Are motorcyclists transients unable to be satisfied?

[Ulvetanna_imp]

I spent the last three days getting up early and hot-footing it to the local watering hole, where, naturally, I found communion with mostly a bunch of old guys. Some end up with just one bike for years and years, often due to career and life choices, unforeseen events, finances, and very rarely, personal choice. Not many riders I've encountered over the years wouldn't own a few bikes at once if they could do it. Growing up destitute as I did, having a few nice bikes now doesn't bother my conscience at all. So there's that.

The other thing was, during the course of a few of these deeply philosophical maunderings over decent coffee, I shared with a couple of guys that my cutoff point for deciding whether or not to hang onto a machine was 10,000 miles. If by that milestone I just couldn't get the thing to work for me, it was gone.

That's been the benchmark for three bikes in the last year that have been traded away. I tried everything logical: tires, suspension, setup, ergonomics and so on, and if by then they weren't working for me, they were replaced.

The machine must work for me mechanically, imparting high levels of confidence whilst riding and being reasonably straightforward to maintain and move around in the garage or trailer.

I really don't concern myself at all with the looks of the bike because styles change with the times and technology.