The lineage of motorcycles I have owned…what should I get next?

I was feeling kind of nostalgic for no real reason other than it’s a Sunday and a little rainy outside.  So I decided I’d do a quick post with a list of the bikes I’ve owned over the years.  I’m thinking it’s time for me to get something again as I am without a bike!

Okay, the first bike I ever road was a friend’s Trail 50.  I’m not sure if my parents knew I’d be riding the thing.  I stayed over at his house for the weekend and of course we thought we should drive around the country on the thing. 

It looked like this one…

I had a blast on the thing, so I decided that I would talk my parents into helping me get a motorcycle. I was probably 12 at the time?  So that summer I mowed the lawn of this guy in town that was always gone. I think I got paid $50 a month.  So at the end of the summer I had a whopping $150.  Now I know that doesn’t seem like much now…but in 1980 something…well it still wasn’t much but people weren’t gauging you for old as crappy bikes.  So my pops went into town to the bike shop and found a 1969 Trail 90 for $150  Not only was it bigger = faster than my friend’s trail 50…well it was going to be MINE! 

Now as you can see, the Trail 90 is quite the racing machine!  Mine was bright ass yellow AND the seat was covered in flowers!  It was a perfect representation of 1969.  This thing was a tank.  Now I couldn’t technically leave the lawn…but my lawn was tiny..so we happened to be neighbors with a junk lot (I know…prime real estate) so about 3 of us kids in the neighborhood made little circles around the lot.  Hard to believe the owner was cool with this. Now I’m sure it would be a legal nightmare!  He was very good to us though and treated us like family. Likewise we were pretty good about cleaning up our messes etc. 

Well as luck would have it I think I ran over an engine part one too many times and cracked the case of the trusty Trail 90.  I drove it for a while having to fill it up with oil before each ride.  Then one day my father took pity on me and started looking in the Thrifty Nickel.  I’m not sure how much time went by before he found someone selling a 1970 Honda CL 175 for $50!  Now keep in mind it hadn’t been running in many years, but the guy had to leave town for some reason.   We went out to the guys house and $50 later I had a new bike.

As luck would have it we slapped in new plugs (that’s right a TWO cylinder) and the thing fired up!  Wholly smokes!  This was the first time I had a bike with a clutch!  Damn a clutch is a tough concept for a 13 year old! My old man had an interesting technique to teach me.  He drove me out of town about a mile.  Had me jump on the bike, said “well…if you want to get back home you better figure out how the clutch works”.  He walked home…and beat me back home.  But after a couple of hours I could slip that sucker with the best of them.  This would become my Jr. High Motorcycle.  Most of my friends had dedicated Dirt Bikes like XR’s and Xl’s…meanwhile I’m driving this road bike on the dirt roads and tearing the hell out of it.  Here’s an actual picture after one of my “super fancy” paint jobs”.

I have to admit the thing served me well.  Right up until I managed to break both arms riding it.  Not the bike’s fault at all.  Six Months after I was sort of patched up we slapped some new gauges on ‘er and she worked just great again…even if she pulled heavy in one direction LOL.  In the meantime my pops had traded something for a 1974 KZ400 that was somehow justified as going to be mine when I was big enough.

I have no real idea what that was all about.  With this little bike he drove from Idaho to Seattle many times…in the rain…on a 400…I can’t imagine the hell that must have been.  Anyway…back to the Thrifty Nickel….we found a 1976 CB750f for just $400.

This turned into my highschool bike and was awesome. I drove it to work for two years rain or shine in Seattle.  That means mostly I drove it in rain.  Then the clutch went out.  Sure I tried to fix it myself first…managed to screw that up big time. Then ended up trading her as is for a lousy IBM 286 PC!  Ugh…hate myself for it. But alas. Then after college I wanted another bike and came across this thing.  A 1983 CB1100f…finally a bike I had read about in the magazines growing up.

Also a fantastic bike…thing rode like a dream….

I took the bike to Vegas with me and used it commute for a couple of years. Then one day during 115 degree heat in Vegas it ate a valve.  It wasn’t the best or newest bike…so it wasn’t cost effective to fix it.  But I met this shop that really liked the bike and agreed to trade some work on a newer bike if I gave them mine for parts.  Next thing I know I own a new bike…a 1995 GPZ1100.

Another great solid bike…I put 30k miles on this one before I finally decided to sell it (well everything ran well).  So I went a few years without a bike and thought hey…why not get something I’ve always wanted even if it’s still. So…next hardtail chopper.

While this is not the one I bought…it looks equally as dangerous. I ended up with this nightmare that had a springer front end that didn’t ever belong on it. No rear shocks…no front break..and NEVER ran on more than 3 of its 4 cylinders.  I rode it from Phoenix to Tucson at 40 miles an hour.  Luckily I found someone just as stupid as me that wanted it. and they still love the thing. 

Lastly I thought I would recapture some nostalgia and pick up another 1983 CB1100f…only this time the one I ended up with had some major problems and it never ended up running…hello EBAY..and goodbye bike.

So today…do I buy another sport bike?  I do love how they handle but I hate how they depreciate…or do I look at something like an Indian for a decent re-sale value?  Or do I just keep investing the cash into the market and retire a couple years earlier?