First, I want to say “Thank You” for the warm welcome. I’m looking forward to dropping in from time to time and picking your brains.

Now, let me give the intro another try . . .

Started off back in the 70’s with the venerable Honda 350. Rode that for a couple of years before someone turned left in front of me. Totaled the bike, I came out a little better (three compound fracture to my metatarsals).

After I finished school and started teaching I picked up another classic – the XS650. I rode that for almost ten years until Hurricane Hugo dropped a large tree branch on it. I could have killed my insurance agent when he told me that he wished the tree had fallen on my lawnmower . . . so he could’ve given me some money.

Anyway, I had been working on a rolling restoration of a Norton 850 Commando when my ex and I split. I made sure that I had custody of my two girls, but I also knew that I wasn’t going to have the time or the money to devote to the project anymore. So, I let the Commando go and hope that she’s still happily running down the highway.

Funds were not available after the divorce. Raising the girls, then college, then the weddings (one done, one in October). My plan was to wait until after the October wedding and then maybe look for an ’08 closeout or something. But, with the latest push in gas prices, I thought, maybe I’d get something intermediate to get me through the summer. Plus, it’d been about 15 years since I’d been on a bike . . .

In order to keep my sanity, I had canceled my cycle mags years ago, and had purposely not kept up with what was going on in the two wheeled world. So, I was leaning toward Milwaukee. In the short term I was thinking maybe a 750 Shadow or something. Long story short, all the mid-range bikes I tried to look at were either already sold or had deposits on them.

The RoadStar had been listed for two weeks, but was bigger that what I’d thought I wanted to start back off with. Needless to say, I took a look at it, and decided on the spot that it was exactly what I was looking for.

So, that’s the long winded version, hope I didn’t bore too much.