Daily Archives: May 6, 2013

Bare with  me, I really do have a point to all this!  One of my great interests in the past was motorcycles.  In my 20’s and 30’s I raced dirt bikes in 100 mile cross country races.  We road up steep hills, forded rivers, road up creek beds, and through sand.  It was a blast, and some of my friends from the past know how much I enjoyed cycling, and occasionally someone will call and say “I want to buy a motorcycle, what kind would you buy?”  Wow, that is a question that takes a lot of study, and research.  The first and most important question is what are you going to do with it????  Let’s have a very quick lesson in the kinds of motorcycles, maybe very simplified, but none-the-less pretty complete.  Illustrated above; Upper left corner, The Street Long Distance Cruiser, made for long distance travel, with comfort, smoothness and every conceivable creature comfort.  Upper right, the Street/Crotch Rocket, for the thrill seeker, fast and nimble, the closest thing a civilian can get to and all out race track bred,  motorcycle.  Lower left, the Street/ Trail is a combination of a trail machine and a street machine, a compromise, not great at either but usable on or off the pavement.  Lower right, the Street Cruiser, very popular for the short trips and cruising mountain roads, in a  relaxed state, you see a lot Harley’s in this category. Center bottom, The Dirt Bike, a no holes barred, designed to go in the dirt, machine.

 

Now what you need to know is that each of these kinds of motorcycles excels at one thing, the street/trail doesn’t excel at either but does have dual purpose.  The point is that if you do long trips and want to do it in real comfort the Street/LD Cruiser is the absolutely best ticket!  If flying around mountain curves with extremely high speed, really leaning into the turns is your passion, the Crotch Rocket is  “the” ticket!  The Dirt Bike will do just about anything you have the skill to try in the dirt, sand, and water!  The Street/Trail will get you off road and do an o.k. job there, it will also ride on the street, but don’t try taking sharp curves leaned to far over!!!

 

So what on earth is this all about???  Let’s talk cameras and lenses.  Over the next few months I will be describing the retirement decisions I’ve made about what gear to use from this date forward.  The same kind of logic you would use to choose a motorcycle is how we will determine what gear will do the best job at what we plan to do.  I’m doing this, not only to share some very hard decisions I’ve made, but to help you when you need to work through the same kinds of choices.  Stay tuned, this will be a lot more fun for you than it has been for me!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim