A deal with the devil...

Last night I was having dinner with my Dad and we were talking cars as usual. As we were talking I mentioned how I have not necessarily lost my passion for bikes but the passion for riding lately. There have been so many local accidents recently, one being fatal involving a rider from a local group I am a part of.... I have found myself riding less and less.

I'm about to put the bike away for the winter and I will being doing some maintenance to get her ready for next season. Im debating whether or not I will be selling it in the fall... When I said that I might sell it he placed a temptation in front of me...

He said if I sell the bike in the fall... He will help me get a Fox body Mustang, which is a car I have wanted my whole life... My parents have never liked me riding and they would love to see me out of the bike seen... But I'm not sure of it yet...

TALK ME OUT OF IT!!!

If a person is even entertaining the thought of taking a break from bikes ,then maybe they should.

Many members here have ridden in their 20's and then taken a break , more than not i would venture......for me,after getting the bike bug...i was always riding,then i became too fast for my own good and things became clear to me,i was gonna die.
It was only after many years break that i got the courage up to believe my own thoughts.
Thoughts like:
i am older now and will go slower....
i am older now and have some hindsight to rely on....
i will trade my safety margin to have my hobby back,and treat it with more respect......
In that trade my pay in will be ...to have a bike again i will be more civilian....

Yet three years back in ,i am lucky i have not been arrested or killed,it's no where near as bad as when i was 25,but still i can see where i risk a big ticket or worse some days.

Taking a break from motorcycles in some mens cases is simple,it means you have brain that is working.

trianglelaguna wrote:

If a person is even entertaining the thought of taking a break from bikes ,then maybe they should.

Many members here have ridden in their 20's and then taken a break , more than not i would venture......for me,after getting the bike bug...i was always riding,then i became too fast for my own good and things became clear to me,i was gonna die.
It was only after many years break that i got the courage up to believe my own thoughts.
Thoughts like:
i am older now and will go slower....
i am older now and have some hindsight to rely on....
i will trade my safety margin to have my hobby back,and treat it with more respect......
In that trade my pay in will be ...to have a bike again i will be more civilian....

Yet three years back in ,i am lucky i have not been arrested or killed,it's no where near as bad as when i was 25,but still i can see where i risk a big ticket or worse some days.

Taking a break from motorcycles in some mens cases is simple,it means you have brain that is working.

What he said.

Take a break?Dont see any reason why you shouldnt if you want to.Sell the bike?I wouldnt Ive made that mistake in the past.It goes like this;First you build the bike you always wanted then decide to sell it then you spend the cash then all you have left is a pic of the bike you always wanted,then you spend countless hours looking at a pic of you beautiful ex bike,then one day decide to go riding againand start looking for a bike to fill in for the bike you sold you find one and biuld the bike you always wanted and pay about 3 times what you sold the first one for.
DONT DO IT!!!!
Put it in your living room and spend some time making it nicer

i dont wanna preach but ive lost several friends on bikes and one in a mustang gt ( fox body),,,, dont think for a minute u cant buy the farm in a car. when your numbers up its up.....dig this sayin i heard as a kid...theres old riders and bold riders,but theras no old bold riders. its really up to you how you get around hope i could help,ace.

jeffasaki wrote:

Take a break?Dont see any reason why you shouldnt if you want to.Sell the bike?I wouldnt Ive made that mistake in the past.It goes like this;First you build the bike you always wanted then decide to sell it then you spend the cash then all you have left is a pic of the bike you always wanted,then you spend countless hours looking at a pic of you beautiful ex bike,then one day decide to go riding againand start looking for a bike to fill in for the bike you sold you find one and biuld the bike you always wanted and pay about 3 times what you sold the first one for.
DONT DO IT!!!!
Put it in your living room and spend some time making it nicer

hey wait...that happened to me...three times already....
how come he gets a pass????:woohoo:

Mean streets out there anymore.
hell when throw a leg over the saddle,the deal with the devil is on baby.

take a break for winter and give some thought

all forum riders Ride Safe

Only you can tell you when you want to quit. Personally I'll never quit. Got the bug in 1969 when I was 9 yrs old and it's worse now. I'm glad my family didn't mind my riding or if they did they kept it to themselves. Now the wife is kind of ragging on me. Want to do the 3000 miles in 48 hour ride and she doesn't approve. I got the bug bad but if you don't get rid of the bike. I'm thinking of getting rid of my 4 wheel vehicals as I hate driving and would rather walk.

