The Joys of a Used Motorcycle
The Givi bags on my new V-Strom come pre-scarred so I don't have to worry about doing it myself.
My new V-Strom is new only to me; it has 17,000 miles on it from two previous owners.
That’s OK with me. As you can see in the photo above, this bike has gone down at least once so that means I can drop it myself and not feel that horrible pang of regret from having put the first scratch on your new baby. Not that I had a tendency to go down on bikes but I’m planning on getting off the pavement on this bike, and when you do that your likelihood of going down increases.
Heck, I’ve already dropped one of Kevin’s V-Stroms. We were going over Cinnamon Pass and came to a particularly tight switchback on what was at that point just a narrow gravel trail. I didn’t make the turn successfully. No problem. Pick the bike up, get it facing in the right direction, get back on, and go.
About two switchbacks later I came to another really tight one and this time I stopped to study it. I could see that the steeply sloping rock face that was the corner of the turn had tracks across it. I figured other people in this spot had just powered through and around, so that’s what I did. I gave it some revs, let out the clutch, and hit that rock face with power and just carved that turn around and was on my way up the trail again, all in an instant.
I want to do more of that kind of riding. That day was one of the best riding days of my life, and it was that ride that totally sold me on getting off the pavement.
So I took the new bike out for a ride Saturday. Not a very long ride at all, because I don’t have plates on it. But I took a little jaunt through the neighborhood just to get on it and get a feel for it. Fired up great and ran beautifully. Hey, oh boy–fun times to come!!
Biker Quote for Today
Adventure riding has been good for my attention deficit diso….Hey, what’s down that road?
Tags: motorcycle crash
May 2nd, 2013 at 4:20 pm
This reminds me of my first “ding.” Had to make a post about it. Hope you enjoy.
fasthair
May 2nd, 2013 at 7:06 pm
Hey, that will buff right out…:-)
July 12th, 2014 at 2:56 pm
Waiting for the first ding can be excruciating. Buying a bike that is already dinged up might be a good idea for me. Less stress :)