The Soul Crushing Good-Bye to my Yamaha R6

She's gone.

Getting rid of my motorcycle was the right thing to do.

I never thought I would align with those words. I've scoffed at friends who have given up on bikes regardless of the reason. I can remember my love for motorcycles turning into an obsession in 2009. It was then when having a motorcycle became a necessity and I bonded it with my identity. I seriously never thought that I would be without one. Thank God this only temporary.

This is Canada and I am always travelling around southern Ontario for professional reasons so a four-wheeled abomination is necessary. When I bought Josselyn, my first bike, I knew that she was to be the shining star of my vehicle inventory. Which meant my car, creatively named Cavalier would be a POS. Something I was completely fine with. The problem with POS' is that they are shit and repairs quickly surpass what the metal pile is worth. Last fall my standard Cavalier named Cavalier, decided that it no longer wanted to employ its transmission.

Tough Choices

So there I was faced with an array of decisions to make. Do I fix the transmission on Cavalier? Purchase a new vehicle? Purchase a used vehicle? Live with just my custom painted Yamaha R6? Buy a BRP Spyder and a heated suit and brave the winter? Or maybe I should go with a Ural?

Thankfully the decision to not fix the transmission was an easy one. I scraped the whole thing and made more than $300, a salty win. I need reliability and appearance for the professional life but those qualities come with a price. Unable to decide, I waited, and waited. I rode into the fall and enjoyed riding regardless of the weather and of course I enjoyed the shuddering chills that arrived once the sun went down.

Then the best part of riding came back to haunt me. The clarity and calm helped me realize that the best thing for me to do was get a good car, but the bike would have to go.

The feeling leading up to D-Day (delivery day) was something I've never felt before. I imagine I could liken it to the feeling you would have if you were ending a healthy, serious relationship due to a career-based relocation. Leaving something amazing and great for a long term investment in yourself or whatever, I don't know what I'm talking about anymore. It just sucked.

The Replacement

The sales person directed my attention to a hybrid-genre car with a lot of sport appeal and power if you went with the Turbo trim. I was still in a shocked-induced trance from my decision so I wasn't really present in the conversation, but then something he said caught my attention;

‟The profile of the car was designed to resemble a motorcycle helmet”

I responded with, ‟Where do I sign?”

The A and B pillars on the Hyundai Veloster are black so assuming you have limousine level tint on your windows, it resembles a tinted visor. In profile the look is completed by the sloping roof which leads to the round rear end of the sporty coupe three-door-hatchback.

I am more than happy with the Veloster but it has four wheels so I am in the market for a motorcycle. During negotiations my only demand was that the Veloster have a huge sunroof, that way I can feel the spring wind and play pretend.