Have you customized your motorcycle a little or a lot? No matter what you did, we want to show off your bike and you on WRN!Find out how to submit your bike photos and story here.
When I was 52 years old I took the written motorcycle permit test and passed so I could ride the 150cc scooters my husband bought for us to use at our campground. I was amazed that the short 20-question test asked virtually nothing about what I had read in the DMV guide. Ten questions were about how drugs and alcohol impair your driving. Six were about recognizing street signs. Out of the remaining four, only two had some slight reference to riding a motorcycle.
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So now I was free to ride my scary, not-so-stable Chinese-made scooter on the roads. I signed up for a road test that took all of eight minutes and was handed my license right there in a parking lot.
I was happy enough on my scooter until one day my husband made a comment that I would never be able to ride a real motorcycle. That’s all it took. I bought a 2002 Yamaha V Star 650 that I absolutely hated. I stalled it on every incline.
I lasted two months before going into a dealer and upgrading to aYamaha V Star 950 with floorboards and fuel injection. But my hand would fall asleep on the throttle after 15 minutes and the bike was 90 percent plastic parts. The next summer I decided to try a Harley-Davidson.
I purchased a 2008 Harley-Davidson Low Rider with only 3,000 miles and every chrome accessory installed from a guy who had bought for his girlfriend to ride but who wasnt interested. I had that for a couple years and got tired of my right leg being drenched in sweat from the heat of the bike.
When I sold it, I had a nice $500 profit that lasted about two minutes. When my husband rode the bike up into the purchaser’s pickup truck using a small motorcycle ramp perched on the tailgate, the extra weight bent the tailgate. There went my $500 profit to fix the new owner’s truck.
I then upgraded to a 2009 Harley-Davidson Softail Deluxe. It was beautiful and I loved it for three years but I wanted something that was more comfortable on longer rides so I bought a used 2013 bright yellow Can-Am Spyder RT Limited.
Have you customized your motorcycle a little or a lot? No matter what you did, we want to show off your bike and you on WRN!Find out how to submit your bike photos and story here.
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After several attempts to ride a motorcycle, including taking the Basic RiderCourse three times (I set a new record for falling while taking the class), I test-rode a Can-Am Spyder. The representative from Leo’s South in Lakeville, Minnesota, took the Spyder to a nearby parking lot on which I could ride it. As my husband says, I got on and rode away. The representative was concerned he did not have enough gas in the tank because I rode around the lot so many times. Shortly after that test ride we bought a used, very red, Spyder. I didn’t even have a permit at the time of the purchase. By the end of the summer I had earned my roadster (3-wheeled) endorsement. At the age of 62 I was finally a legal rider. The following spring I had Lynus Segivny add beautiful pinstriping to my Spyder while he was at an open house in Spring Lake Park.I have since made two trips to Branson, Missouri, from Minneapolis and this past June I rode to Colorado Springs. Picture 1 is of me as I reached the hotel in Colorado Springs. Picture 2 is of me as I reached Loveland Heights Cottages outside of Estes Park.
Thanks for this article on three-wheeling. I started riding at 57 and loved it beyond anything I could imagine! I started with a Honda 600, traded that for a Honda 750, which was traded for a Honda 1300. What a ride! But, arthritis in the wrists (especially left wrist), led me to the three-wheel option. After much reading and looking, I now have a Can-Am Spyder that I love every day. Just completed a ride that proved to me she could handle heavy downtown traffic in OKC in a downpour! Still riding with a smile!
Thank you, thank you, for finally having an article that includes a 3-wheeled bike. Specifically the Can-Am. I had a Harley-Davidson Street Glide for years and loved it. But age and a bad knee didn’t make it easy to hold up nearly 800 pounds of Harley. The Can-Am Spyder was my choice. Love this bike. Just because I had to give up two wheels doesn’t mean I gave up riding.