New Bike (Alternate title: I'm a dumbass)

[UncleJoseph]

Wife and I have been talking about getting a bike for a while now. I used to ride years ago, but it's been a few. Well, with her new promotion and our revised budget, we're doing quite well financially. Our total living expenses are actually cheaper at the newly built house than the old house...and that includes the higher mortgage payment.

So we ran some numbers and spoke to the credit union. Our new bike was no problem...only $139/month at 2.49%. Total interest in 5 years...$555 dollars.

Here's the gem (will be delivered on Thursday):

2006 Star (Yamaha) Roadliner 1854cc cruiser in Raven black:



Total price out the door (tax, title, options, etc.) was $8300. That included new front tire, fresh engine and trans oil change, new battery, sissy bar, Corbin saddlebags, home delivery.

The sissy bar will be installed when it's delivered. The saddle bags probably won't be in for a few weeks, so I'll just ride it up to the dealership for quick installation when they call me.

[3278]

Nice bike! I've been thinking about getting a cheap Enduro for a while now, something I can restore myself [so I can learn about how they work, since I know almost nothing about bikes] and not worry too much about wrecking. But if I'm going to ride it on the street, I want to wait until I have health insurance, until my daughter doesn't need me financially, and until I have a nice fat life insurance policy. A 2006 Yamaha Roadliner is more dangerous than a car, sure, but properly handled, not exactly a widowmaker: a homemade 1978 Yamaha 175 is a deathtrap.

[UncleJoseph]

Bike got delivered yesterday. Will be waiting for my saddlebags for several weeks...maybe up to 8 weeks for painting. Anyway took her for a quick spin last night. Holy loads of torque. This is a very, very heavy bike, but the large motor didn't have any problems trying to throw me off the seat. A little harder whip through the twisties, but that's to be expected with a cruiser, especially one this heavy.

Took my wife riding today to pick up our new gear (jackets, gloves and headsets). Then off to lunch and a quick ride around in the country. She loved the ride, but doesn't want to hit the freeway just yet. I was gentle on the throttle. Surprisingly, the bike isn't as sensitive to the extra weight of a passenger as I'd thought it would be. I'm sure that owes to the sheer size of the bike though. My old Bandit 600 was a riot with a passenger on the back...

[sinsual]

Nice!

We are looking at leasing a Hardley, when we ran the numbers, it works out to $45-55 per month. It sadly, keeps me from modifying it, which makes the wife real happy. We are either looking at a V-Rod or maybe either a Dyna or fat bob.

[UncleJoseph]

Nice!

We are looking at leasing a Hardley, when we ran the numbers, it works out to $45-55 per month. It sadly, keeps me from modifying it, which makes the wife real happy. We are either looking at a V-Rod or maybe either a Dyna or fat bob.

I didn't even realize you could lease bikes! I went back and forth about a Harley for years. Now that I live in a private subdivision with a bunch of "Rules-Nazis" neighbors, I had to find a bike that is very quiet...this ruled out most V-Twins, especially Harleys (even with stock pipes). The Roadliner appealed to me for a couple of reasons. First, it balanced against vibration so it is a very smooth V-Twin (exactly opposite what most people want in a V-Twin)...this was more my wife (odd, since women generally like the vibration), and both my subdivision and wife wanted the quietest bike possible. Witih the 'liner's huge muffler, it is possibly the quietest V-Twin I've ever heard. It's almost as quiet as a Goldwing.

My wife wants me to stay away from accessories/modifications too, bu there's no way. Aside from the Corbin bags and the sissy bar, I'm also investing in a good fatty highway bar, a Memphis Shades Batwing w/windshield and bag, cruise control, passenger floorboards, luggage rack, accessory oil temp gauge and a driver backrest (which, depending on the make, may necessitate a custom seat). We also got ScalaRider Bluetooth intercoms....the coms and FM radio work great. Still trying to get the cell phone interface to work properly.

[UncleJoseph]

Corbins arrived on Monday...took me a few hours to install. The instructions weren't great, and since I have a Cobra sissy bar, the instructions really weren't great as far as which spacers to use on the bag brackets. Took some trial and error. Anyway, I think the bags look great. They are over twice the capacity of the Yamaha bags. At $1500, they'd better be. Now I want the matching trunk, but that's another $1400...not sure I really want to go that expensive...








Baby's got a fat ass...need a fairing and windshield to balance her out..give her that hourglass figure!

[3278]

That thing is awesome! I wish I had the balls to ride a motorcycle. Once my daughter's out on her own and can support herself, I think I might get an enduro, but that's not really the same thing at all.

[UncleJoseph]

...I think I might get an enduro, but that's not really the same thing at all.

True, but an enduro can accept saddlebags, and it can go plenty of places mine can't! For example, the Kawasaki KLR is a great choice for a dual purpose bike.

[3278]

Yeah, the big new ones - modern KTMs, the BMW GS bikes - can actually be genuinely nice long-distance tourers, set up properly. That's what I'd like to graduate to, after learning on a 70s Suzuki TS 250 or Kawasaki KE100 or something else similarly tiny and super-cheap.

One great thing about bikes: it's a cheap [-ish] hobby, compared to cars. You can walk into a BMW showroom, drop $17,000, and have a bike that's capable of driving from London to Russia through Mongolia. A Bowler Wildcat would set you back something just shy of $300,000. And used? $1000 will get you a really nice little old Enduro, that starts on the first kick and that you can drive to work every day for a year; it will not get you a nice Cherokee.

[UncleJoseph]

Wife and I are taking our first longer trip on the bike this week. We leave Wednesday morning for the west shoreline of Michigan. We will follow the west shoreline all the way to the Mackinac Bridge, cross to St. Ignace, then circle around the east side of Michigan's Upper Peninsula to Whitefish Point. After that, we'll cut down to Newberry, then back across the bridge. We'll head down the east shoreline of Michigan (Lake Huron) to my wife's hometown, and then head home. I estimate 4-5 days total for the trip, and roughly 1,000 miles.

The first night we'll be staying at a friend's cabin just outside Ludington. The next 2 nights we'll be staying wherever we end up. Based on mileage and pacing, I figure we'll spend an average of 5 hours on the bike each day. After this trip, I suspect we'll be getting custom seats.

[3278]

Awesome! I'd love to be able to make more trips like that. Should be a really great time.

[sinsual]

Earl, that is my main bike right now. I have a whopping $7g into it including the race exhaust, bags and racks, Power Commander and Auto Tuner for the EFI.

There are a lot of people who have set their Versys up along the same lines as a GS, and really do go where the GS goes, For less than the cost of the GS. Only downside is the rims. I would need to spend another $1K for rims and tires plus the mods to make the standard style of Off Road rimwear work. You can bend a spoked rim and mostly bend it back out on the trail, the cast rims I have...sucks to be stranded...

To begin with, look for a Suzuki DR, Honda XLR or Kawasaki KLX. The Yamaha Sherpa, is "Okay"
The Ktooms are Great, until you break something, then, you never know how long it will be before the replacement part arrives from Europe. DO NOT TAKE AN APRILIA SX/SVX. You WILL get stranded.
If you want a stump pulling tractor motor for an Adventure Bike/Enduro, the Buell Ulysses can be had fairly reasonably, just don't expect ANY kind of help from Harley. But, Erik Buell Racing is not far from you ;-)