I bought a Gold Star 500 ss brand new here in Australia in 1971 when I was 18yrs old . I was in the army at the time and cleared $76 per fortnight so the $1100 that it cost was a considerable investment . When I went to pick the bike up the bloke who ran the motor cycle shop had trouble starting it so he had to push it. (Not the last time it was push started I might add ) . When he pushed it he overbalanced and the motorbike received its first scratch - even before I had bought it. That was the start of my love / hate affair with the bike . I remember that I loved the torquey feel of the motor and the excellent handling and performance . Although it had no tacho. I worked out that with the 7000 rpm redline it would go to about 40 mph in 1st gear and about 60 in second and 79 in third and 101 mph in top . The best I ever got out of the bike was around 93 mph but that didn,t stop me trying . One day when I wasn´t even pushing the bike hard it suffered the sad fate of having the conrod break and cause multiple internal injuries . In fact the conrod broke right up the top near the piston so it went right through the gear box as well . The only part of the motor that was salvaged was the head . Later on I got it back on the road and enjoyed some wonderful rides . Enough of the negative stuff for now , I recall once pushing the bike through an S bend on a hill at about 60 mph which was way too fast for my ability (typical young bloke). I honestly thought that I was going to go sailing over the Armco railing and into space but the Beeza got me through in one piece and if I had been on a lesser bike I would be here now to tell the story. Riding that bike was always an adventure.
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