Are you Bonafide? Hey, What Makes You Qualified Anyway?

The short answer is “The Internet”.  The other short answer is “Nothing”.  But here is the long answer.  

We are in the day and age where anyone with an opinion seems to want to share it. The Internet provides the means to project said opinion across the globe. As far as being qualified well that hasn’t bothered any of you before. Why start now?

The real scary part is we are in an age where computers using fancy algorithms we call AI can slurp up all the combined knowledge, information, and opinion humankind has dumped onto the internet.  In turn AI regurgitates that content into new made up remixes that are sometimes subtly false. We often still believe it.  Even worse the AI content is often helpful. In fact it can be helpful so often that we start to trust it’s hallucinations. It takes real skill to be adept enough to recognize between truth and subtle lies. 

I’ve decided most of my readers will be highly skilled. With that intent I’ll be pontificating my opinions, mixing in random facts, and telling you subtle lies. I will do this all while I add more and more affiliate links to monetize my lies. This in turn means I am at least as qualified as our most renowned politicians, corporate business owners, and prestigious internet influencers. I’m qualified because I say so. That’s all, no questions will be taken at this time, my people will get with your people. Thanks for your time.

My Back Story:
Every evil genius has one.

In reality my qualifications start with my back story.  I grew up in the farm lands of southern Idaho.  My dad was an auto mechanic and small business owner.  I grew up in the shop.  I drove an overbuilt go-cart that almost rivaled a dune buggy before I was a teen. By my early teens I had graduated from 4 wheels to 2 in the form of a 1974 Suzuki TM125 that the farmer across the street sold me for $50 and with another $50 part we got it running. 

After a very short time my dad realized that one motorcycle was a source of family strife between myself and my next younger brother. We constantly fought over whose turn it was to ride.  Dad quickly found a deal on an 1983 Kawasaki KDX200 for $200. 

https://magazine.cycleworld.com/article/1983/8/1/kawasaki-kdx200

I was the bigger brother so I got the bigger bike problem solved. 

I had other dirt bikes through my teen years until I got my drivers license.  There was a Suzuki RM250, and a Honda XR350.  The pattern was the same.  I would find a bike that needed work, buy it cheap, fix it up, and ride the snot out of it.  I would then sell it for slightly more than I bought it for.  Rinse and repeat. 

That pattern served me well until I had a drivers license and had to deal with more expensive and road worthy vehicles.  During the same period of time my dad had a Honda CB650 road bike that I may or may not have taken out for joy rides a few times when my parents weren’t home.  That thing was fast off the line.  

In my mid 20s I owned a Honda VF750 first generation muscle bike.  I rode it for a summer then started a restoration project. That project ended with the birth of my first born child.  I ended up giving the bike to my dad in boxes a few years later so he could have a restoration project. 

More Recently

One of my latest forays into motorcycle riding started last year with a 2000 Yamaha YZ125.  I got it from a friend.  I rode it around the steep hillsides near my house last summer.  This summer other than replacing the clutch it has mostly sat in the garage.  This bike was just about as much fun as you can have. However, my limited time and terrain convinced me that I was very likely to die launching off a tree stump into a bottomless void with this little 2-stroke fueled race rocket.

These motorcycle experiences along with others have fueled my needed adrenaline hits over the years.  Also the wrecks and close calls in my youth have been enough to help keep me cautious and alive so far.  I have just a little too much self preservation instinct.  This deficiency has prevented me from ever achieving amazing rider status.  On the flip side, I have managed to make it past my mid 40’s:-)

(Said With Jedi Powers) This is the content you are looking for.

Since I’ve been riding off and on most of my life, and fixing bikes for just as long I have at least as much real experience as an AI. Since I am taking the time to write any of this down I’m at least as qualified as the next blogger. If I can make any of the story entertaining then it should be at least worth a click or two on an affiliate link. So there you have it. Word from a bonafide expert in my own humble opinion:-). See you next time will all the Amazon links.