Idaho Tiger
Member
I got my first motorcycle at 14, a 250 Ducati Manza I stripped down, put aluminum finders on it, and knobby tires and ran it off-road until I saved up enough to buy a 350 Honda at 15. I snuck around on back roads 'til I was old enough for a learner's permit and got my license. I added an old Ossa 250 Enduro that I stripped down and put a plastic tank and fenders on for off road only. At 18, I bought a '76 Honda CB550F in bright orange new for just $750 that I road back and forth from Connecticut to Georgia where I went went to school and that was my sole transportation throughout my 4 years there. At 21, I married to the girl that used to ride around on the back of my Honda 350 in High School, and shortly there after I briefly had a second honda - a 250XL which I neglected to mention to my wife I was buying until I brought it home - I sold it 2 weeks later, deciding to keep her instead ;-) At 28, we moved from Wisconsin to Massachusetts and couldn't take the bike and with kids at home, I quit riding for many years until I was laid up with a badly ruptured disc in 2000 - and a friend of mine consoled me with motorcycle magazines. I caught the fever, and bought a 2000 Honda VFR, rode it for a year and decided I needed something sportier to keep up with my buddy on his Ninja 900 and sold the VFR and picked up a Honda CBR929RR in great shape with only 5800 miles on it for under $5K. Alas, it was not the bike, it was me that couldn't keep up, but I added some padding to the front seats and rode it all over California and the Northwestern. Meanwhile, my buddy was looking at a Speed Triple, and I saw the Triumph Sprint ST and it caught my eye. As the 929RR approached 50K miles, I decided to try one on for size. My wife found me a great price on a low mileage '07 in Santa Barbara in Caspian Blue. What a great bike! I rode it on a bunch of great trips all around California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona, and loved every mile. When I totaled it on my way to work with 36K miles on it, my wife found me another '07 Sprint in Oregon in Tornado Red, and I put another 25K miles on it over the next several years. Meanwhile, my dirt roots were calling, and I had my eye on the Tiger 800 since they came out with it. When they did the upgrade in 2018, last year I got a Tiger 800XCa from Spirit Motorcycle in San Jose. And, I have been having tons of fun riding it on, and off road. I am hoping to ride it to Julian, CA for the Geico Adventure Rally this fall. Recently, I decided to ride my Sprint ST down to Felton, CA on Route 9 - one of my favorite local rides, and it just wasn't the same and I decided my sport bike days were over - I looked to the Tiger 1200XRt to feed my yearning for blacktop. And, all the controls are the same as my Tiger 800, so switching between bikes is a breeze! I test drove a 1200 and took it on the twisties and was amazed at how well it handled even the tight turns. So I searched and found a fantastic deal on a new Red 2018 Tiger 1200 in Modesto, CA at Cycle Specialties and I rode the Sprint out there and traded it in before they could sell it to someone else! I have spent the past week breaking it in, and loving every minute. That bike is super fun! I am really looking forward to the long twisty ride this Saturday to Modesto to do the first service/oil change. I won't be buying another bike for a while ;-)
Last edited:
Welcome, Tim, from up HWY 680 past Mt. Diablo.
TO TT from Mississippi.
