The red pill, or the blue pill?
Jan. 23rd, 2003 01:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tugrikOr better stated, the red/black bike (GS) or the blue one (wing) ?
My van is dying. At 6 years, 5 Burning Man's, 135,000 miles, some offroading, tons of friends hauled, and even multiple sleepovers within... I've utterly gotten my money's worth out of the van. It gets 9mpg, has been trashed by heavy use and life on the playa and finally has enough mechanical flaws that I really can't ignore it any more. It's time to let this GMC Vandura get a rest and release it. I doubt I could get any money out of it at all... as to sell it I'd have to do about $3K of work and then go to a good effort to sell it. Nobody will touch an older custom-conversion van on trade-ins.
What I want to replace it is any modern, smaller, better-gas-mileage car that I can fit in. Surprisingly, the gut isn't the issue -- it's the roof height. Thanks to my odd family genetics I've got the torso height of someone 3 to 4 inches taller than me. I'm only 6'5" but I sit down like a much taller person. Somewhere at the start of the 90's car manufacturers decided that the Low Roofline was in, and my usual staples of minivans and trucks suddenly all got too short for me. The only modern car I had headroom in was a van with a chopped-top conversion, and my roomie's VW New Beetle because of its arch-shape. I've been on the prowl for something with headroom for a long time now.
I finally found it: the Honda Element. It's a micro-SUV with incredible inside roof-height. I just sat in one yesterday and had a full 3" of clear space above my noggin -- astounding! It's also got a few other features I really like: Ability to carry 4 people comfortably, seat-belts fit me in all four seats w/o modification, wash-it-out-with-a-hose construction (rubber flooring, sealed dash, waterproof seats), enough room to put a sleeping bag in the back and camp out in it like I've done in the old van numerous times. It's also 4WD and has just enough towing capacity to safely haul either bike on a trailer if I need to. The price is a little ouchy at $20k-ish, though... and so there's no way I can buy it unless I get out of one of my two motorcycle payments.
I pay the same payments on the BMW-R1150GS-ADV as I do on the GL1800. I hate to admit it, but I really do need a car; I cannot live on bike alone at this stage of my life, even though I ride all year. As my company hasn't shown any real signs of making any of us rich in the near future, and those silly lotto numbers still elude me, I'm left with the only real choice of getting rid of one if I want to fix the 'van problem'. I've known this decision has been coming for a few months now, and so part of the hidden agenda in the trips I've taken and things I've bought has been an effort to push each bike to see what really does the job. This is what I've come up with so far:
The Wing: Great for slabbing it. Comfy. Fast -- oh jeez is it fast. Toy-laden. Surprisingly nimble for its size. Able to 'share the ride' by taking passengers -- which I have happily done many times. It's also a viable replacement for the car for really long trips when the weather is right and I don't have to take a load. Hauls cargo easily in its spacious saddlebags. On the downside -- it's expensive. Heavy. On-road only -- preferrably good roads. A money-sink when it comes to gadgets and upkeep of them on the bike. Easy to damage, which luckily I've only nicked the seat with a boot. But all it would take is one drop for cash-register signs to be heard. Expensive to insure. It fits in more with the retire-ee crowd, and all its clubs and gatherings tend to focus around people 20 years my senior.
The GS: Goes anywhere. Comfy, now that it's been 'dialed in' ergos-wise (new seat, new pegs, handlebar risers, etc). Hauls much cargo, though admittedly not as conveniently. Built to be dropped without worry -- and it has been, twice now (without damage!). It's designed for the Hearty Adventurer type -- right in my age bracket and attitude set. I've met far more involved/cool friends doing GSing together than I have 'winging it. Downsides: No Passengers, with my big butt on the saddle. Not quite as comfortable as the 'wing for super-long-hauls. Less wind protection.
What it comes down to in the end will be how much I use a motorcycle and for what reasons, and what can I live without? I need to look at each bike and ask why do I have this? what do I get out of owning this? What would I miss if it were gone?.
The 'wing was my first "real" bike. I bought it because it was downright swank. It looked great. It was gadget-laden. I could take passengers and I could go great distances. I could commte to and from work with my work equipment. If I got rid of it, though, what would I miss? I've done the long trips. Hell, I've done 790 miles in one day! While fun and interesting... they were mostly to prove to myself that I could do them. Sure, I liked touring through the Avenue of the Giants, and I saved a lot of gas money going down to Long Beach with it instead of taking the van. But, given a modern fuel-efficient car, most of the long trips I've taken would have been better and safer without spending much more money. Environmental things like going through the redwoods can be done on any bike; the wing wasn't anything special in that reguard. What I would truley miss, though -- is riding with a passenger.
