Thanks! I like it.

I never thought I would own a GoldWing. Was an "old mans" motorcycle. Heavy and awkward. I happened to be out on a joy ride one day on my Yamaha VStar 1300 (that I really liked and my wife had its twin -mine was silver, hers red). I happened by the motorcycle dealer that was then in the SE part of Joplin and stopped in just for a break and see what was new. Was looking around and when I was looking at a new GoldWing on the showroom floor a salesman came over and started telling me about it. I told him I was not really interested and he could see I was riding a pretty new Yamaha. But he persisted to show me the features of the motorcycle and said I should test ride it. I again pointed out that I really was not interested in trading but he said they loved to have guys try them out. So I figured, why not. I might never get a chance to ride a Goldwing and here was a guy offering, kind of urging.

So I took it out for a few miles and could not believe it. Yes, it is a heavy bike. But I could not believe how nimble it was. I tended in the beginning to over steer it because I thought it would be slow and sluggish to respond. He said it had huge low end torque and would go up an on ramp without even shifting down. He was right. He had told me about a guy that did professional videos of motorcycles riding the "Tail of the Dragon" ride. Told me to watch some of them on Youtube. He was chasing the crotch rockets on the Dragon and keeping up, wait for it, with a GoldWing (I did watch some after I got home). It is a performance bike in touring drag. But I didn't buy it.

Told my wife about my ride and she said "you should get one". I really do love that woman!!!!! I think my VStar only had about 10,000 miles on it and I knew no one would give me anything near its worth. So I just went to the dealer in Pittsburg and ordered a new GoldWing. No longer needing the VStar I ended up selling my SIL mine for dirt cheap so he would have something to ride. My wife had had her knees replaced and no longer felt she could handle a big bike so after I rode her VStar 1300 a while ended up giving it to my oldest son. He still has it. My grandson has the one his father (my SIL) had (the son in law died of cancer). Ended up getting my wife her first CanAm Spyder three wheeler so she had a bike again she could ride herself. But I digress. Funny thing is, I did miss the VStar1300. So in 2014 the Yamaha dealer had a carry over 2013 VStar950 which is almost identical to the 1300 except air cooled instead of liquid and the instruments are even more "Harley look alike" than the 1300 at a discounted price (seems like all of the sudden they could not give away touring bikes at that time) I just could not resist so I bought it. Still have it and love it also.

Anyway the "old mans bike" I thought I would never own or want to own, I really love. I just hope I can keep riding it for quite a few more years.

I have kind of went berserk since retiring. We are motorcycle poor. 8 total between my wife and I. 5 for me and 3 for her, with the latest I just bought for her a couple weeks ago, a Yamaha VStar250. She can handle it, even with her fake knees. I figure that will be the last bike I ever ride (assuming I don't go out in a crash and burn on some other motorcycle before then). When I can no longer keep the GoldWing or the VStar 950 up, when I can no longer get a leg over the dual sport bikes or the dirt bike, the VStar 250 will be low enough and light enough I hope I am still riding it at 85. We will see! I figure we will own that bike till I die. It is fun to ride. Tops out about 70-75. Very old school nothing digital and still carb. Almost no electronics.

I have rambled and reminisced. Sorry for the ramble.

This is what being motorcycle poor looks like.

(20240915_194601 (full).jpg)

(20240915_194553 (full).jpg)

(20240906_141949_HDR (full).jpg)

20240915_194601 (full).jpg (82KB - 4 downloads)

20240915_194553 (full).jpg (101KB - 3 downloads)

20240906_141949_HDR (full).jpg (152KB - 6 downloads)