New Ride

A while back, I said that I was looking for a motorcycle. Well, today was the day that I became the proud owner of a new Harley Road King Classic. It is a 2002 model with just less that 4000 miles. It is for all practical purposes, a "new" machine. I will be the third owner, but with only 4000 miles, this machine has not been ridden. At least not much. I looked at different machines on the net, and last weekend, a friend and myself went to a salvage shop, and a couple stops at dealers, "to look". Nothing at the salvage shop for me. Brand new machines cost around $20,000. That is a bit above my funds availability. I was thinking that I would limit myself to $10,000. Everything I found under the 10,000 mark was significantly older and with age, they had miles, lots of them. Most were in the 1992 year range with over 30,000 miles. And they were still near the top of my limit of funds, somewhere between 8 and 10 thousand dollars.
After much thought, I came to the conclusion that if 16 year old machines were still bringing that much, that money spent on a "new machine" could be recouped down the road, after I ride it those miles. That means, in fact, that if nothing changes, I should be able to sell the machine in 2016 and still get near $10,000 for it. That being said, the Road King will only cost me the dollars over that amount that I had to come up with. Plus maintenance and repairs, if any, (and that comes with any machine).
I had to do much talking, (to the wife), to get her to agree with spending the $12,500 that my new ride cost but with convincing, she agreed. She even went with me to look at it. And (upon my suggestion) she was the one who signed the check. I thought that was a good idea. That way I can always say she bought it for me.
I did have to take her to dinner on the way home. That was another $50. But she did buy ice cream at the dairy queen.
I can't wait now to get it home and take a ride. I should have it in my garage later this week. The current owner wanted to wait for the check to clear before I could take possession. That was agreeable. I would want the same. He even threw in a leather "Harley" jacket that he never wore. It still has the tags on it with the price of $192. I hope he is as happy with the deal as I.