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It all started February 2nd, when I was high bidder on an eBay auction for a 1988 GL1500. I then tried to find a shipper through uShip. What a crock, they show a lowball price on eBay, but none of the shippers will bid anything near that amount. I decided I would make the trip to Wisconsin to pick it up.
My brother, Kevin, had also won a bike on eBay and needed to go to North Dakota to get it. He has a trailer so we decided to take his small SUV and tow the bikes home. As has been said before, all good plans....
We left on a Sunday morning, made it to Bismark, ND and spent the night. We got up Monday morning and drove to Madison, WI and spent the night there. Tuesday morning we drove on down to Fort Atkinson, WI, to meet with the seller. After finally tracking him down, he opened the door to his shop and I got my first real look at it. I was a bit surprised, to say the least. It was filthy and smelled of barnyard. Oh well, things can always be washed. The seller then proceeded to start it, incorrectly, unfortunately. The oil smoke cleared quickly and the engine sounded good. After a couple minutes of warm-up, the bike idled great. I rode up on the trailer, tied it down and off we went, to meet the seller of my brother's new bike, in Valley City, ND.
After picking up his bike, the SUV didn't do well, any small incline or headwind and the transmission was down in second gear. He said he wasn't just about to ruin the transmission, so I would need to ride my bike the rest of the way home, about 1,100 miles. I hadn't packed any of my riding gear along, as I had no intentions of riding it. We stopped Tuesday night in Jamestown, ND, there was a WalMart (shudder) and I was able to get a cheap pair of boots, but nothing else. Wednesday morning we found a bike shop and I was able to get a helmet. We unloaded the 1500 and I fired it up with no problems at all. Off we went towards home at about 10:00AM. We stopped and had dinner around 8:00PM, at about 11:00PM and at 33 degrees, I was ready to stop. My brother didn't want to stop, but I couldn't feel my legs! We spent the night sleeping in his rig, well trying to sleep. Thursday morning we took off again, it was about 35 degrees and overcast. We made it as far as Butte, MT and stopped for gas, I was tired and cold and the weather didn't look promising in the upcoming mountain pass. I saw a motorsports shop across the parking lot from the fuel station. I waited for him to open and asked if he had storage available, he did. That's as far as the bike got, after around 700 miles in about 11 hours. I figured I could go back Friday and pick it up with a different vehicle. We got into the pass and ran into snow, I was sure glad I didn't chance it.
My mother and father and I went back Friday morning to trailer it on home. I could have ridden it, as the weather had cleared, but we already had the trailer there, so we loaded it back up and brought it on home.
The pictures are all taken by the previous owner, I haven't had the time to get it cleaned up and fresh pictures taken.
My brother, Kevin, had also won a bike on eBay and needed to go to North Dakota to get it. He has a trailer so we decided to take his small SUV and tow the bikes home. As has been said before, all good plans....
We left on a Sunday morning, made it to Bismark, ND and spent the night. We got up Monday morning and drove to Madison, WI and spent the night there. Tuesday morning we drove on down to Fort Atkinson, WI, to meet with the seller. After finally tracking him down, he opened the door to his shop and I got my first real look at it. I was a bit surprised, to say the least. It was filthy and smelled of barnyard. Oh well, things can always be washed. The seller then proceeded to start it, incorrectly, unfortunately. The oil smoke cleared quickly and the engine sounded good. After a couple minutes of warm-up, the bike idled great. I rode up on the trailer, tied it down and off we went, to meet the seller of my brother's new bike, in Valley City, ND.
After picking up his bike, the SUV didn't do well, any small incline or headwind and the transmission was down in second gear. He said he wasn't just about to ruin the transmission, so I would need to ride my bike the rest of the way home, about 1,100 miles. I hadn't packed any of my riding gear along, as I had no intentions of riding it. We stopped Tuesday night in Jamestown, ND, there was a WalMart (shudder) and I was able to get a cheap pair of boots, but nothing else. Wednesday morning we found a bike shop and I was able to get a helmet. We unloaded the 1500 and I fired it up with no problems at all. Off we went towards home at about 10:00AM. We stopped and had dinner around 8:00PM, at about 11:00PM and at 33 degrees, I was ready to stop. My brother didn't want to stop, but I couldn't feel my legs! We spent the night sleeping in his rig, well trying to sleep. Thursday morning we took off again, it was about 35 degrees and overcast. We made it as far as Butte, MT and stopped for gas, I was tired and cold and the weather didn't look promising in the upcoming mountain pass. I saw a motorsports shop across the parking lot from the fuel station. I waited for him to open and asked if he had storage available, he did. That's as far as the bike got, after around 700 miles in about 11 hours. I figured I could go back Friday and pick it up with a different vehicle. We got into the pass and ran into snow, I was sure glad I didn't chance it.
My mother and father and I went back Friday morning to trailer it on home. I could have ridden it, as the weather had cleared, but we already had the trailer there, so we loaded it back up and brought it on home.
The pictures are all taken by the previous owner, I haven't had the time to get it cleaned up and fresh pictures taken.
