Oh, how time flies...1st ride together in 20 years!

[circa1968]

After being blessed with a beautiful baby boy 19 years ago, I decided to sell my '99 Venture due to not being able to get the 'what if' thought out of my head every time I rode it.  Ironically, it was my wife who said "don't sell it, you love that bike".  I can still hear her saying those words to this day.  I think she also loved it, we took many trips together up/down the coast, Yosemite, Mt. Lassen and Shasta, beautiful country and amazing rides.

At times I wished I'd kept it and took my son riding, but baseball was his passion in life from when he was 2 years old, so we ended up spending most weekends at the ball field anyways and the bike ultimately would not have fit into our lives and sat unused for too much of the time.

Well, last August we dropped our son off at college in St. Louis (where he's playing ball!!) and in September I purchased my new baby, an '07 Venture.  As a funny little side story, I was recently searching for some family photos from 2010 and came across a photo of the blue/black '07 that I had apparently downloaded to my computer late one night in 2010!  I have no recollection of doing that but apparently my love of the '07 color scheme goes back a good 10 years. 

It's taken 6 long months to work through carb issues, then getting a trust & wills set up (at my wife's, the responsible adult here, insistence) and then finally some nice weather for this day to finally happen.  Our first ride together in 20 years.

It really is amazing how time flies, the whirlwinds of parenting, getting older and then suddenly right back to where we started and hard to believe that these 20 years passed in the blink of an eye.

I'm blessed to still be here, healthy, to have a wife who gives me no grief about having a motorcycle and to have experienced the greatest joy of all in life of having a child.  In the end, I can't say I would change a thing but now, its time to ride!

 

[RDawson]

Congrats on getting back on the horse. I too took a 20+ Hiatus. Wife and I enjoy traveling on the Venture much to the dismay of our kids. The one in med school is sure we’ll get killed on it. The blue/black is the best paint scheme of em all, it took me a year or two to find the one we have. 

[SpencerPJ]

Great story, as I can relate, only my wife does not ride, and I had girls that were basketball and volleyball junkies. They are moved out now, and I try to get an early afternoon ride in every day possible.  I prefer that blue color over all the others as well.  Be safe!  

[MonsterBiker]

My wife and I took an 11 year hiatus for much the same reason, selling our '06 Vulcan 2000 Classic LT in '08 because our kids needed parents.  By the time our youngest turned 16 in 2019 we could wait no longer and purchased the '08 RSV we have now.  My life now is rough - my wife, my 22 year old daughter and my 17 year old daughter fight over who gets to ride with me.  We live about a 45 min ride from Daytona so I have to make a minimum of three trips to Bike Week and Biketoberfest each year so that all three can attend.......poor me.  😁

This was my wife and I on a bike trip to North Carolina from Florida in '07 on the Vulcan.

 

Edited February 22, 2021 by MonsterBiker

[RDawson]

2 hours ago, MonsterBiker said:

We live about a 45 min ride from Daytona so I have to make a minimum of three trips to Bike Week and Biketoberfest each year so that all three can attend.......poor me.  😁

Yeah, sounds terrible. 

[circa1968]

Wow, Thanks for sharing guys.   Just reaffirms that I'm in good company here!!  I have to admit I was a bit nervous riding with her at first, but I swear the bike handles better 2-up, like some smart engineers designed it that way...

[Pasta Burner]

10 hours ago, MonsterBiker said:

My wife and I took an 11 year hiatus for much the same reason, selling our '06 Vulcan 2000 Classic LT in '08 because our kids needed parents.  By the time our youngest turned 16 in 2019 we could wait no longer and purchased the '08 RSV we have now.  My life now is rough - my wife, my 22 year old daughter and my 17 year old daughter fight over who gets to ride with me.  We live about a 45 min ride from Daytona so I have to make a minimum of three trips to Bike Week and Biketoberfest each year so that all three can attend.......poor me.  😁

Sounds like you need a few more licenses and bikes in the stable.  My 15yo daughter is interested, looking for a rebel or ninja on the used market.  If only she’d get her grades up, can’t reward poor behavior even if it is Covids fault.  I took some time away myself but I’m not one to sell things so she sat as a garage ornament for two years in my buddies place when I got divorced and had extensive business travel, then sat as a dust collector in my garage for the first four years after I moved, then another year fixing an ethanol attack.  But last year I finally got the itch again after buying my 87 VR and now both are primed and ready to roll anytime.

