Ever run into a bike you used to own? (Not literally)

[Willmarth_imp]

That’s a good philosophy GO. I’m the same. The kid who bought a Mustang I had lovingly kept and modified wrecked it soon after he bought it. My friends figured I’d be devastated, but it wasn’t mine anymore, and I was on to new car and motorcycle projects.

What was interesting about the BMW was that it was just as I had left it. The guy who bought it said he was going to do a full custom brat/cafe treatment on it, and that the wonky ABS was not going to be a concern because he was going to strip it down to the essentials.

Aye, Gone.

Aye, Gone.
I ran across this car I bought new in '99 in a parking lot yesterday...



Oh wait it's still my car 23 years later. I know it's not a bike but interestingly enough it's geared nearly identical to our CB1100s where 4th on the 1100 corresponds to 3rd on the Cobra and 6th corresponds to 4th. The Cobra has a .67 overdrive 5th for the highway. The power bands are similar too. It's probably the only decades old Cobra on the planet with the original exhaust. Since I never intend to get rid of it I'll never be surprised to encounter it somewhere

Well, let’s hope not.

Well, let’s hope not.
Excellent point

[MM300_imp]

Yes, I got the first year BMW R1200C. 1997 I think. Sold it after one year. In 2001 I was at work, car sales. Onto the lot rides a BMW bike that looks just like the one I had. Turns out it was mine. The rider ended up buying two cars from me.

[Gone in 60]

Since we touched on cars, I ran into one of my old ones last month. I bought a Ford Five Hundred when they came out in '05. The big, lunchbox of a car that nobody bought west of the Mississippi. When I stopped for gas, people were surprised that Ford made a full-size sedan that wasn't a taxi or a police car. It was a nice compliment to my Mustang, and I kept it for 10 years because it had a huge trunk, was comfy, and didn't ask for anything but an oil change every now and then. Since people didn't know what the heck it was due to its relative rarity in California, I put Galaxie badges on it as a goof. Mrs. Gone started driving it when I began commuting full-time on motorcycles.

In 2015, when Mrs. Gone went into travelling nursing, the Ford had 140k on the clock, and we put her in a newer Honda. I got a phone call from someone within a few hours of listing the Ford - the secretary for the owner of a local company. Seems his 18 year-old daughter had just wrecked her brand new first car, and he wanted to put her in a cheap car that was huge, so that when she inevitably wrecked it, she wouldn't be injured. I coordinated with the secretary to bring the young girl over to look at the Ford. She was so disinterested that she didn't even get out of the lady's car to come look at it, and when I offered to let her test drive it, she just stared at her phone and said "whatever, it's just a stupid car." We exchanged cash and paperwork, and I assumed it would be in a wrecking yard within months.

Lo and behold, just last month, while taking my motorcycle-only shortcut through the park near my house, there it was, still spotless, and still sporting its Galaxie badges, parked near the jogging trail. I couldn't believe it.

[LongRanger_imp]

First model year for the R1200C was 1998.