2016 or 2019 model

[Nachodaddy]

mickey, yep, I've done the sell everything/buy it all back again gambit a few times with guitar gear, and I vowed to stop doing that following the last round.

So far, so good, guitar-wise. Haven't sold anything in a decent while. Anything I sell or give away now, I won't replace.

I vowed not to do that with the bikes, especially the gear. No way I was going to replace all my various suits, jackets, Arai helmets, cold weather electronics, gloves, linings, etc. That'd be crazy, even for me.

Also, nothing has come out recently that has really lit my fire. The NT1100 looked interesting, in a solid, steady, reliable, kinda boring way, but it never arrived on our shores. That was the only large bike that caught my eye. The only new sport-tourer, anyway. Otherwise, it would have been a Speed Twin, or one of its cheaper, simpler, slower Bonneville siblings, or one of the new middleweight P-Twins from Honda or Suzuki. Or, most likely, an old SV650, the obvious choice in a cheap used ride.

If all I had to buy was the bike, I probably would have done so by now, and it probably would have been a $2-3K used SV650. The boot thing, though, I don't know how to get around that one. Any motorcycle boot will rip the back of my reconstructed heel right open.

In the end, I suppose the answer I always come up with is the same answer I always have to ask, which is...why? Why bother with the hassles and expense, just to put around again on the same backroads I've ridden a million times, that I can still have decent fun on with the MX-5?

Putzing around slowly on a sporty bike wouldn't be all that much fun, and I have zero interest in going fast again, so that's out.

My red CB1100 would have been the one.

Duh, right?

Man, you really connected with me on this one. I am recovering very nicely from having my right shoulder replaced. They cut out the bone and muscles and insert a new metal and plastic joint, which is better than the torn muscle and bone, but is fragile. Any damage to that arm/shoulder and you basically have an arm that hangs limp and useless. I could probably ride in a few more weeks, but I just can't get past that fear of going down and losing that arm. I am hanging on to my CB and the last thread of hope at this point.
Meanwhile, a picture of my MX5 which was rear-ended, not once, but four times by a 20 ton gravel truck in September, 2019. Pushed the rear clear up to the axle and totalled it. It was a beauty and a lot of fun, but maybe too small for the idiots on these roads.