On The Road

A Midlife Crisis? No.
So I decided to take the plunge. No, I have been married for nearly three years. In the wake of soaring gas prices and my Dodge Ram 1500 taking over $70 to fill every time I pull up to the pump (which seems to be about once every five days with normal driving), I decided to buy a motorcycle.

The process was not a quick one because I have never been a large fan of motorcycles. While I have had many friends that have had all sorts of bikes, from big cruisers to lightning fast sport bikes, I was always concerned that I would be reduced to a crimson stain on the road due to a minute lack of attention or focus. I also am something of a speed freak. I don't indulge myself the way I used to when I owned my '68 Ford Mustang, but I didn't see the need for temptation. Then I realized how much money I was throwing away to Hess Inc. because of my daily to commute to and from school. Looking for a alternative, a motorcycle was much more practical than another car. Most motorcycles in the class that I was looking for get about 35 mpg. The Ram gets about 12-13 mpg. So I started looking for one as soon as I could convince my wife...

Selling Practicality to My Wife
I'd love to say that I call all the shots in our family. My wife would agree and then laugh to herself that its at least amusing that I think that way. If I was serious about getting a bike, I had to do my homework before I dropped it on her. So I called State Farm Insurance. It seems that to insure a beater or a hoopdie (an older, slightly beat up vehicle), it only runs about $89 per year. I set myself a price limit of $1,000...top end, not a dollar more. I knew I would also have to register it (about $60 per year), and buy gear for it. If I truly was going to prove that this was a financial decision and not a mid-life crisis come early, I need to follow the guidelines of fiscal responsibility. I just happened to present my case to my wife the night before she was working in Warrensburg, which also happened to be hosting the Americade, a HUGE motorcycle weekend. To my surprise, with the expected concern that I would end up wrapped around a pole or under someone's bumper, she agreed that it was probably a good idea and was just a little excited about being a biker chick, eventually. So the search was on.

Narrowing in on a Bike
My first thought was to ask my dad. When I was really young he owned a motorcycle, which he had earlier dumped drag racing my godfather. He has been staunchly against the idea of me having a motorcycle my whole life, and being both Lebanese and Catholic, my parents' wishes and "advice" have more of a mandate over me than most of my friends. I also trust their judgement, so if they really are against something, more often than not, they have a good reason. So, I just casually asked my dad what type of bike he used to ride and that is where I started looking. He rode a 1972 Honda CB400 Supersport. He mentioned, every once in a great while, how he would blow Harleys off the line in Utica all the time. So I started looking for them. I thought it would be kind of cool to ride the same type of bike my dad did. The problem was that the '72 Supersport is now 35 years old and there are not that many floatin around. At least not in my price range, which rotted a little because I know nothing about motorcycle repair and I didn't have the budget for many really good bikes. I realized that I needed to expand my horizons and look at all types of bikes and realize that bikes like Harleys and Buells were just not going to happen. Nor were bikes that were made since I graduated from high school (and I am 31 now).

I first narrowed my search, looking only for bikes from Ebay that were within 150 miles of where I live. It made no sense to buy a bike and drive to Michigan to pick it up or spend a few hundred dollars to have it shipped. The first bike I put a bid on was a 1983 Kawasaki Specter. It was 750 cc's, which was right around where I wanted to be and was refinished by a bike shop in New Hampshire that had a Ebay Store. It looked like it was in great shape and was beautiful. My wife even liked the color. Unfortunately she was not the only one. While I was in the bidding for a while, the bike ended up selling for $1,275. I kept an eye out for more of them because I like how it looked, but nothing was really close in terms of quality. So I moved on. I next found a bike with an awesome custom paint job and in really great shape. To be honest, I've already forgotten what type of bike it was. What I haven't forgotten was that it was 1100 cc's and as soon as I made the bid, I felt the anxiety flood in about doing it. Could I handle that much power? Would the bike be too heavy for me to learn on? Would I end up going 140 mph out of my driveway on the first day because I was inexperienced? I watched Ebay like a hawk, hoping that I would be outbid, for once. To my relief, that machine went for $1,475.

And then, narrowing my search for bikes under 800 cc's, I stumbled across a listing for a 1984 Honda Magna V45 700, located in Springfield, VT. That is only about 2.5 hours from where I live in Saratoga Springs, NY. The starting price was $499, which was hope inspiring. It was 700 cc's, and was in good mechanical order. It was a little beat up, cosmetically, but was not rusty and the owners, Paul and Tisha, were great about answering my questions as a prospective first time biker. Within a few days people began bidding, but nothing outrageous, and with about ten hours to go, I decided that if I could get the bike for $650 or less, I would buy it. When the auction ended, I won with a purchase price of $610. I made my deposit and arranged a pick-up date for my new bike. Partially excited and partially terrified that I just bought the means of my own death. Be that as it may, I was technically the owner of my first motorcycle.