1972 Honda SL 100

This is my first real motorcycle, a 1972 Honda SL 100cc. After riding my 2.5 hp Hornet mini-bike for a couple of years I was dreaming of a real bike. I was already posting all the pictures I could find of motorcycles in my room and talking about them constantly.

One Saturday, Dad and my Papa Bivens and I went on an adventure. Papa had decided to buy me a motorcycle, Dad was going to help supervise the purchase. We first went to Parsons TN, to a small shop owned by Tony Medows that sold Hodaka motorcycles. If you don't know what those are, do a search, kind of interesting. I was ready to take one home, but Tony told my Dad if I had never ridden a real bike before I probably needed to start on something else, these were not for beginners. So we left with me hoping our adventure wasn't over yet.

I was thrilled to discover our next stop would be Woods Kawasaki in Lexington TN, I remember going in and seeing a big Red Kawasaki 100cc hanging from the ceiling, I was ready to cut it down and take it home. As we questioned about it, my Papa didn't like the idea that it was a gas oil mix two-stroke. So we left again and I was beginning to notice things were not going as I had hoped, I still didn't have a motorcycle!

We made one more stop on the way home, Creasy's Honda in Lexington. On the showroom floor was this green with Yellow emblem SL 100. Yep! I liked green! It didn't burn oil mix and my Papa knew Mr. Creasy somehow from their past. They were talking like old friends, the next thing I knew we were loading my dream into the truck.

I can still remember my first ride, how it felt to release the clutch, it took a couple of tries to get it rolling, Wow! It was every bit as exciting as I thought it would be! NO, it was more! I stopped at the end of the driveway and fell over trying to turn it around. My Papa had them put some crash bars on it, so the bike never really hit the ground. I made a track (path) in the field in front of our house and rode the wheels off it. Around and Around the circle I went and soon I was off the field and riding through the woods. I rode and rode and got better and better as I put what I was learning into practice.

I think our Christian life is like that, we are so excited when we first begin our journey, but many times we don't make it to the end of the driveway till we have fallen down. But as we get back up and keep putting into practice what we have learned, the walk becomes perhaps not easier, but more perfect. I rode because I loved to ride, the Christian continues to walk the Christian life because he loves Christ. If I constantly said I love motorcycles but never cared to ride one, I would be deceiving myself and others. It is the same with the Christian walk, to say we love Christ and care little about perfecting our walk, we are deceiving ourselves and others.