A deal with the devil...

Not that I have gone through any mid-bike crisis of my own, but I just got a KLR650 that changed my perspective. This bike is slow as a tortoise, but you know what? it's fun as hell. I literally go the speed limit, am just as cautious as on the KZ, which at slower speeds is more effective, and have just as much fun! Maybe another type of bike that suits your taste that is not as high performance can keep you safe while still riding?

likes2gofast2009 wrote:

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!!!

My Brother had a dog named Cutter. Cutter had a litter mate that was uncontrollable. One day they cornered a passerby and the litter mate earned a euthanizing. My brother decided to rehabilitate Cutter so he changed his name to Henry. Henry made it two more years till my bro gave him to a friend who had more space available. I suppose you could say it worked for every one involved.

You see it coming, Right!

You could ask the Admin here for a new handle, just to see if it affects your riding style. Perhaps something like "likes2livelong2009". :laugh:

Seriously though, I've found that as I've aged I've grown to like working on my bikes as much as riding them. Perhaps it's a natural form of unmindful self preservation.

Bill

bill, i have gone the opposite way after twenty years of working on everybody else's junk i don't want to do it anymore. from now on anybike i buy is going to be a turn key unit not like some of the one's i've had to resurrect in the past.i just rather ride them.

Once upon a time I was a daily rider - motorcycle was my only transportation... and when it broke down I walked. When I got married I still rode on increasingly hostile and unfriendly roads. When we had our first child my wife convinced me to hang it up for a while - I did not sell my bike.

A few years away from it and I started to miss riding so me and a buddy hatched a plan to revamp my street bike into a race bike - my wife had no objections to me drag racing on a closed course.

Drag racing saved my love for riding and motorcycles.

If you sell your bike your going to regret it for a long time... most of us wish we had bikes now that we rode in our youth.

timebomb33 wrote:

bill, i have gone the opposite way after twenty years of working on everybody else's junk i don't want to do it anymore. from now on anybike i buy is going to be a turn key unit not like some of the one's i've had to resurrect in the past.i just rather ride them.

Hi TB,

I can understand where you're coming from, but my days have been filled with sawdust not grease so it is a change for me. I'm building an addition to our house right now. What do you think of my chances of ever really finishing it?

Bill

if it's like most of my " project bikes" not good. :laugh: :blush:

How do you finish a bike ???
O you mean time to make a new parts list LOL


I would tarp the kz up real good and stash it in a gradge or old farm shed for storage allow time to build your stang then when it gets old whala your good old kz is back.

If you sell it you may never see it agen. I have owned my bike for 5 years and just got to ride this year and thats how I did it.
stash it!

For me there are 2 things that help keep me sane. Riding my bike and bodyboarding. These are the two things where I am completely unreachable. It for me is better than therapy. My girlfriend has actually commented at times that I need to go for a ride or go catch some waves. I plan on doing both until I am unable to swing my leg over or paddle out.

Driving by some celery fields today, knee high and got to be close to harvest,my girl mentioned how nice the valley smells when they harvest it.
We talked about a time we had taken the old 900 down a dirt access rode and ridden right through the workers parked cars and produce boxing machines as they laid waste to an airport sized feild...unreal....the smell of tons of just cut celery....
She remembered us all of a sudden sliding (flatracker) through a slick section , sideways and rear spinning ,bars locked ....as close as you can get to a crash without actually crashing i told her later.....i had forgotten that statement and she today remembered it and reminded me that i'd said that when the bike got back to normal,repeated it today as we drove in the car, and asked me what I had meant?
I told her we "would" crash someday!
She thought for a second and said "I hope your kidding".
I told her that i was not kidding and that i spend most moments when we are on the bike preparing for a crash.....watching for the inevitable accident(that will come) to come hurtling around the next corner.....the big rig that loses it brakes head on....the teeny bopper who is learning to run yellow lights.....the senile older citizen out to get fluffy more cat food....the parked car left running that some 4 yr old pops into gear.....the drunk...the cop chase.....the cat..the dog...the duck.....the deer....the tire that came off of the F-250 doing 75 right at us......the person who cuts us off...the person avoiding being cut off that kills us....
It is better that she has a short memory and can watch the scenery...i am watching the road......
I am the weird type of rider that believes I/WE will be in a crash...it is just when....not if
I explained that for her it is safer for us if I am waiting to crash....

