Bike Shopping

My buddy Steve is a hard core bicyclist, but has recently expressed an interest in motorcycles. Here we study a dual sport Suzuki DR 650.

If only we knew someone who owned one, we could ask them all our questions!

Steve is one of those people who seems to know everybody; an outgoing and personable guy. These are some very handy traits in a motorcycle-shopping companion. At one dealership, we got a guided tour of the owner's private warehouse, with some old Honda's, Triumph's and BSA's on display.

I've been there many times before and have never been offered the private tour.

I'm gonna bring Steve bike-shopping with me more often.

It was fun to have some vicarious enjoyment of Steve's newbie experiences. He was learning a lot, sitting on bikes, picking them up off their kickstand and feeling their weight, seating position, and controls. Those are some good memories for me. As one who fell into motorcycling late in life, it was being around them, feeling them and moving them around, that hooked me. I hope Steve gets hooked, too, as I'd love to have him join me on some local jaunts.

Steve was interested in dual-sport bikes, and checked out the KLR650, KLX250, the Honda CRF230L, and the Suzuki DR400 and DR650.

While Steve was checking out dual-sports, I was checking out Sport Touring bikes. I got a chance to sit on a Yamaha FJR1300, a Suzuki DL650, an FZ6, a Kawasaki Concourse 14, a Z1000, and a Honda ST1300.

I was impressed with the comfort and style of the FJR, it was lower and sleeker looking than the Connie. The dealers had used FJR's coming out of their ears. I saw four or five FJR's on showroom floors; at least one at each of the three dealerships we visited. During this time I only saw one ST1300. When I saw it, I exclaimed happily, "Oh -- finally!"

When we were done with our dealer visits, Steve confessed to me: "I couldn't tell the bikes you were looking at apart. The one you were all excited about finding looked exactly the same to me as the ones you weren't interested in."

I laughed. To the uninitiated, they do look alike. Even to the Harley rider, I'm sure, all sport tourers look alike. Just like to the sport bike rider, all Harley's look alike.

I smiled at him and said, "Yeah, and I couldn't tell the dual sports apart either. They all look the same to me."