[PiZdETS]

Dream Bikes
With the posting of the Bimota on another site, I got a couple of "Aren't you the lucky one?" comments. Actually, luck has had little to do with it; so rather than beat around the bush, I'll tell you how I got to purchase my dream bike.

First, some background:

I'm over fifty.
I've been riding since I was 17 (you do the math, it just depresses me).
I went almost broke about 6-8 years ago and lost almost everything, including my bike.
I make much less now than I did in the Eighties.
I am not rich.
If I can buy my "dream bike", you can, too.

The key words are; Time, Planning and Work.

Back in 2000, my wife and I had emerged from a period of self-employment (it's called "going broke" in many circles); we had our house, busted credit and a mound of debt, and a 10 year old minvan with 100k on it. After finding work, we started the process of repairing/rebuilding our lives. Not much fun.

I had sold the bike, boat and everything else 8 years earlier to fund the business, as well as remortgaging the house....

After about a year of working hard to fix the debt problem, I told my wife I'd like to ride again, and she agree to a bike, as long as the funds didn't come out of the household money, but we could spare $500 for short term if I wanted to start the process.

This is what I did; it can work for anyone, using any type of commodity or service, as long as you already know your market.

I had been dabbling with computers, and worked part time doing repairs for a local shop. They sold used systems, and this was right after the dot-com crash. I was working in an industrial park, and one of the other tenants was dealing in then-plentiful used high-end rack servers, bidding on lots from bankrupt business for pennies on the dollar. One of the downsides for them was not having an outlet for all the desktop pc's than always came sprinkled in the lots of rack systems as part of the deal. They had pallets of them, wrapped in plastic, sitting in a dusty corner of the warehouse.

I called the friend of mine with the repair shop and asked him if he could use a few pallets of cheap computers. He could but had no spare cash, so I asked him if he could take them on consignment. Long story short, I spent a day on the phone with a bunch of shops, and got enough committments to move most of the units, at the same time negotiating with the company that had them. I went over the next morning, had them loaded into a rental truck, and in two days time, delivered all the computers I had pre-sold. I took back any non-functioning units, stripped them of parts and sold the parts to the same used computer shops. In a week I had paid back our house fund and netted $1500 bucks; the beginning of the "bike fund".

Rule #1: Take an opportunity when you see it. Ask questions, make some calls...nothing ventured, nothing gained. BUT, by the same token:

Rule #2: Never risk your seed money...only commit when you have a sure thing.
If the deal falls through because you've moved too slow, you are out nothing but some time and effort. There will ALWAYS be other opportunities.

I then begn my search for the RIGHT BIKE. Now, with $1500 bucks, I shouldn't expect much, right?

Rule #3: Set your sights HIGH. If you expect poor results, that is what you will get. I spent pretty much that whole spring looking at Cycletrader, CL, the classifieds; you name it, looking for the right bike. I didn't have a particular model in mind, but I was looking in general for a medium to large displacement sport or sport-tourer; like FJ1100-1200's, 1100 Katanas, CBR1000's and the big Kawi's. I looked at a lot of junk, and kept my money in my pocket. Then one day I called on an ad for a '89 1100 Kat, and new I had found the bike. When I went to look at it, I was convinced: low miles (4600 on a ten-year old bike) perfect cosmetic shape, but it wasn't running. The owner was an Army doc who spent most of his time overseas; the bike spent its life covered in the back of the garage. It would crank, but no startee. Bad case of sit-itis. Flat tires, bad battery . We haggled for two weeks (he wanted $2200 and I didn't have it) After many calls, we made the deal and I rolled the bike into the truck with $200 bucks left to get it running; three weeks later and a lot of busted knuckles, it was ready to ride.

Rule#4 Sweat equity is still equity. If you pay somebody else to do the work, that's less money for you.

I rode that bike for a year, put 8,000 miles on it, and sold it for $3200.

Rule#5 Well bought is half-sold. It wasn't the bike I was interested in for the long term, but it looked good and I kept it looking and running good, so when it came time to sell, it was easy.If the doctor had kept it up, I'd never had been able to afford it. Which leads us to:

Rule #6 Value is in the eye of the beholder. You can quote Kelly Blue Book and NADA all you want, it really comes down to "what will somebody pay you for it?" One man's junk in the garage is another man's foothold on a dream.

And so it began: over the next 5 years, I bought and sold 11 more bikes; some I made a lot of money on, some a little, and I even lost a few bucks on 2 (Rule #7...nobody bats a 1000).

Rule #8 Develop patience as a skill. I had found the bike I wanted over a year ago; but didn't have the bucks. So I just kept at it, buying and selling . Then this summer, I spoke again with the guy who was selling the little Bimota, and he volunteered to drop the price. I was in.

And you can be, too.


OTB

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Fear and Loathing in The Rain
I've read numerous posts here, and with one or two exceptions, RAIN riding seems to be both feared and hated. It's time to demystify RAIN RIDING!

