1978 Suzuki RM125 - It might have been about 1988 or 1989 when I got this. It could have been a '79 model. This bike is an early 2-stroke dirt bike. I probably should have never bought this bike. But at $250 it was dirt cheap. And beat. I put in a new stator and got it to run. But it didn't last long. I think I got about 2 hours riding time on it before it seized up. I might have not known about adding oil to the gas. It sat around for a couple of months before I got rid of it. We all have to start somewhere.
1981 Honda CB750C - I bought this from a kid named Jamie for $750 in the spring of 1990. It wasn't the cool F-model, but it was a lot of bike for a first time street rider. It was a good solid bike. No frills other than a few stock chrome parts, but comfortable and easy to ride. It had around 70 horsepower. Probably the only bad thing was the ugly brown paintjob. This bike really gave me the riding bug. The ex and I started riding with some friends who had a Harley and then went on an ABATE ride with them. The other bikes (I think mine might have been the only Japanese bike there) proved to be an irresistible force and I soon decided to join the dark side and buy a Harley. I sold the Honda that winter for $850.
1991 Harley-Davidson XLH Deluxe - We decided to be at least a little prudent and went for the much cheaper Sportster instead of a Big Twin. I think we paid about $5000 (cash!) for it, but got a bunch of extra doodads for it at them same time. Looking back, I still would have gotten a Sportster, but I might have gone for the 1200cc version instead of the 883. But I needed the spoked wheels of the 883 Deluxe and the 1200 only came with mags that year. And the Deluxe had belt final drive instead of a chain, which none of the other versions of the 883 had yet. I could go on and on about the things I've done on this bike. It's overweight (about 450 lbs.) and underpowered (around 55 hp as it sits), but It has amazed and surprised a lot of people. I learned a lot working, modifying, and riding this bike. And wrecked it more times than I care to remember. 19 years (!) and over 55,000 miles later its the best bike ever! And sexy. I still have this bike. I have thought about selling it numerous times and can never quite make myself go through with it. I think I might hang on to it for a while longer. How much do I want another DRZ?
1996 Kawasaki GPz 1100 - After I started working on BMWs, I decided that I needed a change of rides. I knew I wanted something more sport-toury and the shop I worked at happened to have this bike. It was almost exactly what I wanted. They had it for sale for quite some time and were happy to see it leave their inventory. I was the second owner and it had about 17,000 miles on it when I got it. Talk about a different world. This bike had more than twice the horsepower of the Sportster, weighed 100 lbs. more, had much better brakes, came with wind protection, was liquid cooled, was comfortable, and could go much further and faster than the Harley. I've done some unbelievably fun things on this bike and seen some wonderful places. Again, I could go on and on about experiences with this bike. I also still own this bike. But I think it is probably time to sell it. I'll be sad to say goodbye, but it will be easier for me to get rid of than the XL. I paid $1800 for this bike. Money well spent. Especially if you disregard the thousands of dollars I spent on it since I got it. I've been hard on most of my bikes. Some take it better than others. This is the only bike I've owned that I didn't hurt myself on.
2005 Suzuki DR-Z400SM - I lusted after this supermotard for at least a year before I got it. It was released in Europe in 1994 and I knew I wanted one from the first time I saw a picture of one. It was the first bike I had ever financed, but I had it paid off in less than 6 months. List price was $6100 , but I got it for $5500 from the dealership I worked at. Hands down, this is the funnest bike I have ever ridden. And it probably hurt me the worst. Still, I was quite sad to see this one go. It was lightweight (only 318 lbs. with a full tank of gas), incredibly agile, wheelies were super easy on it, and sidewalks everywhere were fair game. The guy who bought it from me the following year came all the way from Canada to get it. I probably could have gotten a little more than $4800 for it because there were still very few of them around, but was trying to raise some cash. I should have kept the bike. I'm determined to eventually have one of these again. And some spare dirt wheels...I'm drooling.
1991 Kawasaki KLR650 - I bought this bike in December of 2007. Although they are good bikes for what they are, it wasn't really what I needed. I gave into some peer pressure from an friend who had just gotten a new KLR and I got one myself. I got a good deal on it ($1800 plus gas money to Seattle and back). I put a lot of time and a bunch of money into it and turned it into a solid, super cool dual sport. But it was just too heavy (over 425 lbs. with a full tank) for the off-road trail riding that I ended up using it for. It beat the crap out of me when I rode with Erik, who had a Honda XR400 that was perfect for the stuff we were in. It was great fun flying down gravel roads, fire roads, and logging roads, but going into tougher terrain was a big step and I crashed it dozens of times in the 8 months I had it. It probably didn't help that I had almost no off-road experience. Finally, less than a half hour into a ride at Jones Creek, I fell over and ended up ripping the right footpeg completely off. I used a large zip tie to sort of keep it in place for the ride home. That's when I decided to sell it. I figured I would continue to beat the crap out of it and myself it I kept it. I repaired the stripped footpeg mounts and sold the bike for $3800. It was a good motorcycle, and it started growing on me, but it was not really what I wanted or needed.
Interesting progression (at least to me):
1) air-cooled single
2) air-cooled inline 4
3) air cooled v-twin
4) water-cooled inline 4
5) water-cooled single
6) water-cooled singleAnd the last bike is the only one that wasn't a newer model than the last.
No comments:
Post a Comment