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After a 20 year break from open road motorcycling, at 50 years old, I went looking for a bike. I went to all the distributors but finally ended up at a BMW dealer. I wanted something different from what I was riding at the time which was a Honda XR650 off-rode bike. My son had an XR100. I asked the salesman what was the "opposite" from that bike and he showed me a K1200LT touring bike. It weighed 850 lbs. I bought it. I am 6' tall so I had no problem straddling the bike. In the next 6 years to present, I bought and sold and wrecked 6 different BMW's putting over 110k miles on them in the west coast mostly. I learned what long distance riding was all about and did several 1000 mile days.
Personally, I wouldn't have wanted to start with a smaller bike and trade up later. I just went for it and decided that I would make it work for me. I ended up meeting lots of people like me and we even started a Wednesday night dinner club, a ride-to-eat club, that is in it's 6th year. We haven't missed a week yet. Even if only a couple people show up, the streak lives on. Usually there are around 10 riders present.
In CA, you can ride year round. That's why so many miles riding in those 6 years. Living in the east coast now, the riding season is much shorter. That's why I bought a snowmobile. It's like a bike, only on snow. And you also ride-to-eat on sleds just like motorcycling.
Anyways, everyone is different and has to decide what type of riding they plan to do. From touring, sport touring, cruising, dual sport, off-rode to crotch rockets. They're all good. Depends on what you want. Nothing is bad. Safety classes are excellent. Even the experienced motorcyclists that I know who have over 800k miles still go to advanced motorcycle saftey classes every couple years. You'd be surprised what you 'used' to know or what you forgot. Staying current and aware is just smart riding.
I have a 2007 Kawasaki vn2000 classic LT. Muzzys dragster pipes, wizard lights under tank behind engine and front wheel. HID headlight and I just installed Factory lightbar, Tachometer and windshield lowers. Love the bike. I will take pics with new accessories soon.
Last edited by Wyattscranton; 02-20-2010 at 07:06 PM..
Reason: pics. too close togeather
^^^^oh man. i used to work at an auto parts stroe where we sold those things. i think every one came back busted.
Mike
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