Get a motorcycle

Events led to me being single in the middle of last winter and living in a different town. Life for me had changed so I decided to make some changes as well. I had previously spent too many hours doing too many things for other people. It was time to do something for myself.

I had my motorcycle license since I was sixteen and I had not owned a motorcycle for years. My good buddy recently bought a brand new Yamaha that he was picking up in the spring and getting his motorcycle license for the first time. Making it worse was that I had made promises for a few years prior that I was going to get a motorcycle. Now I actually had to follow through.

I set a budget and starting looking. I did some online research, solicited some advice, and came up with a few thoughts. First, buy used. There are lots of inexpensive used bikes out there. A lot of them get sold with hardly any use. If you drop a bike, and you will, you will care less about dropping a used one. Second, do not get something with a big engine if you have not ridden in a while or at all. My limit was 650cc. I could always get something bigger later. I wanted to get used to something smaller that could still be ridden on the highway. Last was to get something that would not kill my back after a long ride. Since I was feeling my way around with this I figured I would start out cheap and then figure out what I needed for gear and clothing once I made my mistakes.

March and April are bad times to shop for a used bike. The prices are fine but spring is on its way and the stuff gets sold if you don't act fast. I made few appointments to buy various bikes and found them sold when I got there. Another one came available at the right price and I grabbed it.

A 2003 Suzuki Burgman 650 is not exactly a motorcycle. It fit my budget. I love the storage, the top case and the space under the seat gives me lots of space to stow stuff. It is fully automatic which has its advantages as I have out cornered other riders on tight corners since they usually have to shift gears. The few times I bothered to calculate my mileage I was getting just under fifty-seven miles to the gallon. It is a lot of fun and kind of stealthy, the police do not pay a lot of attention to a scooter, which is fine since I have maxed it out to 105mph more than a few times. It is also very comfortable, I have done day long rides and felt great getting off it at the end of the day. During this last summer I put about 6,000 miles on it. The only drawbacks is that it is a little heavy at almost 600 pounds and the tank holds just over three gallons.

Motorcycles are just fun. Period.

I really should have done this years ago.