My wife is awesome!

hubcapbandit · July 10th, 2010, 07:11 AM

Hello all! I've been lurking these forums for about a week or two now, and figured I'd go ahead and introduce myself.

I'm 28, my wife turns 25 next week

We started dating back in April '01, got married in October '06. From the day we met, she's known that I've always loved motorcycles (my fave color back then was Kawasaki Green, no joke. It's red now though), and always wanted to own one. She, on the other hand, never wanted me to have one. Not anti-bike, mind you, but just scared of the other people on the road, and understandably so. So that was that for the longest time. I never once brought it up or pestered her about it at all because I knew how she felt.

Well that all changed a month or two ago. A coworker of mine bought a '96 Honda Shadow (with his g/f's permission). That's cool and all, I was jealous but hey whatever, life goes on. Then another one of my coworkers bought himself a 2000 R6. Oh man, that thing looked awesome, and man did I want one. But once again, I knew how my wife felt about them and just let it be.

Then my wife was on Facebook one night and saw their pictures of their new bikes. She turned to me and asked if I was jealous, and if I really wanted one. I hesitated, knowing how she felt, and said I didn't want to talk about it, leading her to ask me a couple more times about how I felt about it and how badly I wanted one. So I finally told her, I want one reeaaalllly bad. But I knew how she felt. This was going to be a decision that was hers, on whether or not I got a bike. So I let her think about it. We started looking at bikes together online on ebay and craigslist, seeing how much they ran money-wise. We also started reading through forums, just to get a better understanding of them. She was a bit more thorough than I was, even go so far as to look at pictures of accidents. It freaked her out, and I said I understand, and still just left the decision up to her. I understood the risks, but was not willing to go off and get a bike just because I wanted to. The last thing I want to do is go off, get a bike behind her back, then come home and have her be incredibly upset with. She worries enough about me everyday (concerned with my safety, my job isn't exactly the safest. I end up with a more cuts and bruises on myself with no idea of how they got there every week); I know adding a motorcycle to the mix will only make her stress out more.

So I let it go on. Like I said, the decision is up to her. A month or so goes by, we've still been looking, researching bikes and gear, etc. We learn what a "SNELL" rating is, what riding gear is essential, etc. She finally compromises that if I am going to ride a bike back and forth to work, then I need to take the Safety Course beforehand, and when I do get a bike and start riding, ATGATT.

What?! DEAL!!!! I never saw that coming, I was almost sure it would never happen. But it was something I could live with if I never did get a bike. I've never had one of my own, so what would be different if I went on not having one? Big deal. So anyway, I'm signed up to take the course starting August 11. I've already obtained my Class M learner's permit as well. I'm holding off on buying my gear just so I can be sure it matches the color of my bike.

We also did a lot of research into what the best bikes to start off on were, and that's when we came across the wonderful Ninja 250. Everything I've read about it, points to it being the perfect bike for me. I've already known how to ride motorcycles just from growing up around them and taking my coworker's bikes for rides around our private parking lot/private drive, but never having my own meant I was still very green when it came to riding skill and knowledge.

So now we're scouring ebay and craigslist for either a (kawi) green or red ninja. New Gen would be amazing, but I didn't want to spend more than $3k, so I'd still be more than happy with a pre-gen. I've already got a list of mods I want to do to a pregen, (tinted windscreen, rear fender elimination, integrated tail lights, flush front turn signals, seat cover). So even if I did go pre-gen, I'd be absolutely thrilled to have extra money left over to tinker with it to make it *mine*. Also going pregen would mean it would juuussst fit inside of our Honda Element, and wouldn't need to borrow her dad's truck (since the new gen is a little longer due to bigger wheels/tires). I would still need to take off the windscreen to make it fit through the opening though (opening of the Element is 40", height of bike is 43". Drat!). I'll have to post pics if we do pull it off.

