I've been riding motorcycles since 1993 when I picked up a
used 1981 Yamaha XS-650 when I was in college in New
Mexico. It was a great bike to learn on and I actually rode
it from there to Houston in one day. I kept it until the
cost of repairs was simply too high.
After selling the Yamaha I was bikeless for a few months,
but then in September of 1997 I picked up a new 1997
Harley Davidson 883
Sportster from Barnett's Harley
Davidson in El Paso. It is no longer an 883
because in May of 2006, with the help of a friend,
converted it to 1212cc with 10.5:1 compression
pistons. The bike has been tuned at Piper Performance and
here are the results of the dyno runs and the air/fuel ratio.
Since then I've put over 50,000 miles on it riding all over
the country to go sightseeing and for some get-togethers
with a few of the internet based Harley communities such as
rec.motorcycles.harley and www.sportster.org.
In June of 2008 I picked up a 2004 BMW R1150RT because, while I love the
Sportster, it’s not really a touring bike. I’m really
enjoying the BMW so far, it’s a heck of a machine, and
once my comfort level is up I’m going to be hitting
the road for parts west.
I belong to a few motorcycle related organizations,
including the Harley Owners Group,
the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America, the
BMW Riders Association, and The
American Motorcyclist Association. I would
strongly suggest that you join the AMA, regardless of
the type of motorcycle that you ride. They do a lot of
good work for all riders.
