Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
I got up far too early this morning to go meet a potential Le Mans buyer in Sumas, WA. That's about 13 feet from the Canadian border, inland from the more popular Blaine, WA crossing. It's also two hours from my house, and about four (!) from Dennis's (the potential buyer) house.
Anyway, I did the straight-up-I-5 route to get up there, because I was uncertain of how long it would take, and I started about 30 minutes later than I wanted to. The ride up promised to be awful, as I started out in that heavy mist that isn't quite rain, but is really too thick and downward-falling to be mist. However, as I rumbled northward, the mist died off, and things started drying out.
Fortunately, I-5 went by quickly. It was long, straight and boring. Hoo boy. But the Le Mans is certainly at home on the freeway. No problem passing anyone who gets uppity.
I turned off 5 in Bellingham, and headed over to Highway 9, which is a much smaller, much more interesting road. It winds through farmland, with lots of low-speed sweeping curves to follow property lines. Alas, that section of road didn't last nearly long enough, and I was shortly at our designated meeting spot.
We chose one of the few open restaurants in Sumas, and sat down to breakfast. We ended up discussing a wide variety of subjects, only touching on motorcycles now and again. I had pretty much decided beforehand that this trip wouldn't result in a sale, so I was just treating it as a social visit at the midpoint of a nice ride.
We traded bikes for a quarter mile of Sumas' exciting urban asphalt, with Dennis declaring the Le Mans lighter-feeling and better-steering than his R1100R. I didn't notice too much difference, but I'd already ridden a very similar bike, and knew about what to expect.
I was getting ready to depart, when Dennis paused, and was obviously pondering something. Suddenly, I remembered that he'd actually expressed interest in buying this bike I'd ridden up. He turned to me and said, "I guess we need to agree on a price, then."
Oh! Right!
So, after five minutes, we'd hammered out the details, and I parted with a glowing feeling of having finally sold the Le Mans.
The ride back was very pleasant, particularly as I diverted to take Chuckanut Drive from Bellingham, which parallels (if you can consider a nicely curvy, waterfront road to parallel anything) I-5. I found myself singing Variations on the Theme of Chuckanut -- mostly repeating "Chuckanut Drive!" -- into my helmet. Very nice, if somewhat silly.
Arrival at home didn't actually see me at home. Instead, I rode straight to Lake City Kawasaki to see if they had a lovely red Ninja 250 for me (not buying yet, since the deal for the Le Mans isn't absolutely done yet). Alas, they were sold out, but tell me they'll have a black one available some time this month. I was really hoping for a red one, but I could probably make do. In all honesty, the biggest difference between the two is that the black model will probably show dirt a lot faster. I'm a lazy bike washer.
Anyway, overall an excellent day. I'm looking forward to finalizing the sale of the Le Mans, and getting it into the hands of someone who'll actually ride it properly. And, of course, looking forward to getting my butt back on a Ninja 250.
Posted at 17:10 permanent link category: /motorcycle
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
