Yesterday I went out to Lebanon to see a man named Fred (not connected with Fred’s Honda in Corvallis) who is a motorcycle wholesaler. All he deals with is used bikes. He buys low mileage bikes from repo auctions and car lots, and turns around to sell them to motorcycle shops at a profit. The bikes he buys are top quality. He had a whole garage filled with Shadows and VTX bikes not to mention many other cruiser brands. I sat on several including an 07 Shadow 750 Aero.
The bike was dripping with chrome from stem to stern. Whoever owned it before had more money than sense. The bike only had 192 miles on it. Everything was brand new and pristine. And he only wanted a few dollars shy of $5000. If someone were to buy that bike new and trick it out like that, you’d be paying well over $10000.
Another bike that caught my eye was a Yamaha VStar Silverado from 07. It was a 650cc little cruiser fully decked out with everything a bike needs. Saddle bags, windscreen, light bar, floor boards, etc. It had some salt scaling but nothing a good shining up couldn’t fix. He wanted $2800 for it. Oh and it also needed a new back tire. It only had 5300 miles on the odometer.
After looking at all of his bikes I went back to Corvallis having the strange feeling that I just sat on a bunch of big, fat, heavy bikes. I don’t know what the motorcycle companies are thinking! Back in the mid 80s they produced some good-looking wonderfully nimble bikes. You were riding a cruiser but could push it to perform like a sport bike of the day with a little finesse. Todays cruisers just feel fat and uninspired. Much like America.
I next went down to Fred’s Honda in south Corvallis to look at the Honda Shadow Aeros that they have in stock. In the better lighting of the shop I was able to get a good feel for the bike. It didn’t feel quite so massive sitting under me and Emily S fit well on the back but still… So much fake chrome, such a visibly fat bike. And why? It’s not like the thing needs to be so massive. Hopefully they’ll start making some sexy throwback 80’s bikes soon. I should also mention that neither place would let me test ride a bike. The first place doesn’t have insurance and the second place thought it was too dark.
My overall impressions of a Honda Shadow Aero are that it will handle passably but not as well as my old Shadow VT700. It has way way more room than my old bike which is certainly nice. I didn’t feel cramped at all and felt like I would be able to go many miles without problem on it. Being a Honda and with the VT750 power plant, it will literally last forever with proper maintenance. Still… For how much they sell for today, I’d rather buy an older bike such as the Honda Pacific Coast PC800 that Ryan S is selling and save a little money for new riding gear than drop five grand on a chromed out “me, too” bike.
