ceciliatan (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} ceciliatan) wrote,@ 2008-05-09 15:53:00 |
|
Motorcycle for Sale: Honda Shadow 1985 -- $600 as is
Here's what I just put up on Craig's List:
The time has come for me to sell my beloved Honda Shadow. I'm just not riding it anymore and my backyard is not a great place to keep it. The bike has under 5000 miles on it, NOT KIDDING.
Bike runs but needs work -- needs new battery (this one works with jumpstart) and a tune up, plus cosmetic stuff. Weather has taken a toll, but I never rode it much and so it has really low miles.
It's a Honda and Hondas from that era just run forever, like HP laser printers.
* Facts: 1985 Honda Shadow VT500c
* V-twin engine
* shaft drive (not chain drive)
* cherry metallic red gas tank and trim
* includes original toolkit and spark plug puller!
* very easy bike to work on and maintain
* cruiser style, comfy seat
* 5' 4" shrimp like me puts both feet on ground easily
* great women's bike
This is the model of bike shown in the infamous "Dyke Bike Repair Handbook" which I will gladly give you a copy of with the bike if you want it. Along with extra spark plugs and some other miscellaneous accessories.
The story of this bike:
I bought this bike in 1992 when I was quitting my day job in publishing to go to grad school and write full time. I sold my Camaro and took the money from that and my final paycheck and bought this motorcycle. I bought it from a young couple in Derry, NH who were moving to Florida and they weren't going to bring the bike with them. It was "her" motorcycle, and although this was 1992, and the bike is a 1985, she had only put about 1800 miles on it. In fact, she'd never even changed the oil even once. (You should have seen it the first time I did it. Pure black sludge.)
Over the next few years I took it on a few trips, one to upstate New York, once to New Hampshire, once to the Cape. I used to meet up with a bunch of other motorcycle geeks from the NEDOD email list at the Bedford Farms dairy for ice cream on Friday afternoons.
The most infamous trip that I and the bike took, though, was to the funeral of gay leatherman and well-known writer John Preston in Portland, ME. I rode in full leather up to the funeral, which was a full Episcopal service. yes, I took communion in full leather, chaps, vest, jacket, the whole works. There was a whole contingent of leatherfolk there from the HarborMasters, the gay leather group that Preston helped found.
On the way home from the funeral, though, I had an accident. I was sitting at the stop sign at the bottom of the off ramp from I-95 at the rotary by the RMV in Reading, MA (at the time I kept the bike in my boyfriend's garage in Wakefield). I was waiting for traffic to clear enough to enter the rotary.
A large white Cadillac came sailing down the on ramp. I could see it in my mirrors getting larger and larger. The large white woman driving the car decided that she saw an opening in the traffic that she could make if she ran the stop sign.
Problem: I was still stopped at said stop sign. I realised I had a choice. I could jump out into the traffic and get broadsided, or I could hang on and let her rear-end me. I figured if I got hit from the side I'd probably get injured and it would be my fault. Whereas a rearender is the fault of the person in back.
Blam. She hit me, the bike jumped forward and fell over. I fell off but wasn't hurt and didn't even hit my head. Everyone in the rotary saw the accident and all jumped out of their cars to come help me. The bike wasn't really damaged either, other than cosmetic stuff and the front forks needed to be aligned. Her insurance company was pretty stupid, and the bike shop wheedled $2000 in repairs and upgrades out of them... even though I only paid $1800 for it.
I moved to Cambridge in 1995 and since then, the bike has mostly sat in the yard under a cover. I've gotten it running a few times, but just for tooling around town, and last summer never even took it out once. Three years ago I did bring it up to Bikeworx in Maynard, MA for an overhaul so other than the age spots and rust, it's in ok shape.
It's time for the bike to have a new home. Yours? Please come see it this weekend (May 10 or 11) if you are in the area. I'm asking $600 as is, cash please so no weirdness. Comment to get directions or call: 617-864-0492 and ask for Cecilia.
Here's what I just put up on Craig's List:
The time has come for me to sell my beloved Honda Shadow. I'm just not riding it anymore and my backyard is not a great place to keep it. The bike has under 5000 miles on it, NOT KIDDING.
Bike runs but needs work -- needs new battery (this one works with jumpstart) and a tune up, plus cosmetic stuff. Weather has taken a toll, but I never rode it much and so it has really low miles.
It's a Honda and Hondas from that era just run forever, like HP laser printers.
* Facts: 1985 Honda Shadow VT500c
* V-twin engine
* shaft drive (not chain drive)
* cherry metallic red gas tank and trim
* includes original toolkit and spark plug puller!
* very easy bike to work on and maintain
* cruiser style, comfy seat
* 5' 4" shrimp like me puts both feet on ground easily
* great women's bike
This is the model of bike shown in the infamous "Dyke Bike Repair Handbook" which I will gladly give you a copy of with the bike if you want it. Along with extra spark plugs and some other miscellaneous accessories.
The story of this bike:
I bought this bike in 1992 when I was quitting my day job in publishing to go to grad school and write full time. I sold my Camaro and took the money from that and my final paycheck and bought this motorcycle. I bought it from a young couple in Derry, NH who were moving to Florida and they weren't going to bring the bike with them. It was "her" motorcycle, and although this was 1992, and the bike is a 1985, she had only put about 1800 miles on it. In fact, she'd never even changed the oil even once. (You should have seen it the first time I did it. Pure black sludge.)
Over the next few years I took it on a few trips, one to upstate New York, once to New Hampshire, once to the Cape. I used to meet up with a bunch of other motorcycle geeks from the NEDOD email list at the Bedford Farms dairy for ice cream on Friday afternoons.
The most infamous trip that I and the bike took, though, was to the funeral of gay leatherman and well-known writer John Preston in Portland, ME. I rode in full leather up to the funeral, which was a full Episcopal service. yes, I took communion in full leather, chaps, vest, jacket, the whole works. There was a whole contingent of leatherfolk there from the HarborMasters, the gay leather group that Preston helped found.
On the way home from the funeral, though, I had an accident. I was sitting at the stop sign at the bottom of the off ramp from I-95 at the rotary by the RMV in Reading, MA (at the time I kept the bike in my boyfriend's garage in Wakefield). I was waiting for traffic to clear enough to enter the rotary.
A large white Cadillac came sailing down the on ramp. I could see it in my mirrors getting larger and larger. The large white woman driving the car decided that she saw an opening in the traffic that she could make if she ran the stop sign.
Problem: I was still stopped at said stop sign. I realised I had a choice. I could jump out into the traffic and get broadsided, or I could hang on and let her rear-end me. I figured if I got hit from the side I'd probably get injured and it would be my fault. Whereas a rearender is the fault of the person in back.
Blam. She hit me, the bike jumped forward and fell over. I fell off but wasn't hurt and didn't even hit my head. Everyone in the rotary saw the accident and all jumped out of their cars to come help me. The bike wasn't really damaged either, other than cosmetic stuff and the front forks needed to be aligned. Her insurance company was pretty stupid, and the bike shop wheedled $2000 in repairs and upgrades out of them... even though I only paid $1800 for it.
I moved to Cambridge in 1995 and since then, the bike has mostly sat in the yard under a cover. I've gotten it running a few times, but just for tooling around town, and last summer never even took it out once. Three years ago I did bring it up to Bikeworx in Maynard, MA for an overhaul so other than the age spots and rust, it's in ok shape.
It's time for the bike to have a new home. Yours? Please come see it this weekend (May 10 or 11) if you are in the area. I'm asking $600 as is, cash please so no weirdness. Comment to get directions or call: 617-864-0492 and ask for Cecilia.
