I came to the conclusion a few years ago that you can actually own too many motorcycles, so guess what i did about it, absolutely nothing!
The problem of transferring a hoard of Vincent parts from a willing old 80-year-old codger to an eager young 75-year-old whippersnapper in the UK, where there are 10,000 Vincent owners (estimated), all of whom live within 5 miles of each other (also, estimated), is different than in the U.S., where there are only 100 Vincent owners (est.), no two of whom are closer than 500 miles (est.) from each other.Release the hoards before it’s too late.
Well, if you're going to get serious about this…it is a major part of who we are.....
I couldn't agree more Greg. These machines are part of our life story, how we acquired the bits to assemble them, who we acquired them from ,trips we made on them ,memorable fines we received while using them are all part of our life. I have only purchased two running Vins, any others have been built from bits or been "basket cases" .When I ride my bikes, I tend to think back to other trips I have made to rallies etc. and the other riders and machines I have met there. Riders who started out riding in the 60's as I did, didn't consciously set out to 'hoard'. The problem then was that you could not obtain those needed parts for love or money, so whenever anything useable turned up, it was for 'later on' ,or swapping, just in case of a future disaster. With this happening, eventually the bones of another bike would appear. And so it begins!I've had this theory about folk who have large collections of parts, and/or bikes or anything similar of a mechanical nature. Why do these older folk hang on to these seamingly precious things pretty much till they are no longer with us.......only to leave their family/freinds with the massive task of sorting it all out (Could be a real issue for folk like me who repair/rebuild these bikes, how would my family know what belongs to who......??? ) Anyway, all of this topic has been in my life forever......I've been working on and restoring things from lawnmowers/chainsaws to classic Aircraft........We all know that blokes (well mostly) like to have hobbies/interests........something that our parteners/wives struggle with.......Well these "toys" are like our babies.........we spend so much time and effort with them no matter how much grief they give us, and that is an understatement for all of us.........This I believe, is the main reason for all this.......It is something beyond personal, it is part of you and anyone you know will know you for this........As selfish as it might seem, for some silly old bugger to keep all this "Junk" in the shed till they die........if you took it away from them, then they loose that spark........Not indifferent to loosing a child......it is a major part of who we are........after all this time I now finally get it, as to why this happens........Some forward planning might help with family sorting it all out........most people probably just run out of time.