Yes! I did it - I bought a brand new bike!! As in, the bike had 0 miles on it before the inspection ride and I got to put the first real miles on the way home. I gotta say that the decision was really easy once I placed my blue Beemer for sale. My gut and smile kicked in together and were in total sync. And today I went back to Denver to see if my gut matched reality.
First though, I need to thank Wolfram and our buddy Kevin for their awesome support and patience all of today; it was a marathon day. We left Nederland at 10am and didn't get back home until 7:30 this evening.
It probably comes as no surprise to anyone but me that I chose the BMW F700. Well, the pro lists for the Versys and the Beemer were long, the coin toss technique was not working... but once I put my bike up for sale, it was like my bike-life flashed before my eyes. All of the rides and places we had been together surged through, how I'd longed for these quirky- Wall-e eyebrow shrug- headlights since I first saw them ride by, and how I enjoyed going over bumps and off the beaten track. Now though after having to ride the last 10 miles of our ride home on dirt roads, in the dark, I'm even happier with my choice.
My one hold out was whether a lowered seat would give me enough foot-on-the-aground... and it did! We took another test ride, and then we started the dance. I gotta say though Foothills BMW made my life easy. I knew what farkles I wanted on the bike worked with the parts guy. We walked through each item, looked at the manufacturer websites, and came up with the wish list. I was not going to ride with a vulnerable underbelly exposed around my rock-infested neighborhood just waiting for a rock to kick up and puncture the oil sump (or what have you).
Then we talked numbers... and I talked to the service manager, looked at their bikes, talked options ... went to lunch (nom nom, the Carnation Restaurant is awesome), talked numbers and bikes and I came away very happy. They went out of their way to get most of my farkle list installed today so that I could ride the new bike home with the bash plate and crash bars ready for the 'just-in-case' plus the luggage. Really, each person contributed to the whole buying experience.
And then there was the ride home. It was almost dusk when we left the dealer. Lots of traffic going through Denver; then completely dark on Hwy 36. All three of us got split up due to lights, but met up in Boulder. Then... Boulder Canyon was closed and we were forced to go another route over Sugarloaf! Urban, highway, then back roads.
Through the whole ride I kept noticing how wonderful the bike handled, how it purred up and down every hill and every curve. It rode like a charm! Home at last!
