AndrewDoesHair
XS650 Member
Don't let my username lead to you to assume that I have soft hands or anything. While I have to admit that I'm brand new to motorcycles, I am not new to tools or projects. The semi-brief history starts 10 years ago, in high school, when I bought a '57 Chevy for my first car, and spent the next 3 years rebuilding just about every part of it.
Then I got into woodworking, and started making custom guitars from scratch. So I have experience now with both catalyzed urethanes, and nitrocellulose lacquers. I have a paint booth, a collection of spray guns, I know how to wet sand, buff, etc. Not to mention the wiring, and assembly of these guitars, and the precision that goes into making a guitar play just right...
And so about two years ago I got the bug to want a motorbike. I didn't actively pursue getting a bike, because I assumed that since I didn't grow up riding, I couldn't simply START. But within the past year, I've watched a few friends get bikes, take the Ride Rite classes, and start riding. So screw it, I can learn, too!
I started googling bikes, asking a million questions to everyone I knew who rides, and I was lucky to find a guy at my church who has been collecting bikes for many years. He restores them for a hobby, and owns a motorbike parts (reselling, manufacturing, etc) business for his work. Today I met up with him to learn, and in a giant barn full of Triumphs and Nortons, he tells me that I want to track down a Yamaha XS650. He said it's a solid bike, great value, easy to work on, etc. So I've been steered from The CB750s I'd been lusting after, and am now in love with your (yes, YOUR) Yamaha. That's what led me here.
This is me, hanging out in my Motorbike Mentor's shop.
I really hope I can get hooked here. I post on a few guitar forums, and if I can learn half, here, what I've learned on those, I'll be on that XS650 in no time!
Thanks for having me here! Where should a n00b like me look first?
Then I got into woodworking, and started making custom guitars from scratch. So I have experience now with both catalyzed urethanes, and nitrocellulose lacquers. I have a paint booth, a collection of spray guns, I know how to wet sand, buff, etc. Not to mention the wiring, and assembly of these guitars, and the precision that goes into making a guitar play just right...
And so about two years ago I got the bug to want a motorbike. I didn't actively pursue getting a bike, because I assumed that since I didn't grow up riding, I couldn't simply START. But within the past year, I've watched a few friends get bikes, take the Ride Rite classes, and start riding. So screw it, I can learn, too!
I started googling bikes, asking a million questions to everyone I knew who rides, and I was lucky to find a guy at my church who has been collecting bikes for many years. He restores them for a hobby, and owns a motorbike parts (reselling, manufacturing, etc) business for his work. Today I met up with him to learn, and in a giant barn full of Triumphs and Nortons, he tells me that I want to track down a Yamaha XS650. He said it's a solid bike, great value, easy to work on, etc. So I've been steered from The CB750s I'd been lusting after, and am now in love with your (yes, YOUR) Yamaha. That's what led me here.
This is me, hanging out in my Motorbike Mentor's shop.
I really hope I can get hooked here. I post on a few guitar forums, and if I can learn half, here, what I've learned on those, I'll be on that XS650 in no time!
Thanks for having me here! Where should a n00b like me look first?
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