One last thing before I bring this post to a close is I actually sat myself down yesterday and watched videos of motorcycle accidents. To put it simply, I was horrified. I suppose I should have watched them beforehand, but wow. I also went through and read a bunch of posts about people's accidents, just trying to learn from them what happened, what to do, what to look for, etc. I'm still incredibly excited to get a bike and finally ride, but I'm way more cautious about it now. Just yesterday while driving home, and also while going out to pick up some dinner for us, I kept an eyeball on the road, looking for rough spots in them and looking for the best lanes to ride in (as if I were riding a bike). I also noticed how insane some people really do drive. I don't know if it was just yesterday, with it being Friday and yet another 95 degree summer day, or if my eyes were just opened to me after watching/reading peoples' experiences. Good grief.

So in closing, I'll repeat what my subject says: My wife is awesome!

I know that she'll never be 100% comfortable with me riding, but she also knows I'm very responsible (I'm Superintendent of my facility even!). I appreciate and love the fact that she's going ahead and letting me have this, something I've wanted since I was little, this is one of my dreams coming true

See you guys around!

Alex · July 10th, 2010, 07:15 AM

hubcapbandit! Glad to have you aboard...

Sailariel · July 10th, 2010, 07:34 AM

hubcapbandit, Of course your wife is awesome. That is pretty obvious. I'm happy for you, and welcome to the Ninja Family.

Guinss · July 10th, 2010, 07:51 AM

Awesome wife indeed !

Well written, welcome as a registered forum-member

LazinCajun · July 10th, 2010, 09:01 AM

Welcome!

New-gens can definitely be found for under $3k in some areas. I bought a low-mileage '08 in decent condition last year from a private seller for about $2600. Good luck finding something

noche_caliente · July 10th, 2010, 09:41 AM

welcome!

Snake · July 10th, 2010, 10:11 AM

Hello and welcome. Great story.

BlueRaven · July 10th, 2010, 03:48 PM

TenaciousD · July 10th, 2010, 04:37 PM

Great story! Thanks for sharing. Let us know when you get your bike! I got an '09 with 17 miles on it for $3300 so you can probably find a new-gen for under $3k. Even if you don't, the pre-gen is a fantastic bike. Good luck!

Cazper · July 10th, 2010, 05:45 PM

Great story and welcome to the site... you can definitely find out a lot of information on here on pretty much any topic! Keep us updated!

lockie · July 10th, 2010, 06:27 PM

Welcome from the North

hubcapbandit · July 11th, 2010, 05:29 AM

Thanks all! Sorry for the long first post, I tend to get wordy when talking about something of importance happens in my life

But at least you guys enjoyed what was written (for those who did read through it all)!

I'll keep everyone updated!

edbro · July 11th, 2010, 08:58 AM

Great story and congrats on the bike!! I know I wouldn't have been patient enough to wait 9 years for someone's approval to get a motorcycle.

Betlog · July 11th, 2010, 09:39 AM

Chris, you're a lucky man, and I respect you for having this much patience.

Oh and by the way, red or Kawi green are both good colors - loud colors = visible.

Good luck with everything.

Ntotot · July 11th, 2010, 05:19 PM

Hi Chris!

Good spouse you have there. She takes good care of you and you have to take care of yourself and hers.

Reminds me when I bought my Ninja250R back in July 2008. When we went to the Kawasaki dealer and she asked which one that I booked, so I point to Ninja250R and she says "Why didn't you picked that blue one instead?", I was like "Errr... okay... I thought you don't like it". She pointed to a blue ZX6R..... So I said that one is too costly for me. This Ninja is just fine.

ally99 · July 12th, 2010, 04:14 AM

Gotta love us cool wives, huh? hehe!

Welcome! Have a great, safe time learning to ride!

