in and I started waltzing through the mud as if I had decades of experience on this kind of terrain. So I purposely placed myself at the tail of the gang in a straight line while waiting for a curve to bury them in mud by skidding with my rear wheel in extreme drifting. Feeling their annoyance skyrocketing, I put the gas to full throttle and did a little personal dirt-track on my way to my destination. I stopped the bike, sat down on the seat and counted a good five minutes before the first of the gang finally arrived. It must be said that I had covered a good 8 kilometers after having painted them with mud and of snow. I forgot, two of my friends had their girlfriend sitting back and they had nasty daggers in their eyes at me. In 1974 I was still driving at full speed with this Triumph, always between 100 and 120mph. Ah yes, when I pushed it hard for the first time, it looked like real shit, paint and general appearance sleds, gaskets split and dried everywhere, tolerance of mechanical parts exceeding the limits, ignition with rusty spikes. On the other hand, we were driving on 98 octane premium leaded gasoline. So I pushed it hard to make the Beauport-Montreal-Beauport trip twice in a row in the same afternoon, which gives a distance of 1067 kilometers. over 6 hours on Highway 20 which had just been built. The fact that the engine was freezing did not worry me at all since I was going to Montreal precisely to buy new parts for the engine. Calculate my average speed, above that I had to fill up with gas and make my stops at intersections. Like all the young people of my time, I also liked burnouts and wheelies with this bike. During that same year I had of course a few accidents due to my impulsive driving. Another time since I didn't have a front brake and I was a little drunk, I made my friends laugh by putting my left foot in the air to brake on a car in front of me, the problem is that it was a Volks Beetle and I tore off the rear stop of this car while doing that. I also experienced what it means to ride on new tires by not paying attention on a wet road, on a highway exit I took the turn a little too quickly only to find myself on my back sliding on the asphalt with the motorcycle on his stomach. She pushed me a distance of 30 meters to barely brush the cement street edge that was waiting for me to tear off my shoulder, finally the slide slowed down enough for me to partially scrape my shoulder and I I was able to right the bike and continue my ride, however my back was all bloody, a passerby suggested taking me to the hospital but everything healed quickly enough for me to continue my activities. I never wore a leather jacket, always with a flannel shirt or t-shirt, or simple coat in winter. During this year I acquired 6 accident reports, half of which were wrong. Luckily I was insured for others and for myself by the Bureau des Véhicules Automobiles BVA (the ancestor of the SAAQ) that year. August 1974, the Renault 5 accident (exact days to be confirmed) The Renault 5 accident was one of my last in my series of accidents in 1974 with a Triumph and the most violent. I was 20 years old at the time and my frame was much more elastic than today. The Renault 5 was declared a total loss after I crashed into it on its left side at 50 mph one August evening in Limoilou with the Triumph. The bike crashed completely into the Renault 5 and I crashed. dive in the air for a length of about fifty feet. I had been driving the Triumph for a few months and I wasn't really used to it. Lack of reflex. I demolished the front fork of the motorcycle in the shock of the accident. I lost the helmet when it fell to the ground. I straightened the front fork by banging it on a telephone pole and was able to get back to the house on its power. I left the bike in the back of the shed for a few weeks before repairing it and continuing to ride. I no longer had the taste for riding a motorcycle and I was greatly shaken by the accident without bragging about it too much. But my friends told me, "if you don't start riding a motorcycle again, you'll never do it again saw the nervous shock." Several of my former motorcycle friends eat dandelions by the root for less than that currently. Finally, my latent passion for motorcycles took over the shock I suffered and you know the rest Estimated repairs October 25, 1974 I received a notice that my motorcycle insurance policy could not be renewed No insurance company in Quebec wanted to insure me after that Total of three bad accidents and three bad accidents in the year 1974 Yes, I was a crazy young man riding my motorcycle. Worse than anything you can imagine. Like