My old Vulcan 400 was a good little bike, but somewhat underpowered. The desperate struggle to keep up with Bungy on the 900 Tiger, and Tim on the CB1300 on a trip to Pai was the nail in the coffin for it... My dream bike was always the Vulcan 900 Custom - but at 460,000 THB, the price put it somewhat outside my budget! Its funny how things work here though... I rode a 1992 Shadow 1100 for over 12 months, and sold it in June last year. Never stopped admiring the Vulcan 900 Custom...
A couple of months ago, The Goddess and I were over at the Sob Ruak lookout with her two children. We visited the old temple on the hilltop above the lookout car park, and of course we all had to make the obligatory wish at the cast-iron Buddha... the deal is explained in the photo below;
As you've no doubt guessed by now, when my turn came, I politely wished the Buddha would facilitate the acquisition of a black Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Custom... that was back on 25th Jan 2010 :lol:
In early Feb, I bought The Goddess an Alpine Stars jacket... and towards the end of the month, took delivery of a mint-condition Phantom Custom 200 for her. I got a top box fitted for it at a Honda shop here in Chiang Rai, on the corner near the Night Bazaar. We were looking at the new Black Flame Phantom Custom, and I had toyed (briefly) with the idea of buying one.

But I'd kept looking and thinking and waiting...
While we were there, the elderly lady boss mentioned something about her brother in Bangkok sending his big Kawasaki chopper back to Chiang Rai for sale... she knew nothing of its details but thought it was 900cc. My ears pricked up immediately at "gow roi cc" because that immediately screams "Vulcan!" The bike duly arrived in town last weekend, and lo and behold!!! A shiny BLACK 2008 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 CUSTOM!!! In pristine condition, with a mere 7400 kms on the clock!!! And 30% under the current retail price! Good grief... An extraordinary coincidence?
Actually, its quite bizarre when you think about it. There are so few Vulcan 900 Customs in the country overall... Not all of them are black, and there's not an abundance of 2nd-hand ones... To have precisely the wished-for model and colour appear in a Chiang Rai shop that neither of us have been into before is stretching the odds even further! It now graces my carport with its presence....