No I didn’t trade my Busa for a 14R (but I think that would be better than what I’m doing)…..Im selling my beloved Hayabusa and will be without a bike for a while. I need to buy a large SUV with a big 3rd row of seats for my growing family and I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. My Hayabusa and truck are the only assets I own so It’s the only way I can afford to get one without large payments. Getting a loan is out of the window unless I go with one of those “credit specialists†who rape you at 20+%. The bike wreck I was in back in 07’ left me with almost $500,000 worth of bills (and that is after my health ins and the other guys car insurance paid up) so I had no choice but to ruin my credit and filed for bankruptcy.
My wife is pregnant but our health insurance won’t cover a single dime of pregnancy/delivery because we are within the 1st 12 months of the policy and NO insurance company covers you during that time. My wife gets gestational diabetes and has issues while pregnant. Her Doctor told me to expect to pay around $20,000 for it so I have been making payments to him. I’m looking into other options but that is also weighing on my while I make this decision.
The bike is paid for and my truck is worth at least 9k but I owe $3300 on it. By selling both I will have 14K to buy a used SUV for my family. My wife is begging me to keep it but I never get to ride anymore so I fell it’s best for my kids. My wife drives a Ford Flex, which has a 3rd row in it, but the 3rd row is very small and once the baby is born we will have 2 in car seats (which will take up both of the center row captain’s chairs) leaving my 13yo and 10yo to cram into the small 3rd row seat which has almost no leg room. That makes me feel inadequate, like I can’t provide for my kids so the bike has to go. We will keep her flex but ditch my truck and bike for the SUV so we will still each have a car to drive, both large enough for the whole family. It will also save me $172 a month in my truck payment which lets me get the diapers and stuff I need for the new baby.
Before my last child was born (he’s 19 months now) I would ride to work at least 3 times a week, and would go out for the occasional ride on evenings or weekends with friends. Once he was born the evenings and weekend rides almost completely stopped but I could still take it to work and ride during lunch so I kept my busa. Now that she is pregnant again I foresee my weekend rides being 100% gone and I don’t ride my bike to work. Houston has crazy traffic and the highway I have to ride on is stop and go the entire way…If I ride to work I’m just asking to get hit again. Plus my new job requires me to wear slacks and dress shoes. I have only taken my bike out 3 times, for a total of 50 miles, since I moved here last November and the weather has been good enough that I could have ridden every day. The sad thing is I have more posts on the org than I do miles on my bike (the bike has 5024). The bike would sit for long periods as I was still healing from my wreck. I got her then a month later I had several bones in my foot fused and had to stay off for 6 months. Got back on for a few months and had another surgery on my pelvis…bang, another 6 months off the bike. Then I laid her down and she sat for another 6 months cuz I couldn’t afford to fix her. Then I moved to Houston and don’t ride it at all, my extra time is spent with my family. What little time I had to tinker with my bike will be completely gone once the new baby arrives.
My wife is begging me to keep it, she said no point in selling the bike just because it sits. At least it would be there when I would get a chance to sneak out once or twice a season. She also says the kids will “make do†in the Flex, that there is a seat for every butt and that’s all that counts, that some people don’t even have that. I would feel guilty watching them cram into the back, knowing that I have the means for something larger. My bikes a 08 with 5024 miles and has been laid down at low speed but had all parts replaced with OEM stuff. I put it on Craig’s list midmorning yesterday with a price of $8500 to “test the waters†and by last night I had 3 offers ($7800, $7900, & $8000). I turned all of them down but the guy who offered $7900 called me back this morning and said his buddy is letting him barrow some cash and wanted to know if I would take $8,250. I told him yes and he is coming over to look at it during lunch. I never thought I would sell her but she just sits crying in the garage. I’m tired of not being able to take it out or even buy the parts I want. My wife is a stay at home so this is the price I pay so she can raise our family.
I would rather her stay home and raise our kids than put them in daycare and have her work so we can have more toys. This will not be the last time I have a Hayabusa, this is just temporary. My boss hired me relatively cheap so I will make more money here as time goes by, I just need to prove myself on a few projects and let the economy get better so he will take his death grip off his wallet. Someone please tell me I’m doing the right thing for my family, that Im a good dad. I know this is the right thing to do but Im going to feel bad not having my bike. What’s worse…being greedy and keeping it knowing I can only ride it once or twice every 3 months and watching my kids fight in the back seat everywhere we go, or tell them to get over it and keep my truck and bike? You guys are stuck with me no matter what. I love this site and I’m not going anywhere. All I can hear in the back of my mind is when a few weeks ago I announced that my wife and I were expecting and Skydivr said something to the effect of you better just sell it now and I told him he was crazy that I would never do that (feel free to rub it in Skydivr)….. I love my kids more than I love my bike. I can have the bike and the kids but all would suffer so why not get rid of the one asset I have to make the daily lives of my kids better???