KJohnson21 · July 12th, 2010, 10:58 AM

July 10th, 2010, 07:11 AM	#1
hubcapbandit ninjette.org member Name: Chris Location: Frederick, MD Join Date: Jul 2010 Motorcycle(s): 2006 Ninja 250 (Yellow!) Posts: 40	My wife is awesome! Hello all! I've been lurking these forums for about a week or two now, and figured I'd go ahead and introduce myself. I'm 28, my wife turns 25 next week We started dating back in April '01, got married in October '06. From the day we met, she's known that I've always loved motorcycles (my fave color back then was Kawasaki Green, no joke. It's red now though), and always wanted to own one. She, on the other hand, never wanted me to have one. Not anti-bike, mind you, but just scared of the other people on the road, and understandably so. So that was that for the longest time. I never once brought it up or pestered her about it at all because I knew how she felt. Well that all changed a month or two ago. A coworker of mine bought a '96 Honda Shadow (with his g/f's permission). That's cool and all, I was jealous but hey whatever, life goes on. Then another one of my coworkers bought himself a 2000 R6. Oh man, that thing looked awesome, and man did I want one. But once again, I knew how my wife felt about them and just let it be. Then my wife was on Facebook one night and saw their pictures of their new bikes. She turned to me and asked if I was jealous, and if I really wanted one. I hesitated, knowing how she felt, and said I didn't want to talk about it, leading her to ask me a couple more times about how I felt about it and how badly I wanted one. So I finally told her, I want one reeaaalllly bad. But I knew how she felt. This was going to be a decision that was hers, on whether or not I got a bike. So I let her think about it. We started looking at bikes together online on ebay and craigslist, seeing how much they ran money-wise. We also started reading through forums, just to get a better understanding of them. She was a bit more thorough than I was, even go so far as to look at pictures of accidents. It freaked her out, and I said I understand, and still just left the decision up to her. I understood the risks, but was not willing to go off and get a bike just because I wanted to. The last thing I want to do is go off, get a bike behind her back, then come home and have her be incredibly upset with. She worries enough about me everyday (concerned with my safety, my job isn't exactly the safest. I end up with a more cuts and bruises on myself with no idea of how they got there every week); I know adding a motorcycle to the mix will only make her stress out more. So I let it go on. Like I said, the decision is up to her. A month or so goes by, we've still been looking, researching bikes and gear, etc. We learn what a "SNELL" rating is, what riding gear is essential, etc. She finally compromises that if I am going to ride a bike back and forth to work, then I need to take the Safety Course beforehand, and when I do get a bike and start riding, ATGATT. What?! DEAL!!!! I never saw that coming, I was almost sure it would never happen. But it was something I could live with if I never did get a bike. I've never had one of my own, so what would be different if I went on not having one? Big deal. So anyway, I'm signed up to take the course starting August 11. I've already obtained my Class M learner's permit as well. I'm holding off on buying my gear just so I can be sure it matches the color of my bike. We also did a lot of research into what the best bikes to start off on were, and that's when we came across the wonderful Ninja 250. Everything I've read about it, points to it being the perfect bike for me. I've already known how to ride motorcycles just from growing up around them and taking my coworker's bikes for rides around our private parking lot/private drive, but never having my own meant I was still very green when it came to riding skill and knowledge. So now we're scouring ebay and craigslist for either a (kawi) green or red ninja. New Gen would be amazing, but I didn't want to spend more than $3k, so I'd still be more than happy with a pre-gen. I've already got a list of mods I want to do to a pregen, (tinted windscreen, rear fender elimination, integrated tail lights, flush front turn signals, seat cover). So even if I did go pre-gen, I'd be absolutely thrilled to have extra money left over to tinker with it to make it mine. Also going pregen would mean it would juuussst fit inside of our Honda Element, and wouldn't need to borrow her dad's truck (since the new gen is a little longer due to bigger wheels/tires). I would still need to take off the windscreen to make it fit through the opening though (opening of the Element is 40", height of bike is 43". Drat!). I'll have to post pics if we do pull it off. One last thing before I bring this post to a close is I actually sat myself down yesterday and watched videos of motorcycle accidents. To put it simply, I was horrified. I suppose I should have watched them beforehand, but wow. I also went through and read a bunch of posts about people's accidents, just trying to learn from them what happened, what to do, what to look for, etc. I'm still incredibly excited to get a bike and finally ride, but I'm way more cautious about it now. Just yesterday while driving home, and also while going out to pick up some dinner for us, I kept an eyeball on the road, looking for rough spots in them and looking for the best lanes to ride in (as if I were riding a bike). I also noticed how insane some people really do drive. I don't know if it was just yesterday, with it being Friday and yet another 95 degree summer day, or if my eyes were just opened to me after watching/reading peoples' experiences. Good grief. So in closing, I'll repeat what my subject says: My wife is awesome! I know that she'll never be 100% comfortable with me riding, but she also knows I'm very responsible (I'm Superintendent of my facility even!). I appreciate and love the fact that she's going ahead and letting me have this, something I've wanted since I was little, this is one of my dreams coming true See you guys around! Last futzed with by hubcapbandit; July 10th, 2010 at 07:12 AM. Reason: typo's

