Joined
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144 Posts
I just realized that I have never introduced myself on this board.
I apologize.
I have been riding motorcycles for 38 years.
The vast majority of my riding has been on older Hondas that I owned, such as the 350, 500 and the 750.
I live in northern Ohio. Perfect motorcycle weather lasts about 5 months a year. There were 2 years in my youth that all I had for transportation was a motorcycle, and I rode it year round. Every day. (Pretty stupid huh?) But I had to get to school and then to work in order to make the payments on the bike. (You learn to use your legs as outriggers when driving in snow and ice).
Then I got married. (A good thing!)
We waited until 5 years after we wed to have children. During that time we traveled on our Hondas all over the country east of the Rocky Mountains.
"You do meet the nicest people on a Honda!"
In one 2 year period we wore out a Honda 750 by traveling over 100,000 miles on it, most of the time 2 up. Cleveland to Denver/Colorado Springs and back in 5 days with 2 days spent visiting my buddy at the Air Force Academy. The entire trip home was in the rain. Our wives on the back of our bikes wanted to take a Greyhound bus home but my buddy and I wouldn't hear of it. (We didn't have enough money left to buy the tickets anyways). 2 trips to Texas, 2 trips to southern Florida, (two up), and multiple weekend trips to West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania all 2 up. We had an old tarp that we would throw over the bike and make a lean-to type tent for sleeping. Woke up one morning and had silver dollar sized spiders crawling all over us. I hate spiders!
Do to a serious back injury and nerve damage, I must now have a heel-toe shifter. I cannot raise my toe to shift. (Foot drop) Needless to say, that slowed me way down on my riding.
I have never owned a true touring motorcycle.
I have borrowed and rented many different touring motorcycles, mainly Harley's, and put a few thousand miles riding one up and two up on them. I have also ridden on Ninjas and other high revving and high speed motorcycles. Did some hill climbing in my younger and more foolish days.
Now to present day.
The bike that fits me the best is the Harley Ultra Classic. Wife likes that seat too. Only downside was that the vibration tends to make your rear view mirrors useless. Got the dealer to give me the price I wanted to pay for it and then I heard about the new Harley's with the upgraded motor and 6 speed tranny. No wonder the dealer was willing to sell below list price. Decided to wait. During this waiting period I started looking at Goldwings and BMW's.
BMW's are top heavy and the luggage compartments remind me of suitcases strapped on the back. Service charges and intervals are ridiculous! The GT would have been my choice. The LT looks better but doesn't have the power of the GT. Did not test ride due to injury and the fact that the bike seemed top heavy. On the LT forum site a lot of the guys are talking up the Goldwing.
Went on some test rides on the Goldwing at 2 different dealers and the wife now likes that seat the best. I felt a little cramped with my knees so close to the fairing and the handlebars are too near the top of my legs when in slow turn situations. I had to shift the Goldwings with the inside of my heel on my boot because of the nerve damage in that leg. That did not make it very enjoyable nor very informative as far as wether or not I would be happy and comfortable with the Goldwing after I changed it to a heel-toe shifter.
Alone and on the way back from the second Honda dealer, I passed a Victory dealership and stopped in. They insisted that I take a Kingpin for a ride and were willing to give me a tee-shirt if I did. As it has a heel-toe shifter, no problem. I take it for about 1/2 hour and bring it back with a huge smile on my face. This bike really moves out! I was actually hoping to find a Harley rider so that I could blow him away. I go home and get the wife and back to the dealer we go. I ask if we can test ride it again and he tossed me the keys. Wife thought it was fun, but not very comfortable in the backseat. Her legs were up too high.
The dealer then tells me about the new Tourer that Victory has under development. Gives me a heavy hint that I should wait for it as he feels it might be the bike I am looking for.
So, that is my situation. I just retired, I have the money, the kids are grown and gone.
I want a bike!
I may buy a cruiser for now, probably a Kingpin, and wait until I find my perfect fit on the tourer.
Hal, this is a great site, well run, and you had every right to end the CT debacle. Maybe if I can find somewhere to rent a Goldwing with a heel-toe shifter for a few hours, we could come up with a price for an ABS version that I could live with.
