Bikes...

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I did a bit more looking tonight.  Reminiscing too.  

The first bike I was going to buy.  I sat it, liked it.  Planned on it.  Just waiting for my reenlistment bonus, $35k in the day.  Then, or put that away and wait for my pay upgrade to petty officer second class.  Or?  I was pretty sure my captain, the co of my sub, was putting in for mustanging.  Busting ranks.  He had done it, had been... waiting for the next one.  Thought he found me.  Yea, so... perhaps waiting until that came through, putting all the other bonuses up for... my first house?

Crazy how things go.  Never got the bike, didn't make it more than a few months past finding, sitting, and beginning to make plans to buy it.  Most of the guys in my units were bikers.  Mostly Harleys.  Of course, they mocked my timid entry.  I just told them to blow.  My choice.  That is how we rolled.  Friendly, mostly.  Cared, but not a fuck, either.  You know?

Anyway.  I stopped even thinking about a Harley, afterward.  Even if I could have afforded one.  Something... about them.  Their reputation isn't what I wanted.  If I was ever to go with a hog, or something thereabouts, it would have been an Indian, once they came back, or an old one if from before their reentry into the market.

But hogs, and even the sportster, were... are... off the list.  Harley's had (have?) a very bad reputation, both on the road and off.  Or, the riders and the bikes themselves.  People would run a single biker off the road, there for a while, just because.  Rightly?  Wrongly?  I don't think... anybody cared.  So I lost my taste.  That's if you could keep the thing lit, and on the road.  Hell yes, I'm picky.

Anyway, the bikes I am looking at these days, a starter bike?  Here...

Availability, price, added gear... terms... a thousand things to consider.  But... these are the starters I am looking into.

Of course, the goal will be to learn on those bikes.  And, eventually, upgrade to something with a bit more... everything.  But, only when I can handle it.  This bike tops the list.

But... another bike... sure looks pretty.  Could easily become my girl.  If her reputation hasn't proceeded her.  Still, between the last and this bike, these are what I am considering in time.  Good bikes, even to ship or order for overseas.  Could well handle me and a woman, if she... isn't even close to my size.  I'm thinking... more the size of one of my legs and arms.  

I had really thought I would never get into a Harley.  Depending on how their reputation holds on these specific bikes?  The price really surprised me.  I thought it would be in the $30k to $50k range.  Harley's... have a bad rep all the way around.  But... $20ish-k?  That's... possible.  Of course, that's a lot of fancy and tech.  Those things break, fudge, burn, junk, quickly.  So... watching.

Honestly, it would go against my... better nature.  But... so do women.  *grins*  And, yes, I... may be going there anyway, both.  Yea.  Later.