Thank you Ron...maybe better that I'm a bit out of the net on such things. Those kind of prices seem a bit out of my league to say the least. If I didn't already have my bike, I certainly couldn't even think about getting one now a days at that kind of price. When I bought mine it was two years old and it cost me back then about two months wages. But I had to take a bank loan to buy it, even then. It was still "affordable" in some sense of the word, even for me at that time, but two months wages is two months wages. I didn't have a car then, and it was my only vehicle, so I needed it for transportation...and naturally, to pick up girls. Those two factors got me through the year it took to pay the bank loan back. LOL
Guess if that is the case on prices, I should be happy I have mine as it is already paid for... and I can just hope it doesn't break. I have noticed the prices of even those couple of small bits to fix those leaks I just fixed, were more than a lot of money for what I actually got in my hand when all was said and done. If it wasn't for the fact that the machine is already paid for and having it sit and stare me in the face every nice day would be for an old man too painful..I wouldn't even think about spending that kind of cash on a few bits that physically really aren't worth what they cost. Figured by time worked, versus buying power... as in, I work two hours, you work two hours and we trade what we made theory.
So...then it is a bit sobering, to think what it would take to really have to fix something serious. Never mind doing the "restoration" thing some of you talk about. From reading some of the posts in the forum, I have to take a guess that there are an awful lot of high earners out there amongst you all and not too many of us on the low end of the spectrum that have these kind of toys. And I bet that close to a hundred percent of the low-enders that are here in the forum, are only owners cause they have already had the machine since Dinosaurs walked the earth and just kept them cause they already had them; were perhaps smart enough to know over the years ( unlike most of the "Gonna get me another one of them someday" ex_Harley owners sitting at the bar in your local gin joint) that they wouldn't ever get it up to get another if they were stupid enough to sell the one they already had... or someone like me who kept them out of shear stubbornness, being satisfied with it or fear of trying something new. Or a good wife.
My bike has seen a whole bunch of "close calls" over the years. If it wasn't for a wife that has done without and even put in extra hours just to see me with good tires under me and a smile on my face...the bike would have ended up numerous times going under the hammer to pay for kids, house repairs or who knows what. It is, after all, when all is said and done, just a toy if we are honest about things. The days of owning a bike for "transportation" are mostly history.
Gosh...better quit and get off your monitor screen with this. Sorry, it's now 05:10 and no...I'm not...I'm stone cold sober... just can't sleep. Have a good one and ride safe!
