Experience poll

[MrFreeze5]

I got my first bike, my FZR hybrid in 06 as a beater POS that needed work and then completely rebuilt it. Then the other bikes in my sig are the lot of em with the exception of a cb450 that I owned for about a month and the title never showed. But so far, my FZR has been the only bike that actually runs The other 2 fzrs are projects, my XS is a start from scratch kinda build, and the GS I just got and have yet to return it to road worthiness. I also sort of adopted my aunts Kawi Vulcan 500. I pretty much rebuilt that thing since it had a lot of issues and road it whenever I wanted to, which was nice since I was rebuilding my FZR at the time. I honestly enjoy building them almost as much as I do riding them.

[trbig]

I honestly enjoy building them almost as much as I do riding them.

Ya know, I used to say that. Maybe it was trying to keep a positive attitude?? But for the first two years of owning mine and NEVER getting to change the oil because it needed it... (I could never get 3k miles without having to tear it back down.)... there's no way I could say that with a straight face now.

AND.. for someone to live in Colorado, with the roads and views you have access to.. and you can actually say that and mean it??

You're a sick sick man.


Tod

[MrFreeze5]

Ya know, I used to say that. Maybe it was trying to keep a positive attitude?? But for the first two years of owning mine and NEVER getting to change the oil because it needed it... (I could never get 3k miles without having to tear it back down.)... there's no way I could say that with a straight face now.

AND.. for someone to live in Colorado, with the roads and views you have access to.. and you can actually say that and mean it??

You're a sick sick man.


Tod

I have made the mistake before of getting too involved in a build and it keeps me from riding, but Ive got running bikes now, so building another one is much less stressful. I enjoy the mechanical aspects of the machine, the simplicity of it overall, etc. I like the challenge of trying to take a base and build a completely different bike out of it that it was originally intended. I cant leave my bikes/cars/house/guitars/etc alone. I have to mess with them and make them my own. I see a bike not as what it is, but what it could be. And until I make it that, its not good enough to me. I change it. (Anyone ever seen Red Dragon? some crazy dialog comes to mind hehe). Ive always been a builder though. Since I was a kid, I was always working on building something. But in recent years bikes have really fit the niche.

The reason I moved to Colorado was for the mountains and the weather, so if I didnt take advantage of that Id be a crazy person. Riding in the canyons on my FZR is one of my most favorite things to do, but for a different reason. Riding allows me to relax and tune everything else out. Building allows me to be creative and artistic, while still tickling my builder button.

I started building 4x4s and muscle trucks in high school, and got pretty heavy into 4x4s afterwards. But it got so expensive to wheel them, that even though I would build some pretty badass rides, I wouldnt want to take them out and destroy them on the trail. After a few years of that it pretty much killed my interest in extreme 4x4ing. But bikes, you can build the hell out of it, make something insane looking and insane performing, and all it takes to enjoy it all weekend is insurance and registration. Not a tank of gas to get there, a tank of gas on the trail, repairs before you can go home, then another tank of gas to get there, plus the real repair bill for whatever you broke.

Bikes are easier. I work on mine all the time. Juggy is in the basement right now, but often comes to stay in the living room for a few days while I work on it. My FZR spent most of the summer in my living room while I traced an electrical problem. Going down in the basement and messing with Juggy has been my quiet tim lately. Its nice.

So how many times have you ridden this month? Ive been out almost every day since new years.

[XSokieSPECIAL]

I don't remember if I posted

in this thread or not. I went back and looked but I didn't see me.

Damn Fred, you've been riding all MY life and I'm 51.

I started riding sometime back in the late 60s.

I think I was about 10-12 years old.

My mom had a Suzuki 90, I think it was, that she used to ride to school. When she got out of school I sorta inherited it.

Tore that one up.

First street bike was a Yamaha 250 2stroke twin, can't remember what year or model but I sure picked up a lot of girls riding that back in the early 70s.

Innumerable dirt bikes, and street bikes since then. Most of them junk and didn't last long.

However When I was working at a pawn shop as a mechanic repairing stuff that had been pawned and lost, I spent several months riding a 83-84? Kawasaki 1100 LTD and was extremely impressed with 1100 power and comfort.

Yet...I digress....I would guess about 35 or 40 years of riding. Off and on.