I have a big hobby: riding motorcycles. I had my earliest trials together with training for my drivers license back in 1988. But unfortunately my funds were used up too quickly and I had to abandon my plans to get the (then called) class 1 license.
Only in 1994 during my exchange year in Edinburgh, Scotland, was I able to finally rectify that. That happened during a weekend (no kidding) course on small Honda 250s, I don’t recall which at the time. I busted the first exam because according to the examiner I was driving “too far to the right”. Go figure! On the second attempt I nicely kept to left-lane traffic and I passed.
The first motorcycle still was a long wait after that. It was a black/gray Yamaha XVS 650 Dragstar from 1999, one of the German Joker-Models of that time. Brand new bought at Berlage in Borchen (near Paderborn).
Yamaha XVS 650 Dragstar
Looked much like that, I also had a Sissy-bar, extra headlights, the usual. But my happiness was not to last. In fall of 2002, just as I was on my way to meet with some friends, an elderly rabbit breeder decided to ignore my right of way on a wet rural road. I ended up in the ditch, luckily just some bruises, and the bike was a total loss. It was a bit scary how the motorcycle dealer looked at me as at a ghost when I told him I was the driver of that sorry piece of scrap metal and plastic he has in his garage…
(Sill looking for pictures of the leftovers…)
But very soon after I god a successor, bought off the little damages for my injuries and the insurance money I got. A used Kawasaki VN 800 Classic in burgundy/cream.
VN800 Classic Burgunder
Though it was nice, it was not exactly what I was looking for in a cruiser… Even before the Yamaha I would have preferred something very different which just came to the market, but was too expensive vor me to buy: a Kawasaki VN 800 C, usually known as “Drifter”.
Kawasaki VN 800 Drifter
Yep, and this I could already successfully buy in summer 2003 with low mileage and good used condition. And since then she is in my garage and is cared for and sometimes even ridden out to pasture.