08-04-2021, 06:57 AM
I'll toss my getting older guy story into the mix:
I turned 67 this year.
At the end of last year I got an inkling that things ain't what they used to be when I dropped my Harley Softail on the front lawn (thank goodness it wasn't on to concrete !). To my dismay I found that I could not pick it up by myself and had to enlist the help of a neighbor to get it back upright. I knew it was time to say goodbye to my beloved prize after that. I ended up selling it to a young former co-worker and riding buddy for a 'give away' price. Earlier this year, it became clear that my pristine ZX14R was getting to be a bit much for me to push around. At 600 lbs it was 100 lbs less than the Softail but was still getting a bit unsettling for me to manage. It was time for it to go and I sold it to that same ex-coworker for a 'give away' price. I was happy that the 'King and Queen' of my garage are now his to enjoy.
I got my trusty CB1100 out of mothballs and am having a great time riding it and just parking it and gazing at it. I'll miss the thrill of the ZX14R which was like riding a firecracker that one could put a match to in any gear at any rpm and feel a tremendous surge, but the CB1100 more than makes up for the difference with it's 70s-80s inspired character packaged in a modern bike.
At some point I imagine that my Blue Honda Fury (where the furious_blue handle comes from) will be next to go but I hope that day is a ways off. My trusty CBR250R will someday probably be the last bike that I have because it's the most manageable. In way it's fitting because it's like a modern version of my first bike, a '73 CB350. Someone around here had a purple 1973 CB350 that was the spitting image of my first bike. It was tempting, very tempting but then I remembered what the brakes, suspension and vibration were like and knew that some things are probably better left as fond memories. :-)
I turned 67 this year.
At the end of last year I got an inkling that things ain't what they used to be when I dropped my Harley Softail on the front lawn (thank goodness it wasn't on to concrete !). To my dismay I found that I could not pick it up by myself and had to enlist the help of a neighbor to get it back upright. I knew it was time to say goodbye to my beloved prize after that. I ended up selling it to a young former co-worker and riding buddy for a 'give away' price. Earlier this year, it became clear that my pristine ZX14R was getting to be a bit much for me to push around. At 600 lbs it was 100 lbs less than the Softail but was still getting a bit unsettling for me to manage. It was time for it to go and I sold it to that same ex-coworker for a 'give away' price. I was happy that the 'King and Queen' of my garage are now his to enjoy.
I got my trusty CB1100 out of mothballs and am having a great time riding it and just parking it and gazing at it. I'll miss the thrill of the ZX14R which was like riding a firecracker that one could put a match to in any gear at any rpm and feel a tremendous surge, but the CB1100 more than makes up for the difference with it's 70s-80s inspired character packaged in a modern bike.
At some point I imagine that my Blue Honda Fury (where the furious_blue handle comes from) will be next to go but I hope that day is a ways off. My trusty CBR250R will someday probably be the last bike that I have because it's the most manageable. In way it's fitting because it's like a modern version of my first bike, a '73 CB350. Someone around here had a purple 1973 CB350 that was the spitting image of my first bike. It was tempting, very tempting but then I remembered what the brakes, suspension and vibration were like and knew that some things are probably better left as fond memories. :-)