‘Your New Ride’
Monday, April 22nd, 2013
My V-Strom as it prepares to leave Tennessee.
Mine, that is.
See that photo above of that 2007 V-Strom 650 on that trailer? That’s my new bike and at the moment this post is being published it is on that trailer on its way to me here in Denver. Here’s how this whole thing came down.
As anyone who knows me or who reads this blog is aware, I’ve been wanting a dual-sport bike for a long time. Working full-time as a motorcycle freelance writer, however, I never had the money. Since November I’ve been working a contract gig as an editor at the National Park Service so I finally have some spare cash.
In the meantime, my friend Kevin Smith, who runs Colorado Mountain Moto out of Gunnison, had gone down to Tennessee to do some remodeling work for his sister. He drove down and took his trailer with him because his brother-in-law had a V-Strom he wanted to sell and Kevin figured he could use it in his motorcycle rental business. Kevin favors V-Stroms and it is largely through him that I have ridden V-Stroms quite a bit. I like them quite a bit.
As Kevin tells it, however, he got down to Tennessee and the more he thought about it the more he got to thinking that money was tight and he really needed the money more than he needed another bike. So he sent me the following email:
Hey Ken if your still thinking about another bike I found a Vstrom in TN. Not sure I need it yet 07 17000 miles I could bring it with me if your interested. $3500. Cheers Kevin
I quickly did some checking to see how that price matched up to others locally and it looked pretty good, although some local bikes had extras this one does not, and Kevin said it will need a front tire and a new chain soon. I hesitated. I’ve finally got a bit of a financial reserve again and draining it significantly was a hard thing for me to decide to do.
However, much to the envy of a lot of guys, I’m sure, my wife Judy was all for it. She kept pushing me. “Come on, you’ve wanted this for a long time. Do it!”
So I did it. And now it’s on its way here. Kevin will be here later today and will spend the night with us before heading on to Gunnison. And I’ll add a Suzuki to go with my Honda and my Kawasaki. People who I meet and to whom I mention that I ride invariably ask, “Do you have a Harley?” No I don’t. Harleys just don’t interest me. I guess that’s pretty clear by now. Not dissing you guys who do; it’s just not my kind of bike. But oh boy, I’m going to like having this V-Strom.
My friend Dan, who does ride a Harley, also has a GS800 from BMW. He’s been wanting to sell it but hasn’t yet. I was telling him on Saturday about the V-Strom and he said “let’s go ride.” I’ll definitely be taking him up on that.
Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Butler Maps Northern California map is an eye-opener
Biker Quote for Today
I’m not lost. I’m explorin’.
