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Bikes you've sold and HAVE NOT regretted...

When I got back into bikes almost 20 years ago my wife was overly concerned about my speed addiction and was dead set against me getting a fast bike. She figured a cruiser would slow me down and keep me alive so I got a new 2001 Yamaha RoadStar silverado. It was a nice bike for what it was but it was slow, poor at cornering and couldn't stop. I just never 'felt it'. I had it 3 years then fell in love with the FJR and kicked the RoadStar to the curb.

Never looked back or wished for another cruiser.

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I've always been happy to sell a bike because I usually see something I like, bring it home and park it next to the old one with a small desire to keep both.

Old one doesn't get ridden so it gets sold.

Now of my previous bikes I'd say the Speed Triple was the most missed. Ridiculously comfortable and plenty fast but the suspension was perfect and confidence inspiring.

The one I missed least was my first one, a 93 Suzuki VX800. Heavy, weak brakes, soggy suspension, and purple.
 
1969 Norton Commando 750 Fastback. Spit a tooth out through the bottom of the transmission case. Fixed that welding up the case and new gear. Then the isolastic suspension started wearing during my 260 miles , once aweek trips to work. Very wobbley over metal grate bridges. Later, after racing with a corvette came to an offramp and got on the brakes and the steering neck moved forwards a bit. Got home , took the tank off and foam pad over the large tube back bone. Yikes! I was totally broken. Looked down at the down tubes and both cracked about 1/2 way around and that what was holding the front end on. Patched and welded that back up and sold it to a guy that wanted if for the engine. Course, my jumping rice field levee's with it a few times probably didn't help. Sigh.
 
I've always been happy to sell a bike because I usually see something I like, bring it home and park it next to the old one with a small desire to keep both.

Old one doesn't get ridden so it gets sold.

Now of my previous bikes I'd say the Speed Triple was the most missed. Ridiculously comfortable and plenty fast but the suspension was perfect and confidence inspiring.

The one I missed least was my first one, a 93 Suzuki VX800. Heavy, weak brakes, soggy suspension, and purple.

I actually liked riding my VX800....From 95 to 2000 it took me on some of my first longer distance tours (prev SR/SRX singles werent much to tour on)

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But then...in 2000..I got this....

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Man O Man....What a difference
That TDM led directly to all the V Stroms that follwed
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Sold and not regretted ... this might take some time and thought ...

Let me try to list all the bikes I've owned in my lifetime ...

1966 Yamaha HS1 twin jet - 90cc 2 stroke twin
1972 Rockford TAKA - 100 enduro
1973 Hodaka Combat Wombat - a 125cc handful of fun
1972 Kawasaki 250 F11 - 250 enduro
1972 Honda SL175 - 175 twin enduro

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1976 Honda CL360 scrambler
197? Kawasaki 175 enduro
1977 Suzuki 750E
1979 Suzuki 1100L
1977 Honda CB750 SS
1978 Honda Goldwing

Then, in 1984, family took precedence and I traded the Wing to a local carpenter for work on my house.

Fast forward to 2006 ... while working with Bill (Graubart) he introduced me to V-stroms.
This is when I joined TWT ...

2005 V-strom 1000 - sold it to a friend of Rod's.
Empty stable once again.

Fast forward again to 2015 ...

2002 VTX1800 - I liked that big cruiser ... I didn't like the 100 mile fuel range.

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2005 V-Strom - bought from (Paul) V-lust ... skinless Jim was riding it when he was kamikazed by a dog

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which led to ...
2006 V-strom 1000

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Meanwhile ... I traded the VTX for ...

2009 BMW R1200RT -

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And in the meantime ... I sold both Stroms and got this ...
2005 BMW R1200GS

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This was my BMW phase. When I purchased the GS from PlaneDR (?), I found it much more comfortable to ride than the RT. It also seemed to scratch that off tarmac itch I had fostered as a kid. I rarely road the RT anymore and sold it to a TWTer. However, I could never get used to an off-road bike with a dry clutch. Also, the cruise control on the RT spoiled me ... so, sold it to a gent in Mississippi who did a fly and ride.

