Should I Buy a New Motorcycle?

I have only had my motorcycle license for five months and I am already grinding my teeth, thinking about another bike. Not that I need one of course. The motorcycle I have now (and my first motorcycle) is a 2000 Kawsaki ZR-7. It is a nice bike and I have to say I am really drawn to the streetfighter look. Apart from some minor work that I needed to do on it this fall it runs perfectly and only has about 7,500 miles on it. Now that I have had some time to ride though I am getting a better sense of what type of motorcycling I want to do. The streetfigher is excellent as a commuter bike and for riding on the weekends, but it isn't really something that was designed for longer trips or touring. My butt is certainly hurting pretty bad after a couple of hours just on a saturday ride.

Initially I caught some of the dual sporting bug and even went and test road a BMW F 800 GS earlier this fall. I'm only 5'8" though and that bike was a bit tall for me. I liked it, but I wasn't in love with it and after some more research I found that dual sporting is pretty difficult in the midwest. 

So here I am left thinking what I want to do. Do I keep my current bike and take it as an opportunity to learn more about motorocycles? It is carbureted so the possibility of me doing some work on it myself is totally there. As soon as I get into a fuel injected bike that has a computer, you can forget about me doing any tinkering. The Kawi certainly has decent power at ~75 bhp and although it only has a 5 speed gear, I never had a problem with power on it. Possible upgrades include the installation of an H4 relay kit for the front headlight, upgrading the running lights and taillights to LED, upgrading the seat, and getting new tires. 

Of course my research has still been going into the purchase of a new motorcycle. My top runners I think right now appear to be the Tiger 800 (not XC) or the BMW F 800 R. Both have the naked look that I like and both have the ability to get some panniers on the side to do some longer riding. There is of course some potential trade offs here for both. The BMW of course is a straight up streetfighter and doesn't offer much more more power (84 bhp) than my current ride. It does offer removal panniers from Givi in which the rack can quick release, making for a clean bike when just cruising around town. 

The Tiger 800 on the other hand is a bit bigger with more horsepower. It also can have a clean look without the panniers, but does it lose some of the fun zippy-ness of the streetfighter? I would say 95% of my riding will be weekend rides.  

Not sure, but would love to hear thoughts from people if they have them. Then again, I could always buy a new motorcyle and keep the Kawai. Question is what do I go with then. Something big and cruisery? A BMW ST series which got a top ranking for touring this year? 

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Well my street gear is finally complete for my bike. Just got the CE rated back armor for my jacket. Has been backordered for about a month. Now I just need those parts for my fuel petcock and I will be up and running again.

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Well, I went through the process of removing the gas tank on my bike this afternoon. My parts to replace the petcock shipped on Friday so with any luck they will arrive on Monday or Tuesday, I can get this thing back together early in the week and I can still get a ride in with the good weather. 

Tank removal was surprisingly easy. Took only about twenty minutes. Pulled a few hoses (gently) removed the fuel indicator and viola. Getting the remaining fuel out of the tank proved to be a little more tricky. In short i got it everywhere, but most went in the fuel can. 

Ride Log: 10-02-11

After my disasterous ride on Saturday trying to drive the Lincoln Highway, I was invited down by some of the fire fighters I work with to a pancake breakfast in Kankakee. I had to get up early to meet everyone and the tempurature was a cold 42 degrees. Three layers on and I still was numb. 

I had blast riding down on 57 in a group of seven though. Three guys from public works; including myself, three fire fighters and a police officer. Most of the guys riding were in decked out Harley Crusiers, but we had a Honda Shadow, a Buell of some sort and of course my Kawasaki in the mix as well. 

The countryside down in this area was quite pretty. Once you get outside most of Chicagoland the roads open up to some real scenic areas. After breakfast, in what can only be described as a “quaint” little down, we make a quick stop at one of the fire fighter’s house to check out his garage that he converted to a Harley shrine. I would have gotten some pictures, but being the new rider in the group I was of course plagued by some embarassing mishaps. I had a couple of instances where my bike wouldn’t start (It was in neutral) and then while stopped for breakfast my seat wouldn’t pop off to allow me access to my camera. 

A fellow I work with told me a few weeks ago that one of his favorite things about riding a bike are the smells. I can totally agree to that. On the way back we caught some hints of burning leaves. Saw some apples laying in the road from some side apple trees. Just felt like fall and it was a really great ride. My bike still hurts my rear end though, but I suppose I can’t ask for too much from a first bike.


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Ride Log: 10-01-11 (Failed Lincoln Highway Attempt)

Attempted to make a run today on the Historic Lincoln Highway in Illinois. The initial plan was to head out towards the DeKalb area. Unfortunately I ran into problems unable to find the historic placemarkers to get me in the right direction. You can see from the trail below that I had several instances where I had to backtrack. Overall not a bad ride, but not productive either.


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Ride Log: 09-23-11

A good ride this afternoon on some back country roads. As is probably the case with a lot of riders I got lost in the moment and got a little bit cocky. Several of the turns along the route had gravel on them, in one case I hit a straight up gravel road. That definitely humbled me.

I attempted to get some good photos of myself and the bike near Brook Road, but found my camera does not have a timer feature on it. Regardless though the trip was a good one, but I can see already that my bike begins to hurt my butt and back. Most likely the angle at which it sits.

On a side note I noticed that I was covered in bugs after the ride. I had to clean off my jacket and my helmet. From the photo you can see what I am talking about. This got me thinking though that apart from the safety of a helmet, wouldn’t a person want to wear one just so they don’t get a face full of that?


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Down the rabbit hole I go

Amazing how motorcycle ownership is a bit of a secret society. People who I never knew owned bikes or who I did and never really had a conversation with suddenly seem all the more interested to hold a conversation with you. This is not even mentioning the ritualistic wave you get while riding.

So I have owned my motorcycle for all of about three weeks at this point and I am already getting wrapped up into the world of gear, accessories and other bikes. I was surprised to learn about how many people own more than one bike. I can see why now. With the riding ranging from touring to dual sport there is so much to do. Even before I got this motor ycle I was I treated in touring. Something about heading out west appealed to me. Not a huge fan of the giant bikes though. After reading the Fuzzy Galore blog though I now have an interest pique in dual sporting. Have I mentioned I have only owned this motorcycle for three weeks?