2/3/2005: Sign-swallowing trees

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by rock9995

70's bike. Good guess. It's one of those Yamaha 650 clones of the British Bikes like BSA and Triumph. Palmettos indicate a tropical/subtropical environment i.e., lots and lots of rain and heat. Even if they cleaned up the bike for the photo, wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that the leather would look pretty bad and a lot more rust everywhere after 20+ years in the jungle? Something about the light on the bike vs. the ambient light in the photo makes it look Photoshopped to me--although expertly done. There are those photoshop pranksters that love to get a spot-on, fool the eye photo and see if they can get away with it. Then again, maybe not. Maybe someone spent a lot of time cleaning and making it look good, although if they did, there's hardly a footprint to be seen around the tree.

I don't think so. The quality of those 70's Jap bikes was superb. I had a couple a Yamahas during that time and they were designed and built to live outside.

Rust is not prevalent because there is little to rust, fenders and trim are stainless steel. The exhaust and chain guard are chromed steel with rust showing where the chrome has been damaged and the rust got a foothold. But even there, the rust has to eat it's way through the steel and not run along the steel separating the chrome like todays flash chrome. Sign of a good copper/nickel/chrome plating job.

The paint will stand up for decades if it's intact and they didn't gouge any of the fasteners through to the steel, on the tank or frame The rest of the metal is aluminum, except the chain, sprocket and intake which are rusted.

The climate looks tropical, but certainly not jungle with those manicured surroundings and being under the tree it may have been shaded from a lot of direct Sun. Sunlight would fade the seat, and time alone will make it brittle, but if you don't touch it, it won't come apart on it's own. The seams are heat welded rather than stitched for that reason.

There are Jap bikes of that vintage in the PA woods is the same condition and they have ice and snow to contend with. Of course PA trees don't grow that fast.
It certainly could be photoshoped but I'm saying the bike's condition isn't proof.

[rock9995]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

The quality of those 70's Jap bikes was superb. I had a couple a Yamahas during that time and they were designed and built to live outside.

True. I had a couple of 650 Triumphs and a BSA Lightning in the 70's, and, after turning up my nose at the Japanese bikes for so long, I finally got a Yamaha clone like my buddy's because, unlike the Brit bikes, they didn't leak oil everywhere and didn't have Lucas electrics. No question about it, the Yamaha was superior in every way save for snob appeal.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Ah yes, Lucas....The Prince of Darkness.

[busterb]

Is that a crescent wrench on the seat, with red plastic on handle?

[BigV]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Ah yes, Lucas....The Prince of Darkness.

Ha. Ha.

It's only Darkness for short time...until they catch fire.