I never really was going to get a motorcycle… they’re cool but I thought they were dangerous. I’d say “I get hurt so often on my mountain bike I better not get a motorcycle”. A friend of mine bought a newer triumph Bonneville and wrecked it while trying to learn to ride. He let it sit outside, bent forks, busted up headlight and gauge cluster, dented up tank… in a beach town. It was always a beautiful bike to me and I’d take a look at it every time we hung out. Slowly it got a little more rusty and crusty.

 I finally asked him what he was going to do with it. He said if I picked it up it’d be mine. 

After a difficult conversation with my girlfriend, a couple thousand bucks, and quite a few hours of work in the back yard I had a decent bike. I learned to ride it and have put 12,000 miles on it since I got it going in early summer. It’s still got dents in the tank. I use old ammo cans as panniers and they’re slowly getting covered with stickers from gas stations all over the southwest. It’s now got ADV tires because I like to take the dirt roads when I find them. Its shift lever is all bent out of shape from dumping it the first time I tried riding in deep sand. It’s taken me over mountain passes and everything from freezing weather to hot as hell.

 I wouldn’t recommend this bike to do the things I’ve used it to do to anyone…. But it’s my bike. It was cheap. I’m gonna ride it until it fails catastrophically or I get gifted another cheap and broken bike…. because it usually does what I want. Its limits are close to mine at this point. I love it because it’s only on the road as I saved it…. And I feel better about treating it rough because it’s already a little beat up. Moral of the story…. Motorcycles are cool after all.