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RE: New subscribers



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Hi everyone,
What a great list this is. I subscribe to another for the XS650 and those
guys are all over the map, meaning you have to dig around a bit for info,
but seem like a lovable cast of characters. And many thanx to Eric for
making this all possible.

Last year while on vacation I rented a Harley for a day, and spent the day
cruising around Lake Tahoe and Hwy 89 the following day to return it to
Reno. What great fun, I was smiling so much my face hurt. All of a sudden I
was talking about buying a Harley, and kept this up for around four months.
However, the $15K plus for the new Dyna was near impossible. 

My wife found an add for a $500 1980 Honda 650C. I went and checked it out,
pretty much a rust bucket, but it ran reasonably strong, so I bought it and
rejoined the motorcycling community after a fifteen year hiatus. It is great
to be back. When a fellow bike, but now Sportster rider heard I had bought
something other than a Harley, he was surprised, and told me if he had known
I wanted a Japanese bike, he would have given me his 1980 Yamaha XS650 twin.
So, to make a long story short, I now have two bikes.

Another guy at work, who owned a 750 Honda and a Sportster, purchased a BMW
R1100RS a few months ago. He let me borrow his carb syncing gauges, and came
over to help, but I had already finished everything, so I suggested we go
for a putt. Since his Dad had just bought an old Honda 750, he wanted to see
how mine ran. We headed out to the twisties and had a bit of fun. (This was
the vintage I was last familiar with). We swapped bikes for a bit, and my
life changed a bit. In about four miles, I had reverted to my original (read
youthful) opinion of original equipment Harleys, big, kinda loud, and not
meant to go fast, especially when the going turned serpentine. I dropped all
interest in the Dyna, and was now sure I needed a Beemer, in particular the
R1100RS.

A friend let me use his K1100LT (the brick engine). For some reason, I took
this thing on the twistiest roads I could find. It was fun, but not
immensely enjoyable, like the RS had been. In fact, just to make sure I
wasn't in love with last bike I had ridden, the week after I rode the RS, my
wife and I went to Palm Springs, where I rented another Harley, just to make
sure I didn't want one, and also just to enjoy a ride. I didn't need a
Harley, although once again, a ride, on any bike, is preferable to not
riding at all.

So since then I have been working on both 650's making them much safer and
usable. And reading every bike magazine I could lay my hands on. I was
always looking for anything to do with the R1100RS, and read with interest
the new 1100S, and comparo's with other sport tourer's. Which ultimately led
to reading about the newest Triumph. Was my opinion changing yet again? Of
course it was! 

About this time, every cover had a picture of the Suzuki Hayabusa, the
adrenaline junkies choice of motorized vehicles. I was tempted, and actually
went and sat on one during a business trip to Florida, and also an R1100S.
My first motorcycle, after my Lambretta scooter, was a Suzuki X6 Hustler, a
250cc twin that was pure lightning. I can still remember after EVERY ride,
dismounting and shaking like a leaf for at least 3-4 minutes (adrenaline you
know). So I was tempted, at least a little bit. Then I checked on insurance
costs, Progressive wants a little over $2K per year, and my driving record
is clean, and I am approaching 50, so.....

So having read everything I could about the Sprint ST, I turned to the web
yet again and discovered Eric's sight and this list. Yahoo!

Sorry for rambling on so, but I'm nearing the end.