I really like taking people places. This is part of why I have a custom van that can seat 8. I can and have grabbed vanfulls of friends and dragged them to the beach, to Yosemite, you name it. I was eager to have a passenger on back of my wing since the moment I bought it, and I've taken dozens of trips two-up. It's a little unkind to the bike as it's nearly at it's weight limit with just me on there... but still, the rides were always enjoyable.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
chareth even bought her own gloves to ride with me, and noressa went so far as to get her own helmet and other costly things! (Mind you, Noressa will also ride with other biker-friends she's got, so it wasn't all bought just for being with me, whew!) So... I'd miss the two-up experience if I lost the wing. At my size no other bike could pull that off. If I wanted passengers again, my only recourse would be to buy another GoldWing. So there's the sticking point.
The GS has shown me things I didn't think I'd get to see. Going up hard trails with the ADVRiders to distant points on the horizon has been worth every bit of the soreness it inflicts. I've done 500mi days on it -- and they were anything but slab. It's reliable and eager to serve -- even pulling great gabs of stuff. If I lost the GS, I'd lose access to this entire side of travelling; I'd be restricted back to the main roads once more. The Element may be a 4x4, but it's a city-wussy 4x4. A dirt road won't kill it, but it would simply explode and die if I tried to take it on Lippencott Trail out in Death Valley -- where even the GS was challenged. I can also work on the GS easier than I can the 'wing, and it's tought me more about performance motorcycling than the big Honda will.
The red pill will keep me on the edge of the wilds -- in and out of dirt trails, far flung canyons, national parks, and muddy river crossings in even the worst of weather. The blue pill will let me soak up the miles on the open freeway, with a good friend snugged up behind, sharing the experience. Do I want to be an explorer and adventurer? Or do I want to be a more timid, but more social, traveller?
As much as I hate the thought of losing the 'wing... I want the former in my life far more.
Nothing may happen. I still might just deal with having the beat up old van... and never go get the Element. I may test-drive the Element and decide the car's just Butt and I wouldn't want it. Or I could come in to some money and not have to pare down. In any case I'll have the wing for a few more months even if things all came together -- so I plan on taking a last ride or two up through the redwoods on it with Noressa and Chareth, my two most enjoyable passengers. This is mostly just 'be prepared' musing on my part for now.
I won't even start in on the rather cool deal my dad proposed to me as for how to get out from under the 'wing payments. That's for another journal entry later after more talks. Now back to work, and back to trying not to fret about the 'con this weekend.
My van is dying. At 6 years, 5 Burning Man's, 135,000 miles, some offroading, tons of friends hauled, and even multiple sleepovers within... I've utterly gotten my money's worth out of the van. It gets 9mpg, has been trashed by heavy use and life on the playa and finally has enough mechanical flaws that I really can't ignore it any more. It's time to let this GMC Vandura get a rest and release it. I doubt I could get any money out of it at all... as to sell it I'd have to do about $3K of work and then go to a good effort to sell it. Nobody will touch an older custom-conversion van on trade-ins.
What I want to replace it is any modern, smaller, better-gas-mileage car that I can fit in. Surprisingly, the gut isn't the issue -- it's the roof height. Thanks to my odd family genetics I've got the torso height of someone 3 to 4 inches taller than me. I'm only 6'5" but I sit down like a much taller person. Somewhere at the start of the 90's car manufacturers decided that the Low Roofline was in, and my usual staples of minivans and trucks suddenly all got too short for me. The only modern car I had headroom in was a van with a chopped-top conversion, and my roomie's VW New Beetle because of its arch-shape. I've been on the prowl for something with headroom for a long time now.
I finally found it: the Honda Element. It's a micro-SUV with incredible inside roof-height. I just sat in one yesterday and had a full 3" of clear space above my noggin -- astounding! It's also got a few other features I really like: Ability to carry 4 people comfortably, seat-belts fit me in all four seats w/o modification, wash-it-out-with-a-hose construction (rubber flooring, sealed dash, waterproof seats), enough room to put a sleeping bag in the back and camp out in it like I've done in the old van numerous times. It's also 4WD and has just enough towing capacity to safely haul either bike on a trailer if I need to. The price is a little ouchy at $20k-ish, though... and so there's no way I can buy it unless I get out of one of my two motorcycle payments.
