For me, "Collector" is a dirty word- but I just HAD TO buy all those bikes!

Once Upon a Time, I bought a flimsy seven dollar Chinese tool kit and decided I was The World's Greatest motorcycle mechanic.

So I signed up on ADVreader and began bragging and sharing my incredible expertise until my fame grew far and wide.

The End

great story well told!

Good backgrounder on yourself - and well said! I can't even weigh in with anything remotely comparable on the bike aspect. But I can comment on the mindset of of some of the hoarders, maybe.

My stepfather was born on a dirt poor farm in Texas around 1909 or 1910. When he was 12 he fell out of a tree and suffered a compound fracture of his wrist which developed gangrene. At the hospital in Houston they had to take his arm at the shoulder and a good bit of the shoulder joint too. The next year, at age 13 he got tired of starving to death on the farm and being bullied at school for having one arm, so he just walked off the farm and never looked back.

After years of hoboing and growing up tough as nails, he pursued careers in radio factories, became a pro photographer, and evenutally did a long career as a civil service type at Robins AFB.

Because of his poor beginnings he tended to over compensate. He kept, bred and broke his own horses, had boats, had and flew many airplanes. After he married my mother, he always had a yard full of cars ranging from a '41 Packard Clipper (which I got assigned to drive to high school frequently to keep the battery charged and fluids and seals in good shape; a 56 1 ton Ford turck only for the purpose of hauling hay for the horses; another truck just for driving up to the barn and hauling feed; a matched pair of '70 Chrysler 300s; a creampuff '66 Plymouth wagon; later a new '78 Grand Marquis wagon.... and others; etc. You get the picture.

He would not even sell me any of the vehicles even when they began to sit and rot from disuse. His answer was always: "You'll get all of it when I die - I'm keeping them all for now."

He eventually did let go of some of the vehicles to buyers that he found deserving of HIS stuff. But only in his waning years.

Not a definitive explanation of all hoarders. But a glimpse at maybe why some of them are the way they are.

Personally, I have always tended to acquire bikes(and cars) that had longevity and I tend to keep them well maintained until the wheels fall off. Only in recent years have I started to rehab myself and sell off bikes that I ride less and let someone else enjoy them while they are still in good shape. The first test case was convincing myself to sell my '95 Ducati M900 that I owned from 2002 through 2007 and had thoroughly enjoyed on the street and track. And had spent a fortune on farkling it to suit my tastes and needs.

Then I sold off a Ducati race bike built for trackdays. Now I have a Triumph trackday bike for sale and two BMWs with longevity enough to still be rolling along after I can no longer throw a leg over them. But the very reason that they will be tough to ever part with is that they get ridden all the time and will never just sit in a dark corner of the garage. Not a hoarding hang up. And it's probably a really good thing I have limited garage space

Great story (again), the past 15 years I've been busy trying to lurk in sheds of farmer, hoping to stumble on that barn find. Didn't happen yet though...

Ruud

Excellent storytelling. I feel your pain.

Probably ten or more years ago, I was driving out in the countryside and noticed a motorcycle in knee-high grass by a ratty shack of a house. Pulled in to learn what I could, discovered it was a Honda SL175 in decent original shape. Banged on the door, a young guy eventually appeared (looked like he'd been sleeping, in the middle of the day) and told me it wasn't for sale, he was going to get it going some day. From the looks of him and his residence, I'm sure he had gotten it for free.

Every time I passed that way I saw it still sitting in the same place, for years and years and years.

Last time by there it was gone- no doubt it finally went to the landfill.

Hello. My name is dorkpunch, and i'm a bike-aholic.

the bike salvage owners we have around here are definitely insane. used parts prices are what the various companies listed for replacement parts when said bike was new. won't sell a fixer upper, says it's worth more as parts. oh and prices change, walk out the door with one price, come back a few weeks later and the price has gone up! i don't know how he stays in business......

We got a guy like tht in Bozeman. An acre of cool bikes and nothing for sale as they rot.

kind of seems like one big, long waste of time, doesn't it???!!!

Yes it does. In the end it's just stuff.

I really enjoy your posts. I hope you are not done.

The stories, if collected and edited, could probably add up to a nice thick book: "The Collectors".

One of my nephews up in GA was a pretty good bike drag racer a few years back and his son is following in his tracks with a couple of SEMDRA championships when he was racing in the Junior drag classes and has now moved on to a drag race team. They always have a shop full of bikes and parts and are always searching out hard to find stuff for the older stuff like big Suzukis from the 80s.

A few years ago they find an auto salvage yard down around Tifton or Valdosta, GA and it is loaded with bike stuff - including several things they needed and bought. I got the contact info when I needed something for the Ducati I used to own and called the place. They flatly denied having anything to do with motorcycle parts - ever. :huh

Some people be strange.

Hey GatorJane,

That was very enjoyable indeed!

It reminded me of all of the weird and unusual small capacity bikes that I have picked up over the years, and made me want to go out and find more! I'm already daydreaming about Oley & Wauseon.

Cheers,

Regbafazool

Well....

I'm not really that eager to keep returning to The Dark Side ....

but right now the days are chilly and the nights are long....

and I still have all kinds of gut-wrenching tales to relate....

so I might be persuaded to give you another peek behind the curtain.

Keep it coming. You write well. And you write about good topics.

Do Tell


Please do tell us some more. Enjoyed your previous stories.


Mike

This is the problem with car/motorcycle hoarders/collectors. They have nothing and are hoping to make bank.
Along with the Barretts type auctions driving prices up, the average guy can't afford a small piece of history.

Hey GatorJane,

I agree with your swapmeet haggling policy! How refreshing and honest
of you to simply mark things at the price you really want for them.

Whenever I hear "what were you hoping to pay for it?" from a vendor, I
routinely say "I was hoping it was free......but what is the actual price?"

My other favorite response to a vendor who says "that's 20 bucks" is to
counter with: "would you take 20 ?" Usually brings a smile after a couple
of confused moments of pained expressions!

GatorJane said:

Man......I have got to keep that one in mind during the upcoming swapmeet
season! Thanks!

Then this from another site:

"Many vendors raved about the flood of people looking for parts and the contacts they made. Before I could even park there were people surrounding me asking to buy the stuff on the back of my truck. Who says the market is slow!?! If you need it, you buy it. With the amount of people building bikes and working on long-term projects it was business as usual. The real hunters know that the best way to find what you need is to come to the meet and talk and prospect with those who share the same interest as you. As many of you in the business know it’s not always how much money a part or bike sells for, but it’s who you sell it to. If you want those hard to find parts you’ve got to pound the ground and talk with the vendors. Pretty soon you’ll find the right guy with the part you need who feels you’re the right person to sell his stuff to. You can’t always do that on the internet." :eek1


[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Perkiomen Chapter AMCA National Meet in Oley, PA[/FONT]

You know. I love bikes. I've just bought a bandit 1200, klr 650, and I'm trying to buy a decrepit R75/5. Obviously I've got issues. I can relate to the instinct to hoard. However, I know you can't use everything, all the time, and there are appropriate times to let things go.
Nostalgia is a sexy thing to some people, myself included. I cling for too long and in the long run, see that its just as important to take on new projects and keep things interesting. Few people are perfect and even fewer things last forever. Don't know what else to tell you, its just tough to let a thing go that you love.

Keep it comin' Gator!