Ray told me this story when I trailered the Bonneville to him:
When he was being trained as a Triumph mechanic by factory trainers in 1968, one of his senior factory mechanic's told him this:
"Never let anyone else ride your bike. They will do more damage to it in one ride than you will do in a lifetime.
First of all, they are not invested in the bike and have nothing to lose and only to enjoy it. You have invested time, labor, and heart, and maybe blood, sweat and tears into your personal bike that they have not. It has cost you a lot in all three ways. It has cost them nothing - no matter how great a person they are or how great a bike mechanic they are.
You care about the condition of the bike like no one else ever will. You know every sound the bike makes, and only you are sensitive enough to its noises to tell what is normal and when something is abnormal. If you hear something abnormal, you won't just keep riding it - you will stop riding until you know what is causing the noise and you will fix it. The other guy won't even know something is out of kilt - and he'll just keep riding.
If you want your bike to last a lifetime- never let anyone else ride it."
Well, I'm converted.
3 out of the last 4 times I've let others ride my bikes, there has been MAJOR damage - and all 3 riders were very experienced.
Let a good friend who is currently bikeless ride my '97 Wide Glide on a mountain trip in the spring. He's very experienced Harley rider and mountain rider. He's ridden my Harley's on mountain trips before. He burned up my rear brake rotor, caliper and master cylinder going down a mountain, and kept insisting he didn't ride the rear brake on the way down. It locked up smoking so much at the bottom that I was tempted to call the fire dept. I backed off the adjustment to release the brake after it cooled and rode it home myself well over 100 miles with no rear brake. Cost? almost $600.00.
My 36 year old son, biker for 20 years, multiple bikes, 5 year Army mechanic, rode the same WG on another mountain trip because his Kawasaki Vulcan was down this summer. He killed the engine after a stop on a sharp incline, dropped it, huge dent in pristine, like-new fuel tank where all the fancy flame artwork & pinstriping is, busted front & rear turn signals, dented expensive Arlen Ness front headlight nacelle. He's in college full time and doesn't have a penny. Repair cost? $300, not including the tank repaint, which I'm not even sure can be done. The bike was like new. 2nd time he's dropped it, first was 6 years ago when he hit sand in a turn.......all repairs then he paid for and no permanent damage to anything.
And now my 23 yr. old son treats the Bonnie like it's his almost new Ducati, and blows a hole in a piston.
I've always wanted others to enjoy my bikes - especially my family. And thought, well, if one gets damaged, no big deal as long as no one is hurt. I've let countless people ride all of my bikes.
But from this point on, I just can't afford it any more. Not just financially.
Emotionally and mentally, I can't take it. I'm living evidence of the old Triumph factory mechanic's wisdom.