Should this page be called Speed or Motorcycle or Triumph? Or money pit?
One thing I enjoy watching is high-tech man made machinery doing something for mankind. Humans can’t fly so they invented hot air balloons and eventually airplanes. Humans got tired of horses being the only way to move about and invented bicycles then the engine and motorcycles and then cars.
During my adolescence my brother started repairing motorcycles in the garage and I learned from him. I would also sneak out from time-to-time for a “test ride”. I will never forget the Kawasaki Ninja acceleration and top end speed. That was fast for the day and I had found heaven! I also loved the acceleration of the Suzuki dirt bike but outside of jumping off a pond damn or racing through a dry pond bed or field, not much else to do.
Some years later I bought a Triumph Daytona 675, a fuel injected triple. I had found a new heaven – that bike could do 0 to 60 in 3 seconds if you could hang on and keep the front tire on the ground! That bike would pull-up in 6th gear it had so much power. I absolutely loved it, but I also experienced what comes with a race bike, expenses. The pure synthetic oil and K&N filter every 4,000 miles was a bit expensive. Also two sets of tires per year was also expensive. Even the coolant was expensive. Then there is the insurance. That bike cost me more than a car. Then I met Lisa and it was time to slow down so the next bike was a Suzuki VSTROM 1000. We went on several trips with that bike but having it after the Daytona was bad. I needed an in-between bike I guess. I hated the VSTROM because it was so pokey and heavy. Also the front end vibrated so bad I would nearly loose control at it’s top-end speed. The VSTROM was certainly less expensive but not by much. Because I was riding them to/from work daily I had to constantly adjust the chain slack, check tires, brake pads, etc.
When the daily commute to work ended (full-time work from home several years before COVID), I again found myself spending a lot of money for a motorcycle that was sitting in the garage. Furthermore, my philosophy is that if your going to ride, you need to do it all the time. Otherwise your muscle memory wears off and good habits of watching for danger fade away, and one day your in trouble..
I look forward to getting an Zero Dual-Sport electric bike some day! At least it won’t have oil and coolant. Most likely though due to cost and lack of destinations I will have to settle for a car.. until I retire and I have time to ride across the country. I don’t think I can go back to working in an office – the lack of productivity in an office drives me nuts.
(2022 update) I now work in an office and commute again daily – but at least the commute is in a low (no) maintenance electric car. And working in an office isn’t as bad – I like the people I work with and the management I work for.