1982 Honda CB750 SS - memories from a lifetime ago.

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Back in my young and impressionable days in west Texas, only place to ride were oil field roads and gravel pits.
and the Hodaka was very hard to keep up with. There was no wall or trap or road that the Japanese bikes could keep up.
Then, a Penton 125 showed up. I was awestruck and lusted for one from that day forward.

And so it happened ...

2016 KTM 1290 SA - the Austrian Goddess of Horsepower

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Of all the bikes I've owned, this one has stayed in the stable the longest (18 months) and by far the most miles ridden (18,000+).
A couple fixes with the tubeless tire system, but other than that ... just gas and an occasional oil change.
It still takes my breath when I lay on the throttle.

Over the last couple years and as I approached and entered retirement, I wondered if I could purchase bikes that needed work, fix them and resell.
Consequently, several have filtered through the shop ...

Voyager 12
2 DRZ400 - an S and an E
3 XR650Ls
V-Strom 650
XR100
SL350

I sold 2 XR650s and funded the purchase of another Penton ...
2015 KTM 500 EX-C

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I have yet to scratch the surface of what this bike is capable of.

From the laundry list, only 3 were purchased new...
77 Honda 360
05 V-Strom
16 1290 SA

I do not regret buying any of them.
I had a blast on each and retain glorious and colorful memories from each.

BOT ....
The ones I do NOT regret selling are the VTX and the Voyager.

The VTX was quite comfortable and didn't seem all that BIG ... but it was at 900lbs.
It's problem was fuel range and the fuel system from sitting a shed for 3 years.
I was glad to see it go.

The Voyager ... aka Battlestar Galactica ... was long in the tooth.
It drove well and everything worked fine. It was just dated.
It was an impulse buy from Mike (Hood County) who had gotten sick and needed to raise cash.
No regrets there helping out a fellow TWTer.

Probably more comprehensive a post than expected or necessary, but I've been taking a lot of inventory the last couple weeks.
I was a bit bored and decided to fill in a lot of blanks.
 
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I did not regret selling many of the gazillion or so I had. Here are some highlights of why I didn't.

ZX-7, it just never loved me, but I wanted it so. Unfortunately I traded a really nice 86 Ninja 600 on it.

I never ever not one time regretted selling my 1996 GP-Z1100 as I wadded it up and I never really liked it, I bought it because I was cheap.

My run on TL1000S's and TL1000R. The R was let go after I had to start fixing little stuff all the time, and that annoyed me.

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My first TLS was stolen and I lost the love after getting the TLR

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My second TLS was the "I think I want another TL" last gasp. The thing that made me sell it was the exhaust can kept breaking rivets. What a pain, no regrets.

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The Husky 610 SM was also not missed, never really did what I wanted, but it was cool, very much no regrets

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I do not regret selling my 1290 Superduke R at all either. Loved it, but it wasn't the right toy for me.

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Never missed my C50 Boulevard either, nice to ride, but I never loved it.

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I never bonded with my SV650s either

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I do not miss the Baby Bandit either, and she went to a good home

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Finally, the SXV550 was good to see leaving on the truck. While it was enormously fun to ride and thrash, it was a big hole in the bank account every time I rode her. The higher maintenance wasn't a big deal, just cost here and there all the time. Hard not to smile when you were riding her.

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I think my regret pile is much larger than my no regret pile, but that is for another day.
 
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Suzuki S40. Vibrated badly, and was a motorized butt pain device.
 
1984 Honda Magna 1100 I bought from a fellow TWT’er. Absolutely nothing wrong with the bike and I got it at an awesome price, but I didn’t really ride it before buying it. I just didn’t fit on the bike; my knees were nearly in my chest and I had a hard time getting my foot in a good position to shift it. I passed it on to another TWT’er for the same awesome price and he was really happy with it. Bike was in showroom condition and ran perfectly (very fast).
 
1984 Honda Magna 1100 I bought from a fellow TWT’er. Absolutely nothing wrong with the bike and I got it at an awesome price, but I didn’t really ride it before buying it. I just didn’t fit on the bike; my knees were nearly in my chest and I had a hard time getting my foot in a good position to shift it. I passed it on to another TWT’er for the same awesome price and he was really happy with it. Bike was in showroom condition and ran perfectly (very fast).
And I was never so sick that I had just bought an equipment trailer with my slush fund and had to miss out on it.:doh:
 
What was it about this one?

