Selling up and leaving the hobby - Your failure experiences?

[27motorhead]

"do in haste, repent at leisure"

Which Psalm was this?

Great thread. Good luck coming to a decision Dom, even if that decision is do nothing at the moment.

Sounds like you have done amazingly well to have been able to amass and restore those bikes, as well as play with fast cars and motorbikes, run your own business and have a family... and you're just over 40! Whipper-snapper!

 

[Lucidone]

I have family and friends in Spain, but my buddy in Cadiz told me Spain would be great if there weren't so many Spaniards there. And he's Spanish.

Most places could be vastly improved with a significant reduction in people to be fair!

 

[Lucidone]

I appreciate and enjoy engineering (problem solving) and aesthetic elegance / balance - I see all of this in your bikes (and try to achieve at least a little of it in my own). What I might consider if contemplating breaking up such a collection would be a beautifully photographed catalogue. From this I could have a nice book to thumb through or poster prints for the garage etc. In addition to your build threads it would be a great way to preserve, remember and share all your efforts.

 

[d8mok]

I have family and friends in Spain, but my buddy in Cadiz told me Spain would be great if there weren't so many Spaniards there. And he's Spanish.

Try living with one.

Well 1 and half if you count the little one too.

 

[d8mok]

Thanks for all the replies.

Too many to reply to but lots of valid points and ideas.

I think the combination of another birthday , being super busy over the last 2 months , and not having any bikes I’m hunting down has created the perfect storm of doubt.

I agree with whoever said about shows being more frequent. I personally would like to share my bikes more often with people who appreciate them which is hard to do without inviting random strangers to your garage.

For sure I won’t be rushing into anything. I’ve cleared some bikes recently that I wasn’t connected to which was easy. But the rest is a big decision as they kinda complement each other.

 

[CTK]

I do find a bit of relaxation in looking for bikes/parts and fettling but WITHOUT DOUBT the most fun you can have with bikes is riding them and the most fun I've ever had on a bike is with a child seat/ trailer/ tag along.

 

[27motorhead]

I agree with whoever said about shows being more frequent. I personally would like to share my bikes more often with people who appreciate them which is hard to do without inviting random strangers to your garage.

100% this!

I was a committee member for the IRCOC (International Raleigh Choppers Owners Club) in the Late 90s. Virtually no email communication, no real websites so we used phones and the fanzine for communication/sharing info. The meet ups were the best bits: Bike & parts jumbles, lots of chat about Choppers and other hobbies (so much shared interest!), cruises and ride outs, lots of cheering and abuse from random other folk chucked in for good measure. Absolutely loved it.

HUGE range of people and bikes from NOS still in a box (yes some people carted around these just to show them off!) to dirty old ratty ones. One guy turned up in a Ferrari Testarrosa with a custom bike rack to transport his Chopper!

Choppers Out!

 

[Titiritero]

George Carlin on stuff

 

[widowmaker]

More Retrobike meets please !!

 

[Titiritero]

Jokes apart, keep at least one bike. We don't have a lot of retrobikes in Spain.

A tip I heard in a family travelling podcast and was very useful to prepare our family cycling trip of 1y in South America:

1.- Set a date. It'll never be the "perfect time", so without a fixed date you'll keep postponing the move.
2.- Figure out how to pay for it. In our case, lowering our expenses and saving a lot. For you maybe a remote job?
3.- Get rid of your crap. We sub let our apartment so we had a place to come back but don't pay rent on the meantime. So the apartment had to be mostly free, and the rest was sold or stored by the in-laws. You'll have an international move. I've done it twice and it's a HUGE PITA. And the sooner you start, the more you can wait for the right price... It'll also give you satisfaction that you are already working towards your goal.

Good luck!