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Downsizing

I've been away from this board for a bit, but saw this thread and thought I had better throw in my two-bits on down-sizing.
Last April I rode home a '07 Norge, 14,000 km on it, new tires, a beautiful bike.
My reasons for buying it were two-fold, my wife couldn't ride long distance anymore and I had found my 1800 Gold Wing a bit too heavy. It seemed that ever since I had retired two years previous I had lost some upper body strength. So it only made sense to down-size.

Throughout the summer I did a number of rides on the Norge, from one-day to one-week rides and kept hearing myself say over and over again, this ain't no Gold Wing!
I had owned the Wing since 2003 and put over 150,000 km on it. We rode all over western Canada and the USA, as far south as the Mexican border and as far north as The Yukon. Many rides with my wife and many solo rides. And all were done in that six-month window we have from April to October every year.

And moving to the Norge proved to be a huge adjustment. It seemed I missed the comfort of the Wing, the upright seating position, the cruise control, it's huge torque and available power, the protection from the elements that it afforded and of course the anticipated long-term reliability.

I'm not putting down the Norge. In fact I know that if I had owned it prior to owning the Wing, I would have had a hard time parting with it. I have a friend in Arizona that also has a 1800 Wing. He recently bought a FJR with thoughts of downsizing one day. Guess what? He rides his Wing 90% of the time and the FJR sits. It seems he had the same adjustment issues as I.

So, bottom line. After buying the Norge, I parked the Wing and put it up for sale. But one day after a couple of months I had to take the Wing into town for some minor work. It was the first time riding it that year, and all the way into town I kept having to wipe that stupid grin off my face,and kept thinking why am I selling this bike?

So I went home and put the Norge up for sale, along with the Wing. No bites this year but next year which ever one sells first, I'll keep the other. I lowered the price on the Norge but held firm on the Wing.

Btw, I went on a weight-lifting program to improve my upper body strength.

So down-sizing didn't work for me. I'm not quite ready for it.
 
I started this post before Guzzi came out with the V85 Adventure.

I honestly believe that if that bike performs well & is not top heavy (I can pick it up easily) & has a 250 mile fuel capacity I will sell off my present bikes.
 
Returning to this thread after yesterday's short ride: I was never really into the really large and heavy bikes. Oh, I had a Goldwing once upon a time, and of course when I started riding anything with 750cc was considered a large and heavy bike. But by the standards of the past decade and some, all of my bikes have been middleweight at most.

I was off bikes, all two wheelers, entirely for a dozen years due to the ongoing disintegration of my right hip. I finally had it repaired two year and some back with a total hip replacement. It took me until last Spring to really start getting some strength back in my legs, due to other health problems. Last April I bought myself an ebike and started riding it every day, working my way down to no electric assist at all. A few weeks back, I tallied up over 1000 miles on it. In July I bought another motorcycle, finally, and started to work on how to ride again. That bike didn't work out for me, I hated riding it. I bought the V7III Racer in October. Racer and turned a thousand miles in just over a month, the same day in fact I turned a thousand miles on the ebike.

Yesterday, I took a short ride and now I know that I'm ready: Racer is fully broken in, and in my little backroad bimble yesterday I drifted him through two corners the way I once did with my LeMans and 850T. That bespeaks a level of security and control that I've been hoping would return. What a feeling! Can't describe it.

Racer is the same size, plus or minus, as my beloved Guzzi 850T and LeMans V of the past. Just Right. I don't need anything more (modulo the joy that a V11 Sport or Griso could offer—and if I went that way, they'd be an add, not a replacement). I love this Racer, and I'll ride it until I can no longer get my butt on the seat. I can ride anywhere on this bike, it's that comfortable to me. Can't wait for Spring to come around ... we'll be going places together. :D

Onwards!
 
I went From this.
2
To this.
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To finally these two, a classic 4th generation Triumph Thunderbird and a 2016 Griso. Although great for high speed highway travel, I don't miss those big heavy beasts at all. With those two bikes, I really missed the essence of riding and I just had to get back to basics to get that big ole grin back on my face.
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What year is the T-Bird? Gorgeous bike!
Its an 03 Thunderbird 900, last year made for that style that was made from 1994 to 2003. They made the Thunderbird Sport until 04. Those triple cylinder Hinckley motors had a lot of grunt for only being 900's. After that they completely changed the style of the Thunderbird and they became full blown cruisers at 1600 & 1700 cc's.
 
Not a fan of the "new" T-Birds at all, very top heavy & no style.
That '03 is a great looking bike.
 
I haven't really followed the Triumph models at all in recent years. But when I was at the dealership, I sat on one of them and it just felt "big and in the way" to me. I really dislike it when sitting on a motorcycle it feels like the tank come halfway up my chest. :)
 
I'm so far beyond the notion of buying a bike because it will impress other people with its specs... :D
Amen to that! For me, at 65 and with many of the ailments others here have, the V7 is just about the perfect package. With some of Todd's goodies installed I expect it'll be even perfecter ;). I've have had quite an array of Japanese and Italian performance bikes over the 54 years behind bars, and as I look back through my recolectorscope there are only 2 others that ever came seriously close the V7 I now have as just beautiful bikes to ride. This one will see me out I reckon.
 
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