Edited February 23, 2021 by Pasta Burner
I dunno, pushed the wrong button somehow.

[MonsterBiker]

11 hours ago, Pasta Burner said:

 

My 17 year old is desperately wanting a motorcycle but she is still working on her driver's license.  I told her that once she gets that and gets more experience driving a car we can discuss a motorcycle.  My wife keeps talking about getting her own motorcycle but her brain processing speed is too slow.  Anytime she has to make a split-second decision she locks up, then almost always makes the wrong decision.  That's dangerous enough when driving a car.  On a motorcycle it could have much deadlier consequences.  So, it looks like for now I am stuck playing chauffeur...... poor me.  😁

[bpate4home]

2 hours ago, MonsterBiker said:

My 17 year old is desperately wanting a motorcycle but she is still working on her driver's license.  I told her that once she gets that and gets more experience driving a car we can discuss a motorcycle.  My wife keeps talking about getting her own motorcycle but her brain processing speed is too slow.  Anytime she has to make a split-second decision she locks up, then almost always makes the wrong decision.  That's dangerous enough when driving a car.  On a motorcycle it could have much deadlier consequences.  So, it looks like for now I am stuck playing chauffeur...... poor me.  😁

I had my MC license when I was 15, I had been riding since I was ~6 and that was 40 years ago. We were also in a rural area so a lot less traffic. I didn't let my sons get their license because we had moved to Houston. Only my youngest is even considering it now because they have seen the nutty driving that happens every minute of every day here. People trying to drive 10 - 20 mph faster than everyone else, weaving and bobbing their way through traffic.  Then you have those that are driving 10 - 15 mph lower than the speed limit.  These 2 groups are just looking to die on the roads and take someone with them.  

[slowrollwv]

This story sounds so on track with me. I also took an 18 yr. hiatus from riding. Not all from family things but I just lost interest. In late 04 the itch got under my skin and in May of 05 I bought my brothers 03 Venture and put 96,000 miles on it so far.

[N3FOL]

@circa1968 Glad you are back riding.  Things will go back to normal and we should all be able to go anywhere and whenever.  I also have the same color scheme.  I have an '07 RSV.  Hopefully next month will be better than this month in terms of weather.  Ride Safe.

[Papa Fred]

Looks like we oughta have our own section here.  I started riding in 1969, rode til shortly after our first daughter was born in 1981, then sold the bike I had then (late '70s Honda 750 Super Sport).  We re-joined the "Never Say Never" riding community again in 2017 when we found our present ride...a very-well cared for, 1 owner 2000 RSV.

Funny how the years, the aches and the worries went away.

[circa1968]

Nice to know I'm in such good company! 

I started on a Honda CM450 ~1989, upgraded to a couple of larger Shadows, then the 1100 Yamaha Virago.  Was planning a 5-day trip with a couple of friends in '99 and starting thinking I needed something different for such a trip.  I was 31 years old then and the idea of a big touring bike was not even within the realm of my thinking.  That was when I walked into a Yamaha dealer and started looking at their bigger star cruisers.  I called my wife who happened to be nearby and asked her to come give me her opinion of the bikes I was looking at & see how they felt as a passenger.   In her smart ass way, she looked at the Venture and said, "Well, you could buy 'Grandpa's' bike here" (Sorry guys, she said it not me, but I did laugh...).

