York Wings: Meet the Members

I made some amends to my sister by introducing her to

Velta giving John some tech advice.

another member, John. He rode a Kawasaki 750 twin, and we frequently rode together in those days. Eventually he became my brother-in-law, which according to my sister sorta made up for Marty. Too bad she domesticated him as he no longer rides.

When I think of Sid, I think of a philosopher. When he spoke, it was always well thought out and articulate. Perhaps some of his smoothness came from him being a salesman, or was he a salesman because he was smooth? In any case, I did buy a car from him. He also agreed to be an usher at my wedding,

My new brother-in-law and Sid escort us from the church as newlyweds.

and was kind enough to lead the procession from the church on his bike. I lost touch with him when I moved away from Toronto, but came across his name while surfing on the Los Silverado's web site a few years ago. Through them, we got re-connected via e-mail, and became reacquainted at the

The Twins.

5th installment of the B.A.D. Ride, a charity run that he helps organize. He is also a past chairman of the Ride for Sight. Today, Sid rides a Road King.

Back in the seventies, women riders were still a relative rarity. I was blown away by how many were part of the club and rode their own machines. There were the twins who rode a Honda 360 (or were there two Hondas?), and the schoolteacher on her BMW, Eva. And there was Velta. With long blonde hair flowing from beneath her full coverage, she made quite the impression riding her bright red Ducati. The big duke had a set of throw-over leather bags that were a bit too close to

Here I charm Gloria with my impeccable manners (despite my looks).

the exhaust, and one day they caught fire. You could say that both Velta and her bike were hot.

Another female club member that I got to know very well was Gloria. I watched her gain confidence on a little Honda CB 200 twin, move on to a canary yellow CB 400/4, and finally graduate to a full size CB 750/4. She must have gotten the bug from her father who rode and showed an old Harley decker. We went out for awhile until she made the mistake (in my opinion) of going back to a former boyfriend to get married. I often wonder whatever happened to her.