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In approximately 1988 I was living (in sin) with my then girlfriend
and my cousin. He had an old, I believe it was a 1977, Honda
motorcycle. I wasn't much on motorcycles, but I remember it was not
much to look at. It was a 4 cylinder, had a flat seat that had been
"upholstered" (if you can call it that) with a sarape as the vinyl was
all gone. The tank had been painted blue with a spray can...talk
about a great looking bike! Well, I eventually inherited that bike. It was a 750-Four and was really quite impressive. I don't remember exactly when or why I got rid of if, but I do know it's gone. Too bad too, it was fun. |
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Then just a couple years later, I'd say about 1990 or so, I purchased
my first new motorcycle. I bought it from Western Honda.
They were great to work with there and gave me a pretty good deal. So what was it? It was a red Shadow VLX, which is about a 550cc cruiser style bike. I loved it. It was new, it ran good, I used the hell out of it! The only problem was it was my sole mode of transportation. And while yes, I am in Arizona, and we have approximately 340 days of sunshine a year, when it rains, it still sucks to have to ride the bike. So after a year or so, I sold it. I was then bikeless for about 15 years, until...... |
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2004! In 2004 I decided it was time for a bike again. I needed something bigger, but didn't have a lot of money to purchase something expensive, so I went online. I did a lot of research on what I wanted and even picked my colors (black and silver two tone.) I eventually decided on the 2004 Shadow Aero 750. Another cruiser style, but this time a bit larger, not a lot, but with me being 6'4" and at the time around 250 pounds or so, a VLX was just a tad small. Heck, the 750 was close to too small for me. I decided that my best chance to get a good deal is to use the internet. I sent an email to every Honda dealer I was willing to travel to to pick up my new bike. I told them what I wanted, what paint scheme, and that I was sending this email to several dealers. The dealer that comes back with the best price will get my business. It took a couple of weeks, but I finally got all the responses I thought I was going to get. The winner was Mussleman Honda in Tucson, about 120 miles from home. But their price was about $400 under list out the door, and that included passenger backrest and luggage rack. So I hopped on the back of my dad's Harley and we took a ride down to Tucson to pick up my new bike. Again, this bike performed flawlessly. I WAS a bit large for it, as it did have a tendency to not want to get my ass up some of the hills, but it did what it could. I didn't modify it much, I did eventually buy saddle bags and a winshield for it, but that was about it. It stayed pretty much stock. In 2007 I traded it in for my next bike... |
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A 2007 VTX 1300R in Titanium. I decided it was time for a new bike. The Aero had over 30,000 miles on it, and though it was still running great, I needed something new. It was almost paid off (I think I still owed around $800) so I should be able to get a good deal. I didn't do any shopping around from dealer to dealer this time. Instead I walked into Western Honda and told the sales manager (the same guy that was there when I bought my first bike) and told him flat out. I want a new bike, but I need my payments to stay the same. If you can't do it, I'll come back later, if you can do it on this bike (noting the VTX 1300R) I'll ride the new bike out of here today. Well, it took him some time, and missed my number by about $5.00 a month so needless to say, I bought it. Talk about a change! This bike could RUN me up and down the hills! I just knew it was going to get me a ticket before I was done, but so far so good. It's fast, it's strong and it sounds good! AND...I've been doing all kinds of mods to it. Let's see if I can remember what I've done as of the time of this writing: I think that's it. But I have planned for the very near future: |