Wednesday, July 28, 1993
Since the last weekend, we (my wife, our children and I) stay in my parents their
holidayhome in Ommen, in the North-East of the Netherlands. It is nice to be
on holiday but I can not get used to a holiday without a bike so my wife got
the idea to rent a bike at Safe Motors in Ommen.
In April '93, I had made a very short testride on a GL1500 and I enjoyed that
very much so when I found out that Safe Motors had a GL1500 for rent, I did
not had to think long.
On Wednesday afternoon, at half past five, I could collect the GoldWing in
Ommen. I had no gloves or helmet but that was no problem. They gave me a
brand new helmet and gloves from the showroom. Good service !
From the bikeshop I drove back to the holidayhome and found out that the
electric reverse was very usefull when you want to go backwards on a sandy
surface. Now I could park the heavy big bike right in front of the house.
The GoldWing at the holidayhome in Ommen
It was a beautiful bike and the dashboard was impressive with the radio/cassette
console and lots of switches on the handlebars.
The dashboard
Because it was dry when I arrived at the house (it had been raining a lot
the previous days) I went for a short ride before supper.
On narrow secondary roads I went to Zwolle and on another narrow road back
to Ommen. I took a music-cassette of Status Quo from the car and used it on
the GoldWing and enjoyed the stereo system.
A castle near Ommen
On Thursday I would spend the whole day riding the GoldWing but after the
trip to Zwolle, I came home for supper and took some pictures of my
sons on the bike.
My three boys on the GoldWing (sorry for the blurry photo)
Thursday, July 29, 1993
Before I could leave for my daytrip on the GoldWing, I had to take the boys
for a ride on the GoldWing around the holiday park.
Unfortunately it was very cloudy again when I left at half past ten but with
the cassette player playing Status Quo songs and comfortable behind the big
windscreen, I enjoyed my ride North. I went to Delfzijl, a town in the far
North-East of the Netherlands. Why ? Because I had nerver been there before.
In Scheemda, near Groningen, I filled the tank. I had done almost 18 kilometer
per liter. Not bad. From Scheemda I rode to Delfzijl and from Delfzijl to
Eemshaven, the harbour near Delfzijl.
A ferryboat arriving in Eemshaven
From Eemshaven, I rode to the city Groningen. In Groningen, while I was
waiting behing a car in a bussy shopping street, the cardriver decided to go
into reverse to give room for a truck but he forgot to look in his rearview
mirror and hit my fronttire so the GoldWing tipped over on its right side.
Fortunately it landed on the crashbars and I could see no damage to the bike
but to be safe, I filled in all the paperwork with the driver of the car (a
Jaguar that he had borrowed from his brother....).
The bike was fine so soon I was riding again. From Groningen, I took the
freeway to Zwolle. In the pouring rain I stayed reasonable dry behind the
fairing of the GoldWing while riding 120 km/h.
At half past three in the afternoon, I was back at the holidayhome in Ommen
and parked the bike in front of the house.
The GoldWing in front of the house (with me on it)
Although the day was a little overshadowed by the accident with the car in
Groningen and the bad weather, I enjoyed the power, the luxery and the comfort
of the big GoldWing. Now I was sure that I wanted a GoldWing again.
Friday, July 30, 1993
This was a sad day.... I had to bring the GoldWing back to its owner.... When I
returned with the bike, I told about the little accident in Groningen and gave the
bikeshop-manager the paperwork that I had filled in after the accident. He too
could find no damage so I got my deposit back. In total I payed 185 guilders (
that is +/- € 85) for renting this bike. Money well spend !!!
Returning the bike to its owner
Epilog
Since then, I have owned three GoldWings, a
GL1200 Interstate,
a GL1200 Aspencade
a GL1500/6 and then
a GL1200 Aspencade
again. (d.d. June 2015)
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