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Categories: all aviation bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater Mon, 02 Feb 2009I put the Goldwing sidecar rig up for sale last week, and it looks like I finally found a buyer. With any luck, the sale will close on Friday. Of course, this means the end of an era for me. I don't expect to have another sidecar rig. It was interesting, it was a worthwhile experiment, but in the end, wasn't fulfilling enough to stick with. I could see making up a bicycle sidecar as an interesting project, but that's a remote possibility at this point. I found that the sidecar required too much power (from the motorcycle) and too much effort (from me) compared to a solo bike. Granted, you can't really carry anything on a solo bike, compared to a good sidehack, but I didn't find that carrying things was a mission I was called upon to perform very often. For my cargo needs, I've been pretty happy with my cargo bicycle, and with the addition of the trailer, it's quite capable of hauling an impressive size and weight of stuff. It won't go great distances like a gas-powered vehicle will, but it was good enough to get me and 90 lbs of gear down to South Seattle and back for SketchFest last year. However, for all that this is the end of an era, it might be the start of another. I've been thinking for years, "Hmm, the SV650 looks like an interesting bike." I test-rode one a few years ago, and found it to be almost too good -- too powerful for daily riding in traffic, and possibly too tempting to do stupid things with it. My mission, however, has changed. Now, I ride a bicycle most days and for most things, and the motorcycle has again been relegated to the "fun weekend vehicle" role. The fuel mileage it achieves is no longer as important (although it's still important), compared to when I was riding it every day. The motorcycle is still an important back-up, such as now, when I'm suffering from an injury that prevents me from bicycling. For years, back in the early Naughties, I thought to myself, "Hey, that Ninja 250 looks like a pretty cool bike..." And it took me years to finally go out and get one. Once I did, I was so happy with the result, that I now ride a Ninja 250 as my exclusive road bike, including long trips, such as to Montana and down the west coast. This is the long way of saying that the whole thing turned out pretty well. So I can't help but think that the time may have arrived to pursue another years-long, "That bike looks pretty cool" thought. It worked out really well last time. But this time, there are competing thoughts. The early 70s Honda CB350 looks like an interesting bike, and strikes me as being a very likely fun city bike. I liked riding the CL175 around city streets before I converted it for race track use, but CB350s seem to be a bit easier to find, and should offer better street power. The calculus between these two choices is pretty different, though. If I got an SV650, chances are good that it would completely displace the Ninja 250, and I'd sell the Ninja. I'd be sad to lose the Ninja, since it was very well broken in, and is very well set up for me with its suspension and brake modifications. If I went the CB350 route, it would strictly be an alternate to the Ninja 250. The Ninja would definitely stay as the reliable, modern bike that I could take on long trips without second thoughts. The CB350 has a much lower initial price (I could probably find one for under $1000 without any trouble at all), but a much higher secondary and ongoing cost: I'd probably have to put hundreds of dollars (and many many hours) into fixing it up, and it would never be as reliable as an SV650. The SV, on the other hand, has a considerably higher initial cost (probably around $4000-5000 for a good used 2007 or 2008 model -- new bikes appear to be practically unavailable, as the model I'd want has been discontinued), plus about $1000 in modifications I'd want to do right off the bat (suspension and brakes, much like the Ninja 250 received). However, it would then be, by all reports, practically maintenance free (excluding oil changes and chain maintenance, of course). I haven't made any definite plans. After all, I'm still quite happy with the Ninja 250. There's no requirement to replace it, and no real impetus beyond a vague desire for something different. We'll see what happens -- it may well be that the used bike market makes the decision one way or the other pretty obvious. Posted at 14:59 permanent link category: /motorcycle Categories: all aviation gadgets misc motorcycle theater Written by Ian Johnston. Software is Blosxom. Questions? Please mail me at reaper at obairlann dot net. |