bike drooling on a budget.

There have been some financial upsets at the S3 Compound lately. Our shack has needed a new roof for a while now and we can't put it off any longer. (Stay with me, I promise there is motorcycle content ahead.) Our little place was built just after the Great Depression and that definitely reflects in the build quality. The roof has a pretty obvious sag in the ridge line and short of reframing, it's going to stay that way. At some point, you have to let an old house be an old house. We've looked into having the roof redone (about $5k for shingles and $9k for metal) and if we're gonna throw down the scratch for a new roof, I don't want shingles. Our shack is surrounded by trees of all sorts and metal is the only way to go.

Originally, when I moved up to my new position at work, I was going to go bike shopping in celebration. Responsibilities have won over fun, so that's going towards our metal roof. Instead of paying $9k to have someone tear off the asphalt shingles and replace them with metal panels, we're going to tackle it ourselves with a little (ok, a lot) of help from our friends. I'd rather sweat and swear than go $6k deeper into debt.

Finally, we get to the moto content. This changes my outlook on my motorcycle shopping options. I had dreams of rolling an F800GS into garage using BMW's tempting 3asy payment program. Well, I thought about it and thought about it and dreamed of that new bike. Then, I did the math. No thanks. You can keep your brand new blue kool-aid. Instead of getting hyped up about fuel injection, blue/white roundels and high tech 21st century materials, I'm going backwards. Single cylinder, single carb and simple tech. Something easy and cheap to maintain. Something that has a plethora of used parts and information on the web. Something that has stood up to the test of time.

That's right. I'm shopping for KLR 650s. It's time to admit, I'm cheap, well, not just cheap, I'm also generally broke. Not poor mind you, that is a state of mind. It's got enough umph to haul the Mrs and I around plus some gear. I can always add a larger bike for long haul two-ups later. Something like the R1100GS or a Wee Strom.

I admit, the new 2013 is growing on me. But no more financing until something is paid off. (At least that's what the adult inside of me says.)