What's wrong with me that my eye wanders...

[Salish900]

There must be something wrong with me that despite only having my 900 for a bit less than a year, and finally getting it just about all farkled up, I find my eye wandering. My left brain loves the reliability and ease of getting parts and forum support of the bike, and my right brain finds it almost boringly good. It's never been a bike I've found beautiful. I didn't buy it for that. But I did for the motor, comfort and ease of ownership. So why do I look at a few others and lust at the thought of seeing them in my garage and under my arse? I'm not a flighty person, as I approach 25 years with my one and only. But with bikes, I just seem to not sit still. My self talk is rather absurd right now: Be happy with what you have! You only live once dude! You don't like things that break! What do you care if it's less reliable since you don't rely on it for anything but fun? Yikes. 

[dazzler24]

Are yes, that age old battle!

[showmerider]

Nothing wrong with you. I have 3 bikes, (Tracer, Goldwing and TW 200) and I'm always looking at other bikes, Just can't help myself, I would have around 10 bikes if my wife would let me, but that ain't gonna happen!

[bowlin01]

Life is too short to worry about stuff like this, just buy whatever makes you happiest at the time, when it no longer does, sell it and buy the next one. Simple 🙂 

P.S. In reality I have the same issue, both with bikes, guns and hammock camping gear 🙂 

[whistler]

You're a motorcycling human being, Dude, and you appreciate things (and like-minded people, I would imagine) which and who make you feel alive.  Bowlin01 is spot on...life is just way too short.  So go on and LIVE it.  🍻

[koth442]

I have many and cycle through them (pun intended). I actually sold my FJ earlier this year. I'll probably snag a GT in a few more years. In the meantime, I'm enjoying a Daytona 675 & Aprilia SXV550. My only recommendation is buy used & pay cash.

[PeterL]

It's not that you have a problem. Just that you're hanging out with the wrong people. Us!

My friend had a fixation on owning just one perfect bike. Of course he never found it, spent an ungodly amount of money trying, and bitched endlessly about how much he missed damn near every bike he ever sold.

I, being of unsound mind and proud of it, have always wanted a garage that would be easily mistaken for the Barber Motorsports Museum. My wife thinks I'm crazy, but who is she to talk? She married me after all...

Stop worrying, grab your gear and go take a ride. You'll feel much better.

Edited July 24, 2021 by PeterL

[Salish900]

It's often said that riding a motorcycle is cheaper than therapy, and you folks have been a great therapist. Life is indeed too short. My particular challenge, as stated above, is my simultaneous desires for pure speed, reliability and ease of repair, and flat out style. No one bike has all of that as even my Connie, which came closest, faded after 3 years. I can't stop looking at the Moto Guzzi Stelvio, a tractor of a bike, which I find beautiful and in some ways is easy to repair (Valves in 20 minutes!) and in other ways, well, Italian. And I lust after a Busa, don't shoot me. 

I almost always buy used, and always pay cash, and my wife mocks me, but from trading bikes for bikes I haven't spent much new money in quite a while. 

Love this forum, keep it real folks. 

 

[betoney]

Funny, just last night my buddy who also owns a 2015 FJ asked me if I was considering adding another bike to the garage.

The local Yamaha shop just got a nearly brand new Ducati Hypermotard 939 SP on a trade in, which I consider one of the ultimate hooligan machines.  While I am not in the market for a different bike, it definitely stopped me in my tracks and got my mind wandering...

[whistler]

4 minutes ago, betoney said:

Funny, just last night my buddy who also owns a 2015 FJ asked me if I was considering adding another bike to the garage.

The local Yamaha shop just got a nearly brand new Ducati Hypermotard 939 SP on a trade in, which I consider one of the ultimate hooligan machines.  While I am not in the market for a different bike, it definitely stopped me in my tracks and got my mind wandering...

Wow, does that look ZIPPY!!  

[texscottyd]

22 minutes ago, betoney said:

Ducati Hypermotard 939 SP …which I consider one of the ultimate hooligan machines. 

You NEED that, and you know it…. 😇

[PeterL]

1 hour ago, betoney said:

Ducati Hypermotard 939 SP, which I consider one of the ultimate hooligan machines

I just demo'd a 1290 SuperDuke R (among many others) at the IMS at Sonoma/Sears Point last weekend. Aside from style, handling, and ludicrous amounts of power it has absolutely nothing to recommend it. Well, OK, *I* recommend it!

I loved watching the Super Hooligan round at Laguna Seca a few weeks ago. I'm still curious why Fillmore and DiBrino (who finished 1-2) were on the 890 rather than the 1290? Can't argue with the overall results, nobody else could touch those two, but the 1290 isn't all THAT much heavier, and the HP/torque difference is just staggering. On a track like Laguna, I'd think you'd want the extra grunt, especially if you've all the aerodynamic efficacy of a chunk of concrete. 

[PhotoAl]

13 hours ago, betoney said:

Funny, just last night my buddy who also owns a 2015 FJ asked me if I was considering adding another bike to the garage.

The local Yamaha shop just got a nearly brand new Ducati Hypermotard 939 SP on a trade in, which I consider one of the ultimate hooligan machines.  While I am not in the market for a different bike, it definitely stopped me in my tracks and got my mind wandering...

That photo needs some work - need to add the flickering reflections of blue lights.  Yea you know with that bike would get have that experience 🙂 

I look at other bikes always have and probably always will but love my Tracer GT.  Had a 2012 CBR600RR that I loved and put 18,000 miles on in 3 years or less.  Decided I really wanted ABS for the street so set out looking for that and bought a 2014 ZX6R 636 ABS.  Both of those bikes were really cool, fast attention getters.  I accidentally rode by the local elementary school when it was getting out (got stuck in the carpool traffic).  Big ego boost as the kids loved my bike.  Rode as much as 600 miles on a day on those two bike but no long overnight trips other than riding to the beach and staying for a few days then riding back.  I retired and got to thinking about taking long trips and one day took the grandkids by the bike shop and there was a lightly used BMW F800GT for a good price.  Ready to go touring.  Bought it in June of 2018 and in August left on a long solo trip to Yellowstone.  WOW was it fun!  Bike was a good touring machine but lacking in power (compared to sport bikes) and excitement.  A good bike but I wasn't in love with it.  Last September I set out on it on a long trip and it broke.  Repaired it and traded it for a new Tracer GT in Sioux Falls SD - that's 2,000 miles from home!  Knew I had the permission of the wife when she FedEx'd my checkbook and title to the BMW!  So here I am with the Tracer GT, 10 months of ownership and 11,000 miles.  Will probably take another long trip later in the summer so it will have 16,000 or more miles when it's a little over a year old.  

For me its scratching the itch and finding out that a bike you thought would be good wasn't quite the fit you thought and then moving to another bike and finding it isn't perfect but fits well.  So I'm happy with my 202 Tracer GT and yes I'm intrigued by the 2021 Tracer 9 GT but not enough so that i'm tempted.  I love the long trips I've taken and would rather be off on another one than chasing another bike.  Sure I look but for me the Tracer GT is the best I've found, good power, good sound, good egos, descent suspension, good capacity for one person and the gear I take and it's reliable.  Looking into the future I do possibly see a CanAm Spider and hope my wife would be comfortable enough to go with me.  

So that's how it is for me.

[Maverick302]

I just sold mine for exactly this reason. It was so practical and reasonable that it was boring to me.

[Wintersdark]

On 7/24/2021 at 10:26 AM, PeterL said:

I just demo'd a 1290 SuperDuke R (among many others) at the IMS at Sonoma/Sears Point last weekend. Aside from style, handling, and ludicrous amounts of power it has absolutely nothing to recommend it. Well, OK, *I* recommend it!

I loved watching the Super Hooligan round at Laguna Seca a few weeks ago. I'm still curious why Fillmore and DiBrino (who finished 1-2) were on the 890 rather than the 1290? Can't argue with the overall results, nobody else could touch those two, but the 1290 isn't all THAT much heavier, and the HP/torque difference is just staggering. On a track like Laguna, I'd think you'd want the extra grunt, especially if you've all the aerodynamic efficacy of a chunk of concrete. 

The 1290 Super Duke is an absolutely ridiculous bike.  Redonkulous, even.  But my BIL and his close riding buddies are all KTM fanboys (though admittedly of the Adventure bent), and I watch what maintenance stuff they go through while snickering on my Yamaha's.  

One thing I've learned over the years is that there's no One True Motorcycle for everyone.  Every bike is in some way a set of compromises between things you want - and those things you want are themselves compromises.  I mean, the Tracer is emminently practical, and that was a big part of why I wanted it, but I find in practice that I rarely care at all about being practical and most of my riding is shorter trips (500km day trips) and while I'd love to get some longer trips in, I can generally only manage one big week long trip per year... And thanks to Covid, I've never had the opportunity to take the Tracer out for more than a single day at a time, which is kind of frustrating.

Looking at mine today, I realized something: between the gearing changes, the removal of the windshield and handguards and repositioning of the bars, the fact that the hardcases are on the bike EXTREMELY rarely, I've basically made it into a budget (but feature rich) MT10.  And that, in turn, got me to thinking... An MT10 would be a pretty fun ride.

Ah, the eye, it wanders