Dave Frederick

My introduction to motorcycles was while visiting a good friend at about age 8 and his Dad had picked up an old Indian motorcycle … only thing I remember for sure, was the stick shift and a very enjoyable day ‘messing around’ with the bike riding up and down the alley. 

By the time I was 17 Dad had ‘invested’ in a couple of farms.  One of the tenants we had renting the house had an aqua and white Suzuki GT 750. I would spend lots of time looking at this bike and as luck would have it, he wanted the ’62 VW ‘Bug’ that I drove, but Dad owned. I ‘made the deal’ trading the car for the bike.  Well, of course, when Dad found out … well, let’s put it this way, I worked the rest of the summer for ‘free’.

I ended up trading the Suzuki for a ’69 Grand Prix which I took to college and in which also courted my lovely wife Leslie. My last year at the University of Wyoming I purchased a red and black Honda CB 900F complete with a sport faring. I thoroughly enjoyed riding the roads and canyons around Laramie.  We moved to Oklahoma and I had a great time riding to and from work and around the state with friends. In ’85 we moved to Utah and Leslie was concerned with the safety risk of riding vs. raising a young family and I ended up traded the bike for a little Mazda PU truck.

Early in ’05 Leslie commented that our youngest would soon be in college and that IF I was interested I could get a bike.  At first, after 20 years, I wasn’t too interested … however, I went ‘shopping’ with some friends the fever was back.  I knew I wanted a touring bike so Les could ride with me and started looking at the prominent Gold Wings and Electra Glide Ultra Classics. Then someone asked, “… what about BMW?”  What? Do they make motorcycles?  We visited the folks (Renn) at BMW of Salt Lake, took the K1200LT for ‘spin’ and I was less than impressed, too doggy … Jamie, then the perspective new owner, was visiting the shop and asked how I was riding it. Recommending I get the RPMs up in the 4-6K range, I thoroughly enjoyed the second test ride. Renn took Les for a ride and took a 45 mph corner at about 80 with no bumps or fuss and with the ABS, she was sold.  Since September of ’05 I’ve put over 21K on it and while that isn’t much compared to some, I’ve enjoyed it more every time I get on it to ride.  After our club meeting in January of ’07 I joined everyone at Accolade and ended up coming home with a Triumph Rocket III that day.  I think Leslie has learned of the “monster” she re-awoke in the spring of ’05!!  What’s NEXT??