What did you used to ride? What are you riding now? Which one did you love the most? What’s laying in a torn apart pile in your garage? Any stories behind them?
My first squidbike. Rode this thing EVERYWHERE, but then I busted the 2nd/6th gear dogs. Successfully replaced them, but it leaked oil from then on from splitting the cases.
My second less squiddy bike; I really loved the SV. Great handler after the RT prog springs and Penske rear shock were put on.
Number 3. I could never get the hang of riding this correctly. It wanted to go very fast and I didn’t.
Number 3.5 (basketcase). Rode it, like, twice. Intended to restore it, but ended up giving it away for free. It was super dangerous to ride (i.e. brakes? what are brakes?).
Current (old man bike):
Just two – I got started because I was moving out on my own and could no longer afford car insurance due to an absolutely horrible accident history… In retrospect, that was probably an unwise escalation, huh?
In any case, I started with a dinky little Honda CBR250. I rode that for 2 years until I got smacked off my ass at an intersection by some road genius who decided that red lights needn’t apply to him…
His sedan plowed through me going at 40mph and my body was flung 10 ft. up into the air! Through some quirk of fate I managed to stick the landing and walk away uninjured. Now, obviously luck was involved, but I can also guarantee you that I would be pushing up daisies right now if it weren’t for the modern miracle of ABS. Take it from me: do. not. cheap. out. on. your. brakes!!
That incident shook me pretty badly… but I was still too broke to drive, so I took the insurance money from my totaled Honda and bought a BMW F650GS (with ABS, of course). I was quite tired of sportbiking through cold commutes, so my F650GS’s suspension, heated handlebars, and giant detacheable hardbags practically came as a revelation!
So I rode the BMW for a while, but the joy of riding just never quite returned to me after getting grounded like that. I’d begun taking road safety more seriously and channeled that anxiety into becoming a sane, well-adjusted citizen of the road. It took another 2 years and a lot of vigilance, but I did finally age out of my insurance woes! I fondly remember celebrating by purchasing my dream car, a Prius, in cash. That was when I’d become ready to hang up my helmet for good, but life is rarely that simple…
Six months later was when my (now obviously ex) girlfriend left. She needed the car more than I did and… I guess I’m just not the kind of person who can stop loving someone? … So I gave her the Prius and got back in the saddle. Fortunately, that’s around when I lucked into professional software development, so my money problems were quickly evaporating. One year later and I bought for myself an even nicer Prius which I still drive to this very day.
Epilogue, or perhaps, the punchline?: It’s been around 2 years since my last real ride. I do still technically own the BMW, but I’d been leaving it with my father on account of my move into parking-limited inner Atlanta. Well… just a few weeks ago, my old man passed, so now I very much need to get rid of the bike. Letting go should be easy – I really didn’t enjoy the majority of my rides! Yet somehow I’ve gotten sentimental despite myself. I suppose I needed some distance from the toil to really appreciate what I had? More likely I’m just some kind of weird twisted moto-tsundere…
Well, either way: if anyone in the Atlanta area happens to be interested in scooping my ratty yellow BMW, you should absolutely PM me! I’ll happily cut you guys a good deal.