12-28-2025, 09:03 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-28-2025, 09:16 AM by Gone in 60.)
Gentlemen, I see a distinct pattern developing. Guess what my first bike was? Yup.
When I turned 40, Mrs. G asked me if I wanted anything really special to mark the occasion. I blurted out "A motorcycle" to get a rise out of her, but she said "Well, you do love to conquer mechanical objects", and she gave me an MSF basic rider course as my present. My MSF bike was a Rebel 250, and I took to it like a duck to water. I thought my first bike should be similar to the Rebel, but I knew I needed freeway capability. So, its bigger brother the Shadow 750 seemed logical.
I found a very clean 2006 model, and rode it for a year. It was a great starter bike, and when I became comfortable with freeway traffic, I found its upper limits to be a bit lacking, and graduated to a VTX1300. I put over 20k on that bike and was happy with it, until I tried a BMW R1200GS, and realized that bikes that could turn and stop, as well as travel in a straight line had their advantages! The VTX gave way to a string of naked standards before I landed on the R1200R that eventually resulted in my abhorrence of electronic wizardry, unless it was produced by Honda.
Here's my Shadow
Here's one of the first pictures I have of my CB1100. I had a luggage rack and Givi mount plate on order during the week I was travelling for work and was anxiously anticipating picking up the bike when I got home. The Givi V47 case looked more at home on the BMW from an aesthetic standpoint, but served me well to take my gear to the Petersen on weekends (it now looks perfect on the NC). Here's a picture on the roof of the museum the first time I rode it there.
Pdedse, glad to hear that you might be coming down here again! Funny, Mrs. G was observing me farkling the NC the other day in the garage, and asked "So, if the idea of buying this bike is to go longer distances more comfortably, it will go to Oregon, won't it?"
When I turned 40, Mrs. G asked me if I wanted anything really special to mark the occasion. I blurted out "A motorcycle" to get a rise out of her, but she said "Well, you do love to conquer mechanical objects", and she gave me an MSF basic rider course as my present. My MSF bike was a Rebel 250, and I took to it like a duck to water. I thought my first bike should be similar to the Rebel, but I knew I needed freeway capability. So, its bigger brother the Shadow 750 seemed logical.
I found a very clean 2006 model, and rode it for a year. It was a great starter bike, and when I became comfortable with freeway traffic, I found its upper limits to be a bit lacking, and graduated to a VTX1300. I put over 20k on that bike and was happy with it, until I tried a BMW R1200GS, and realized that bikes that could turn and stop, as well as travel in a straight line had their advantages! The VTX gave way to a string of naked standards before I landed on the R1200R that eventually resulted in my abhorrence of electronic wizardry, unless it was produced by Honda.
Here's my Shadow
Here's one of the first pictures I have of my CB1100. I had a luggage rack and Givi mount plate on order during the week I was travelling for work and was anxiously anticipating picking up the bike when I got home. The Givi V47 case looked more at home on the BMW from an aesthetic standpoint, but served me well to take my gear to the Petersen on weekends (it now looks perfect on the NC). Here's a picture on the roof of the museum the first time I rode it there.
Pdedse, glad to hear that you might be coming down here again! Funny, Mrs. G was observing me farkling the NC the other day in the garage, and asked "So, if the idea of buying this bike is to go longer distances more comfortably, it will go to Oregon, won't it?"
You know what? I actually would like a pickle.