To be honest with you, I actually like riding in the rain, most times. I say most times, because there are certain times when as rider I should take the cage, or pull over and stop:

A. During severe storms: high winds, tornado threats, severe lightning, and torrential downpours. I'm at a disadvantage during these, because of my mounts instability in high winds and deep water, and while lightning strikes on cars are almost unheard of, motorcycles are not so fortunate.

B. When you have mechanical "issues": didn't get that new tire like you should have?; put off finding that strange "miss" or hesitation? When the raindrops are falling fast and heavy, now's not the time to be dealing with those issues...pull over under the next underpass and wait it out.

The problem with not riding in the rain is that (especially in the Northwest) it eliminates a LOT of riding time, and if you stick around and ride long enough, eventually that Accuweather Forecast is gonna be just plain WRONG, and you'll HAVE to ride in the wet. Do you REALLY want to be uncomfortable, unsafe and terrified?

Four things happen to most riders unfamiliar with riding in the rain need to address: Loss of traction, loss of vision (both yours and other drivers), body heat loss (even in the middle of the summer) and, most importantly, loss of confidence.

All that being said, the following is my formula for dealing with the rain, and learning to love it as just another rider's challenge and mastery of new techniques. They fall under three catagories: The Bike; The Body, The Brain


The Bike

Bike in top notch shape...always. I never put off tire and service issues; I ride a lot, so I never know when I may need all the performance and traction my bike has to offer, in the rain or dry.

Most folks that fear the rain have the idea that the bike will snap out from under them at any moment. Having good tires on virtually guarantees that the bike will have more traction than I've got courage. I MEAN it! Todays tires have PHENOMENAL wet traction, as long as they aren't worn out. Those little slots on the tires tread (sipes) give the water a place to go as your big donut rolls through it, and the very small profile and contact patch of your tire compared to a car, which limits your traction in the dry, makes your bike's tires far less likely to hydroplane than automobile tires.

The other big issue on your bike is the brakes....if you haven't checked there condition in a while, take a peek... check the condition of the pads, to insure adaquate amount of material, and check the disks for chatter marks and grooving. The issue isn't brake fade so much in the rain, as it is brake feel and progressiveness. Having brake pads down to the backing plate is not just bad for the disks, it makes the brakes feel "wooden", and they lose there progressive (the harder I squeeze, the quicker I stop) feel, which can lead to accidental (and disasterous) lockup.

While you're at it, if you've been putting off adjusting the clutch or brake levers to make them fall to a more natural plane, now's the time. Having your controls fall comfortably to hand is another key to smooth, controlled riding. AND you did check ALL your lights; brake, running, turn signal and high and low beams, right?

If you riding a faired sport or sport touring bike, you will have little vision advantage over an unfaired bike, unless you're riding something like 'Wing or dresser.


The Body

When I ride, I ALWAYS have a rain suit available. I have my bulky-but-rugged and comfortable Tourmaster packed in my tailpack for long trips, and I have a lightweight Frogtogs suit which folds up to the size of about 4 packs of cigarettes, which stays in my tankbag, which is on the bike ALWAYS. As far as cheap rainsuits; don't waste your money....buying one of those cheap vinyl jobs is like throwing money away, it'll be in tatters in a matter of minutes. Suck it up and buy the good stuff designed for proper fit and holding up under the rigors of riding.

My boots are waterproof Gore-tex; much less stylish than the full-race versions, but my feet are never soggy or too cold, and I'm never distracted by the cold trickle of water down the back of my ankles.

I also carry a pair of gauntleted waterproof gloves in my tailpack for long trips. If my fingers are cold, clammy and stiff, it could make the difference between a close call and a call home.

Full face helmet; if you're still debating the advantages of full face vs half vs beanies, vs none at all, you either haven't been paying attention or you just plain choose to be ignorant and deserve what you get. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Along with that full face helmet is a clean, CLEAR faceshield......still listening? Why? Because those tinted and cool "reflective" face shields block up to 90% of AVAILABLE light, and if it's raining during the day, I lose between 25 and 75% of available light when those big, black clouds blot out the sun....plus, all that rain is going to block available light even further and when it starts pouring and I'm passing eighteen wheelers' "bow waves" on that uphill stretch in the mountains, I'm gonna need all the advantages I can get my hands on.

But, you say, "how can I see ANYTHING in the rain, I don't have windshield wipers?" The answer is, "Quite well, thank you." If you've ever driven in a car in the rain, you know how difficult it is to see out the windshield once it begins to be covered in raindrops. Not so on a motorcycle, looking through a faceshield. The difference is that your eyes are within a scant inch or so of the wetted surface, so each eye ends up looking around different drops of water, rather than through the whole spotted area. It's called paralax, and it's one of the few things working in your favor in the rain. Plus, turning your head from side to side in the windblast removes 90% of the rain from your shield. As far as fogging, most of the premium manufacturers are making fog-free sheilds...if yours isn't, try a Fog City insert....nothing short of riding in a cloud bank fogs 'em up.

Taking care of these items gets you ready to ride safely and comfortably in the rain. My next post will tell you how I've come to enjoy the challenge of riding in the wet, taking care of the head and building skills and confidence in the rain.

Now would be a good time for all you folks with happy wet weather experiences to post up with more gear and bike prep tips.