Don't have many pictures I took and the few I have are poor quality. Pre phone cameras, mostly faded Poloroids. So posting web pictures I found.
I house sat for a friend in late 1970. He had an old Sears 106cc basket case in his garage. I put it together and thought it fun, so decided to buy a motorcycle of my own. I've never been one to work my way up (first handgun was a Model 29) so I bought the quickest mass produced motorcycle. I had less than 5 miles MC riding experience on the 106cc. The shop actually closed early so they could follow me and watch me die. I felt bad about disappointing them.
First Motorcycle: 1971 Kawasaki H1 (Mach III). Funny they touted an "unbelievable" 2HP per cubic inch. My Cadillac ATS puts out over 2.2 per cubic inch. How times change. Running chambers and bigger carbs, etc I got less than 15 MPG when run hard.
Second Motorcycle: 1971 BMW R75/5. Thought I'd try sophistication: Was nice for long trips. Did not like the extreme body language needed to wheelie a longitudinal engine with drive shaft. Almost impossible to keep the Del Ortos perfectly synced.
Third Motorcycle: 1973 Kawasaki H2 (Mach IV). Back to two strokes. Much faster than the H1 and with decent brakes. Still somewhat of a flexy-flyer though. Amazed to find a pic with the same mods I did.
Took a break for a few years while more into off-road four wheeling.
Fourth Motorcycle: 1980 Suzuki GS-1100 E.
Fifth Motorcycle: 1981 Suzuki GS-1100 E. My wife wanted one but didn't like the '81 colors, so she took the 1980 and got a 1981.
Sixth and seventh motocycles: 1993 Suszuki GS-1100 Es. A titanium for me and a red for my wife. The titanium was the hardest to find a good pic of and its not very good plus pic has aftermarket exhaust and mine stayed stock. The titanium color was actually fairly close to Silver Coast (Champagne for every other GM brand but Caddy).
Eighth and ninth motorcycles: 1994 Honda VF1000F and CBR700SC Nighthawk. Wanted to try Hondas. The nighthawk for my wife was a huge mistake; she hated the loss of power and the handling differences due to the driveshaft.
Tenth motorcycle: 1985 Yamaha FJ1200. Good to get a boost of torque after the 1000 Interceptor.
Eleventh motorcycle: 1985 Yamaha V-Max. My wife's. She had had enough of the underpowered Nighthawk.
Twelfth and last motorcycle: 1988 Yamaha FZR-1000. I stopped riding a few years later when my wife told me I couldn't take our new son to day care by bungying him to the seat.
