Bob McIlvaine is someone most of you have heard me speak of before on the website: He and his wife Arline own Splashdance, the kayaking store where I bought my latest and greatest boat and paddle.

Recently he sent me some wonderful pictures and stories of his motorcycling days and has given me permission to share them with my readers. I thought this was GREAT stuff and that is why I am sharing it with you.

Dear Tab: I didn't know you were a bike nut. I've had a lot of bikes in my youth. Here's a list...you might recognize some of them. BSA Bantam 125cc, Ariel Red Hunter 500cc, CZ motocross 250cc, BMW 600 cc, Norton International 500cc, Vincent Black Shadow 1000cc, Vincent Rapide 1000 cc, MotoGuzzi 750cc. At one time I owned a motorcycle shop in Panama and we sold Vincent, CZ, Jawa, Puch, etc. As you can see I was not much for Japanese bikes. My generation did'nt like the Japanese. The best bike I ever owned was the Vincent Black Shadow, and I don't think there is a bike that good today. (This was in the 50's. ) Most of my riding was at night, impromptu roadracing on Panama highways. Almost all our vacations (Arline and I) were in Europe and we would tour for two months every couple of years in the 60's. I found some old pics, but I haven't been able to find any Vincent pictures. I guess I was too busy riding to take pics. The enclosed pic is of my son (10 yrs old) and I when we were the first to make the trip from Panama to the U.S. on the not yet finished pan-american highway. It's hard to see but there is a horizontal duffle bag below the rear seat and most of our stuff was carried there. We forded 17 rivers on this trip and I spent a lot of time draining the water out of the crankcase. This was about 1960 and it took us a month to get to Ohio. (of course we took our time and visited in each country). Lot's of fun.

Here are 3 pics of trip to Austria. One is roadside picnic. What could be better than lunch alongside the road with soup, bread, and wine. This is the life. All over the alps they have signs asking you to not pick the wildflowers, particularly the edelweiss. Naturally your truly had to be a stinker and take a pic of the crime. The last pic is just to show how the bike is loaded when travelling. Poor Arline has to have the smallest butt in history to last very long on that pillion seat.

This is a pic of Arline in Austria. This is our favorite country to visit. Beautiful scenery. These trips are what made her face so wrinkled as we usually ran without helmets and cruised at over 100 mph. Most of these trips lasted 2 months and we traveled by feel. Did not use maps,....just cruised and if we saw a pretty place we stayed there for a few days. The best years of my life.

I'm tickled that you know what a Black Shadow is.  I sold mine in 1979 for $600.  The new owner took it to California and was offered $30,000 for it.  At the time Vincent (who was a marine engine manufacturer) stopped making motorcycles, he offered the Black Prince and Black Knight, which were bikes enclosed in fiberglass.  I wanted to buy a dozen and put them away as collectors items but my better half said no!    Oh well, better to be happy than rich.

Bob McIlvaine,

Splashdance Inc.

207 Govt. St.

Niceville, FL. 32578

Tel. & Fax: 850-678-1637.

E-mail: info@splashdance.com www.splashdance.com