ndivita
Well-known member
Eight years ago, I bought my first FJR, a brand new 2005 model. I had a number of great rides on that bike. I loved it so much that after 42,000 miles (and one Iron Butt SS1000 certificate) I could not resist the temptation to trade it for the 2013 model that now sits in my garage after a 3500 mile solo round trip to the West Coast. I got heat exhaustion on the way back in southern Arizona, thank you. It was my fault of course in a hostile environment that left little margin for error. That did not make me feel any younger or smarter.
I was 48 in 2005. I'm 56 now. I am in good overall health, and I try to work out regularly, but I am fighting a set of bad genes. Orthopedic and weight issues haunt my family, so I am swimming upstream. Time is not on my side. I am wiser than I was in 2005, thanks to many chronic errors in thinking that I have worked hard to correct. I am starting to feel my age physically and mentally despite my efforts to push back with diet and exercise.
Then there's my wife. God bless her. I love her so. She learned to ride (I mean got her license) back in 2011. She has a bike but her attitude toward riding is more one of fear than respect for the process and the machine. She sees riding as something we can do "together" not a sport or hobby she wants to pursue on her own. She likes to ride but it makes her (and me) extremely anxious. She's a great partner but it exhausts me to take her riding, with me on my bike and she on hers. We do much better two up, but not on the FJR. We have been on two trips together on the 2005 FJR. They did not go very well. Comfort issues predominated for her. She is 2 years younger than I am and while she has a far better gene pool to work with, she does not exercise at all.
Back in 2010, we flew to Phoenix, rented a Gold Wing and rode to the Grand Canyon, Zion NP etc. We had a glorious time. I loved the Gold Wing for all the reasons people love Gold Wings, she loved how comfortable, roomy and user friendly it was. It stuck with us, but I had it in mind that I could not, would not, give up my FJR. I don't want more than one bike. I did that and it's too much hassle. Several years ago, in a nod toward the conceit that I could remain young forever, I had two bikes. The other one was a Honda Blackbird. Fun yes, but a step in the opposite direction of the one I am now pondering.
You see where this is headed. I am toying with the idea of selling my nearly new FJR (now with 5,000 miles on the odo), selling her bike, and getting a true touring bike for us to use, be it Gold Wing, Victory or dare I say, K1600GTL. The obvious choice would be a Wing, Comfort and togetherness with the wife instead of storming around the nation solo on an FJR, in other words.
I fear I am thinking too hard about this, but I tend to see the FJR as a proxy for my desire to remain a "young man." It does everything you could ask of a motorcycle but on the long haul trips, however, between the riding position, the wind protection, and the tendency to break all speed limit laws, I sometimes just want a bike that is oriented more toward comfort and calm. I have added Heli Bars, a tall Cee Bailey wind shield, and a Corbin touring saddle. The recent trip out west took it out of me. I averaged 575 miles a day, which may be nothing to some of you (younger) guys but it's a stretch for me anymore.
I don't know why I am agonizing so much over this. I like taking my wife two up on Gold Wing, but I won't do it anymore on an FJR. She is simply not going to ride her bike anywhere long distance and I don't want to get into trailering two bikes somewhere just so she can ride her bike timidly and make me a nervous wreck at 8,000 feet somewhere in Colorado. I do want to spend more time with her on a motorcycle just not on an FJR and just not while she is riding her own bike (She scares me to death when she rides her own bike, let's just say it). I feel awful leaving her behind when I go on a long trip by myself. We are both acutely aware of how fleeting life is and we do want to spend as much time as possible together. If I needed a trip without her, say when my older brother comes to town with his bike (a very rare occurrence anymore) she would understand that and the Wing could obviously be put to good use solo.
I feel that if I give up the FJR, I am somehow surrendering something of my youth and masculinity (which time, entropy and gravity are taking from me anyway). I admit I love the FJR's ability to pass a line of six cars a time without breaking a sweat, but I also like to feel like I have not been caned at the end of the day's ride. There's no amount of farkling at my age that can overcome a family history of weight challenges and multiple hip, shoulder and knee transplants. Did I mention that I have bad genes?
