MADURA

V-4 POWER

May 1989: After spending 5 years as an indentured servant in Superman's Fortress of Solitude, I re-entered the world of motorcycles with a used 1985 Suzuki Madura. This bike was Suzuki's reply to the Yamaha V-Max and Honda Magna. I can't say enough about those two bikes, they are magnificent. I wanted to give the Suzuki variant a try, and I soon found myself in love with the V-4 power and torque, the smooth and reliable shaft drive, and the great ride the Madura provided. This was a great bike, even though I am only lukewarm with its pseudo-chopper styling (the V-Max and Magna both scored home runs with their version of "muscle bike: styling).

I paid $2700 for this bike, according to my records. Even though it was only 4 years old, the aluminum cases and forks were really oxidized. At one point I tore the bike down and sanded/polished all the aluminum, respoked the wheels, rebuilt the master cylinders and calipers, and repainted the bike red/orange.

It was not long after that I had my first and only accident with an auto. I was rear-ended at ~35 mph by a kid in a Chevy Camaro. The force catapulted me over the handlebars and ripped the seat frame apart. I was completely unhurt, but the Madura... not so much. Thanks to the brilliant skill and effort by my friend Terry Brawley, the seat frame was repaired and strengthened and the Madura went on to live again.

 I rode this bike across Texas, down into Mexico, over to Venice Beach, and back to the Grand Canyon in my 1991 Jim Morrison World Tour. 

Unfortunately, some of the roads in Mexico were freshly paved, and the Madura picked up an ungodly amount of tar. I also went down outside of Phoenix, AZ , where an 18-wheeler dumped a couple of gallons of hydraulic oil on an off ramp. We survived, and made it back to Texas. I didn't have the heart to rebuild/restore the bike again, so I cleaned the Madura as best I could and sold it to a prison guard who was just looking for transportation.