is the grass always greener?

[iandouglas]

bear with me -

there is a tendancy for all us bikers (i think) to have an eye out for the next upgrade, we work our way up from learner type machines and of course from there find the next step, newer, more trick looking. more powerful ...then there comes a point where you feel a tendancy to keep going and perhaps, as maybe you get older that you sometimes look back and think, I wish I hadn't sold that bike, let it go, traded it in...and it wasn't necessarily the newest, best looking or most powerful..

do you think that it can actually be harder to say,' no this bikes fine it does everything I need' and resist the peer pressure or whatever it is that makes us keep looking around, ebay, bike magazines whatever

and then there's a boredom factor, just thinking aloud, you got any views on this?

[clarke]

I was told by one dealer the average ownership of a bike is 8 months. Not sure what that's based on?

I think we'll always look for different bikes even though the one we have may be acceptable as when we get older our tastes and needs change or we can finally afford that bike we always wanted.

[DirtyDT]

Yes Ian, I agree. Average car ownership is 18 months, not sure about bikes.

There are bikes that I wish I had kept (most of them in fact). Most of us will want our first bikes back and I have had too many bikes to store all of them. I am in the same dilemma really. The 2, 2 strokes are keepers. The SV is the one I am convincing myself I want to sell. '02 plate with 20k miles on the clock, owned by me for about 2 1/2 years. It looks fine, runs and starts great and is enough to ride. That said, there is always something that starts calling to me. I have been looking (only on fleabay at the moment) at XT660's, FZ1's, FZ6's and Ducati's. Studying Land Rover Defender's at the same time. I don't need one, I don't want to do off roading, they are just calling me. I don't need any of them but......................................

An upgrade is not always the best choice. Better buying more storage and then buying another bike and storing the older one.

[mike1949]

' no this bikes fine it does everything I need'

This is my philosophy, my current bike I've had for about six years.

I was told by one dealer the average ownership of a bike is 8 months. Not sure what that's based on?

My average ownership for cars and bikes is, believe it or not, SEVEN YEARS

[Airhead]

case in point, look at our foamy, we told him not to sell his first DT50 but to keep it, he sold it and regretted it ever since, now he has a dozen of them but I bet he'd rather have his first one back

[mike1949]

case in point, look at our foamy, we told him not to sell his first DT50 but to keep it, he sold it and regretted it ever since, now he has a dozen of them but I bet he'd rather have his first one back

I wonder what his average ownership is, is it years, months or weeks?

[wild foamy]

Average ownership is about 6 months for me .

and yep i would give anything to have my donkey back, oh how i miss that sweet donkey of mine , but alas, i now have 5 of them.

next trick is to do something with my classic mini and maybe get rid of it, then get a suzuki SJ413 to throw around the midlands

[DirtyDT]

.....................My average ownership for cars and bikes is, believe it or not, SEVEN YEARS

Not worth following you to the bar then Mike.

[slice]

Had my car for the last 10 years and this bike for 3, nothing wrong with either of them BUT if I saw the right FJR1300!!!!! Do I need it No, do I want it? goes without saying really.

[mike1949]

Not worth following you to the bar then Mike.

You could if you wanted to Mr N but you might have to wait a while.

[iandouglas]

The peeps that trade in a new bike relatively quickly must have either made a mistake or have loads of money with depreciation as it is, or I suppose get a good trade in deal -

I'd have to get finance to do that i think and knowing my luck financially I'd come a cropper, . I might just own a couple of heaps but they're my old heaps with no money owed.

What i had in mind when I started the post was more about the relentless pipe dream of upgrades or changes that seems to be part of biking, something I have to fight against

On a slightly different tack I have been offerred another XJ600 - a Diversion this time, honestly I can't justify a third bike but it's tempting, like a stray dog that needs a home

[obriens65]

I've only changed bikes when they've died or been killed (except changing the CG125 for the GT750).

The GT was killed by a moron that ran me off the road.

The CB900 blew it's gear box (Grouch desease).

The CB750 just died under me.

I was knocked off the GPZ600.

Basically every bike I've had has been the right bike at the time and I've been sad to see the going of all of them.

[jimmy]

The only bike I've not regretted selling is my first road bike, an XS250CW, sorry drewps, but it was the biggest piece of shit I've ever had the displeasure to own (although in fairness, it got me through my test)

In 32 years of biking heres my list

1981 - 1982 Yamaha xs250

1982 - 1983 H***a cb400/4

1983 - 1989 Triumph T140D (Stolen, or else I would still own it)

1989 - 2001 Yamaha xs1100

2000 - 2005 Triumph Legend

2004 - 2011 Triumph T140D

2005 - present Can - Am Bombardier

2010 - 2012 Yamaha xjr1200

2012 - present Triumph Speedtwin

2012 - present Triumph Bonneville

so thats 10 bikes in 32 years equalling 3.2 years average, which is surprising cos I have always seen myself as a long term owner so just goes to show that stats mean fuck all (pardon the language). Looking again, apart from the 4/4 and Can Am, I'm deffo a Triumph / Yam kinna bloke

[iandouglas]

some nice bikes there jimmy

[MRFZFR600R]

I have read this tread with interest..I tell you why...... My first big sports bike all the way back in 1994 was a FireBlade......Thought I would love I believed the hype, then it hit me, I didn't like it...I could nod off on the boring thing...My old FZR600 was more fun..... After the Blade meet its demises I went back to Yamaha in the form of a YZF750.......loved it......loved it.......loved it.....

I made a major mistake in 1998 when I part ex it for an R1.... The R1 is fun, I still have it today, but for all its power it wasn't my YZF 750.

If I could turn back the clock to the day I went to pic the R1 up, I would just keep riding straight past the dealership on my YZF 750...

The Grass isn't always greener.....

[AndrewElvisFan]

I think, as in most areas of life, if the grass looks greener it probably just means there is a little more manure than what you are used to!

[iandouglas]

I was told by one dealer the average ownership of a bike is 8 months. Not sure what that's based on?

I think we'll always look for different bikes even though the one we have may be acceptable as when we get older our tastes and needs change or we can finally afford that bike we always wanted.

like it

Re: ' as in most areas of life, if the grass looks greener it probably just means there is a little more manure than what you are used to!'

good - it's having the sense/wisdom to know that though

[Grave]

Don't think I've had a bike I've regretted getting rid of but maybe thats just because of concentrating on the one its being replaced with.

Part of the fun (for me at least) with getting a new bike is what to do with it in the way of customising & tinkering and now I come to think about it I've always went slightly bigger on the engine size with the last couple being 1100's.

Don't think I could go down a size for a new bike to be honest but then 1100 does leave a lot of room for going up the way and not so much for going down anyway.

That said, I don't think if an opportunity to buy a new bike came up I'd buy it just because it had a bigger engine.

Grave(ly settling in back home)

[wild foamy]

i just change bikes when im bored or when they die/become obsolete (the XJ went when my 2 year restriction was up, my DT went when i passed my full test) and i bought the Turbo and XZ to make intersting projects