Old Friends

I like my motorcycle. It’s a 2000 R1200C and I used to ride a 1978 R100T. Almost everything about the 1200C is superior to the older bike, except the ability to work on it. For example, the new bike has an ABS braking system. If the battery is not performing well, the system doesn’t charge up enough when you start the bike and you get a fault light that tells you that the system is not working. Replacing the battery on the R100 was a snap. Replacing it on the 1200C requires that the gas tank be drained, removed and then the entire fuel injection system must be recharged and tested. About 90 minutes of labor on that job.

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My safety inspection was due, so I decided to get the battery replaced at the same time. I made an appointment at Capitol BMW, and then needed to find a way to occupy myself for the three hours or so it would take for the service. Luckily, Barry Campbell, a classmate of mine from Science and Math, was in town and he was able to pick me up and hang out for a couple of hours.

While I was waiting for him, I cruised around the BMW/Triumph showroom. When I was really into bikes in the early 1990s, this act would have me looking at financing options. However either I have changed or the bikes have, because there was nothing I was interested in, especially at $12K just to get started. The nicest bike there was a red, late 80s K75S. I liked the bar end mirrors, and they reminded of a bike another classmate of mine used to own. Then I realized that, sure enough, it was David Cole’s bike. He had kept it in his garage for several years (like seven) and a couple of times I asked him to sell it to me. By the time he agreed all three fuel injectors had gone bad. He ended up selling it to a guy at the shop who repaired it and now apparently wants to sell it (at $2900 it is not a bad price, especially with basically a new fuel injection system).

Anyway, back to Barry. He is brilliant, and one of the most unique individuals I know.

When I was in high school I was the team captain of the NCSSM Quiz Bowl team. Barry was also on that team, and we had a pretty easy time of it in competition. We worked well together and combined with Toby Falk and Laura Woodworth, pretty much had the spectrum of the questions they asked covered.

We got to the championship round and were a little slack, and the other team was pretty close behind us. We missed some easy questions, and the match came down to the final one. We answer it, we win. We miss it, and the other team can answer it to win. If they can’t answer it, we still win. Pretty good odds. The question was:

What does the acronym AWACS stand for?

This was 1984, and the US had just sold a number of AWACS systems to Saudi Arabia. While I didn’t know what it stood for, I knew for certain that someone on the team would. The championship was ours.

I was wrong.

In the final seconds Barry blurted out “Advanced Weapons and Counter Surveillance”. Amazing try, especially under pressure. The other team answered “Airborne Warning and Control System”. They were right. They won, and the crowd went wild. I had no idea how universally hated we were.

Still stings a little. I don’t mind being hated as long as I win (grin).

Anyway, it was fun hangin’ with Barry. We hit a Starbucks for the free Wi-Fi and then went to my favorite sushi bar, Waraji, for lunch. I’ve known Masa Tsujimora, one of the owners, for 18 years now. He looks older than I remember, but then his daughter, who I remember from when his wife was pregnant with her, is now 17.

Time flies.

As did lunch, and we both had to get back to our respective jobs. It turns out the bike needs a new starter coil (at $250). Man, I miss that old bike.

Last updated on Jun 22, 2007 01:01 UTC




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