"New" guy here, who finally might be old enough.

I traded in my '81 CB750F (my first street bike, which I owned for less than a month) on a new, blue 700 Interceptor in 1985. I rode it over 24,000 miles the first summer I owned it!

But.... I was young and "bulletproof" back then. Everywhere I went was WOT, including some instances of eluding law enforcement. I street-raced it against a lot of the other new sport-bikes of the era; the FJ1100's, Ninjas, turbo Secas, etc. and had a blast. But one of my buddies went down hard (high-speed wobble; about 90 MPH) drag-racing his GS1150, breaking a bunch of bones and requiring some skin grafts. Then my best friend got in over his head on a right sweeper and slid into the grass, hitting a driveway culvert with his 900 Ninja and flipping it... luckily he just bruised his foot where it had caught on the bike before it threw him off.

Later that summer another friend of mine high-sided his FJ1100 while we were both cranking through a tight right turn at Alum Creek State Park near Columbus, Ohio. I was just inside of him on the turn when his bike lost grip and slid through the grass where a 8-10 inch high stone wall lined the ditch. The bike hit the wall, and tossed him headfirst to the ground. We thought he was gonna be OK at first, but after a few minutes he blacked out, and was in a coma for several days. When he had recovered from all of his other injuries, the entire whites of his eyes stayed blood-red for almost a year! He had taken a real hard shot and had he not been wearing a good helmet, it probably would've killed him. I was one of only two other riders (out of a group of about 20 guys) who went to the hospital and stayed with him until his Mom got there that night... and boy, was that tough - telling her what had happened. But when we left, we rode from Columbus all the way home (near Mansfield, OH) at over 100 MPH up I-71. Ahhh, to be young and invincible!

Later that summer I saw some pics of the new '86 VFR 750, and wanted one bad... imagine it! Gear-driven cams! Full lower fairings! That cool, convertible, solo-seat setup! An extra 50cc's! But I started thinking a little more over the winter about the way I'd been riding and not only decided against the new bike, I decided that I probably should sell the '85 before I killed myself on it. I realized that I wasn't "old" enough to ride responsibly, and sold it with no regrets.

Now it's 26 years later. I'm finally old enough. I think I can enjoy a performance bike without pushing it to the limit at every turn, and I really miss riding... but not just riding any old bike. I want a red, white and blue '86 VFR 750, the one I wanted so bad while I rode the wheels off of my '85. Mid-life crisis? Maybe. But I think it's more nostalgia than anything. There were times when I just cruised the '85 without white-knuckling it, and I really enjoyed it. Hearing the V-4 pulling the bike, feeling the cool night air... and simple stuff like going through the gears and feeling at one with a well-designed machine. The kind of stuff that - even though I do a lot of driving - just isn't the same when you've got all that metal surrounding you, the windows up with the A/C on, and the cellphone interrupting every mile.

Yeah, I'm finally old enough to be sane about it. And yeah, the local daredevil kids on their late-model crotch-rockets will probably make fun of my tires having "sissy-stripes"... the same way I made fun of people when I was their age, if they didn't wear the side tread off of their tires. But I'm OK with that. Racing is for the track. All I wanna do is ride.

My 500-cube '69 Barracuda fastback won't be finished until next year, if then. Life is short. Summer is coming. Let the VFR shopping begin!

 

Happy hunting. Hope you find the old VFR of your dreams.

 

Welcome Brion. Sopunds like you had narrowly escaped some experiences in your past. I have a couple old guys on my street with and old circa 71 Cuda and an old Circa 73 Duster sitting in their garages. Always been a GM man myself, but I gotta admit, I do like some of those Mopar.