Love my Bike!

3/3/2010 9:34:09 AM

I love my bike. I hope you all feel the same way about your bikes, too. Nobody likes being in a bad relationship, and I can tell you that me and my bike...well, we're good friends, pals even.  :)

I've never felt this way with any car or truck I've owned...I've "liked" my vehicles over the years, some better than others, but none have I ever cleaned, polished, caressed more than my motorcycle. This weekend my beautiful Yamaha Royal Star Venture did us right, she looked great, and performed like a champ for my wife and I all weekend long. I felt like I bought this bike for all the right reasons, and we could not have been any more comfy for our weekend adventure. At Daytona BikeWeek 2010, I had the chance to once again sit on, feel, touch, and spend some time on each

I was very surprised not to see more of my Star bikes being ridden, and it's always a question amongst us owners as to why Yamaha is and has been keeping this bike a secret?  Seems to me that Harley Davidson has the marketing down to a science, and after spending an hour in Bruce Rossmeyer's Destination Daytona, I have a new insight to the HD phenomena.  They have a good product, just like the competition, but man, do they know how to market! The clothes, the leather goods, the chrome aftermarket parts, the HOG groups, the rides, etc... it goes on and on!  And the store was packed, and there was enough HD help there to make sure everyone was happy and having a good time. And the bathrooms were clean. And the music was happening. And the salespeople were really nice.  Nothing pushy, not once did I feel uncomfortable.  Yes, they do this part as good as it can be done.

On the flip side, the Japanese have always been so quick to copy what is so very successful, they completely drop the ball when it comes to customer experience. And they are missing it BIGTIME.  Honda dropped their big annual Honda Hoot, Yamaha does Star Days, but never really advertises it or creates the "hoopla" that our American company seems to do so well.  I don't get it, and it really stands out like a sore thumb after spending another weekend in Daytona for BikeWeek 2010.

I saw a really nice trike RSV, and I saw the 2010-S model at the Yamaha tent, and a guy was there with his Royal Star Venture with over 300,000 miles and he still feels the same way as I do about his bike. Loves it. Other than my buddy Gino's Royal Star Touring Deluxe (the cruiser version), I can't remember any other Royal Stars. Everyone who saw my bike told me it was sweet, and I was happy! I even took an hour and washed and polished it.

Unfortunately someone tried to steal it.  I got lucky - I can tell someone tapped on the keyhole because it was a little bent.  I will never park underground again - but it was sub-40 degrees and raining, and I did this one time...  Next nights I put a padlock on the steering and covered it and left it upstairs and it was fine.

Anyway, lots of looks and compliments on my bike throughout the weekend and after sitting on lots of bikes, I STILL like ours the best! Wouldn't trade it for any other bike I sat on. I did sit on an R6 that asked me to take it home, but I have no room in the garage, and yeah, I can't take another vehicle payment right now!  :)  

But I was interested in sitting on some sport-tourers just for kicks and giggles…
The other bikes I really wanted to try on were the Kawasaki Concourse 14 and the Yamaha FJR1300. With all the write ups in the magazines the last month or so about the new Concourse, I wanted to see for myself.  It was a nice bike in it's navy-blue color, and felt very comfortable. Same with the Yami FJR, but I didn't ride them and could not tell you which one I'd take home.  Maybe I'll try riding a few next weekend as I'm thinking about riding back up with my son…

I would love to hear feedback on your time at Daytona, and maybe send me a picture. I'll post a few of mine on the site soon.

Until next week, Ride Safe and HAVE FUN!
Mark Turkel
http://www.RideBellChain.com