When he joined the group, he did not have a motorcycle. He had never ridden a motorcycle. He had no idea what kind of motorcycle he wanted. The guys all took him to a Harley dealership to have him sit on those. He liked them, but was not yet convinced.
The day that San Diego House of Motorcycles had their Fall Expo, Chris, James and I rode our bikes over there. It was the first time our bikes had been back to the place we bought them. Ray, our salesman, was there with some unfortunate news - it was his last day. Though I am excited for him to start his new adventure in asphalt, I was sad to see him go.
Ko was too busy watching television to hurry up and get to SDHM to sit on some metric bikes. While waiting, Mr. John Martin managed to find a VStar 1100 that he totally adored. After calling his mom for financial advice, he decided to go for it. James and Martin went to Jason's and picked up Martin's Sportster so that Ray could give him a trade-in offer.
As it turns out, the problem Martin was having with second gear on his Sportster would cost about $2500 to fix, so his trade-in value was a little less than he paid for it, but he still got a sweet deal on an awesome bike.
Ko finally showed up and found another VStar 1100 that he liked. His was a different color than Martin's and had none of the customization. It was a great deal for a first-timer. Ko checked out every other bike in the store, but settled on the VStar. After about six hours of financing haggling for the two bikes, we finally loaded them on the truck and headed back to the clubhouse.
Unfortunately, on the way there, Martin's bike tipped over :( However, the dent in his tank honestly looks like it belongs there. If only we could figure out how to make an identical one on the other side...
Chris bought another helmet and another jacket. I bought saddle bags.
The boys did some customizing to their new bikes. Martin removed the pad from his sissy bar, and Ko removed his passenger seat. Martin, James and Chris took a victory lap around the block, and then called it a night.
We then met up on Sunday so the boys could ride their new motorcycles.
As always, Martin can be found washing his motorcycle.
The guy who didn't get a new bike this weekend.
Teaching Ko the basics.
Stabling the horse.
Oh! Remember Mr. Happy?
Well, give him some throaty exhaust and he turns into Mr. BadAss!
