12-15-2025, 11:12 AM
(12-15-2025, 02:56 AM)Wisedrum Wrote: Can understand the hard decision to sell a W800 and that you now miss this bike. I keep mine and enjoy the ride on it since nearly 15 years and 83.000km. It's a very good and lovely motorbike. Somehow a 'solitaire' among motorbikes with its in German "Königswelle".
I used to buy bikes thinking I'd keep them till the day one of us died, and have always maintained them with that in mind. My KLR650 was the longest owned at 15 years, 53k miles. But I've come to realize that 3 bikes is my mental limit and that I'm not a collector. I suppose if I had the space and limitless money, I'd have kept all the bikes I've owned with the exception of two Yamaha xs650--I realized they were beyond my (lack of) mechanical abilities and interest to restore them, but still fun bikes. Experiences with them made it obvious I'm better off with new bikes, and then along came the CB1100.
I think getting a little older you start thinking how long will I be able to ride? Then about 5 years ago, my mindset started to change and suddenly I wanted to try a number of bikes before I wouldn't be able to anymore. So out with the KLR, in with the DR650. The W800 café version was bike #3, and it gave way to a RE INT650, which morphed into the '21 W800 blue, and now it is in the hands of a mc enthusiast who himself will now be on his last bike as he is 76 and nearly deaf. The W blue sales money allowed me to go small displacement with the KLX300, which I'm hopeful will allow me to explore a little more the trails where the DR650 is still quite heavy. Tradeoffs.
My wife and I want to go very small on the next house in AZ, maybe just 2BR. I'm sure garage space will be limited, so only two bikes there. And we love living in Costa Rica...so it might be that we'll spend 8-10 months there and a lot less time in the States, 1-2 off-road capable bikes there in CR. So that's factoring in my mind as well. For now, the CB1100 and the DR650 are my long term bikes. I'd like to get 100k miles on the CB, it's at 30 something. It's my long distance bike for the U.S....if I'm able to! The DR650...I still have the dream to ride S.America, and it would be for that plus AZ.
Anyway, that's the mind set. After committing $$ to a 3rd bike, the purchase cost during 4 years of owning the 2 Ws and the RE has come out to around $90 per month, money well spent.