July 10th, 2010, 07:15 AM	#2
Alex ninjette.org dude Name: 1 guess :-) Location: SF Bay Area Join Date: Jun 2008 Motorcycle(s): '13 Ninja 300 (white, the fastest color!), '13 R1200RT, '14 CRF250L, '12 TT-R125LE Posts: Too much. Blog Entries: 7	hubcapbandit! Glad to have you aboard... __________________________________________________ Montgomery Street Motorcycle Club / cal24.com / crf250l.org / ninjette.org ninjette.org Terms of Service Shopping for motorcycle parts or equipment? Come here first. The friendliest Ninja 250R/300/400 forum on the internet! (especially Unregistered)

July 10th, 2010, 09:41 AM	#6
noche_caliente ninjette.org certified postwhore Name: Kim Location: mundo de ensueño Join Date: Nov 2008 Motorcycle(s): '08 250 Posts: A lot.	welcome! __________________________________________________ Progrip tank pad, blue rim stripes, blue Pazzos, Roaring Toyz lowering kit, Puig DB in dark smoke, Cortech sport tail, super mini tank, and saddlebags, OES swingarm spools and Intuitive frame sliders

July 10th, 2010, 03:48 PM	#8
BlueRaven ninjette.org certified postwhore Name: Lil One Location: NB Canada Join Date: Mar 2009 Motorcycle(s): '09 Ninja 250 Black Posts: A lot.	__________________________________________________ I'm not small, I'm fun sized

July 10th, 2010, 04:37 PM	#9
TenaciousD ninjette.org member Name: Kevin Location: Tampa Join Date: Jun 2010 Motorcycle(s): 2009 250R Posts: 230	Great story! Thanks for sharing. Let us know when you get your bike! I got an '09 with 17 miles on it for $3300 so you can probably find a new-gen for under $3k. Even if you don't, the pre-gen is a fantastic bike. Good luck! __________________________________________________ Kevin 2009 Ninja 250R

July 10th, 2010, 07:34 AM	#3
Sailariel ninjette.org certified postwhore Name: Alex Location: Belfast, ME Join Date: Jul 2008 Motorcycle(s): 2010 Honda NT-700-V, formerly, Green 2008 Ninja 250R Posts: A lot.	hubcapbandit, Of course your wife is awesome. That is pretty obvious. I'm happy for you, and welcome to the Ninja Family.

July 10th, 2010, 07:51 AM	#4
Guinss ninjette.org guru Name: Simen Location: Norway Join Date: Jan 2009 Motorcycle(s): 2008 250R (Black) Posts: 298	Awesome wife indeed ! Well written, welcome as a registered forum-member

July 10th, 2010, 09:01 AM	#5
LazinCajun ninjette.org guru Name: Anon Location: Atlanta, GA Join Date: Aug 2009 Motorcycle(s): 2008 Ninja 250 (Blue!) Posts: 488	Welcome! New-gens can definitely be found for under $3k in some areas. I bought a low-mileage '08 in decent condition last year from a private seller for about $2600. Good luck finding something

July 10th, 2010, 10:11 AM	#7
Snake ninjette.org certified postwhore Name: Rick Location: Alexandria, Louisiana Join Date: Jan 2009 Motorcycle(s): 05 Blue Ninja 250 Posts: Too much. MOTY - 2017, MOTM - Jan '19, Oct '16, May '14	Hello and welcome. Great story.

