2021FE

Been riding on the pavement for 14 years. Have a passion for all motorcycles. Anything with two wheels sparks my interest; some more than others. I do all of my own maintenance outside the warranty period. I take pride and comfort in knowing what I am riding has been done right. I love logging long miles and to date the longest I have ridden straight through was Sturgis, SD to home in Portland, OR. 1172 miles in just under 23 hours. I have only ever owned one other BMW and it was a K1200LT with 50,000 miles on it when I bought it. Had been sitting some time in a dry storage but had been well maintained up to that point. Completely went through the long list of maintenance items including a valve inspection and decided that I NEVER wanted to perform another valve inspection on that bike again. It was a nightmare even though I had read all of the warnings and was overly cautious when putting her back together. Lets just say I learned a lot and am very familiar with how heli-coils/thread inserts work now. I really enjoy tinkering with bikes and have owned over 50 motorcycles in the past 14 years. I love taking a bike that still has many miles and smiles left and making into something someone else would be proud to own. Maybe its common practice or maybe its just where I live but seems like a lot of bikes get parked in the garage when the rain starts falling and then someone loses interest. Finally get tired of the bike taking up space in the garage and decides to cut ties. Many “older” low mileage bike around here that just need fluids and a little TLC. Amazing what just few ingredients can do to a bike sitting in a garage collecting dust for 5 plus years. Finally decided that going back to my “roots” I wanted a classic styled cruiser again. This time I wanted something that was easy to maintain and reliable. Many bikes would fit into that category but the simplicity of shaft drive was something that really peaked my interest on the R18. So beautifully executed as well. The valve adjust will be a snap with easy access to the OHVs. This should be a very simple and straightforward bike to maintain. Looking forward to this being THE bike I keep while others circulate through the garage. I just want to say thanks to anyone here reading this for contributing to this forum. I have found forums to be a wealth of knowledge that has saved me countless hours and a lot of frustration. I have learned so much from the contributions of the members and have a lot yet to learn. Looking forward to being a contributing member on r18forums.com

Take care all and ride safe!