The long road towards owning a motorcycle is closing in on the last leg. Two weeks ago, my friend Sam and I went to Greater Boston Motorsports in Arlington, MA to check out their motorcycle stock. Primarily, I was interested in looking at the stock of used motorcycles they had, as starting out with a $9000 motorcycle seems to me to be a bad idea.
After picking Sam up and heading over, the first sight that caught my eyes was the large selection of not only motorcycles and atvs, but also snowblowers and scooters. That's right, snowblowers. It was impressive. Anyway, we walk inside and start looking around. I will admit, I was rather lost. I wasn't sure what I wanted, or even needed, really. The most I knew was that I needed a bike that was larger than 750cc. Why? Because the larger the engine, the larger the bike. Being a substantial individual, I would need to start on a bike considerably more substantial than a 250cc Honda Nighthawk.
After walking around for a bit, I approached one of the sales reps; a very nice guy named Brian. He, more than any of the other sales reps I've met in my life, seemed to understand what it was I actually needed. He showed me a few different bikes, most of them too expensive, but we settled on a Kawasaki Vulcan VN800. A nice bike, decent size, and in the price range I was looking for. It was sold before I could give it a serious thought.
Oh well.
As the day was drawing to a close, however, Brian came up with two alternatives. Both Vulcans, and both within my price range. I told him that I would give it a thought and let him know, as he would then be able to bring the bike from one of the affiliated stores to GBM.
Monday, after stewing it over for hours, I called Brian and asked him to bring in the cheaper of the two bikes, and was promptly informed that someone had put a hold on it. "Curses!" After thinking a little longer, Brian said he would bring the other Vulcan (5 years younger with 1/5 the mileage) so I could take a look at it. I get to the GBM on that weekend (again, with Sam along for support), and, the bike's unavailable. (F^*%!) After yet another protracted search, things begin to lean towards my favor.
Try looking up the 1998 Suzuki Marauder VZ800 and you will find that there isn't a lot of information (or pictures) out there. The bike is an 800cc American-style cruiser. The one that I am purchasing (put some money down so that I won't have it pulled from under me), is white with red accents (I wanted a blue bike, just like I wanted a blue car... my car is red), has a tri-headlight configuration, an aftermarket seat, and a pre-installed sissy bar. It's a 1998, it's white/red instead of blue, and I'm not sure what the mileage is on it, but, for a first bike, I'm not going to push my luck.
Since I went to college, my credit is shit (my car payments also had something to do with that), so I wasn't able to get a loan right then. Instead, I was told that I would have to put down at least half the cost of the bike for a down payment. I don't make enough to put $1500 down at any one time, but, again, Brian was awesome. He set up a layaway plan. Much like a department store, I'll send in a little money over time and, once I've payed off the down payment, then everything will be easy to take care of.
So, by the beginning of May, I will have my first motorcycle: A white and red 1998 Suzuki Marauder VZ800W.
No comments:
Post a Comment