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Over the years I’ve had a few motorcycles. Here you can get a glimpse of each one.

1999 Kawasaki Vulcan 1500 Classic

On June 21, 2000 I brought home my brand new 1999 Kawasaki Vulcan 1500 Classic. I was so happy to see that my dealer had a leftover that my eyes just lit right up. I had thought that by the time I was ready for a bike this size I would no longer be able to get the color I really wanted since it changes every year. I hoped that when I was ready, Kawasaki would have come up with another color that caught my eye as much. To my delight I didn’t have to wait for another color!

You see, I wanted to move up to a bigger bike but decided I should just wait until had had some more experience. So the idea of a bigger bike became a ‘someday’ dream. I made all my arrangements to go to Bike Week in Laconia, NH with VROC again and sat in eager anticipation of the impending festivities. As was done in the prior year we had a raffle, but this year was different. This year, Joe, the VROCer who put together the raffle, worked his tail off and had tons of goodies! The grand prize was a Roadhouse Brand exhaust system for a Vulcan 1500/800. Much to my surprise I won the exhaust system....but I only had a 750.....

This became the incentive to trade up to the 1500. Besides, my 750 was in need of tires and an oil change.....

Sadly I must bid farewell to my beloved Classic. On March 28, 2006 due to extremely poor road conditions I went into a slide which resulted in the untimely demise of my bike.

I was coming out of NH along Rt 32 enjoying what had been a great ride thus far and thinking about stopping for a bite to eat soon. I then crossed the state line back into MA when the road condition deteriorated quickly. I started into a left hand turn (slight turn really) and apparently while trying to avoid the numerous potholes and frost heaves I hit sand at the side of the roadway. I then came off the shoulder into even more sand must have braked. This action ejected me from the bike and sent it flipping over and finally coming to rest about 12 ft off the side of the road. I came to rest about 5 ft from the bike. To give you an idea of just how quickly this all took place, my bike came to rest a mere 210 ft from the state line. I had been travelling at approximately 40 mph as I came out of NH (which incidentally is the speed limit).

My helmet had come off at some point and sat in the road like a beacon for the woman whom came by the scene a short time later. Seeing my helmet in the road prompted her to stop and she called 911. I was then taken by ambulance back up the road into NH where they put me into a Life Flight helicopter and flew me back into Worcester, MA to UMass, where they have a ‘Level I’ trauma center. After lots of x–rays and other tests I learned that I thankfully escaped with only a broken ankle and the need for lots of physical therapy.

I will once again be riding in the not so distant future so keep an eye on the site for my new ride.

Specifications  -

I took some pictures at a nearby reservoir to show what she looks like stock. I think these photos do more justice than the brochure shot above.

Here’s a picture of my 1500 taken by my friend Steve. In this shot, I have already added a passenger backrest.

I finally got some pictures taken showing how my bike looks now with some accessories on. These were taken August 6, 2001.

I owe, I owe, so it’s off to work I go. This was taken when I arrived at work one morning.

These pictures were taken in June 2005 just after a long day of cleaning.

Accessories  -