I think about one of these from time to time.
When I had the B-King I always thought the Super Duke would be the next logical bike. Had the Harley bug and went that route instead, realized I loved having luggage and comfort but missed lean angle and power. Still browse the classifieds for SD's occasionally...
 
My 86 Honda Trans Alp. I just never liked much about it.
 
'07 DL650

Great bike, but just boring and no character
That reminds me of my 04 V-Strom 650. Don't miss it a bit. Didn't even have a twinge of regret at the time I sold it. It was a great bike, but like you said, boring with no character. I just didn't inspire me at all. Off the pavement, I hated it.
 
3 of them!
1-My first bike in high school, 1967 Honda 305 Dream, my dad thought it looked "safe". More like a Shriners bike, traded it in on a Super Hawk! More like it!
2-74? Honda 500 4 cylinder bike, a toad and UGLY.
3-84 CR500 0r 480, can't remember but a sorry bike

PS,I did and still do like Honda's tho!
'84 Honda bumped the 480 up to 500cc. Was the only year of the CR500 was air cooled. I had one I was in the process of restoring but ended up selling it before I had the chance to finish it.
 
That reminds me of my 04 V-Strom 650. Don't miss it a bit. Didn't even have a twinge of regret at the time I sold it. It was a great bike, but like you said, boring with no character. I just didn't inspire me at all. Off the pavement, I hated it.
I went from a v-strom to an R1200GS. Sorta like dating the dorky girl from science class and then going out with the head cheerleader.
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I went from a v-strom to an R1200GS. Sorta like dating the dorky girl from science class and then going out with the head cheerleader. View attachment 227328
Same here! :lol2:

I'd had an 1150 GS before. I sold it and got a KLR for budget reasons. Then I got to wanting a better street bike than the KLR and go the Vstrom. That left me REALLY missing my old GS. So when a deal came along AND I found a buyer for the Vstrom, I jumped!
 
Yamaha RZ350 Kenny Roberts - Bought new, Leaked oil even when parked and engine off.
Buell Blast - Bought new, 6k total miles, 3 engine overhauls.
Yamaha Super T - Bought new, did everything flawlessly, most boring uninspired ride ever.
 
So I managed to restore a bunch of posts that were lost in this thread after the "incident" Wednesday and Thursday. I made a backup of the database before the server got wiped and restored from an older backup. I have a few add-ons to the forum software that let me make a post, then change the author and date. So I was able to view the original content on a backup copy of the site here on my home computer and then cut/paste the content from the backup to the live site, then change the author/date to match the original post. I'm not going to do it for every thread, but just some of the fun ones like this.

Some of you guys posted some really cool pics. However, they are now gone because the attachment files could not be saved. I would REALLY appreciate it if you could look at your posts, at least on page three of the posts, and reattach or re link to the images you had in there before so that the thread is complete again.
 
Of the ±20 bikes we've sold thru the years, the only one that I can say we've ... sold and HAVE NOT regretted... is the K100LT with EML GT2000 sidecar, a top-of-chain 2-seater sidecar conversion including leading link front suspension & automobile tires all around. It handled like a sports car, but, despite is turbine like power delivery, I never "bonded" with the K100. I suppose I simply prefer singles & twins. It was a great sidecar outfit tho:
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'07 DL650

Great bike, but just boring and no character
That reminds me of my 04 V-Strom 650. Don't miss it a bit. Didn't even have a twinge of regret at the time I sold it. It was a great bike, but like you said, boring with no character. I just didn't inspire me at all. Off the pavement, I hated it.
I went from a v-strom to an R1200GS. Sorta like dating the dorky girl from science class and then going out with the head cheerleader. View attachment 227328
Same here! [emoji38]2:

I'd had an 1150 GS before. I sold it and got a KLR for budget reasons. Then I got to wanting a better street bike than the KLR and go the Vstrom. That left me REALLY missing my old GS. So when a deal came along AND I found a buyer for the Vstrom, I jumped!
Me & a bunch of other folks are sure glad ya'll sold your Stroms.......while they may have been wrong for ya'll ....they have sure been right for us.....& at the right price
 
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