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Anyone else notice all the vintage bikes!
dheffley
Member Posts: 25,000 ✭
Man, with gas where it is, I have seen more vintage bikes back out on the road. I think some folks that haven't riden them in years have pulled them out, cleaned them up, and started trying to save some money![;)]
I've actually enjoyed seeing what our parking lot at work has had to offer![^]
I've actually enjoyed seeing what our parking lot at work has had to offer![^]
Comments
Whoa - look at that - a Virago 1100. Hey - isn't that a Honda Nighthawk 700? What? A Goldwing 1200 - and an XT 350? Last weeks simple commute on a Wednesday morning mixed with errands and a blaze out towards the Texas Hill Country for dinner tickled my moto synapses with forgotten motorcycles, all live and in person. I saw all of those bikes - on the road, refueling and parked at the barber shop. Four hundred pennies for a gallon of gas has managed to pull some dusty metal out from the woodsheds across America.
A visit to a local dealership confirmed it - batteries, carb kits and service tickets to rejuvenate long hibernated bikes are the hot items. The little shop had five Ninja 250's with deposits, each with its own back-up buyer and nary one on the sales floor for a dry run. SV and V-Strom 650's are as scarce as loose change in a dorm room couch. Scooters roll without any sales pitch - no need, they are sold when they come through the front door. Lo and behold our little moto world is changing - and I'll bet most of us "enthusiasts" are not really ready for the consequences.
Sure, sure - we all want to see more bikes on the road - that would be a good thing right? But are we ready for what that really means? Don't get me wrong - I want to see more ridership out there - but there will be growing pains and there will be a repeat of history. Don't be shocked. It's gonna happen and we "educated riders" need to look past our upturned noses and help the new commuterist class ease into the ride.
Let's set the stage for the next couple years:
Gas prices will stay up - but few are selling their SUV's. On the used market V-8's might as well have "hazardous waste" stickers on them. A Toyota sales woman at a local bar told me (rather candidly after a couple glasses of wine) that she feels sorry for all the full size truck and SUV drivers who think that there is any chance their 2500 series rig will be an even trade for a Yaris. Ouch. Talk about a reality check. She suggests leaving the beast in the garage and waiting to see what happens next - and of course buying that Yaris anyway. She may have been buzzed - but she was still in sales.
I'll bet more than a few Suzuki Madura - Madurai? (look it up you youngsters) have extruded out of the garage to make room for that fuel-chugging lump of Americana. Time rotted tires, dry bearings, sticky cables and 78% clean carbs hit the open road. As do some scratched up Kiwi helmets, white and purple Fieldsheer jackets, and some crusty deerskin work gloves. Dormant bikes aruse-ablele after a couple hundred bucks and some stinky fiddly work in the garage - dormant bikers, the scariest part of the equation, will take more work than that.
MSF classes are full all over the county, the need to save fuel bucks is high and that lonely VX 800 only needs some electrical tape to firm up its floppy turn signals - what could possibly go wrong? Shame that a spritz of carb cleaner applied to the former dormant biker (not recommended by the way) can't get them back up to speed as quickly. Start lining up the curves and I hate to say it - but I suspect in a year or two there will be a spike of popular media hysteria about an increase in motorcyclists injuries, and innocent victims of unlicensed riders. Denial is the most popular piece of safety gear for the rebound rider.
History will repeat itself - Ford isn't likely to bust out a retro Model T - but look over the horizon to see Smart Cars drizzle into rare parking spaces all over Europe, and a $4000 car challenge Indians to add gas to their weekly chutney budget. The impracticality of the motorcycle will hit with the first rainfall, snowfall, tommy tip-over or bad hair day which ever may come first. Car mongers will feed the need and Americans will be spoon-fed some savvy marketing that gets them chuffed about the _ scale trucklette they mocked just a couple years ago.
If you want to push back the inevitable for a little while, do your part. Help the dude with the FT500 Ascot remember what the right tire pressures are for a motorcycle. Push the guy with the TDM 850 to bleed his front brakes. Remind that glossy-eyed neighbor that they need a valid license for their bespoked petrol sipper. The pressure of the test will either wash out the uncommitted, or get them back in the learning groove. Offer to go for a ride and gently interject some long forgotten technique over a breakfast burrito. Better yet - squeeze your way into a Riders Edge course and drag them along. And be sure to let them know about the Aspergillus Fumigatus mold - the type that fills a shelved lid after a few years in a dark closet.
Let me ask you a question; would you wear unwashed four-year-old underwear, on your head? Dude I'm sure that's almost as gross as that funky helmet.
I'm saying be a friend to the rebound rider. You are not only helping them, but your self ultimately. We band of moto brothers should also take note: there is a bright side to this possible future. Soon there will be a pile of cheap SV 650's for all us track day junkies, carports with slightly used Monster 695's for the tragically hip and under funded to cruise about on, dozens of Ninja 250's to hook the next generation of enthusiast, and perhaps event the odd Versys 650 - that would make the perfect cheap commuter to add to our garage...
Ride safe and ride often -
Robert
Snobby moto enthusiast with a heart of gold
What would be considered "vintage?"
Too old to live...too young to die...