My name is John Hamilton and I live in Hagerstown MD, in the western part of Maryland. AKA the sticks.
In my pre-teens my dad dragged me to the Harley shop every weekend. In warm weather I rode on his panhead. Once I got my driver's license, he took me to motor vehicles to get the M endorsement. And once in a while let me ride his bike. I was hooked.
I went to West Point on a Vice Presidential appointment. While there I got the first bike that was actually mine, a Kawasaki Mach III H1 2-stroke triple. Rode that bike to Connecticut, and to visit home, and all over. Had to hide it at my girlfriend's parents' farm in the barn, because cadets could not have motorcycles, nor cars even until Spring of Firsty (senior) year. She used to ride it a couple times a week to keep the battery charged, etc.
Once riding home through the Pocano Mts. in PA I rode past a group of Pagans. They tried to catch me but I was long gone.
My last year at West Point, I traded it for a H2 Mach IV "widow maker" and actually kept that bike in pristine condition until selling it in 1992. I'm sorry I sold it. I also purchased a Kawasaki Z1, which was Kawk's new-tech, and it was an amazing motorcycle.
Took both bikes home and left the H2 in the garage, then trailored the Z1 to Fort Benning GA for officer basic, jump school, and Ranger school.
While there, Phoenix City Kawasaki sponsored me and we turned the Z1 into a street legal drag bike. Punched it out to 1080 cc and new heads and valves and cam. I drag raced almost every weekend and 2 of my o-basic classmates pit-crewed for me.
About 3 years after I was commissioned, my PTSD and injuries suffered in the military combined to force me to resign my commission. I felt disgraced. Decades later the VA pulled my medical records from that time and granted me service-connected disability status and pay.
What came in the years after is a mostly black hole in my memory. I have the benefit of having been a photo buff who took pictures of everything over the decades, and a 30 year journal, and the testimony of friends. And I remember only two things since my childhood. I remember the girls in my life, and I remember the motorcycles in my life.
So I had a H1, H2, Z1, GPS1100, ZX11, ZX10, and this ZX14. With a Norton Commando and a Ducati 900 along the way. Not telling about the girls
So here I am. Way beat up, need a cane sometimes, medicated by the VA (at least I take them!), and still a motorcycle fanatic.
I joined for the rides. I'll stay for the rides. If I make some friends, that would be cool.
JR
In my pre-teens my dad dragged me to the Harley shop every weekend. In warm weather I rode on his panhead. Once I got my driver's license, he took me to motor vehicles to get the M endorsement. And once in a while let me ride his bike. I was hooked.
I went to West Point on a Vice Presidential appointment. While there I got the first bike that was actually mine, a Kawasaki Mach III H1 2-stroke triple. Rode that bike to Connecticut, and to visit home, and all over. Had to hide it at my girlfriend's parents' farm in the barn, because cadets could not have motorcycles, nor cars even until Spring of Firsty (senior) year. She used to ride it a couple times a week to keep the battery charged, etc.
Once riding home through the Pocano Mts. in PA I rode past a group of Pagans. They tried to catch me but I was long gone.
My last year at West Point, I traded it for a H2 Mach IV "widow maker" and actually kept that bike in pristine condition until selling it in 1992. I'm sorry I sold it. I also purchased a Kawasaki Z1, which was Kawk's new-tech, and it was an amazing motorcycle.
Took both bikes home and left the H2 in the garage, then trailored the Z1 to Fort Benning GA for officer basic, jump school, and Ranger school.
While there, Phoenix City Kawasaki sponsored me and we turned the Z1 into a street legal drag bike. Punched it out to 1080 cc and new heads and valves and cam. I drag raced almost every weekend and 2 of my o-basic classmates pit-crewed for me.
About 3 years after I was commissioned, my PTSD and injuries suffered in the military combined to force me to resign my commission. I felt disgraced. Decades later the VA pulled my medical records from that time and granted me service-connected disability status and pay.
What came in the years after is a mostly black hole in my memory. I have the benefit of having been a photo buff who took pictures of everything over the decades, and a 30 year journal, and the testimony of friends. And I remember only two things since my childhood. I remember the girls in my life, and I remember the motorcycles in my life.
So I had a H1, H2, Z1, GPS1100, ZX11, ZX10, and this ZX14. With a Norton Commando and a Ducati 900 along the way. Not telling about the girls
So here I am. Way beat up, need a cane sometimes, medicated by the VA (at least I take them!), and still a motorcycle fanatic.
I joined for the rides. I'll stay for the rides. If I make some friends, that would be cool.
JR
