
Here is my current favorite pastime, cruising on a nice
bike. I had always wanted a V65 Magna and finally got in a position where I
could get one. The pictures above are of the bike as it was
listed on Ebay when I bought it. I won this one one Ebay
in January 2003, drove to Columbus Ohio to get it and was really disappointed when
I got it home 1200 miles later and got to look at it in the daylight. It
needed a lot of attention. Shortly after picking it up, I blew out both my knees
(real men have no place on roller skates) and found myself with tons of time on my
hands. I stripped the Magna and went to town fixing it. I spared no expense
with the new parts... new gas tank, new side cover, new Dunlop D205 Radial tires, new
battery, new turnsignal mounts and light assemblies, new headlight, new grips, new front
fender, new Jardine muflers, and a Oil Mod that re-routes the oil supply to the
camshafts. I buffed, polished and clearcoated all the aluminum parts making them
look like new. I put over 100 hours in restoring this old bike.
This has to be the fastest bike I have ever been on. The 125+
horsepower at the rear tire along with a 580 lb weight and a 6 speed transmission really
make for a terrific horsepower to weight ratio. I am a sport touring rider. I
don't care about reving the motor out running wide open from stop light to stop
light. I prefer a nice smooth winding road that I can comfortably keep a 45 - 60 mph
pace on. It has rarely seen more than 5000 rpm with me on it but is super strong all
the way to the red zone on the tach.
I recently bought another bike, a new 2003 Honda ST1300
ABS. Update, I sold this bike and all the extras I
had for it on Ebay to a really lucky guy from KY. I rode it to Huntsville to meet
him in 24 degree weather in February. Yes, I really wanted one last ride before
handing it over to the new owner.
I bought this bike in Aug 03 from a lawyer in
Marrietta GA. He had the bike listed on Biketrader.com. The top box was
included with the deal. He had ordered it from england but had not installed it
yet. One word describes this bike... SWEET. Smooth torque from the V4 comes on
at idle and pulls to redline. I added a Cee Bailey windshield that was 2 inches
wider and 4 inches taller than stock then sold the old one on ebay. I also added the
factory fairing and mirror wind deflectors which made the pocket of quiet air a little
bigger for both me and Vicki. We toured the mountains around Gatlinburg and Pigeon
Forge several times on this bike. As far as I am concerned, this is the perfect
motorcycle. We were in the planning stages of a Key West ride and Vicki gave me an
ultimatum... buy a Goldwing or buy me a Tahoe for this trip. I put out the word that
this bike was on the block for sale and one of the guys I work with jumped on it. He
now has added blue strobes and a siren and escorts funerals on it. I am now the
proud owner of a 2005 30th edition Pearl Yellow Goldwing.
Yep, had 236 miles on the clock when we left out for Key West. We
averaged about 300 miles a day, taking only the beach roads and state hwy's down the west
side of Florida and back up USA1A up the east coast. Got home 10 days later with
2700 more miles on the bike. The Goldwing has to be the most comfortable motorcycle
there is to ride. It still will haul ass with 0-60 of 3.8 seconds. The St1300
was faster at 0-60 with 3.4 seconds. I added a tall Tulsa windshield, the CB, and a
trunk organizer right off. I recently installed a luggage rack to give us a little
more room for necessities. I do miss my ST1300 but not so much as to want to go back
to it.

Just got back from doing the Tail of the Dragon, the Cherohala Skyway,
and a chunk of the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was great.