Concours is Gone

 

I was relatively busy this summer, digging up a tree trunk, going to
weddings, doing a garage sale, putting up a fence, stuff like that, so
only had a chance to advertise the Concours once on Craigslist, on the
last Friday morning in June before I left town for a wedding.  I
arrived home Monday night to find an email and voice mail from a guy
who said he was really interested but didn't quite have the money yet.

I returned his call on Tuesday and arranged for him to check it out
and go for a ride.  He still wanted the bike after checking it out,
told me he'd have the money around the first of August.  He seemed
sincere so I told him I'd hang on to it for him.  He called the first
week in August to say he was still working on the bucks but still
wanted the bike. He then called late August, but by then we both knew
the State of Alaska had bumped up the date for our PFD check, and that
we were getting an additional $1200 to offset the high price of fuel.
Bank accounts all across the state would be getting around $3250 per
person on 12 Sep.  That's around $6500 for Sue and me.

He called yesterday on the 12th but I had left my cell phone in my
motorcycle jacket, which was in the garage.  This morning the wife
said there was a beeping noise in the garage, and of course it turned
out to be my cell phone.  After a short phone call, my potential buyer
was on his way over with some cash while I busied myself with dropping
in the new battery I'd purchased about 3 weeks ago, attaching the new
license tags, removing the base sticker, and collecting all of the
paperwork and spare parts I had for the bike.

I had ordered the battery thru the Kawai dealer.  They had called when
it arrived and asked the wife if she wanted them to charge it for us.
She told me she said yes, so I merely plopped it onto my bench when I
brought it home.  Now, 3 weeks later, I attached the battery tender to
top off the charge while I performed the other tasks. The battery
charged, and charged, and charged.  It took nearly 2 hours before the
80% or more light started flashing.  Either this new battery was bad
or the shop never charged it. I hope sitting for 3 weeks full of acid
but uncharged didn't ruin it. My only excuse for not ensuring it was
fully charged when I first arrived home is that sometimes I just don't
do what I know should be done.

The new owner arrived, forked over the $3500, and I signed over the
title. I explained the situation with the battery, and disconnected
the charger with the 80% or more light still flashing.   It had yet to
switch over to storage but he had a 50 mile plus ride home so we both
figured it would be full up by then. I went over the controls with him
as I had done when he test rode it a few months back, and fired it up.
The new owner asked me how to turn on the headlight. I told him it was
always on, showed him the bright/dim switch and moved around to the
front to have the light reflect onto me.  Except there was no light.
Hi-beam was OK but no low beam. I couldn't believe it.

He road off into the sunset while I headed toward the bank to make a
deposit.  My conscience was bothering me about giving him a bike with
a burned out headlight, so I called him a couple hours after I got
home and offered him the choice of either a $100 back or me covering
the cost of a shop replacing the light or him. He chose the shop.

Back down to one bike.
Robert

 



So what do you have left?

 



I'm can't say for fear Beav might read this.

You might not have been around last fall.  My wife refused to go with
me on a three day ride last summer.  She said it was because she was
afraid of falling off the Concours, as she takes naps back there. I
started looking at bike more suited to pillions, which of course meant
tour bikes. I looked at BMW, Honda, Yamaha, and Harley. Criteria was
backrest setup that would make the wife feel safe and as lightweight
as possible.  BMWs were just too pricey compare to the rest, while the
Honda and Yamaha were heavier than a Harley.

Not long after checking specs, a co-worker told me about a 1997
Electra Glide Classic for sale for $10,000. The rest is history.
Although I had to twist her arm a bit, Sue went with me for a 1500
mile round trip to Whitehorse and had a great time. It's a good tour
bike

The bike is heavy for city use and isn't exactly high performance, but
the fairing is as good as the Concours, allowing me to commute daily
to work, rain or shine. My plan is to keep this so Sue will go on
trips with me, and in a couple years get a second bike to squirt
around on when weather permits.
http://home.gci.net/~robnsue/Misc/aBikes.jpg
http://home.gci.net/~robnsue/Misc/dash1.jpg

Robert

 

Robert Bolton wrote:

Motorcycling is about the experience? if it puts your wife to sleep, the
best place for her is.....on a plane!  :)

At least when you buy a Harley, you are getting the real thing, not an
imitation.




It looks huge...I'd be taking the camper thats parked up the driveway!
:) (Along with a dirt bike)

Last time my bike was serviced, the dealership had a book on the coffee
table about a few Kiwi's riding across the US heading for Sturgis on
their Harleys. It's mostly pictures (well, it is a Harley book :)  ) but
shows well the big flat roads you have. I think I'd rather fly/hire-ride
than spend hours travelling in straight lines......



Sounds like a good plan. Good effort on the daily commutes.

 



I don't know if she'd actually do it or not, but she keeps telling me
she wants a trike so she can ride by herself. That is NOT going to
happen, but I like having her come along.  She enjoys it, even if she
has to have cat naps.


I appreciate having a Harley, at least in part because my dad had a
'66 standard when I was 19/20, but I'm not above riding anything that
serves my purpose.


Keep in mind that my wife's only 5'-0", or 152 cm, but yeah, it's not
a small bike. It's service manual says it weighs 760 lbs.  My Concours
was listed as 595 lbs. My old Nighthawk 750 was around 480 lbs I
think.


There are some pretty long straight stretches in the lower 48.  It's
not quite that bad up here in Alaska but I think you'd be bored with
our roads too given the few pics I saw of your place.  We spend our
times watching for potholes and cracks.  While on our ride to
Whitehorse this summer we happened upon an auto in the ditch flipped
over on it's roof one night.  The poor guy hit a pavement brake too
fast and lost it.  We'd probably would have lost it ourselves if we
hadn't slowed down for the flashing lists at the scene.

Robert