doing burns and wheelies everywhere and using the sidewalks as a springboard to do jumps. So I can recognize a young madman who appears before me today. No motorcycle accident recorded by the SAAQ since this date. On the other hand, Ben misses memorable excavations and crashes in the trails and sand pits of the Quebec region July 31, 1975 I went to get parts from a Yamaha seller on Blvd Rochette in Beauport with a friend's Yamaha TX750 motorcycle I was driving on Rochette Blvd. East-West I signaled to turn left towards the store Another vehicle following me passed me on the left and hit me.br> The rear and front crash bars prevented me from injuring my left leg The motorcycle didn't even fall, jumping a few feet further and remaining on its two wheels. The car was declared a total loss since the sheet metal was recessed from the front fender to the rear fender by the two crash bars of the Yamaha August 30, 1975 Suspension of the W2C driving license due to the accidents I caused with it. the Triumph since 1974 October 31, 1975 I win my case for the accident of July 31, 1975 since I was not at fault Despite the fact that I had no insurance and neither did the owner of the Yamaha Notice of revocation of suspension of license to drive I have the right to ride a Triumph again From 1975 to 1977 no motorcycle insurance company wanted to insure me given the numerous accidents in 1974. April 1, 1978 I started to take out an insurance policy again to drive a Triumph and I have no choice given the new regime installed by Lise Payette Bye bye BVA, hello SAAQ Winter 1979 During the strike of Quebec CTCUQ public transport bus drivers, I did not had the choice to drive the Triumph throughout the winter since it was my only means of transportation and I was able to refine my reflexes on icy and snowy roads. I installed trials tires to make driving easier. I liked riding at full speed on the snowmobile trails, being careful to stay in the middle of the trail so as not to stall in the softer snow at the edge of the trail, because then I was in for a good twenty minutes of shoveling. to manage to put the motorcycle back on the trail. During snowstorms I took pleasure in driving at more than 60 mph on the snowy roads of Quebec, overtaking the trucks that were doing road maintenance by rushing over the snow coming out of their snow plows. I also loved having a winter dance, dancing on the road with the motorcycle between the cars that seemed afraid of riding in the snow. When the road was too icy I drove to the side of the road to climb the hills and thus find a surface firm enough in the snow to move the motorcycle forward and once at the top of the hill I continued my dancing ride in the middle of the road. From 1976 until 1996 I was able to perfect my driving off-road and in sand pits over 50 meters high with the Triumph. I sometimes allowed myself to cross small streams whose level was less than a meter high. I installed motocross tires like 5.50"x18" at the rear and 4.00"x19" at the front to easily climb the various off-road hills in Quebec. The sound of the Triumph in this kind of terrain was enjoyable to hear. I also did a bit of jumping like "The Great Escape" by Steve McQueen and I had nothing to envy him. I easily made a jump of a distance of 20 meters long by 10 meters high at my best, on the unstable terrain of a sand pit from Ste Thérèse to Quebec, without the facilities of a springboard and a beautiful road from the start, as Evel Kneivel knew, I did all this in wild terrain not at all designed for that. I also loved crossing streams and driving on the roads of Quebec during the winter. At the beginning of the 80's I was approached by the flat-track world of Quebec to actively participate in the competition circuit. I thought about it for a few days to answer them in the negative. Not that I wasn't interested, but there are variables that are a little out of my control and can vary from day to day (temperature, physical condition, mechanical unforeseen events). All elements that can make a big difference between victory or a severe search. Not to mention the schedule which sometimes forces the competitor to travel quite far. 1981 My boyfriend Serge from Rang St-Achillée, who nevertheless had a reputation as a daredevil on a motorcycle, told me when returning from a motorcycle ride, that I would not pass the 30-year mark riding without worrying about the traffic arriving on the other lane and numerous blind areas such as curves and valleys. I thought I was invincible on a motorcycle before the age of 40 July 1993 I experienced the fear of my life on the Grands-Jardins highway at