The sales guy, of course, laughed too then said in all seriousness,  "its a really nice bike, we'd be happy to let you take it on a test ride".   She looked at me and said "you gotta try it, maybe Grandpa knows something."  I signed the necessary paperwork and was off for a quick ride, she waited at the shop.  I came back, told her Grandpa DOES know something and we're buying the Grandpa bike - because I love it!  Haha  Two weeks later I was off on my 1st multi-day ride through Yosemite, to Lake Tahoe, Mts Lassen & Shasta and then two days down the coast.  That '99 Venture made multiple trips back to Yosemite, up and down the coast and eventually a multi-week round trip to St. Louis and back.  It was also my daily commute ride.  I kept it looking like it did the day I bought it.

It was a sad day when I sold it, but the buyer was a 52-year old guy who's youngest daughter just left for college and he had given up motorcycles when his kids came along.  Isn't that something!  I'm right where he was then.  And still love this timelessly beautiful bike!  And yes, my wife is still a smart ass and she still calls it the Grandpa bike. 

[slowrollwv]

1 hour ago, circa1968 said:

Nice to know I'm in such good company! 

I started on a Honda CM450 ~1989, upgraded to a couple of larger Shadows, then the 1100 Yamaha Virago.  Was planning a 5-day trip with a couple of friends in '99 and starting thinking I needed something different for such a trip.  I was 31 years old then and the idea of a big touring bike was not even within the realm of my thinking.  That was when I walked into a Yamaha dealer and started looking at their bigger star cruisers.  I called my wife who happened to be nearby and asked her to come give me her opinion of the bikes I was looking at & see how they felt as a passenger.   In her smart ass way, she looked at the Venture and said, "Well, you could buy 'Grandpa's' bike here" (Sorry guys, she said it not me, but I did laugh...).

The sales guy, of course, laughed too then said in all seriousness,  "its a really nice bike, we'd be happy to let you take it on a test ride".   She looked at me and said "you gotta try it, maybe Grandpa knows something."  I signed the necessary paperwork and was off for a quick ride, she waited at the shop.  I came back, told her Grandpa DOES know something and we're buying the Grandpa bike - because I love it!  Haha  Two weeks later I was off on my 1st multi-day ride through Yosemite, to Lake Tahoe, Mts Lassen & Shasta and then two days down the coast.  That '99 Venture made multiple trips back to Yosemite, up and down the coast and eventually a multi-week round trip to St. Louis and back.  It was also my daily commute ride.  I kept it looking like it did the day I bought it.

It was a sad day when I sold it, but the buyer was a 52-year old guy who's youngest daughter just left for college and he had given up motorcycles when his kids came along.  Isn't that something!  I'm right where he was then.  And still love this timelessly beautiful bike!  And yes, my wife is still a smart ass and she still calls it the Grandpa bike. 

Well you can tell her what I said to mine. Come on Grandma lets go for a ride.

[circa1968]

19 minutes ago, slowrollwv said:

Well you can tell her what I said to mine. Come on Grandma lets go for a ride.

Oh, I can't wait to use that line!  Thank you!

[PastorCurt]

I use that line a lot... and it generally works!! 

[circa1968]

@PastorCurt wait, are we still talking motorcycles here?😇

3 hours ago, PastorCurt said:

I use that line a lot... and it generally works!! 

 

[Heimdog]

Awesome Story!  Mine is similar, right down to the '07 Venture.  Enjoy your rides!

 

[cowpuc]

OUTSTANDING!!!

[PastorCurt]

My wife wouldn’t ride with me until I got the ‘09 RSV. The ‘83 Venture just didn’t do it for her! Now she has bought in to riding and touring. I’m loving it!

[N3FOL]

On 2/24/2021 at 9:56 PM, circa1968 said:

Oh, I can't wait to use that line!  Thank you!

I am scared to use that line.  The risk outweigh the benefits.  I can’t go hungry.   ☺️

Edited February 27, 2021 by N3FOL