Decisions

... or a lack thereof.

I have two motorcycles right now.  I didn't mean to.  I had a Honda Rebel, which was (and still is, I assume) a fantastic bike;  efficient, easy to ride, efficient, fun, efficient, and simple to park.  The problem is, it's not much fun above about 60, and I knew I was going to be moving to where I'd need to be able to keep up in 70mph traffic.  Also, I'm 6 feet tall, and the Rebel is, well... short.

One day, the opportunity to buy an '82 CM450C in what appeared to be great condition basically fell out of the sky;  the guy wanted to be rid of it, he didn't have space for it, and he didn't really understand why I'd think a 450cc bike was big enough:  I bought it for $400.  Well, that's the bike that sparked this blog, so you can see why I say it appeared to be in great condition.  In the end, I think I've put about $900 into making it reliable, which isn't all that bad.  New brake pads and tires, well, that was inevitable.  I'm still baffled by how little the clutch repairs cost, since it wasn't so much a "repair" as a "complete replacement."

The idea was, I would buy a bigger bike, ride it around for a while, and see how I liked it.  At the end of a trial period, I'd sell one or the other.  Last summer, I tried to sell the Rebel, and got no interest. 

So now I have two bikes.  I don't really have space for two bikes -- or, at least, I'd like to be using that space for other things -- but I have them.  So I need to make a decision.  Do I keep them both?  Do I try to put one of them on the market this spring?  At this point the Rebel likely needs, at a minimum, some carb work and a turn signal light bulb, but it should be OK other than that.  The tires might be getting oldish, but I've been moving both bikes around to avoid flat spots.

What I'm thinking is that I'll get the Rebel back on the road, and switch back and forth for a while.  In the end, the Rebel just isn't big enough for me -- that's part of why I was looking for a bigger bike in the first place -- so maybe I'll hang a "For Sale" sign on it wherever I park. 

The other problem is that I'm being tempted.  Honda has two bikes I'm actually tempted by:  the NC700x and the CB500x.  Both come mighty close to what I envision as my "perfect bike."  Both are more or less a "standard" posture.  Both have reasonable options for luggage.  Both are fuel injected.  Both get remarkable fuel economy.  And both can go fast enough that I'll feel like I can keep up on the highway.  Both are a little heavier than I'd like, but they're well under 500 pounds, which is my hard and fast limit.  I've ridden a bike that weighed 500 pounds.  Moving it around without engine power sucked.