Sorry to hear about the health issues.  Hopefully you can find a doc to help reduce or eliminate it and you can get back out there!

My dealer was different, too bad more didn’t adopt their model.  Dedicated sales rep with Buell having it’s own corner in the shop.  Several employees rode Buells and they put together Buell only rides, often had 15-20 riders for those.  This was 99-01 era, I sold my X-1 Lightning when I realized dirt was my true love…

If Eric was allowed to build the Blast as he designed it, it would have been a good bike. It was designed around a Rotax single engine that was used in things like ATK dirtbikes and the Bombardier 650 sport quad. That would have allowed him to meet the $5K price point while the rest of the bike would have been higher…

Torque and grip, specifically the grip was my first thought.  Under braking, when you’re banging downshifts on a bike, it’s very easy for the tire to slide to minimize the shock on the trans.  Also, bike engines have much lighter rotating mass, so they spin up much quicker in response to the input from the rear tire.

My favorite isn’t so much fish out of water, but just because of the rarity. A guy in my hometown had a fully restored Tucker that he would drive around in during the summer. This was late 70's, early 80's before the movie came out.  Somehow the producers of the movie heard about him or vice versa and his car was used…

4th Gear: This is good news for dirtbikers. That means the used market for cargo vans might actually be reasonable enough to buy one for hauling in a few years. Unless it’s a beat down 150k mile version, Transits and Sprinters hold their value quite well. Makes it hard to buy knowing it’ll sit 5-6 days a week.

I know on BaT, if there’s paperwork from a reputable shop with an IMS upgrade being done, then prices on 996/997.1 seem OK, if not, they rarely make reserve or go low if no reserve. I’m not looking to make money on my 911, just don’t want to lose money like I would if I bought most other cars in the $40K price point…

An early CBR900RR (93 IIRC) went for $21k on BaT recently. It was a 1k mile, all original (down to stock exhaust) garage queen.

The question is will the 997.2 depreciate enough to make good money on the rebound? Prices on .2s with the MT are fairly strong, can get a 991 with PDK for less. I’m pre-shopping 911's now, gonna buy in late spring, early summer when my garage is finished. If you want the manual, it’s either 997.1 and older at mid…

The level/tier 1 e-assist bikes really intrigue me.  I’ll probably be buying 1 for my wife this spring.  That way we can do 20-30 mile bike rides together without it being a total suffer fest for her and boring for me.  I went to the AimExpo in Columbus and there were lots of various e-bikes on display, it’s…

This seems like a no brainer to me, get another 911. Kick in a few bucks over and above the insurance settlement and might even be into a 991.  I am biased though, once I get my garage built, I’m getting a 997, though probably not a Cab.

I never put the front plate on my Mustang, had it for 7 years and put 106k miles on it and never once had an issue.  No way I’d spoil an exotic with it.  It’s not like you couldn’t afford the ticket if you ran into that PITA cop who decided to make an issue about it.

There’s someone in Columbus, OH that has a Bugatti Chiron who drives it. I about broke my neck when it passed me going the other direction at one of the local shopping centers. I’m nonplussed by standard exotics, but a Bug is something else.

You need to understand we became good friends by racing dirtbikes together, what some people may think is crazy or scary, we’re like “fuck yeah!”

If we’re talking before I was born, it would be the ‘66 Fairlane XL500 with the 289 and 4-speed that my dad bought new. He won the B stock title for his region in it, but couldn’t get the vacation time from work to go to Nationals.

Hmm, you might be right.  I know Ford did a staggered shutdown and re-fit of the factories since it was such a major change.  Now I can’t remember if the ‘97s started showing up early or they ran ‘96s long?  IIRC, some of the aero F-150s were called 97 and a half.  Eh, not that it matters at this point.  I loved my…

So what we’re really getting at is market size and economies of scale. If you have the potential to sell thousands vs. millions with similar fixed costs (R&D, making the mold, etc...), the tire with limited market penetration will have to be more expensive.

‘97 was a transition model year, is your’s the last of the boxy style or the first of the aero look that lasted until ‘03/’04?

Yeah, 20's are fairly common (either base or as an option) on most trims except that basic work truck versions now.

I see what you’re saying about the old school wheel sizes, but when is the last time you could get an F-150 with 16" or smaller? I know my 98s had 17", one on optional aluminum rims and 1 on base steelies.