I apologize.
I have been riding motorcycles for 38 years.
The vast majority of my riding has been on older Hondas that I owned, such as the 350, 500 and the 750.
I live in northern Ohio. Perfect motorcycle weather lasts about 5 months a year. There were 2 years in my youth that all I had for transportation was a motorcycle, and I rode it year round. Every day. (Pretty stupid huh?) But I had to get to school and then to work in order to make the payments on the bike. (You learn to use your legs as outriggers when driving in snow and ice).
Then I got married. (A good thing!)
We waited until 5 years after we wed to have children. During that time we traveled on our Hondas all over the country east of the Rocky Mountains.
"You do meet the nicest people on a Honda!"
In one 2 year period we wore out a Honda 750 by traveling over 100,000 miles on it, most of the time 2 up. Cleveland to Denver/Colorado Springs and back in 5 days with 2 days spent visiting my buddy at the Air Force Academy. The entire trip home was in the rain. Our wives on the back of our bikes wanted to take a Greyhound bus home but my buddy and I wouldn't hear of it. (We didn't have enough money left to buy the tickets anyways). 2 trips to Texas, 2 trips to southern Florida, (two up), and multiple weekend trips to West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania all 2 up. We had an old tarp that we would throw over the bike and make a lean-to type tent for sleeping. Woke up one morning and had silver dollar sized spiders crawling all over us. I hate spiders!
Do to a serious back injury and nerve damage, I must now have a heel-toe shifter. I cannot raise my toe to shift. (Foot drop) Needless to say, that slowed me way down on my riding.
I have never owned a true touring motorcycle.
I have borrowed and rented many different touring motorcycles, mainly Harley's, and put a few thousand miles riding one up and two up on them. I have also ridden on Ninjas and other high revving and high speed motorcycles. Did some hill climbing in my younger and more foolish days.
Now to present day.
The bike that fits me the best is the Harley Ultra Classic. Wife likes that seat too. Only downside was that the vibration tends to make your rear view mirrors useless. Got the dealer to give me the price I wanted to pay for it and then I heard about the new Harley's with the upgraded motor and 6 speed tranny. No wonder the dealer was willing to sell below list price. Decided to wait. During this waiting period I started looking at Goldwings and BMW's.
BMW's are top heavy and the luggage compartments remind me of suitcases strapped on the back. Service charges and intervals are ridiculous! The GT would have been my choice. The LT looks better but doesn't have the power of the GT. Did not test ride due to injury and the fact that the bike seemed top heavy. On the LT forum site a lot of the guys are talking up the Goldwing.
Went on some test rides on the Goldwing at 2 different dealers and the wife now likes that seat the best. I felt a little cramped with my knees so close to the fairing and the handlebars are too near the top of my legs when in slow turn situations. I had to shift the Goldwings with the inside of my heel on my boot because of the nerve damage in that leg. That did not make it very enjoyable nor very informative as far as wether or not I would be happy and comfortable with the Goldwing after I changed it to a heel-toe shifter.
Alone and on the way back from the second Honda dealer, I passed a Victory dealership and stopped in. They insisted that I take a Kingpin for a ride and were willing to give me a tee-shirt if I did. As it has a heel-toe shifter, no problem. I take it for about 1/2 hour and bring it back with a huge smile on my face. This bike really moves out! I was actually hoping to find a Harley rider so that I could blow him away. I go home and get the wife and back to the dealer we go. I ask if we can test ride it again and he tossed me the keys. Wife thought it was fun, but not very comfortable in the backseat. Her legs were up too high.
The dealer then tells me about the new Tourer that Victory has under development. Gives me a heavy hint that I should wait for it as he feels it might be the bike I am looking for.
So, that is my situation. I just retired, I have the money, the kids are grown and gone.
I want a bike!
I may buy a cruiser for now, probably a Kingpin, and wait until I find my perfect fit on the tourer.
Hal, this is a great site, well run, and you had every right to end the CT debacle. Maybe if I can find somewhere to rent a Goldwing with a heel-toe shifter for a few hours, we could come up with a price for an ABS version that I could live with.
