Hmmm what to do, what to do???

Well as I said in the last post, I walked in the motorcycle dealership and was greeted by a salesman named David. I asked to see the 2009 Yamaha Road Star 1700; they had four of them in stock. Two with no windshields and saddle bags

and two fully loaded. I ended up looking at the two fully loaded ones.

One was silver and the other was a darker gray. I was a little disappointed as both were not my favorite colors but still nice looking bikes. They also came with hard saddle bags instead of the leathers ones like my bosses bike. Not a bad price $14,400.00 with I think a 700 dollar rebate.

Then it happen…David told me he also had a bike and was thinking of trading to a bigger one. This is where I made my mistake and asked…what kind are you thinking of getting? His reply…you ask? A 2009 Yamaha Raider 1900,

come to find out the bike I was looking at was only a couple of bikes over from the Raider, I took a glance at it and thought it was a very sharp looking bike, but not what I was looking for…no windshield, saddle bags and no real place to put them on it without making the bike look dumb. It looked like more of a around town bike with a huge motor not one made for the long rides that I want to do.

I have to admit, I did keep glancing over at it while talking to David. So the next think I know, I’m sitting on it and love the way it feels. I loved the tall risers the 21” front wheel and the 240 tire in back, it also has a nice little rake (I think all total 40 degree) that’s a lot of rake for a stock Yamaha and let’s not forget the 113 ci motor tucked inside the blacked out frame. Then David does the unthinkable and said I have one sitting outside already fitted with a set of cobra pipes;

you want to hear it run? So I go outside and he cranks the beast…all I can say is OH MY GOD!!! In all honesty it was one of the best sounding bikes I have ever heard, it even beat out the Harleys. WOW!!!

But as nice as it sounded I was still looking for more of a cruiser so we went back in to look at the Road Stars 1700’s again. But the whole time I kept eyeballing the Raider…then David said “do you want to take the Raider out for a test ride???” My first reaction was I’m not dressed for it, I was in shorts, boat shoes, and I did not have my helmet with me. His answer “no problem we have plenty of helmets for you to barrow.”

He was a man of his word; he had about ten helmets to choose from. I picked a half helmet

like I always wear and to my surprise it fit. He jumped on a Suzuki and I was on the Raider, as I turned the key and hit the starter it roared to life. He told me to follow him as they had a usual block they take you around. As I let off the clutch, I noticed the bike had more power than I’m use to (even at idle speed). As I followed him to the main road, I was surprised we crossed it and got on a very busy highway 49 heading towards Jackson. I look up and he was gone. He was hauling ass down the highway; so I gunned the gas on my bike (this is where things get crazy) the next thing I know my rear tire has broke loose and I’m spinning like crazy (I've got to admit this scared the poop out of me) so I let off the throttle and shifted in to second…yep you guessed it spinning again. This time I got it under control and I was off. Seconds later, I was on David’s rear wheel as we turned onto interstate 59. As soon as we got off the on ramp, we were gone at speeds, I know, hitting the triple digits in mere seconds only to briefly slow due to a ticket in progress along side the interstate, but once passed we were off again until we turned again onto a smaller road and came to a stop at a little store to tighten up our helmets that were flapping on our heads at the high speeds while on the interstate.(grinning from ear to ear I might add) Then we eased our way back to the dealership, and I thanked him for the ride of my life…if you want to go fast try out the Raider you won't be disappointed.

Now here is my dilemma…what to do? Do I keep my V-star 1100 (fine bike, by the way) or trade it in on a 2009 Raider. Now I’m wondering will I be satisfied if I buy another cruiser even a larger cubic inch one…I’m just not sure I’ll feel the same kind of rush…but then I like to travel on a bike and I’m not sure the Raider would be a good fit for that either. Hmmm, what to do, what to do.