They were talking about the private race track Loris Capirossi has in his back yard on telly yesterday. I think thats what you call life goals.
This ….actually using a bike these days seems to be the exception rather than the rule, all our group do loads of miles, a mate of mine recently traded in a 3 year old S1000rr with 22,000 miles on it, had to visit 3 dealerships before he got one that was interested Bikes aren’t an investment, if you want to save money get an ISA or something, bikes are for getting out with your mates and enjoying yourselves, a mate of mine put it into perspective brilliantly a good few years ago, he had bought himself a brand new 1200 GS when they first came out , he put about 45,000 miles on it in about 4 years and never washed it since the day he got it We all told him that he was crazy and would get nothing for it come trade in time and all he could say was… “It doesn’t matter “….”It doesn’t matter “.. When we asked him what he meant by that, he used this logic to explain- He said, …when I trade this with the high mileage etc, they’ll give me bottom book for it, say ( at the time ) £6 grand If I’d washed it every weekend and only done about 15,000 miles on it they’d give me top book for it, say ( also, at the time) about £7,5 grand.. Therefore, all the places I’ve been, ..the things I’ve seen, ..the great times and laughs with my mates I’ve had in those extra 30,000 miles have cost me £1,500 quid,……”best value for money you’ll ever get in your life” ! When you look at it like that , we couldn’t fault his argument, and that’s one of the reasons I use mine as much as I want, when I’m too old and decrepit to ride it, or when it eventually grinds to a halt ( whichever comes first ) then I’m just gonna drain the oils and petrol out of it, give it a good polish and stand it in the front room under some spotlights and sit and laugh at all the great times and fun I’ve had on the little red bomb …so it’ll still be giving me pleasure, you can’t put a price on that
When my GS falls apart I’m going to use it as a stationary engine and visit all those old duffer steam rallies and rev the nuts off it Sadly it’s only done 53,000 miles so may have to wait a while
That’s my fallback option. I will of course keep the engine modes. Dynamic - for hot dry days. Rain - for when it’s raining (obvs) Enduro (+Pro) for if the steam rally site is a muddy swamp.
I learned my lesson the hard way about selling bikes then regretting it. With these focused bikes you’re always going to have good days and bad. Like life embrace the good and put the bad behind you
I hear you… riding in Canada these days is brutal too. Worse is driving a car here for me I have no desire to drive and I used to love driving too