Thread: Thinking of selling the bike and getting another Landy!

Hi all! I havent posted here for a while but thought I'd let you all in on some of my recent thinking. My wife and I are now expecing our second child Which is unreal and I'm totally stoked!!! We had the 12 week scan on Monday this week and now we are free to tell people. I hope the rest of the pregnancy goes well obviously but you have to tell people sometime!

As a result, and for the first time, I'm thinking of getting out of motorcycles. My thoughts are that it is a pretty selfish sport and a dangerous one to boot. For the last few weekends Ive been going off on rides and leaving my little son at home. He's too young to get a bike and I'm not sure I want him on one too young. For the whole time I'm out I feel guilty and worry.

And I've been lucky - 15 years of riding bikes from Aprilia's to Suzuki GSX1400's and VFR800's flat out without a single major stack. The problem I've been debating is that I don't want to leave either my wife without a husband or two kids without a dad. Each to their own if you're a motorcyclist - I completly understand if you couldn't give up riding. I have never considered it before. Recently though, a mate lost one of his best friends when he clipped a tree on his dirt bike. He got off and walked down the hill after the stack - but died of a brain injury minutes later.

Anyway, enough of my internal dilema - what I have been given permission to do is sell my DR650 and spend those $ (and only those $!!!) on another Landy. So what sort of bus could I get for around $5 grand that I could have fun with in the bush? I'm thinking of either a clapped-out defender that I could bring back to life with minimal costs, an older series vehicle or maybe even a D1 (with big tyres of course ). What are people's thoughts and how likely am I to get a vehicle that I can have fun with for my measly budget???

Id love to not have to worry about dinging up a precious truck in the bush (like my D2 which is our only family car - and no, I'm not allowed to bush bash in it) and have at a minimum, something with at least a rear difflock for the hills around here. I love getting out and about and really want to take the family along - hence why I was thinking of a D1.

But I do love defenders. I've had two in the past but don't think I could find one for under 5 grand.

Do any of you series owners load up the little-uns and wifey and head out into the bush? Can you even fit child seats into a series bus?

So am I dreaming or can I get a good landy for under 5 grand to enjoy with my family?

Your thinking is sound. Spend the time with the kids when they are young. I have two boys and they love the disco.

While I love the look of the series and I have one sitting there waiting for some love too, most are probably at the stage where they will need a full pull apart and fix, which is a big time investment. You won't have that time with two little ones (personal experience there see above statement about my series). I also have a bike, beemer k75, in the shed waiting for when the kids are a little older and don't want to do things with us any more.

Get a Disco and just fix things as needed.

Bernie