WOW....it was interesting to read all the stories and think about mine as well.....here goes:
Karen calls me asking what I think about her getting endorsed (that’s what they call it here in Wa). I agreed and a few weeks later I took my class, she took hers about a month later. So...now we can ride me legally but we still don’t own any...
After a few months of looking at Hondas, Kawasaki’s, Yamahas, HDs, etc...There was still nothing really grabbing me. I had us both convinced we needed to get Hondas, she would get the Shadow 750 and I would get the VTX1300. Went to look at em both a lot and each time I saw something else I didn’t like. After a while I was sure I would not buy a Honda.
Then came the used Victory at a HD dealer. Man I was so close to buying that bike! It was a black 8 ball and felt great with its forward controls and just sounded great.
Tax time came around and the refund made it my way...now I had the cash...still no bike that was really pulling at me.
Cruiser magazine had a 07 Cruisers issue. I was flipping pages and saw tiny picture of the Speedy at the bottom of the page. Huh! That looks interesting. Next step was looking the bike up on the interweb...looked nice. Small motor though. Everyone was telling me I needed an 1100. I wanted to see one so I found a local dealer and started the process of staring at the America and Speedy sitting next to each other on the sales floor.
I took Karen down to sit on it and she liked it. I knew I liked it and it felt great. Reach was good, foot position was good, bike sounded good for stock. Construction was by far superior to other bikes in the showroom and the sales people weren’t as snooty as the HD dealer. That Sportster felt like sitting on a 2x4 and all the other bikes didn’t feel good except for the Victory which was way over my budget for a first bike.
A few arguments later (about spending the money not the bike choice) I made the decision to go down and buy the bikes. It was snowing so there was no test ride. I got jerked around for a few hours and went to the other Triumph dealer the next day. 45 minutes later and I was now making payments on two brand new 07 Americas. The black one was mine and the black and red was Karens. Two days later they were delivered and after a quick spin through the parking lot I was on my way to the airport on a business trip. I got back a week later and it rained for the next three weeks….
4800 miles, five months later, some goodies and I have not a single regret! As a matter of fact what I have is excitement and joy, pride and prejudice (against everything else on the road) and a bike I can’t imagine not having!
