Editor’s Note: Some of you may have seen that I’m looking for some new contributors to join and share more sweet motorcycles for sale! I’ve previously shared a little bit about Ted Clough in an interview, but now he’s going to come aboard and share some great bikes. I asked him to introduce himself so you had some idea of what you’re in for – so read on to meet him!
Hi, fellow two-wheel gearheads. My name is Ted Clough. With a little time on my hands, I have offered to help supply Abhi with some content for the site. There may be a steep learning curve as I don’t really have any writing background – my only qualification is about 35 years of messing around with, and riding bikes. But, as I told Abhi, I AM fully qualified to surf eBay and Craigslist!
Like many riders, I started out on a dirtbike, a Suzuki TS-185 when I was in college in the early 70’s. Rode it everywhere year-round for two years in Troy, New York until I graduated and headed off into the Navy. I can’t tell you how may times I ground off the taillight lens trying to perfect wheelies on that thing. When I got to Pensacola for flight school, I really needed a car, but there was a bike shop just about a mile outside the main gate and they has a beautiful red 1972 Triumph Bonneville sitting there looking for a new owner. Well, you can guess where my first paycheck went…..Man, I was cool – maybe not Tom Cruise Topgun cool, but pretty damn close! By the way, there were no hot female instructors, just those bad-ass drill sergeants…Anyway, rode that thing all over the Southeast, and took it to San Diego for a year while I was in training there. It was a great bike – took a little tinkering, but never left me stranded. It got sold when I headed off to sea with my first Squadron. After I got back from cruise, I got another Triumph – this time a Trident 750, and rode it as a daily driver for the next few years. Again, a reliable bike, but to be honest, it burned me out on bikes. When you get up in the morning and it is pouring rain and you have to ride a bike to work, it tends to take the magic out of it. Remember, this was before the advent of gore-tex. Rain gear meant vinyl rainsuits that didn’t breathe and were only somewhat effective….Long story short, around 1983 I quit riding for a while as marriage, moving, job changes – you know – Life – took priority.
Fast forward 10 years, things had settled down a bit and I got the itch back. Actually it was a friend who had a couple of Italian cars – Alfas to be exact, that got me back to bikes. I was interested in maybe getting something old and restoring it, but didn’t have either the money, tools or garage space to take on a car. That led me to looking for exotic Italian bikes instead. The really cool Ducatis were out of my range already, but I found a somewhat abused 1974 750GT for about $3000 and went to town on it. It ran, but had been repainted. What started out as a cosmetic cleanup turned into a total restoration. That led me to a series of other Ducatis – a 93 900SS, two different 2001 ST4s, and my current Multistrada 1200S.
Of course, when you have fast bikes, you have to find places to ride them fast, and the guys from US Desmo got me into track days. I bought an Aprilia TuonoR which became my go-to trackday bike – what a beast! I had always lusted after MV Agustas, ever since they came out with the MVF4 around 2000 or so. I found a cherry 2005 F4 1000 that had been traded in at a Harley dealership and grabbed it for what I thought was a deal. I don’t know if I will ever sell that bike. I can look at it all day. It’s uncomfortable as hell, way too fast for the street, and scares the crap out of me when I take it to the track, but I just love it…. Oh yeah, and then there are the Dual-sports I have had over the years…Suzuki DRZ-250, Kawasaki KLX-400 and a Husky TE610.. Also restored a couple of old Ducati singles the past few years. 1969 Ducati 350 Scrambler and 1966 Monza 250 turned SS.
So, yeah, I like motorcycles and I like to ride. I am very lucky and have been able to do weeklong trips in Italy, Sardinia, and Spain. I’ve done dirtbike trips in Colorado. My day job as an airline pilot gets me all over the world, so I have rented bikes in pretty cool places: San Francisco, Hawaii, Milan (Lake Como), Venice, Rome, Paris.
I live just north of Atlanta, and we are blessed with some of the best riding roads anywhere. I can be on the Dragon or the Blue Ridge Parkway in just over an hour. I can do trackdays at Barber, Road Atlanta or Atlanta Motorsports Park from home. Roebling and Jennings GP are about 4 hours away. And, we have two huge off-road facilities outside Atlanta – Durhamtown and Highland Park, so, life is pretty damn good!
Ted rocking a MV Agusta at Roebing
So, that’s me – Most of my experience is with Italian and British bikes, but I like all things 2-wheel. I look forward to seeing what I can come up with to augment Abhi’s site.