Leave your options open. Don't sell the bike, park it in your living room. Maybe get a track only bike.

Me, I crossed that bridge way back in 1995. Finally got the Z-1 of my dreams. After a few months, I realized that I was going to kill myself on a fast bike, so I ended up entering the HD realm. Yeah, you can just as easily get killed on a HD as any other bike, but only my Shovelhead has the ability to make me crack a wide dopy smile while loping around at 20mph. Once you realize you don't need to have the throttle pinned in order to have fun on a motorcycle, you learn you only speed when its relatively safe to do so. Had I made the transition a few years earlier, I probably would have gotten a track only bike in order to take care of the speed bug. Not ever going to give up my Z's, mind you, but they are for occasional fair weather weekend riding only.

Speaking of the track. What has made me a much safer car driver than before was taking it to the track. Once I started racing cars, I quickly realized how just a little bit of difference in speed can have a FRICKIN' HUGE effect in car control. You also get to see car wrecks on a regular basis, and those are quite sobering. Finally, the skills you accumulate on the racetrack will serve you well in normal driving/riding. I can identify three instances where the only thing that prevented a tragedy was my better oservation, faster reaction, and car control at the limit; all of which are a result of my track time. In all three cases, the fault would have been completely the other drivers' had it come to an accident.

Just don't give up your KZ!!!!!!!

i have many ultra fast bikes, i own one four wheeled contraption i use it to haul my very fast race bikes to the track,i used to ride as soon as the snow cleared most of the streets and shut them off when it finally covered the roads completly in the fall. now i have found with all my aches and pains i'm turning into a fair weather rider.not something i'm proud of but it's happened. but i can honestly say as long as my legs still work and my hands can still turn a throttle i'll keep racing.i've lost a lot of freinds in the last few years and 3 weeks ago i saw a couple of young guys die right before my very eyes none of these where on bikes.and when the weathers warm i'll ride my either my 74 z1 hotrod or my 97 zx-11 and break most speed limit laws around just because it makes me feel alive and i can't see myself stopping that anytime soon. i have never got that same rush or feeling driving a four wheeled vehicle, if i couldn't ride on the street anymore i'd still race maybe you should look at racing bikes in some form or other and keep in the sport and lifestyle.. i know ton's of guy's that race and don't ride street or even own street bikes, try a road race school or my personal favorite try drag racing at your local track if you have any competitive urges this will be the places to excersise them. and even better news with the economy the way it is there are many cheap race bikes for sale so you wouldn't even have to build one.

I won't try to convince you either way. Just try to get you to think about your decision. It's a tough one for sure. I like my KZ, and have also always wanted to play around with a 5.0.

One principle that I use personally when making these decisions. I do not live my life in fear of what might happen. A life lived in fear is a life not lived to it's fullest.

Second point, always be conscious of the actions of the people that you ride with. It is natural to follow someone's line or try to pace someone who is directly in front of you. If you ride with a group that is reckless or on newer, faster, better handling bikes, you will eventually get yourself in trouble. Can you break away from these people?

Third point, respect what your parents say. They have very valuable experience and they really want what's best for you. If you don't have kids of your own yet, then you cannot understand the depth of emotion that your parents have for your safety. They may seem like killjoys, but sometimes they are right.

Fourth point, serious crash injuries, and fatal accidents are not something that you ever totally put behind you. Know that your friends who have died will forever affect who you become. Injuries and debilitations will similarly change the course of your future. Keep in mind that that little Mustang can kill you just the same.

Finally, don't make a rash decision. Is the bike you have now, the bike of your dreams? If it is, then keep it? Do you feel like you can prevent yourself from doing stupid stuff on the bike, even when your best freind is acting a fool? If not, then stop riding. Step away, evaluate your stiuation, look yourself in the mirror, be honest. Trust me, I got rid of a car one time that I dearly want back. Someday, I will pay 5 times what I sold it for to get a similar car back.

Also, the mustang is worth a little more money than a 1980 LTD.

Ride like you pay a mortgage.

Motorcycle riding in it's purest form is absolute JOY. When circumstances arise that rob you of that joy, the crossroad can be troubling to say the least.

Only someone with no heart would go unaffected by circumstances you've encountered. You'll know instinctively what the right choice will be

Motorcycling in many ways is like a woman. She can make your life heaven or hell and it can vary from day to day