Am I the only one who wrestles with these issues?
Thoughtful opinions welcomed.
Respectfully submitted....
I was 48 in 2005. I'm 56 now. I am in good overall health, and I try to work out regularly, but I am fighting a set of bad genes. Orthopedic and weight issues haunt my family, so I am swimming upstream. Time is not on my side. I am wiser than I was in 2005, thanks to many chronic errors in thinking that I have worked hard to correct. I am starting to feel my age physically and mentally despite my efforts to push back with diet and exercise.
Then there's my wife. God bless her. I love her so. She learned to ride (I mean got her license) back in 2011. She has a bike but her attitude toward riding is more one of fear than respect for the process and the machine. She sees riding as something we can do "together" not a sport or hobby she wants to pursue on her own. She likes to ride but it makes her (and me) extremely anxious. She's a great partner but it exhausts me to take her riding, with me on my bike and she on hers. We do much better two up, but not on the FJR. We have been on two trips together on the 2005 FJR. They did not go very well. Comfort issues predominated for her. She is 2 years younger than I am and while she has a far better gene pool to work with, she does not exercise at all.
Back in 2010, we flew to Phoenix, rented a Gold Wing and rode to the Grand Canyon, Zion NP etc. We had a glorious time. I loved the Gold Wing for all the reasons people love Gold Wings, she loved how comfortable, roomy and user friendly it was. It stuck with us, but I had it in mind that I could not, would not, give up my FJR. I don't want more than one bike. I did that and it's too much hassle. Several years ago, in a nod toward the conceit that I could remain young forever, I had two bikes. The other one was a Honda Blackbird. Fun yes, but a step in the opposite direction of the one I am now pondering.
You see where this is headed. I am toying with the idea of selling my nearly new FJR (now with 5,000 miles on the odo), selling her bike, and getting a true touring bike for us to use, be it Gold Wing, Victory or dare I say, K1600GTL. The obvious choice would be a Wing, Comfort and togetherness with the wife instead of storming around the nation solo on an FJR, in other words.
I fear I am thinking too hard about this, but I tend to see the FJR as a proxy for my desire to remain a "young man." It does everything you could ask of a motorcycle but on the long haul trips, however, between the riding position, the wind protection, and the tendency to break all speed limit laws, I sometimes just want a bike that is oriented more toward comfort and calm. I have added Heli Bars, a tall Cee Bailey wind shield, and a Corbin touring saddle. The recent trip out west took it out of me. I averaged 575 miles a day, which may be nothing to some of you (younger) guys but it's a stretch for me anymore.
I don't know why I am agonizing so much over this. I like taking my wife two up on Gold Wing, but I won't do it anymore on an FJR. She is simply not going to ride her bike anywhere long distance and I don't want to get into trailering two bikes somewhere just so she can ride her bike timidly and make me a nervous wreck at 8,000 feet somewhere in Colorado. I do want to spend more time with her on a motorcycle just not on an FJR and just not while she is riding her own bike (She scares me to death when she rides her own bike, let's just say it). I feel awful leaving her behind when I go on a long trip by myself. We are both acutely aware of how fleeting life is and we do want to spend as much time as possible together. If I needed a trip without her, say when my older brother comes to town with his bike (a very rare occurrence anymore) she would understand that and the Wing could obviously be put to good use solo.
I feel that if I give up the FJR, I am somehow surrendering something of my youth and masculinity (which time, entropy and gravity are taking from me anyway). I admit I love the FJR's ability to pass a line of six cars a time without breaking a sweat, but I also like to feel like I have not been caned at the end of the day's ride. There's no amount of farkling at my age that can overcome a family history of weight challenges and multiple hip, shoulder and knee transplants. Did I mention that I have bad genes?
Am I the only one who wrestles with these issues?
Thoughtful opinions welcomed.
Respectfully submitted....