the top of St-Urbain, which was in garnotte all the way to Chicoutimi when I was riding drifting at an average of 140 km/h with my other bike, the Honda XL600R. In front of me a curve to the right. Luckily I was in the center of the road when I took the curve to the right. Still, I shouldn't have taken this blind curve to the right which hid a fully loaded truck in the opposite direction. Through emergency maneuvers, I was able to correct my trajectory, brush against the truck and escape alive. I had to take a break for a few minutes to wait for my heartbeat to return to normal before getting back on the road. I made some in my pants. My way of driving completely changed after that. I no longer swerve blindly when I can't see the road coming out of a curve. January 1, 1998 Registration with the Club of old English motorcycles of Quebec CVMAQ which I left in 1999 since I was still too impulsive to pilot the Triumph civilly with a group of gentlemen to finally become a little more mature and re-register in 2006 to leave it permanently in 2022 May 4, 2008 Registration on the Moto Aventure Québec forum MAQ May 24, 2009 Registration on the RidAventure forum Until 2011 I participated in several group rides with these last three clubs and knew good people, to concentrate more on solo rides afterwards In all I have around ten accidents and around a hundred searches to my credit with this Triumph, I demolished the rear frame twice, changed handlebars around thirty times, reassembling the engine about ten times, completely destroyed the motorcycle four times only to make it rise again from its ashes afterwards. I seriously damaged my spine in 1995 following too many motorcycle jumps which, after the suspension crashed, crushed my vertebrae, not to mention the heavy loads that I lifted in squats at Gold's Gymn during the 90s. My spine didn't like me bouncing the 400-pound squat bar on my shoulders for fun and my breathing stopped in the middle of a workout. Panicked, I stopped going to the gym around twenty years ago and almost stopped going off-road during this period. To slowly regain my muscle tone after joining a gym in the Beauport region in 2005. Currently I feel in relatively good physical shape, but I will not demolish the Triumph for a fifth time, I still find it drinkable despite everything I put it through during my younger years.. It sometimes happened to me to come close to 7000 rpm but for a minute at most, apart from my stampede in Ste-Eulalie in the summer of 2006 over a hundred kilometers at more than 6000 rpm What do you want, it was exhilarating to drive at high speed on a Triumph Bonneville , hard to resist. Let's say that my T120R is actually a slightly modified 1967 Bonneville T120R. Photo top left: 1980 My sister Anne sitting on the motorcycle in trial tire configuration without studs for riding in the snow Photo top center: 2006 My first photos with my new digital camera Photo top right: 2013 Photo taken at a friend's Flea Market French Thierry Muraton from Henryville Photo bottom left: 2016 Improvement of the suspension for more smoothness on the roads of Quebec Photo bottom center: 2016 At the top of the rocky hill at the top of Boischatel, on the Hydro trail Photo bottom right: 2016 First ride at the beginning of April at the CVMAQ monthly meeting ) 2017 By training, I regained 80% of the muscle tone of my younger years All this physical preparation is as important as the mechanical improvement of the Triumph if I want to get back into jumps. Because the weight of the motorcycle has not changed, it still weighs 400 lbs and you have to be built solid so as not to get too tired riding it on rough roads or off-road. In the 500 kilometers of running-in that I did during the fall of 2016 I felt a clear improvement in the behavior of the suspension on rough roads. I still have to test the various types of terrain with my 8" suspension compared to what I accomplished before with 2" of suspension. It remains to be continued Of all this adventure that I have experienced with my Triumph since 1974, only one point gives me a bit of the blues No video document of my performances before the 2000s' Nothing from my winter of 1979 on a motorcycle for me go to the CEGEP of Limoilou from Beauport. Nothing from my numerous jumps in a Triumph Nothing from my sand pit climbs and impossible to do again given that the sand pits of Ste-Thérèse are now prohibited, flattened, reforested and an asphalt road which crosses its length. Ah yes, my registrations are T120R 1967 since the frame and engine box are original. Some photos for those who have already seen me at these different times  ) |