Sailor

In my opinion Yamaha has blown it. The 6 cyl, water cooled Gold wing is lighter and more powerful. What Yamaha seems to have come up with is a heavier gold wing with a Harley engine. Not for me.

You are right except for when you are wrong.

Not bad looking but rather generic side view. I like the front and rear views. I called my broker a while ago and told him I was going to need cash for a new bike. If it had a V4 I would have gone for it but as it is I just can't go for a Hardly clone. An air cooled, low revving thumper is just not what I want. The air cooled engine and low revs are the turn off for me. Guess I will be keeping the 02 for a few more years.

Why?

A two wheel Winnebago or a Hardly clone just does not interest me, an updated Venture does.

What I would like and what I get are usually two different things. What I would like....V4 or even V6. Lighter, lower center of gravity. full instrumentation, full faring, performance cruiser. What I think we will see........nothing What we might see.......water cooled V twin, limited instrumentation, full faring cruiser.

I have rented cars in England many times. I am convinced the drivers in Cornwall down a pot of black coffee and a half dozen amphetamines before hitting the road. Once I went over with family so I rented a "people mover", mini van to us. It was a diesel powered Peugeot. I was following my cousin from the airport to her place. She was driving a turbo wagon. I had trouble keeping up. She was zig zagging through traffic and I was cutting people off trying to keep up in the under powered van. We hit a round about. She went around at full speed and missed her turn so went around again. I was following with the pedal to the metal and all tires screaming. All I could think of was " I hope they think we are filming the chase scene out of a movie".

When I first got my m/c license I failed. I could not understand why. Then I found out that they always failed everyone the first time out. I had a class 4 (commercial), class 5 (standard), class 6 ( motorcycle) and was licenced for the race track. I gave up the 4 when they started mandatory testing every year and the racing one has long expired.

I drove ambulance for a while. It is amazing the number of people who can not see a big white ambulance with lots of red markings and flashing lights and a siren. Not much chance those people will see a motorcycle. The majority of motorcycle accidents are caused by unaware drivers. We should be writing letters to the local governments and media to get word out to drivers that we are out there and they need to watch for us. I have had several letters printed in various newspapers and been on radio promoting motorcycle safety. I figure every bit helps and if enough of us do it drivers will slowly develop awareness. In this area each year the government spends millions of dollars on bicycle awareness and safety, hundreds of thousands on pedestrian awareness and safety, not one cent on motorcycle awareness and safety. Frequently knee jerk politicians decide to attack motorcycles and motorcyclists as a way to get free publicity. I always attack them and point out the absurdity of their claims. Being proactive is better than being reactive from a hospital bed.

"You are only as old as the girls you feel"....Groucho Marx. I don't feel my age but yesterday my son told me he is turning 50 this year! How the heck did that happen! He must be aging faster than me.

I always wanted a TR3 but never got one. It was fun to watch the guy who had one drag his cigarette along the pavement at night.

Hi Camos.....3 MGA's, 1 TR4A, 1 Austin Healy 3000 MKIII

I grew up on the waterfront and always had boats. I loved being out there by myself, especially in rough weather. When I got old enough for cars I always had British sports cars. Lots of winding roads around here to cut loose on. Eventually the sport cars got to be too expensive and I took up motorcycles. I loved the feeling of a good winding road and the freedom of being on my own. I eventually had to sell the sailboats but to me a power boat compared to a car while a sailboat compared to a motorcycle. I had an '85 Madura which was stupid fast for a cruiser. It had a 1/4 turn throttle and an 11,500 red line. It topped out at 150 mph and got up there in a big hurry. I eventually sold it. I figured I was getting older and might as well live a few more years. I got the 02 venture and love it but now I am even older and finding it a handful in the parking lot. Time to downsize. I love the speed and power but I also enjoy just cruising.

I took my company pension at 59. It cost me a 2% reduction in pay but it is indexed to the cost of living so I have gained far more. I took the CPP at 60 which reduced my monthly payments but they increased once I made 70. I have the OAP which I got at 65. All I had to do was go online and apply a couple months in advance.

