KLRDan
Posts: 30
Joined: 5/21/2008
Status: offline
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I bought a Kawasaki KLR 650 a few months ago (that's why there's a "KLR" in my name) and am madly in love with it. It gets 50-60 MPG depending on how aggressively I ride, will go 300-350 miles on a tank, gobbles up curbs, train tracks, and speed bumps with a smile (my current record on a nearby speed bump-infested road is 70 MPH--hey, they shouldn't have put them there if they didn't want to tempt me!), and by all accounts is about as simple and easy to work on as a bike could be. (I've done no maintenance of my own yet.) Here's a link to an article about it: http://www.motorbyte.com/mmm/pages/2002reviews/review52.htm
I plan to do some solo camping this summer. It's hard to imagine a better vehicle for making a beeline to the middle of nowhere than this one.
Though I've already started looking at other bikes I might like to ride in the future--the Victory Hammer and Harley Road King are the first that come to mind--I'll always remember the KLR as my first love. Like the best women, she's not pretty, but she'll go anywhere. (Just kidding!)
On another note, I now understand why bikers call cars "cages." Actually, cars have always struck me as cage-like, at least ever since I became 6'6". It's a rare car that doesn't have me holding the steering wheel with my knees, bumping my head on the roof, crouching at stoplights, and looking into the rearview mirror when I'm trying to see forward. Riding a bike (at least this bike) does more than lets me feel the wind and connect to the road; it frees me from a host of irritating and dangerous problems that most car drivers never even have to deal with. (Granted, the KLR doesn't fit quite perfectly either--the pegs are too close to the seat--but there's an easy solution to that problem, and I intend to avail myself of it shortly.)
But I also think I understand why bikers who've never had their bodies squashed by cars call cars cages. Once you've fallen in love with bikes, driving a car--especially through a beautiful place, and especially with the windows up--is like--please forgive the obvious comparison from a testosterone-crazed brain--watching an orgy from behind a glass wall. You know what you'd be feeling if you were in the experience yourself, or at least you have some idea, and you'll become crazy if you let yourself think about it. You'd almost rather not see the naked bodies, or the trees and streams and hills, at all. At least that's how it is for me. The desire is not quite so intense, but the principle is the same.
So what do you ride? What have you ridden? If you've ridden more than one, do you have a favorite? I'm especially interested to hear from sportbike owners because I'll probably never ride a sportbike myself. (All but the most powerful are much too small for my body, and I'm really no speed demon, the occasional 70-mph speed bump romp notwithstanding.)
_____________________________
In heaven, all the interesting people are missing.
--Nietzsche
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Motorcycle riders, what do you ride? - 
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