It's almost Thanksgiving in the mid-Atlantic and today I donned a light wool t-shirt and my windbreaker and spent three hours cruising around northern Virginia on my motorcycle. This will probably be my last ride of the season, as I've made arrangements to store the Aero indoors beginning the first of December.
My motorcycling season began in early April this spring with a introductory class at NVCC. After my group passed the class, the instructors gave us two pieces of very good advice: first, buy a bike soon, you now have basic skills, if you don't use them, they'll deteriorate. Second, don't buy your dream bike first; buy something that's like your dream bike only older and cheaper.
I followed both pieces of advice and In early May I bought the Aero from it's second owner in Winchester, VA. It had 5200 miles on it and when the owner rolled it out of the garage, it looked like it had just come off the showroom floor. The Aero looked like a scaled down version of my dream bike a Harley "Fatboy," and it sat low enough for me to comfortably put both feet on the ground. I brought cash and bought it on the spot.
This summer and fall, I've put just a little over a 1000 miles on it. This Aero has been my training wheels. The last bike I owned before it was a 1968 Triumph Bonneville that had seen better days and that was over thirty years ago. Unlike my old Triumph, the Aero has been rock solid dependable -- an no less fun to ride.
Next spring, I'll be putting the Aero up for sale at some point. I'm sure it'll get ridden some more before it's sold. Next year, I have my eyes on a Sportster 48, not the Fatboy of my dreams. I need another year's worth of puttering about and I need to get my feet wet on the Interstate. As much as I like the Aero, it's not an Interstate cruiser. The Sportster isn't either, but it's the progression that counts and there's still a Fatboy in my future, but not for a few years.