July 10th, 2010, 05:45 PM	#10
Cazper ninjaholic Name: Dustin Location: Oceanside, CA Join Date: Jun 2010 Motorcycle(s): 09' SE 250R (sold), 03' ZX-6R, 99' XL1200C SP Posts: A lot. Blog Entries: 3	Great story and welcome to the site... you can definitely find out a lot of information on here on pretty much any topic! Keep us updated! __________________________________________________ 09' SE Ninja 250R $2,547.83 worth of mods installed... come on Unregistered, you know you want to know what? Check my Blog "Modification List"

July 10th, 2010, 06:27 PM	#11
lockie ninjette.org sage Name: don Location: Port Elgin NB Canada Join Date: May 2009 Motorcycle(s): 2009 blue ninja 250R Posts: 742	Welcome from the North

July 11th, 2010, 05:29 AM	#12
hubcapbandit ninjette.org member Name: Chris Location: Frederick, MD Join Date: Jul 2010 Motorcycle(s): 2006 Ninja 250 (Yellow!) Posts: 40	Thanks all! Sorry for the long first post, I tend to get wordy when talking about something of importance happens in my life But at least you guys enjoyed what was written (for those who did read through it all)! I'll keep everyone updated!

July 11th, 2010, 08:58 AM	#13
edbro ninjette.org member Name: Ed Location: NJ Join Date: Dec 2009 Motorcycle(s): 2009 250r Posts: 157	Great story and congrats on the bike!! I know I wouldn't have been patient enough to wait 9 years for someone's approval to get a motorcycle.

July 11th, 2010, 09:39 AM	#14
Betlog ninjette.org guru Name: Dude!! Location: Southern California Join Date: Dec 2009 Motorcycle(s): 2009 250r Posts: 443	Chris, you're a lucky man, and I respect you for having this much patience. Oh and by the way, red or Kawi green are both good colors - loud colors = visible. Good luck with everything.

July 11th, 2010, 05:19 PM	#15
Ntotot ninjette.org member Name: Adzla Location: Melayusia Join Date: Feb 2009 Motorcycle(s): 08 Black Ninja 205r - SOLD, Now -> a Z750 Posts: 101	Hi Chris! Good spouse you have there. She takes good care of you and you have to take care of yourself and hers. Reminds me when I bought my Ninja250R back in July 2008. When we went to the Kawasaki dealer and she asked which one that I booked, so I point to Ninja250R and she says "Why didn't you picked that blue one instead?", I was like "Errr... okay... I thought you don't like it". She pointed to a blue ZX6R..... So I said that one is too costly for me. This Ninja is just fine.

July 12th, 2010, 04:14 AM	#16
ally99 Ninja chick Name: Allyson Location: Athens, GA Join Date: Jun 2009 Motorcycle(s): '13 Ninja 300 Posts: A lot. Blog Entries: 4 MOTM - Dec '13, Feb '15	Gotta love us cool wives, huh? hehe! Welcome! Have a great, safe time learning to ride! __________________________________________________ Sometimes it's the journey that teaches you a lot about your destination. ~Drake Check out my Appalachian Trail journal, 2015! Postwhores are COOL! ~Allyson

July 12th, 2010, 10:58 AM	#17
KJohnson21 ninjette.org certified postwhore Name: Ken Location: Indio, CA Join Date: Dec 2008 Motorcycle(s): '08 Kawasaki EX250 "Yoshi", '99 Kawasaki Concours "Grace", '06 Concours "Belle", '06 Yamaha YZF600R "Slick" Posts: A lot. Blog Entries: 3	__________________________________________________ < ATGATT > Sweat you can wipe off, Road rash you can't. HEY!! Unregistered!! Does your bike have a name?

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Mistah T and his wife	MistahT	New Members	7	January 26th, 2013 10:04 AM
Wife needs help	randomwalk101	2008 - 2012 Ninja 250R Tech Talk	11	March 2nd, 2011 05:56 PM
What me and the Wife ride	vadar12	Pictures	6	February 19th, 2010 02:53 PM
Wife's first bike	cb61	New Members	15	October 31st, 2009 01:42 PM
If my wife says yes.....	Apex	General Motorcycling Discussion	32	October 26th, 2009 12:22 PM