I have some experience with medical costs here in Canada. Being retired ( the boss pronounces it "retard") we pay our own medical which comes to about $1800.00 (CDN) per year for the both of us. For prescriptions we pay the first $ 600.00 for the year then we pay 1/3 and the plan pays the rest. We are not covered for glasses, hearing aids or dental. Although I got silicone lens replacements in both eyes and 2/3 of that was covered. Anything the plan does not pay for I take off our income tax. A few years ago I developed cancer and was not expected to make it. A year of treatments-drugs,injections ( at $1400,00 a pop) and daily radiation for 7 weeks cost me nothing. I broke my ankle a couple years ago- ambulance, surgery, three days in hospital cost me nothing. I just had a full knee replacement which cost me nothing. I think the taxes we pay on both sides of the border are reasonably close, the difference is in where the money goes. There is an investigative tv show we have here which is called " Marketplace". They investigate ripoffs etc. They investigated why there is such a difference in prices between the US and Canada. For example, pocketbooks are $3.00 to $4.00 more in Canada than the US. They went to various manufacturers and shipping companies in the US and found the reason for cost differential was that the attitude of the manufacturers was that " They are Canadian, they are used to paying a higher price so we charge them more." Transportation and taxes had little to do with it. Dairy prices here are far higher and that is due to the quota system imposed by the government which is intended to keep prices higher so farmers make more. When I worked at Vancouver airport we would get truckloads of shirts from California and ship them by air ( the most expensive way to ship) across Canada. A week later there would be a sale on those shirts. Vancouver $ 30.00, Toronto $ 25.00 Montreal $ 20.00. This was just the stores ripping people out west off. It was the same with radios etc from Japan. The government set tariffs which make it more expensive to ship from west to east than from east to west. This gives the eastern manufacturers a bigger profit.

I have pictures of very similar bikes in Mexico except that instead of one fat rear tire they had dual rear tires.

And bikinis. What you see is what you get. There are a couple swimming holes nearby where even a bikini is considered overdressed.

Was in the Midlands, England several years ago. Stopped in a little pub in a small town. I do mean little, the bar was all of 6 ft long and it had one table with just enough room for a couple pints. Git talking to a patron there. Had such a heavy accent I could not understand a word but kept smiling and talking anyway. We enjoyed ourselves. When he left the bartender asked if I had understood any of it. I said " Not a word." He said "Oh thank goodness, he has been here 5 years and no one can understand a thing he says" Hey Rick, you can park in our yard if you don't mind being at a 40 degree angle.

I was born in Galahad Alberta. Dirt street and board sidewalk. On Saturday night they would pin a bed sheet on the back wall of the store and show a movie. When my dad was overseas in the war we lived with relatives in Alabama which is where I learned to talk. When he came back we returned to Canada but on the coast. Dad was from England so had an English accent. When that got crossed up with my Alabama accent everyone thought I was from Australia. Love the small towns. Last October I had a full knee replacement in the Hospital in Duncan. When I went in the anesthetist said " I know you, broken ankle, last year, motorcycle accident". When I went into the recovery room the nurse said the same thing.

We get a lot of eagles and some Ospreys out on the lake. There are beavers, turtles and swans there as well.I loved my job in the city (Vancouver) but I just could not stand living there any more. Have never regretted moving to Saltspring. City slickers who come to visit are unnerved by the silence, overwhelmed by the stars and delighted by the deer. Us country folk sure have it good. One of my favorite songs is Valdys " Country Man". Gotta watch out though, might be a "silver tongued devil" banging on the door sometime this summer.

We have a welcome sign at one side of our front door and a couple fake palm trees wrapped in lights at the other side. About 3 years ago hummingbirds built a nest on the welcome sign which is just a few feet from the door. Last December a cougar killed and ate half a deer then stashed the rest under our deck intending to return for it later. The cougar was probably pissed off when Janet made me take the carcass to the dump. Now I am watching two birds building a nest in the fake palm trees. They are right next to the door. Can't wait to see what happens next.

I'll check them out. Thanks.

Thanks for the info. I was inclined towards the vtx 1300 and this confirms my idea.

High roller is neat, even better at night. Valley of Fire is great. Hoover Dam. Fremont street is fun, especially later at night when the odd balls come out.

Much as I hate to I am thinking this will be the year I sell my venture. I hate giving up that V4 but age is catching up with me and I am finding it a bit of a handful in the parking lot. I almost dropped twice last year. I am thinking smaller and lower center of gravity. I am thinking of two bikes. A. Yamaha V Star 1300 Delux SE or B. Honda VTX 1800 There are used ones nearby but I have not yet gone to look. Does anyone have experience with these bikes? Any advice?