Article

[Ndiaz]

My latest article in http://www.thetentacle.com , a local (central MD) news and commentary site, is out today. Topic is shopping/buying used motorcycles. I'm privileged to be able to write about motorcycles for a nonmotorcycling site. So far I've had good reviews about this.

 

Click on the following: http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=3089 .

 

Nick Diaz

[Venturous Randy]

That was a great article Nick and I look forward to the next one. One suggestion I know you already know it doing the "step-up" thinking when buying a first bike or getting back into bikes after many years away. An example of this was after riding as a teenager, I got away from bikes for over 20 years. My wife and I went to the Bahamas and due to a cancelled snorkle trip, we ended up renting a Honda scooter. We had a blast getting away from the "tourist strip" and exploring the island, even though it was doing it on the "wrong" side of the road.

When we got home I was interested in getting back in to motorcycling and found a great deal on a Yamaha 850 Special with fairing and hardbags. After a new clutch cable and starter clutches it became a good running bike. I then one day sat on a Venture and knew where I wanted to go next.

I ended up getting a good deal on an 83 with 23K miles and sold the 850 for twice what I paid for it. My wife and I have now put almost 100K more miles on the Venture and love it. The thing is that I would probably never have bought the Venture if that had been my first choice as it would have been too big for me. But, after the 850, which was even taller, the Venture fit good.

Another example of the step-up bike was our grandkids and trail bikes. My son bought a nice Honda Z-50 and the kids rode until they got bigger bikes. When it came time to sell it, it was cleaned up real good and needed maintenance was done. When a couple came to look at it, they thought the price was a little high for a small bike. We explained that the Z-50 had a great following and the thing to do was buy a bike that would sell good and they would get their money back.

I think the step-up thinking is routinely over looked. I see first time riders go buy a big Harley and end up not riding it because they are not comfortable handling it. If they had gotten some good seat time on a smaller bike, the step up would have been natural and they would have enjoyed motorcycling.

RandyA

[Bummer]

Another nice article, Nick! Thanks for posting the link.