eBay Buy, Fly and Ride.

Way back in September I posted a short video about making room in the garage, but do to computer issues I was never able to bring you the rest of the story, until today that is.



No matter how unlikely you think it is that you will win an auction, only place a bid if you are prepared to pay.  I did just that,  I can't really tell you what was going through my head when I set up auction sniper to bid on this scooter.  There was about 12 or 15 hours left until the end and the price was incredibly low.  So I set up sniper to bid one increment (about $50) 6 seconds prior to the end of the auction.  The next day to my surprise I read the email stating I had won it at a price well below the going average.

The worst part was knowing I would not only have to tell my wife that I bought a scooter with out consulting her, but that it was located about 1000 miles from home in Charlottesville, VA.  It turned out she was much more accepting than I thought she would be.

So I'm currently the owner of 3 bikes, my latest seen in the video above is a:  2009 Kymco Xciting 250Ri,  it had just around 1500 miles on the clock when I bought it.  It's not the ideal bike for me on a cross country trip as I'm just to tall, you may have noticed my knees almost touching my hands in the video, but for the 10 miles on suburban streets that is my daily commute it is just about perfect, plus it gets 70mpg.

I have to say the folks at Jarman's Sportcycles were very gracious,  considering what I paid for the scooter.  The sales man even picked me up at the airport.  A lot of less reputable dealers would have just told me it was a mistake and not completed the deal.

See you on the road.
GAW

The Seven Day Challenge. Bike a day for Seven days.

After much thought I have been able to put together a list and accept the Challenge.

I shall not give the bikes a certain day of the week as you just never know when the need will arise.

I will begin with my wish list and end with my current rides.

Bike One:  Honda Z50 Monkey or a CT70, I Just can't make up my mind.

Or the CT70

Bike 2:  1986 Yamaha SRX6, the high school fantasy that I should have bought.

Bike 3:  1960's BMW R25, 26 or 27.  White or Black, doesn't really matter.

Bike 4:  1996 Ducati M900 Monster,  If the dealer had done test rides I might of bought it...  A 2011 Monster 796 in satin silver would also do.

Now for my Current bikes, as I could never part with them.

Bike 5:  The newest in the garage, 2009 Kymco Xciting R250i.

Bike 6:  Lets get dirty, 2009 BMW G650X Country.  It deserved more than a 3 year run...

Bike 7:  Last but by no means least.  1996 BMW R850r.  Every time I ride the bike I'm reminded of just how much I love it.  It's not perfect and maybe that's why I love it so, or maybe it's just that my body is so familiar with it.

I get the thought every so often that I don't really need 3 bikes and that I should sell it, but a short ride later those thoughts are distant memory's.

I like a lot of bikes, but none stick in my mind like these.

See you on the road.
GAW

P.S.  All Photos from Internet other than the last three.

Making room...

Gateway BMW GS Challenge May, 2011 Update.

I'll keep this short and sweet...  I just wanted to share a couple of video's and some photos from the event.

I strapped my GoPro onto Bob Honz the Ringleader of this event when he took his R1200GSA around the Challenge time trial course.  Typical of Honz he finished in a very spectacular fashion.  See for your self.


I also put the GoPro on Adam, one of the guys from Gateway BMW while he rode his G650 XChallenge.  He was quite pumped at the end of his run.


Marilyn Roberts took a hard drive full of photos at the event including a couple of me you can see them all HERE.  Including this one of me in the mud-pit.

Me in the Mud-pit.  Photo by: Marilyn Roberts

That's it for now.
See you on the road.
GAW

Gateway BMW GS Challenge May, 2011

I have had a busy weekend getting my bike dirty and then giving it a swamp water shower.



It was great fun, even thought it rained more or less non-stop for the whole event. 

Sorry but I used up all the batterys on Saturday so I can't show you the really wicked trails we rode on Sunday.

Taking a break Sunday, before the tough stuff.

Big thanks to Gateway BMW and all the guys who worked so hard to put this event on, it was a blast.  Also I should thank the instructors from RawHyde Adventures, Del, Mark and Jeff, three laid back California guys who can make those big bikes dance.


See you on the road.
GAW

Gateway BMW Open House, May 7th, 2011.

Gateway BMW (The Best BMW Dealer...IMHO) had their spring Open House this past Saturday.  In addition to the great food, great deals (on bikes and gear) and tire kicking, they had Chris "Teach" McNeil.  They let him take the shops new $23,000 K1600GTL for a spin.  Really!  Chris had to wait for the Demo bike to get back from test rides to put on his show.  Below is the result.



I have some more footage and will post it to YouTube as I get it edited, so check out my Channel later this week.  If you would like to see some photos of the event check out Gateway BMW's Blog post.

See you on the road.
GAW

ABCD - A Bloggers Centerline Day.

Back on April 12, blogger Gary France posted what I will call a challenge.  He asked fellow bloggers to particapate in ABCD - A Bloggers Centerline Day (link to post).  It sounded like a great idea and I was looking forward to it.  But if there is one thing that I excell at it's procrastination,  I had planned to do as he asked and copy his post to my blog, but before I knew it, it was already May 1st. 

I spent the greater part of the day doing the father and family thing.  By the time I was free to go out and make a photo it had started to rain, so I opted to hold off for a while, and before I knew it my window of opportunity and disappeared.  At around 9:45P.M. my second window of opportunity arrived.  I told my wife I had a project to work on and would be out for a while.  She looked at me with suspicious eyes, I think she thought I was going to covertly go and eat a pizza, but when I started to put on my riding gear she became slightly worried.  Had I lost my marbles?  Going for a leisurely ride at 10:00P.M. on a rainy Sunday night?

To the heart of the matter, Gary here is my submission to ABCD 2011.

The photo was taken just a mile or two from home, as you can see I have the center-line (just below my left hand) and you can even see my grinning face, well some of it (right hand mirror).  The image was taken with my GoPro HD Hero, set to take one still image every 60 seconds, it was mounted on the Chesty strap.  You can see a few more photos I took at the link below.

ABCD - A Bloggers Centerline Day.

Thank You Gary for coming up with the idea.  I look forward to participating again next year.

See you on the road.
GAW

Waiting...

Waiting...  It seems that is all I do.  I wait in the garage, ready to go.  Pointed out the door.  Gas in my tank.  My chain lubed.  My tires filled.  But I wait.

Today though, I felt the key, then my heart came alive, I could feel the pressure in my veins.  I could barely contain myself, he pushed my button...  I Roared to life!

The promised adventure had arrived.  Off we went into the cool dark morning,  What a glorious feeling, freedom...  Cutting through the air, screaming at the top of my lung.

But only 45 minutes later I'm waiting again...  Have I done something wrong?  My tires aren't even warm yet,  I still have a full tank of gas...  Why must I wait?  Where is the promised adventure?

The Yellow bike.

Vintage Honda.

I finally started to scan the old photos I found at my fathers home, one shoe box down and way to many to go.  I still haven't found the photo of my father on a bike, but this photo was taken around September 1965.  It shows a cousin astride what I believe is a CB160.  I wish it was still in the family and in the same shape, but wishing don't make it so...

As I find them I will post them.

GAW

The Current project.

I haven't had a lot to share on the motorcycle front lately, but we (my 7 year old daughter and myself) started a project recently.  The photo above is after an hour or two of work, doesn't look like much at the moment, as it progress's I'll share some more photos.


GAW.