Ideadic(sp) imagery--but u can also preprogram ur brain to avoid all those events thru skillful manuvering of the cycle thus having a good outcome rather than a bad one.I do it all the time-go thru a ride in my head and telling my brain what to look out for,what to avoid and the positive outcome of each ride.worked so far.lol.bj

trianglelaguna wrote:

Driving by some celery fields today, knee high and got to be close to harvest,my girl mentioned how nice the valley smells when they harvest it.
We talked about a time we had taken the old 900 down a dirt access rode and ridden right through the workers parked cars and produce boxing machines as they laid waste to an airport sized feild...unreal....the smell of tons of just cut celery....
She remembered us all of a sudden sliding (flatracker) through a slick section , sideways and rear spinning ,bars locked ....as close as you can get to a crash without actually crashing i told her later.....i had forgotten that statement and she today remembered it and reminded me that i'd said that when the bike got back to normal,repeated it today as we drove in the car, and asked me what I had meant?
I told her we "would" crash someday!
She thought for a second and said "I hope your kidding".
I told her that i was not kidding and that i spend most moments when we are on the bike preparing for a crash.....watching for the inevitable accident(that will come) to come hurtling around the next corner.....the big rig that loses it brakes head on....the teeny bopper who is learning to run yellow lights.....the senile older citizen out to get fluffy more cat food....the parked car left running that some 4 yr old pops into gear.....the drunk...the cop chase.....the cat..the dog...the duck.....the deer....the tire that came off of the F-250 doing 75 right at us......the person who cuts us off...the person avoiding being cut off that kills us....
It is better that she has a short memory and can watch the scenery...i am watching the road......
I am the weird type of rider that believes I/WE will be in a crash...it is just when....not if
I explained that for her it is safer for us if I am waiting to crash....

I hope that is not inevitable for each and every one of us. There have been real advances in motorcycle safety in the last twenty years. The problem has been in getting the new riding techniques out there to a large enough part of the community to make a real difference.

One inescapable problem is that we're as vulnerable as a pedestrian except that we don't just cross roads we ride on them. While there may not be much that we can do about the newly detached tire and wheel rolling at speed through oncoming traffic, we can greatly reduce our exposure in a lot of other ways. Your effort: "...watching for the inevitable accident" is a good start but perhaps not the best choice of wording. I would suggest that you take an advanced course offered through one of the motorcycle safety foundation's approved, for profit vendors that operate in California.

There is a real leap forward about to result from motorcycle safety research that recently was conducted somewhere around here. It's all so hush hush but will be released soon. Just remember the words "Eye Tracker".

Ain't no big secret just do as Rossi does: Keep your eyes on the end of the turn.

Bill

My brother had a similar situation to yours. Two of his riding buddies bought the farm, at different times but the constant was he was riding with each when it happened. He sold his bike and got married.

Fast forward 15 years. He almost bought the farm 2 1/2 years ago with a heart attack at the ripe age of 46, so as a loving brother I loaded up my trailer with my 74 Yamaha RD350 project (we both rode two strokes in our youth and our mother rode too) and I took a 400 mile trip to see him in the hospital. When I got there I whispered in his ear that I brought him something to pass the time while he was recuperating and unable to work for a while.

His eyes lit up at the thought that I gave him MY project that I had visions of riding the old two stroke that we both love so much.

As the bike was near finishing (it took him two years) he started having visions of his old bike that he bought brand new and sold because of what happened to his friends. The bike was an 86 GSXR750.

Guess what he did? He found an 86 GSXR750 project on craigslist that was the same year and color of the bike he had enjoyed so much. He started fixing it up and found another donor bike and bought that one to. He called tonight with some carb problem questions. His second project is almost finished now.

Myself I have never been bikeless but thats just me. My brother is now replacing what he got rid of years ago.

Time does change things sometimes. If you were to sell that LTD1000 you will kick yourself down the road. Store it for a while while you do your soul searching to figure out just what you want to do.

My close riding buddy was killed on his shovelhead a few years ago and he just bought a brand new streetglide two months prior. I have tried to buy the streetglide from his wife but she will not sell it to me because she does not want to see it again, but I still call her every few months and ask.

Don't sell it just yet, you WILL regret it later. My .02 cents