Franknsr got me thinking today..... about a topic I've thought a lot about, but not aloud very much....
What exactly are the numbers of X's out there still running?
What exactly are the number of X owners out there that even know about us?
How many X's are lost for ever?
Read along here, its an interesting topic... and probably not accurate, but fun to think about...
Interesting topics for a goof ball like me...
On the resource board (yahoo), there are 583 members. I'm going to guess about a hundred of them are roll overs from the "dealer38" site, and they do not have own an X anymore. These 100 dropped out of X world, because the factory doors were closing, and engine heat issues were coming to lite with no known fixes (unlike now).... people were afraid of owning an Orphan bike. Id guess a lot of X owners don't even know about this site anymore. No I'm not bashing, as this is where I learned the most about X's, as this was THE ONLY SITE THERE WAS that knew anything after the doors closed.
On the facebook site there are 300 members accounted for. We need to note that Owners on any of these sites may not be active in the community but none the less, owners... probably not typical nutz like me....
And on this site there are 208 members listed... Some of these members are obviously not active in the community, but owners that found a really cool bike, that no one knows about.... possibly lost in the general confusion...
so back to facebook... my guess active owners.... 250..
this site active.... guess.... 150....
Between these three sites... I'd pick the resource board for its most memberships.... and add a possible 100 to the 483. This 100 would be the members of these sites that do not inter social with all 3 sites....
Ok.... most active owners own more than one. .... to make that number simple... double 583= 1166
1166 is the number of possible bikes that know about our community.. that leaves 1952-1166=886
886 X's out there that do not know us...
of that 886 X's... subtract a guessible 200 that are blown up, burned to the ground, totaled in an accident.
Our new number is 686 X's out there..... that know nothing of us, or do know about us and refuse to be involved. For example, the ever rumor of an X owner in Minnesota that owns over 30 X's, and will not talk to anyone about any of it, they are hidden.
In Omaha,.... an excutive of a corporation who owns 17....
In Reno, another owner with the same number. .....
these are the ones that I KNOW about. .... I'm sure there are more...
so lets take those numbers away with a few more, for owners that I don't know, who own way more than 1, and do not embibe with us socially... 500 sounds reasonable.
500 X's that don't know about the X community. Who can argue this point? You take your X anywhere even today, and everyone is asking what is it.... And these questions are usually from other bikers, who should be in the know....
So what does this all prove? ... No idea, its just imagination running amock, for fun. These remaining 500.... could very well be lost in time, until that perfect barn find of 2053 happens...
I've often wondered how many X's are sitting in the back of someones garage or shop with stuff stacked all over it, dirty, leaking.... as it "broke" and the owner has no idea what to do or thinks that "someday", will arrive.
In my area alone I know of 2 Xs that never appeared for sale anywhere, but I saw them frequently for a few years, way back around 2002.... both, I saw the last time, were running horrible, sounding like anvils banging around.... where are they now... in that possible shop/garage, covered with junk?
interesting thoughts....