Boys

 

Our older son has been riding a motorcycle for a couple years now.  Before he returned to college this Fall, I mentioned to him that it would be fun if our younger son and I had motorcycles next summer so we could ride together.  He loved the idea, and I began to help our younger son search for one.

After a couple of months of looking on the internet, I saw something which had potential and decided to contact the owner. He was, literally, a little old man.  I sent him a message and didn’t hear anything for a couple of days.  I figured he was illiterate in the ways of the internet (turns out he wasn't). Then he messaged an answer to my question, and we began a conversation about what our family was trying to do. 

The gentleman was the type of person I like buying from. He seemed to have taken good care of the bike.  His listing information was voluminous, perhaps the best listing I’ve ever seen.  It didn’t take long to conclude this could be a win-win for all of us. 

Then I asked Asher what he thought.  His response was “If you think it’s a good deal and a good purchase, I’d be open to it, but I’m not super excited about the bike.”  That’s all I needed to hear.  I messaged the gentleman the essence of that conversation and that we were passing.  He said he understood.

That evening, I was looking at another bike Asher had indicated he liked.  The price was a little high and it had a few obvious but repairable issues.  Out of curiosity I messaged the seller (a local motorcycle dealer) and asked if the bike had other issues.  He said other than the carburetors needing cleaning and those problems I had seen in the pictures, the bike was fine.  Then he told me they had just lowered the price (significantly) because they didn’t want to have to do the repairs themselves. 

I spoke to our older son, who said if we didn’t buy it, he would - sight unseen.  He had been looking for this style of bike but hadn’t seen a decent one at the right price.  I spoke to another friend who has worked on our older son’s bike.  He actually volunteered to take a look at this one.

The following morning, I took off work and my boy and I headed to the dealer.  The bike looked as good as the pictures portrayed.  We chatted a while with the salesman.  The mechanic friend who had offered to come look showed up, and gave us the thumbs up.

We left with a motorcycle.

My boy smiled the whole way home.  He had found a bike he could be excited about.

Now the plan is to upgrade our older boy’s bike with something he would prefer, and I would take over his Honda Shadow. 

Boys.  You gotta love us.