Retirement life done right: cruising down the road
Butler’s Jim Davis is doing retirement the right way.
The newly retired Navy veteran is spending his golden years doing the things he loves most in life, from shooting guns to playing around with technology, such as ham radio; and his favorite — spending time on the road on one of his motorcycles with his family and friends.
“It's truly an addiction to the point where if this was January and it was sunny and 20 degrees out, I would put on snow pants and heated coats and I would be out riding,” Davis said. “I can't help it.”
Davis, 69, retired in May from his various stints doing “computer stuff” for many companies, notably American Glass Research, where he maintained the business’s firewalls and computer network.
Davis bought his first motorcycle in 1977, when he got out of the Navy. He sold it when his wife had their first child.
That did not last forever because when he began making friends at AGR, they started taking motorcycle trips every year and Davis felt left out.
“I had a bill from the hospital, so I sold the motorcycle to pay for the kid,” Davis said. “I was out of motorcycles until about 1990. The people at AGR started taking trips down to the Blue Ridge Parkway. It’s a big motorcycle place.”
His current bikes of choice are his Harley-Davidson Dresser and his Kawasaki KLR 650 S. He owns four motorcycles, with two of them being his wife’s.
“I have about a quarter of a million miles on Harley-Davidsons,” Davis said. “I have a Dresser with 155,000 miles on it.”
Davis said his love for motorcycles stems from his childhood love for riding bicycles. He can remember the exact moment he knew he wanted to take the step up and get into motorcycles.
“After church one day I went out to my friend’s house,” Davis said. “He got his dirt bike out and he let me ride it around and I thought it was the most awesome thing in the world. It was like riding a bike, but I didn’t have to work my butt off to ride it. It just clicked.”
Davis said he is not a showoff when it comes to his motorcycles. In fact, he said when he goes out, he tries to look as “uncool as possible” because to him, that is not what it’s about.
“To me it’s about riding and the curve of the road,” Davis said. “You scrape a peg, it makes your heart jump, but you keep within your boundaries and skill set. It’s about that thrill. It also clears my head.”
Davis has purchased a few of his motorcycles from First Bike Motorsports at 701 New Castle Road.
First Bike general manager Brandon Grossman said the business also sells many side-by-side utility vehicles, which are primarily used for work around someone’s property.
“The side-by-side market is pretty big for utility work and stuff like that,” Grossman said.
Grossman said his older customers are more inclined to having heat and air conditioning installed in their side-by-sides than younger customers, which comes with an additional cost.
“It’s making their work easier compared to having a wheelbarrow or something like that,” Grossman said. “Most of these have a dumping bed on them, so you can use that. I just had an older lady buy one so she can do maintenance around her yard. She wanted heat and AC in it.”
For those who are in retirement and looking for same thrill as Davis but without the life-or-death element, a sports car might be a better alternative.
Tony Romano, owner of RMS Motors, 120 Alameda Plaza in Butler Township, said the sports car of choice at his business is the Chevrolet Corvette.
“It’s one of the nicest sports cars from domestic brands, if you are looking for domestic, which is going to usually be less expensive.” Romano said of the Corvette. “If you think about the generation that is retiring now, these people who are in their 60s were born in around the 1960s, and they have seen the Corvette evolve and how it became a representation of the American dream.”
Romano said RMS, an independent car dealership, sells more Corvettes than any other car, including many different models.
He said Corvettes are popular at RMS because of their affordability when compared to other sports cars, while still giving the consumer that sports car feel they are looking for.
“For a lot of people it is that American dream sports car,” Romano said. “The classic V-8, rear-wheel drive, two-seater sports car that is obtainable. If you are into sports cars, everyone wants a Ferrari, but it’s not as much of an obtainable item.”
Romano said a new Corvette can cost upward of $100,000, but RMS mostly deals with older generations that cost less than that.
The biggest misconception about these types of vehicles, Romano said, is the fact that consumers tend to be concerned about a used sports car having too many owners prior to them purchasing it, but the reasoning for it is simple.
“That could be perceived as a red flag, but that is just par for the course with sports cars,” Romano said. “They change hands frequently because it is not a daily driver. They drive it for a summer and maybe they go get something else.”
One of Romano’s customers, Carol Kondratowicz, 60, of Saxonburg, purchased a 2015 Corvette Stingray about two months ago, but this isn’t her first time dabbling in sports cars.
“A few years back, I bought a Pontiac Solstice,” she said. “A two-seat sports car, and it wasn’t what I wanted. It wasn’t as comfortable. This one is bigger with more room and more horsepower.”
Kondratowicz said although she has a day job at Marvel Marking Products, an equipment supplier in Middlesex Township, she still is able to spend the majority of her weeks doing things that bring her joy as she works her 40 hours Monday through Wednesday.
Over the past four years, Kondratowicz said, she kicked around the idea of purchasing a new sports car after friends showed her their Stingray.
Her husband, Charlie Kondratowicz, 74, is a retired truck driver, and although he does not like to drive the Stingray all that much, he does enjoy riding shotgun with Carol as they go on day trips around the region.
“I drove a truck for 19 years, so I have had enough driving,” he said with a laugh.
“We like riding up north in Marienville and Ridgway,” Carol Kondratowicz said. “I just love the country up there. I want to go see Flight 93 Memorial and go back to Ohio and see the world’s biggest cuckoo clock.”
She said her Corvette can reach speeds well above 100 mph. That isn’t something she plans to do often, but it sure can be a lot of fun.
“One time I let it go real fast and then he tells me to do it again,” she said. “So dummy me, I did it again. If I get caught (Charlie) is going to be taking my butt to work every day then because I can go 100 mph in a matter of seconds.”
Davis and the Kondratowiczs agree that everyone who enters retirement should find something they are passionate about and go for it, even if it means spending a little bit of money.
“You have to enjoy your life because you only have one,” Kondratowiczs said. “(The Corvette) is something we both enjoy, and we can talk while I’m driving. I ask him if he wants to drive and he says he’s good.”
Keeping busy is not just good physically, but mentally too, Davis said, because he has seen people hit retirement and all they do is sit in front of a TV all day. He does not intend to waste the rest of his days not being productive.
“You are not going to be here forever,” Davis said. “Spend the money. Especially if you have saved enough, take a little and do something you want to do.”
This article first appeared in the December edition of Butler County Business Matters.
