Hello there. I am new to the forum and motorcycles. Well, that's not entirely true. I grew up around motorcycles. I had a Great Grandpa that had a Suzuki B100, hence my screen name. Gave us rides when I was a kid. My Dad was into motorcycles a lot as a younger man but before my time.
He had a Harley 165cc, I forget the name of it, a Triumph Tiger Cub, then moved onto a BSA 650 Spitfire Hornet. He hung out with guys that flat tracked raced in Wisconsin but is from Winthrop Harbor, IL. And I guess there was a dealership in his home town that sold British bikes. He then had a Kawasaki in the 80's. We think it was a KZ550 but neither one of us can remember. My parents were divorced at the time and I think I had like 1 ride on it.
When I was like 21 I had a Yamaha Maxim 400 and loved that bike but had a lot of other priorities and not enough money to do it right. I rode without a license and insurance and only rode for a year cuz I figured I was tempting fate. And didn't have enough money to do it right. Well, I had other priorities.
So now I'm in my late 40's and really wanting to ride again. I don't have much money and have been riding bicycles in the meantime until I have enough money to buy a motorcycle. I do have some mechanical skills but not sure I'm confident to rebuild a basket case. There are a lot of them out there for little money but it's hard to know if it will just be a money pit.
Anyways..... I'll be asking for guidance on these forums I think for what to do. My desires are kind of all over the place cuz I'm still learning about all the models out there and what will be best for us as a family. My Daughter (16) and Son (18) have both expressed an interest in riding and I'm trying to figure out how to involve them. I have two friends with big yards that I could get a dirtbike for the kids to learn on. But then I'd need a trailer. We have a lot of roads in my area with little traffic and feels like that might be an opportunity to teach kids to ride on the road.
So I'm sort of all over the map as to which motorcycle I should try to get. I like these smaller Grom type bikes, or especially the SSR Razkull cuz of the price. But even that would take some doing. And I don't know where to go to see one. But I also like the idea of something bigger than that.....
One other thing that is hard for me is I like to buy American stuff and I live in a Suburb of Milwaukee. So naturally I'd like to support a local company (Harley). However, I'm not really into any of their models much and to be honest, some of their policies irritate me. For example, I was and still am looking at buying a Buell Blast from someone locally that says the tranny is shot. So I called up my local Harley dealership about getting parts for them. Which you can. But they will not work on it. PLUS, even more shocking is they won't even work on a Harley made before the year 2000. Which I feel is pretty ridiculous.
Anyways... I don't mean to bash Harley because I have a thing in me that really likes to support American Companies and local companies but I have found a lot of things about the way Harley does things to me not very supportive. And there is no doubt that Japanese bikes have a lot better track record for reliability. And probably more dealership support.
I'm also interested in Royal Enfield since they put in a headquarters and dealership in Milwaukee. I have not made it there yet to drool over them. I do like the Interceptor 650. I also like older models but the consensus is they were not very good before the newer inline 2 cylinder engines.... Maybe someone can school me on the older models.
So... In summary, I've got a million questions about bikes, learning to ride, getting kids involved that I will probably be asking around here coming up if this is an active forum and community. After visiting my local Barnes and Noble for motorcycle magazines the only one that really struck a chord with me is Motorcycle Classics and the subjects and bikes they talked about in there. So I'm thinking this may be a good fit for me.
Thank you for listening if you read all that and I'm looking forward to learning more.
He had a Harley 165cc, I forget the name of it, a Triumph Tiger Cub, then moved onto a BSA 650 Spitfire Hornet. He hung out with guys that flat tracked raced in Wisconsin but is from Winthrop Harbor, IL. And I guess there was a dealership in his home town that sold British bikes. He then had a Kawasaki in the 80's. We think it was a KZ550 but neither one of us can remember. My parents were divorced at the time and I think I had like 1 ride on it.
When I was like 21 I had a Yamaha Maxim 400 and loved that bike but had a lot of other priorities and not enough money to do it right. I rode without a license and insurance and only rode for a year cuz I figured I was tempting fate. And didn't have enough money to do it right. Well, I had other priorities.
So now I'm in my late 40's and really wanting to ride again. I don't have much money and have been riding bicycles in the meantime until I have enough money to buy a motorcycle. I do have some mechanical skills but not sure I'm confident to rebuild a basket case. There are a lot of them out there for little money but it's hard to know if it will just be a money pit.
Anyways..... I'll be asking for guidance on these forums I think for what to do. My desires are kind of all over the place cuz I'm still learning about all the models out there and what will be best for us as a family. My Daughter (16) and Son (18) have both expressed an interest in riding and I'm trying to figure out how to involve them. I have two friends with big yards that I could get a dirtbike for the kids to learn on. But then I'd need a trailer. We have a lot of roads in my area with little traffic and feels like that might be an opportunity to teach kids to ride on the road.
So I'm sort of all over the map as to which motorcycle I should try to get. I like these smaller Grom type bikes, or especially the SSR Razkull cuz of the price. But even that would take some doing. And I don't know where to go to see one. But I also like the idea of something bigger than that.....
One other thing that is hard for me is I like to buy American stuff and I live in a Suburb of Milwaukee. So naturally I'd like to support a local company (Harley). However, I'm not really into any of their models much and to be honest, some of their policies irritate me. For example, I was and still am looking at buying a Buell Blast from someone locally that says the tranny is shot. So I called up my local Harley dealership about getting parts for them. Which you can. But they will not work on it. PLUS, even more shocking is they won't even work on a Harley made before the year 2000. Which I feel is pretty ridiculous.
Anyways... I don't mean to bash Harley because I have a thing in me that really likes to support American Companies and local companies but I have found a lot of things about the way Harley does things to me not very supportive. And there is no doubt that Japanese bikes have a lot better track record for reliability. And probably more dealership support.
I'm also interested in Royal Enfield since they put in a headquarters and dealership in Milwaukee. I have not made it there yet to drool over them. I do like the Interceptor 650. I also like older models but the consensus is they were not very good before the newer inline 2 cylinder engines.... Maybe someone can school me on the older models.
So... In summary, I've got a million questions about bikes, learning to ride, getting kids involved that I will probably be asking around here coming up if this is an active forum and community. After visiting my local Barnes and Noble for motorcycle magazines the only one that really struck a chord with me is Motorcycle Classics and the subjects and bikes they talked about in there. So I'm thinking this may be a good fit for me.
Thank you for listening if you read all that and I'm looking forward to learning more.
