My recently-retired father has been searching for months for a "trail bike" to ride out at my parents' soon-to-be home out in the middle of the TX hill country that's only connected to paved roads through dozens of miles of crushed granite county roads. He also wanted something he could ride on the highway in a pinch and that would be usable in these little TX country towns that pepper the area.
Monday he picked up a 2005 DR200 for a song. It's in good+ condition, runs perfectly, needs paint real bad and the front brake needs an overhaul, and it has pretty nice 60/40 tires. He brought it over yesterday and I took it for a spin around the block. Wow, what a difference from my GS! Now I want one, or something similar, not necessarily a 200cc. But a DR350 is looking like a pretty good idea. My dad said his annual insurance premium went up two dollars adding a 2nd bike.
I had the constant urge to go jump a curb and shortcut across a park when riding it. Felt like a big motorized mountain bike. Loved it. It also made me realize again that I need to seriously figure out a way to move the pegs and foot controls forward and down a little on my GS because this thing was just SO much more comfortable without my legs crammed.
So let's add this to my list of some-day bikes:
- Ducati Scrambler as a "new" daily ride
- Stella, either a Vespa or Genuine knock-off (mainly for the wife to ride)
- Grom
- a lightweight dual-sport like a DR350
Funny thing is, I could buy one of each of these (used) bikes for less than the cost of one classic/sports car and store them all along with my GS in one garage bay. This may turn out to be a halfway decent collection hobby.
You know what they say, the correct number of bikes is N+1, where N is the number of bikes you currently have.
Exactly
I borrowed a DRZ400SM for two weeks and it spoke to me all kinds of evil thoughts in regards to traffic norms and where I am and am not allowed to ride.
I'd love to have one.
I shouldn't have one...