Why this bike

I figured I would post a quickie about my selection and how this evolved.

The first aspect that led to this is that I switched my schedule to 4/10s (four, ten hour days). The afternoon commute was taking about an hour to go 17 miles. Leaving at 4:30 puts me home at 5:30. Dinner, baths... not a lot of time with the kids. Plus gas and the DREAD of traffic. Motorcycle = carpool lane, efficiency and fun. I estimate my commute will be a half an hour or so.

There are a lot of different style bikes. What I wanted was a cheap, efficient, neutral ergonomics (not a crotch rocket, not at cruiser), nimble and decent looking motorcycle that had just enough cool that I could live with it. Maintenance comes into the issue to. I didn't want to go to old and have a bike that needs adjustments and manual lubing all the time.

When this bike first showed up on craigslist I passed it by a couple times because it didn't resonate with me. Then I started getting a bit frustrated with what was available in the $500 range. Way old bikes, bikes missing parts bikes needing lots of work etc. I ended up back at this bike and googled it. Good gas mileage, shaft drive (very low maintenance), V twin motor (lower RPM running), 6 speed tranny (mileage), small package etc etc. The more I looked into this sort of odd bike the more it seemed ideal to my needs.

I finally got in touch with the guy and he agreed to show it to me on Satruday. I ended up taking the kids and Merry and I realized I'd have to trailer it home... oh and it was longer than my trailer. SOooooo I rigged up a little extention for my trailer to hold the bike. And with only one stop on the route to check straps we got it home.

The asking price was $500 but I drive a pretty hard bargain and whittled him down to $480. He didn't know what hit him. I'd like to ride as soon as possible but the truth is the bike doesn't run and needs some TLC to be road worthy. I'll cover the work ahead in the next post.