Evolution of a Biker Babe

When I was growing up, I was always taught the dangers of motorcycles. So naturally, when I got married, I was dead set against our family owning one. I remember very distinctly the day that my husband came home with one. I was probably more mad that day than I have ever been in our married life. I looked at that bike as a "death trap", and I was mad that he had gone out and bought it without talking to me about it first.

That motorcycle was a Yamaha Virago. He rode it to work sometimes and it filled that "bike void" that he felt. What most people don't know about my husband is that he had a motorcycle much of the time growing up. So he is experienced in riding. I guess once you get that taste for riding, it's hard to give it up.

The next bike he bought was a V-Star. This isn't the nicest term to use, but we always referred to it as the "Dike Bike" because two lesbian women had traded it in on a car. It was a good deal, with barely any miles on it. By the time he bought this bike, I was desensitized and didn't get upset at the thought of him riding it. Here is a picture of that bike when my husband rode it out to Utah.



I think he did enjoy the trip, but when he was about 20 miles away from our destination, he came around a sharp turn and slid out on the gravel and laid it down. The main damage to him was a huge bruise on his side, and the main damage to the bike was the headlight and the gas tank that got a dent in the side. He could still ride it, and did ride it home, but some of the value was lost in the accident. The main thing he learned from this trip is that the V-Star simply doesn't have enough power for those kinds of trips. The engine runs at full capacity in the highest gear just trying to do the speed limit. Add to that mountains or hills and it just wasn't the right kind of bike.




So imagine my husband sitting at his desk all year round in his sales/engineer job, day dreaming about summer vacation when he will ride his motorcycle out to Utah. Imagine him planning carefully about how he will get a new bike that will have the power he needs. Remember that he has been thinking about this for an entire year. Now let me describe the scene I saw this morning. There was my husband, face down on the bed groaning in frustration. I said, "What's wrong?" He said, "I'm frustrated because I still haven't found the right bike, and this is my last day to look for one." I said, "That isn't frustration, that's desperation!" I told him that he needed to be sure not to buy a bike out of desperation, but to get the right one for him. He had been looking on Craig's list but hadn't found anything. He did find one bike, but the owner never did contact him about it, so he assumed it was already sold. Suddenly my husband said, "I have an idea. I'm going to look online at the dealer near my work." He pulled up their website and there was the very bike that he knew would be right for him! He called the owner and asked about it. He said he had just posted it online two days earlier, and about 15 minutes earlier had lowered the price! My husband told him we would be there within the hour!

I have to say that this just felt like it was meant to be. This bike was a STEAL! It only had 3,000 miles on it, so is like new! He got it for quite a bit below blue book value, and less than half of the original purchase price. It's in perfect condition! If I can get blogger to work, I'll post a picture of it.

So now I'm actually happy for him that he found such a good bike, as opposed to my anger at his first bike purchase. Not only that, but I've been thinking I should take the motorcycle class to get my own license. The V-Star is sitting in the garage just waiting for me to ride it....