[John Hopkins]

Hi there,

My name is John Hopkins, I live in a place called Wales, In case you've never heard of it Anthony Hopkins, Richard Burton, Tom Jones and many others were born here..At the time of writing this I ride a 1986 Honda Shadow VT700c which I have just finished rebuilding..This year I planned to touch the coast wherever possible all the way around Great Britain a distance of about 4,000 miles on a Vmax..Unfortunately it blew up after just 520 miles and I had to scrap it..By the time I got this little shadow on the road the bad weather had set in..I've gotta be honest with you, it doesn't seem like a lot of bike after the max, but if it can get me round Britain when the weather breaks a bit maybe I will change my mind.

I passed my bike test in 1963 after I came out of the British army, I did some time in the merchant navy, round the world three times including Viet Nam when you had your little war, I helped deliver napalm to Dah Nahng, Cam Rhan bay, and some other place (excuse the spelling) and your people paid me 100% of my wages as danger money, then my people taxed me 97.5% as unearned income..aint life wonderful.

Anyway that's all you need to know without buying me dinner, anything else you want to know you have to ask.

John.

 

[Nehalem Dave]

Good luck with your ride. Shadows tend to be under-tuned, light on HP but bullet proof.

 

[elfnyc]

welcome to the nuthouse

 

[Shadow Mac]

"I smoked pot with Johnny Hopkins....it was sloan peterson and johnny hopkins we were blazing every day" That is a quote from step brothers I have been drug free since '73 (and I was born in 1980)

Welcome

 

[John Hopkins]

Thanks folks,

We are having a bit of trouble with the government at the moment, they want to bring a raft of new regulations against bikers..You may be aware that over here if we go through a speed camera we get a fine and penalty points on out license for three years..The minimum is three points and if we get twelve points we lose our license..the test in this country is pretty hard to pass and costs a small fortune.

Anyway yesterday we had a protest ride, thousands of us blocked the motorways

I rode 120 miles in the worst rainstorm for months to get here, the rain stopped just as I got to the outskirts of the city.

EU Mag Demo 25/09/2011 Exeter Services - YouTube

and this is me with my old black VT700

So who's riding on Sunday then? - Page 4 - 100% Biker & Trike Magazine Forums

The oldest one in post #114.

I had just finished repairing the old Shadow and it gave me 80mph in the pouring rain and still had a lot of throttle left..

The front end feels a bit rough but it gave me an easy 90mph on the way back with plenty to spare..not bad for a 25 year old rat.

I'm planning a 4,000 mile trip around Great Britain next year and I reckon this bike might just make it.

John.

 

[John Hopkins]

I'm doing about 260 miles tomorrow on the bike, South Wales to Felixstowe in England and back the next day, no luggage just what I am wearing and hope the bike makes it both ways..let's hope I don't get any speeding tickets..We have to produce a doctor's health certificate every year to keep our driving license when we get to seventy so I've only got a couple of years left..I want to get as many miles under my belt as possible before they take it away.

John.