Thanks. I went from a thumper F650CS to an F800GT for a better seat and a sixth gear. Although I still miss that thumper. Always will.
I started late, in my 40s, so I went modest. I like the smallness of the bike. And I have short legs for my height so the F-series was more or less made for me.
I very nearly got a Honda CB919, but my safety class instructor was very earnest in suggesting it was too much bike for me to start with. I did ride one once after I’d been riding for a year. He was almost certainly correct. But I still see that fireblade as “the one that got away” as the guy selling the one I rode was basically giving it away. (didn’t want two bikes in storage right before deployment so I passed. “Here honey, you can move TWO bikes around the garage while I’m in Kabul!” Sigh.)
Sure. I can go down and make up a silkscreen in an afternoon and be printing shirts by the same night. I can go to a shop too and probably pick it up the next day. Hell, if I have a cricut machine, I’ll have an iron on in under an hour. And I can always just put one of my stickers on a shirt in seconds.
But there’s something to be said for “putting my money where my mouth is” and giving the company I love some extra dough to get their swag. When a company sells a t-shirt for $25, it doesn’t go at cost, and while that money is at the margins, it makes me feel like I’m supporting them without having to buy a four-figure box of electronics.
If the company doesn’t want to sell swag because it’s just another thing to keep track of? More power to them. And then I make my own like I did my Bill the Cat t-shirts I screened for me and my friends in high school. But it doesn’t hurt to ask.
If they don’t want to do it, maybe I’ll make up a screen and sell y’all some shirts. At cost, of course since I shouldn’t be making money on their identity.
I don’t think I even still have the screens to that anymore. That was a 5-color print (I only do spot colors) so it was fairly labor intense. When I finished our run I think I pulled the screen off the frame and tossed it because it was so much work and such a PITA to get just right.
One color screens are trivial for a punter like me. But multi-colors are almost like work. Lol.
And, yes, I’m an American who buys A4 paper and notebooks from importers because the international standard makes infinitely more sense. I loathe American paper sizes.