[snip] For me personally, the mechanical aspects of the Bullet or any other motorcycle or car for that matter, outweigh my desire to ride or drive them. I love the chase and the mechanical challenges.
[snip]
I love to ride and to wrench.
The dilema: if I am wrenching then I can't ride the bike.
The answer: A bike to commute and a bike to wrench.
For commuting I have an old rat K100RT on which I put about 12K mi/yr. It seems to be happy as long as I supply gas, tires, oil, and the all important spline lube (even Beemers have thier weakness's). It is unmodified with exception of driving lights, a sheepskin seat pad, and a JC Whitney top box.
For Wrenching the elegant simplicity of the Royal Enfields make them a joy to maintain and modify. Then when I finish saying that I need to confess. Last year I bought at an Insurance Auction, a '90 BMW K100LT that had been hit and declared totaled. My plan was for it to be a parts bike for the '86 (my wife named it "The Mistress"...'cause it was 21, fast, and dirty'.) When I got the '90 home I discovered it was actually in pretty good shape, better than "The Mistress" ...but no title. Then I did the foolish thing. I found a '87 frame with a clean title on the internet and well, you can quess the rest.
The project took all winter. This bike requires the frame to be lifed from the top of the power assembly. Lifting the frame requires removing all the faring, the complete steering assembly, dozens of electrical connections including the essential things line 4 way flasher, temp and oil pressure guages, electric fuel pump, mass air sensor, the usual safety interlocks, the radar detector, the radio, and the accessories plugs.
In the spring it was ready for the road with only one glitch: The ABS Brakes were not functioning. I have great standard brakes, but can't find the gremlin in the ABS electronics. My son sort of adopted it for our trips to the race track and named it "Frankenbike".
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tinboatcapt/sets/72157600545562204/ "Frankenbike and The Mistress"... sounds like a B Movie!
And my neighbors can't figure out why I drive the shops Electra home so often!
jim