This article is a modified version. Original one was published in Wenxuecity's car forum last year.
An old motorcycle keeps its value, but a new one drops its value quickly.
I once had 3 motorcycles at the same time:
1.
Yamaha 50 cc (bought new, in 1983. That was my first, with one cylinder, 2 stroke engine (so I had to pour two stroke engine oil in its small tank, because it is burnt with gas) for $700. I could get around 90 MPG. Its maximum speed was 55 MPH when the engine reached at 7000-8000 RPM. I sold it for around $300 (with only 2000 miles on its odometer after 5 year ownership). If I remember correctly, the insurance was around $20 a year);
2.
Honda 360 cc (bought used, 1976 model, two cylinders, 4 strokes, my second. I felt a 50 cc engine was too small, so I bought this as my second. Soon I sold it (bought it for around $300 and sold it for another $300));
3. Yamaha 750 cc (bought used, 1975 model, 3 cylinders, shaft drive (like a rear-wheel drive car!). It had a very nice driving sound when you drove. I could get only 26 MPG. I bought it for $450, and sold for another $450 three years later. I had hated this sale, as if I sold my best lover, but my future home was 1000 miles away. By the way my insurance was only around $80 a year);
Motorcycles were my only vehicles for me at that time. I drove them, shopping, sightseeing, even drove my 50 cc bike from NY to NJ in winter with my winter coat wrapped around my legs as pants) to visit one of my relatives who was from China on his business trip. The problem of 50 cc was too small and too light: once I stopped in front of a red traffic light, then I started too fast, the front wheel was in the air, not on the road, as high as my eye level, I was so scared, which I did not mean to.
Honda was the worst: I did not even drive much, soon the timing chain was broken and the cylinder heads were bent, I had to remove the cylinder head block from the engine in my graduate student dorm in summer, and brought the block to a motorcycle shop for replacing the bent valves. Soon I sold the bike and not long after I sold it, the buyer complained the clutch was broken. I was really sorry for him and apologized to him but I indeed did not know: I was new for knowing the bike as well as Honda, the greatest brand in the world but I hate the most (do you guys remember I wrote several entries (after someone talked about Honda these past two years?).
I like 750 cc Yamaha best. I once drove my 750 cc with another relative of mine as a passenger around in New York City. It was very fast. Once I stopped in front of a red traffic light and then then started, I beat a BMW, until I reached the speed limit so he caught me from a measurable distance. By next red light, he stopped at my right side, turned his window down, looked at me, stared at me with an eye sight I never ever understood, I really felt I was falling into the world's greatest trouble, really scared. I wondered if he had a gun, with a gun-carrying-permit to shot me, an innocent winner. Lu Xun once said a true winner hopes that he wins if his opponent is the stronger, not the weaker. I beat the BMW. Was it my fault? Was it Yamaha's fault? Was it a motorcycle's fault? If you were a motorcycle driver would you vote me as a stronger winner?
The greatest feeling for driving a motorcycle is at the moment when you meet another bike driver from the opposite direction waving his hand for your waving hand, though we never meet. It seems all motorcycle drivers are in one family. You only live in that family because you know the family.
Driving a motorcycle also has a chance to make a friend and know people (American people), to know how nice they are. My way to the driving test site was helped by a lab technician, with my 50 cc bike on his pickup. He was almost my best friend, like my elder brother, though I never had one. But he passed away too early. Many helpers were from unknown Americans. Once my 750 cc Yamaha had a flat tire, a passing-by American took me to a shop, I bought an inner tube and installed it with his help (750 cc Yamaha's tires had inner tubes at that time, not tubeless tires, but for a shaft drive, it was very easy for tire changing). He later invited me to his home, I remember clearly, just before he entered his house, he asked "Honey, are you clothed?" We became good friends, exchanging visits several times for 4 people (Sino-American friends). But unfortunately he divorced later. Good people for me were either short lived (including my best) or had not so good life. Another time my 750 cc fell on the road, I was trying to lift it up, a 550 lb. giant for a 110 lb. A passing driver stopped his car to try to help me as quickly as he could. But a miracle happened, by the time he reached me, the 550 lb. giant was standing! I also had once in winter, my 50 cc fell, I felt pain on my right hand, one piece of my leather gloves (I still have this piece, a sole witness) was broken. A pretty girl asked me if I needed help and said her home was nearby. I just felt I did not need it so I honestly said "Thank you, anyway, I don't need help". Later I regretted very much (in my whole life). I felt I might have had a greater romantic story (again, Sino-American story) in the world to write If I had been saying yes.
By the way, I still have a motorcycle license right now. It is an M on my driver's license, with a nice Memory for Motorcycles. It is bigger M than BMW's M.