I pay the same payments on the BMW-R1150GS-ADV as I do on the GL1800. I hate to admit it, but I really do need a car; I cannot live on bike alone at this stage of my life, even though I ride all year. As my company hasn't shown any real signs of making any of us rich in the near future, and those silly lotto numbers still elude me, I'm left with the only real choice of getting rid of one if I want to fix the 'van problem'. I've known this decision has been coming for a few months now, and so part of the hidden agenda in the trips I've taken and things I've bought has been an effort to push each bike to see what really does the job. This is what I've come up with so far:
The Wing: Great for slabbing it. Comfy. Fast -- oh jeez is it fast. Toy-laden. Surprisingly nimble for its size. Able to 'share the ride' by taking passengers -- which I have happily done many times. It's also a viable replacement for the car for really long trips when the weather is right and I don't have to take a load. Hauls cargo easily in its spacious saddlebags. On the downside -- it's expensive. Heavy. On-road only -- preferrably good roads. A money-sink when it comes to gadgets and upkeep of them on the bike. Easy to damage, which luckily I've only nicked the seat with a boot. But all it would take is one drop for cash-register signs to be heard. Expensive to insure. It fits in more with the retire-ee crowd, and all its clubs and gatherings tend to focus around people 20 years my senior.
The GS: Goes anywhere. Comfy, now that it's been 'dialed in' ergos-wise (new seat, new pegs, handlebar risers, etc). Hauls much cargo, though admittedly not as conveniently. Built to be dropped without worry -- and it has been, twice now (without damage!). It's designed for the Hearty Adventurer type -- right in my age bracket and attitude set. I've met far more involved/cool friends doing GSing together than I have 'winging it. Downsides: No Passengers, with my big butt on the saddle. Not quite as comfortable as the 'wing for super-long-hauls. Less wind protection.
What it comes down to in the end will be how much I use a motorcycle and for what reasons, and what can I live without? I need to look at each bike and ask why do I have this? what do I get out of owning this? What would I miss if it were gone?.
The 'wing was my first "real" bike. I bought it because it was downright swank. It looked great. It was gadget-laden. I could take passengers and I could go great distances. I could commte to and from work with my work equipment. If I got rid of it, though, what would I miss? I've done the long trips. Hell, I've done 790 miles in one day! While fun and interesting... they were mostly to prove to myself that I could do them. Sure, I liked touring through the Avenue of the Giants, and I saved a lot of gas money going down to Long Beach with it instead of taking the van. But, given a modern fuel-efficient car, most of the long trips I've taken would have been better and safer without spending much more money. Environmental things like going through the redwoods can be done on any bike; the wing wasn't anything special in that reguard. What I would truley miss, though -- is riding with a passenger.
I really like taking people places. This is part of why I have a custom van that can seat 8. I can and have grabbed vanfulls of friends and dragged them to the beach, to Yosemite, you name it. I was eager to have a passenger on back of my wing since the moment I bought it, and I've taken dozens of trips two-up. It's a little unkind to the bike as it's nearly at it's weight limit with just me on there... but still, the rides were always enjoyable.
chareth even bought her own gloves to ride with me, and noressa went so far as to get her own helmet and other costly things! (Mind you, Noressa will also ride with other biker-friends she's got, so it wasn't all bought just for being with me, whew!) So... I'd miss the two-up experience if I lost the wing. At my size no other bike could pull that off. If I wanted passengers again, my only recourse would be to buy another GoldWing. So there's the sticking point.The GS has shown me things I didn't think I'd get to see. Going up hard trails with the ADVRiders to distant points on the horizon has been worth every bit of the soreness it inflicts. I've done 500mi days on it -- and they were anything but slab. It's reliable and eager to serve -- even pulling great gabs of stuff. If I lost the GS, I'd lose access to this entire side of travelling; I'd be restricted back to the main roads once more. The Element may be a 4x4, but it's a city-wussy 4x4. A dirt road won't kill it, but it would simply explode and die if I tried to take it on Lippencott Trail out in Death Valley -- where even the GS was challenged. I can also work on the GS easier than I can the 'wing, and it's tought me more about performance motorcycling than the big Honda will.
The red pill will keep me on the edge of the wilds -- in and out of dirt trails, far flung canyons, national parks, and muddy river crossings in even the worst of weather. The blue pill will let me soak up the miles on the open freeway, with a good friend snugged up behind, sharing the experience. Do I want to be an explorer and adventurer? Or do I want to be a more timid, but more social, traveller?
As much as I hate the thought of losing the 'wing... I want the former in my life far more.
Nothing may happen. I still might just deal with having the beat up old van... and never go get the Element. I may test-drive the Element and decide the car's just Butt and I wouldn't want it. Or I could come in to some money and not have to pare down. In any case I'll have the wing for a few more months even if things all came together -- so I plan on taking a last ride or two up through the redwoods on it with Noressa and Chareth, my two most enjoyable passengers. This is mostly just 'be prepared' musing on my part for now.
I won't even start in on the rather cool deal my dad proposed to me as for how to get out from under the 'wing payments. That's for another journal entry later after more talks. Now back to work, and back to trying not to fret about the 'con this weekend.
