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Another new K12LT owner

1K views 13 replies 10 participants last post by  wa1200lt 
#1 ·
Just pulled the trigger on a Mauve (purple) '01 K12LT with 7850 miles and a Hannigan sidecar. Got it for what I consider to be a very fair price.

Unlike most new owners I have the "advantage" of starting out with a training wheel.

I have visions of the momma on the pillion seat, Bullethead the Boston Terrier in the side car and about anything I could possibly want to haul with me in the side car. Couple of tents, sleeping bags, stove, lantern, ice chest, portable water heater, shower enclosure,........ :)

In the meantime I have to study for the Washington State Trike/Sidecar endorsement to go with my motorcycle endorsement. A riding skills test is required and until I pass this test I am limited to riding during the hours of "non-darkness" and no passengers. I have 10 other Japanese bikes so I'll still be able to 2 wheel it.

Loren
 
#5 ·
Absolutely! Now I'm not lookin' for a whole bunch of 'grape' comments but when I look at it I think of words like concord, Welches, Pinot Noir, etc. She definitely has a serious case of the purples!

They tell me that a sidecar is a hoot to rider but I can't imagine it could be that much fun. Hannigan claims it takes 20 - 30 minutes to remove/install the car. We'll see.

My goal is to have my wife spend more time with me during my motorcycle escapades and the sidecar seems to make her feel more enthusiastic about riding.

Meet the Purple People Eater:

http://pbr724.photobucket.com/albums/ww244/arfbot/utf-8BQmVlbWVyIHcgU2lkZWNhci5qcGc.jpg
 
#7 ·
Looks like a win win there. Ride without the sidecar and enjoy the twisties when you want and in 30 minutes you have more storage than a lot of trailers. If you get caught in the rain and your stuff is in bags that will easily strap to the seat the wife can get in out of the rain. Really low miles, might want to keep an eye on all the seals and gaskets. Tons of info on this site though if any thing does go wrong you can figure it out real quick here. Another good thing is that with the sidecar your purple people eater can't lay down and take a nap. Don't worry about the purple though, chicks dig it. Oh, forgot, you did say you were married.
 
#8 ·
Been married all my life. I can get a 2 year NEARLY all inclusive warranty from the dealer for $995. When the dealer called the warranty company (RPMOne) they will cover everything EXCEPT the sidecar(I can live with that) and any damage CAUSED BY THE SIDECAR! Guess what they used as an example for damage caused by the sidecar! Drum roll Maestro...... Aw, you already guessed it. The final drive! It seems they would have a hard time insisting that the failure(should it even occur) woul have been caused by the sidecar when 4% of them break WITHOUT the sidecar.

Oh well.....
 
#13 ·
Magenta, chartruese Mauve? OMG .. we are manly men ( ok we do have the better sex in here too) , but Come-on... Guys see-
red
green
blue
yellow

black and sometime white..

ok gold is one as well as silver.. that is the male color spectrum...

these colors... plum, adobe, sage.. its, its... just not right...

Does this mean we will have a doiley making day ... :D

all in good fun people... I just thought the color thing was something else..

But the girl ya got is really a nice... it is poiple...But I love the side car setup (drools)... :D
 
#14 ·
Iwant

Seahorst, you are a DAWG! I had 3 bikes to consider when I got my LT. One was Ocean Blue and it was far and away my favorite color. It was a 2006 with all the new bells and whistles and I would have HAD to fly to San Francisco from Portland, OR to pick it up to ride it home. What a tough tough shakedown cruise that would have been!


Now then, Haughty, I am very comfortable in my manhood (yuk yuk) and I'm perfectly willing to learn to make doilies in return for getting the LT. Wasn't it Rosie Greer who did needlepoint? I bet he never took as much crap for doing needlepoint as I'm going to take for having a non red, blue, green, white, or black motorcycle! Just one of the crosses I will have to bear I guess to ride one of the coolest scoots on the face of the earth!

I have a buddy who rides a GW 1800 and I know I'm going to get a lot of heat from him because it isn't a wing but once I get a few thousand miles under my belt it should be fun to do the old tortoise and hare thing with him. I'll see you at mile post 100 I'm going into the twisties! I have had GWings in the past and really enjoyed them and I currently ride a SilverWing that I can drag the center stand when in the twisties. Big difference though. The SWing weighs less than 500 lbs.

I have very mixed feelings about the sidecar. Part of me is thinking what a hoot and to be able to travel with my wife will be a real treat. But something about having a thoroughbred and treating it like a plough horse just doesn't seem right. But it gets more complicated than this. I will have the opportunity to practice all the low speed drills with a training wheel religiously until I can do it right every time without having to think about it and without running the risk of dropping it on it's beautiful MAUVE colored side. My hope is that when I pull the sidecar off to do the swoopies then the skills will be engrained in my mind and the risk of dropping it will be minimized. And then there are the visions of loading up the sidecar and doing some nice long tours that I find very appealing. Besides, everyone I've talked to, who actually has any time in the saddle with a sidecar says they are an absloute blast to ride. The dealer staff says that they would be surprised if I don't do the vast majority of my riding with the sidecar attached just because it is so much fun. What a wonderful quandry to be in. Besides, worst case, I pull it off and store it or sell it!

My biggest frustration is that it's not already in my garage. I am selling stock to pay for it and I can't sell it until the 18th in order to avoid capital gains tax of 35% and because the 18th is on a Saturday I can't sell it until Monday and then there is the wait at the brokerage, yadayadayadayada. I WANT IT NOW! Patience is a virtue my a$$. I WANT IT NOW! And so I wait..............
 
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