danate
#hot4beks
Yesterday was my last day of work for the year and as I cruised home in the pouring rain on my trusty steed, kept dry and warmed by my waterproof 'stich and heated liners, I couldn't help but grin and feel a profound love for my bike.
A little over a week ago. as I bombed in the rain to the Vallejo Aerostich pop-up I rolled 100k miles without even noticing. Afterwords I remembered that I bought this very bike brand new on my birthday 6 years ago: see this thread. Here I was again on my birthday feeling the love for this bike as I push the odometer into 6 digits.
100k miles on a bike is significant and brings back a lot of memories. Now to be fair, I wasn't loyal to this bike. During this time I had affairs with 4 other big Bavarian bikes, but they all just came and went (the last in a most horrific way). Also, my lovely wife babysat my main squeeze and put 11k miles of her own on the clock while I was off gallivanting with my fancy water cooled future bike.
Now to this interesting story. I'll try to be brief. In May or so of this year I wasn't really in the market for a new bike, but I was still searching endlessly for the "bike that could be the one." I came across a used 2016 BMW R1200RT at a local dealership for a steal and ended up buying it. On our way back, Beks rode my "old" RT and decided she loved it. At the time, I had been (*gasp*) trying to sell it. So my beloved 90th anniversary RT would stay in the family and I would rock the newer, water cooled edition. Fast forward to October when I decided to give Twisted Road a try and rent my bike out for a weekend since I was teaching CMSP and wouldn't be enjoying the bike anyways. Long story short, the renter ended up crashing and totaling my bike (thankfully he was banged up, but not seriously injured). It took a little time, but his insurance paid up and I at least broke even on the whole experience.
My first thought was to go out and just get a new RT, but since I've recently gone part time to further my education and we also just moved, logic prevailed and I took back my old RT and decided to just keep tacking on the mileage. I was surprised how much I had missed it, even though it felt a touch lacking in power after riding the newer model. It still feels nimble, confident, and able to tackle anything and I feel even more pride that I've ridden and maintained it for its whole life.
Moral of the story is appreciate what you have, especially if you love to ride your bike. We all get that itch to try something new, but the joy of riding comes from the act of doing it, not the consumerism that surrounds it. Sure I still want a new bike, but I recognize that I'm completely happy with what I have and I'm lucky to have it.
In other news, we went and found a used RT of the same generation for Beks that cost 1/3 as much as a new one would have been and it's also a fine machine. Hooray for smart financial decisions!
Happy holidays everyone! It's raining up a storm, but don't let it stop you if you love to ride!
Here it is hanging out with some fire engines while we waited for them to deal with a terrible car crash:
Beks new bike on the left next to my trusty steed.
A little over a week ago. as I bombed in the rain to the Vallejo Aerostich pop-up I rolled 100k miles without even noticing. Afterwords I remembered that I bought this very bike brand new on my birthday 6 years ago: see this thread. Here I was again on my birthday feeling the love for this bike as I push the odometer into 6 digits.
100k miles on a bike is significant and brings back a lot of memories. Now to be fair, I wasn't loyal to this bike. During this time I had affairs with 4 other big Bavarian bikes, but they all just came and went (the last in a most horrific way). Also, my lovely wife babysat my main squeeze and put 11k miles of her own on the clock while I was off gallivanting with my fancy water cooled future bike.
Now to this interesting story. I'll try to be brief. In May or so of this year I wasn't really in the market for a new bike, but I was still searching endlessly for the "bike that could be the one." I came across a used 2016 BMW R1200RT at a local dealership for a steal and ended up buying it. On our way back, Beks rode my "old" RT and decided she loved it. At the time, I had been (*gasp*) trying to sell it. So my beloved 90th anniversary RT would stay in the family and I would rock the newer, water cooled edition. Fast forward to October when I decided to give Twisted Road a try and rent my bike out for a weekend since I was teaching CMSP and wouldn't be enjoying the bike anyways. Long story short, the renter ended up crashing and totaling my bike (thankfully he was banged up, but not seriously injured). It took a little time, but his insurance paid up and I at least broke even on the whole experience.
My first thought was to go out and just get a new RT, but since I've recently gone part time to further my education and we also just moved, logic prevailed and I took back my old RT and decided to just keep tacking on the mileage. I was surprised how much I had missed it, even though it felt a touch lacking in power after riding the newer model. It still feels nimble, confident, and able to tackle anything and I feel even more pride that I've ridden and maintained it for its whole life.
Moral of the story is appreciate what you have, especially if you love to ride your bike. We all get that itch to try something new, but the joy of riding comes from the act of doing it, not the consumerism that surrounds it. Sure I still want a new bike, but I recognize that I'm completely happy with what I have and I'm lucky to have it.
In other news, we went and found a used RT of the same generation for Beks that cost 1/3 as much as a new one would have been and it's also a fine machine. Hooray for smart financial decisions!
Happy holidays everyone! It's raining up a storm, but don't let it stop you if you love to ride!
Here it is hanging out with some fire engines while we waited for them to deal with a terrible car crash:
Beks new bike on the left next to my trusty steed.
arty
