Please bear with me, I've never done a blog before. This one will be about my motorcycle adventures and trips, and even some maintenance and farkles from time to time. I guess I should mention a little of my motorcycling past. I started with a brand new Honda XR75 when I was 6 years old. I learned to ride on that bike, and I spent more time on that bike than any bike I've had since. I owned it until I was 13, and although it still ran well, it was thoroughly worn out in every other way.
I moved up to a 1984 XL200R. Unfortunately that bike didn't last like the little 75 did. I did rebuild the engine once and got a little more out of it, but not much. When I was 16 the first motorcycle I legally rode on the street was my father's friend's Kawasaki KZ1300. For those who don't know, that was Kawasaki's monster, with an inline-6 engine and tons of torque. His model didn't have all the fairings and luggage; it was a stripper, and it was extremely fun. My next bike was a Suzuki SP250, another bike I put a lot of miles on. I estimated that I put close to 20k miles on it the first summer I owned it. Other than tires and chain and sprockets, it held up very well. Soon after I heard about a friend of a friend who was moving and had to sell his Suzuki GS700ES. I purchased that bike and ran it a short time before getting into a bit of trouble with it. I sold it to a friend, and a couple years later I traded a car for a 1987 Honda CBR1000 Hurricane. Although it was classified as a sportbike in it's day, it was actually closer to what we would now call a Sport Tourer, minus the luggage. It was long, a bit heavy, but powerful and comfortable for a large guy like me. I did some nice rides around New Hampshire with it, but still didn't get into touring yet. When winter came I needed 4 wheel transportation, so I traded the bike off to a friend for a 4x4 pickup. I have been sorry for doing that ever since.
I went without a bike for a couple years, then one warm spring day I was sitting in a college classroom and listened to all the bikes that were out. I had the itch again, and after class headed to my local Honda dealer to price out a new 1995 XR600. The local dealer wouldn't move on the price, so off to Manchester I went, where I found a good deal. I signed the paperwork and loaded up my new bike in the back of my truck. I rode that XR everywhere- trails, sand pits (southern NH's version of closed-course riding), and even lots of road riding. I had two accidents with that bike exactly a year apart, almost to the day- one resulted in lots of road rash, the second ended with a broken collar bone. That didn't stop me, I healed and got back on the bike. Unfortunately the end of my second year with it, the bike was stolen and vandalized on Halloween night, then recovered. My insurance company, Progressive Insurance, fought to not pay out because the bike was a dirt bike and had some minor scratches, which they claimed showed abuse. After a fight I finally received a check over six months after the theft, for half the estimated damage minus my deductible. It would have cost more to repair than I had at the time, so I sold the bike and parts to a friend. That was another favorite bike of mine, which I still truly miss.
A few years later the motorcycle bug hit me again, and this time I had thoughts back to my Hurricane, and wanted a more modern, lower maintenance version, which I could use for longer trips. I located a wrecked 1995 ST1100 and repaired it. My test ride was a trip to Louisville, Kentucky. I nearly did an Iron Butt Saddlesore 1000 on that ride, even though I hadn't ridden more than a few hundred miles spread out over the past few years, and the ST was bone stock. I felt every mile, but I rode on through the night and arrived the next day. I was tired, worn out, and very sore. But I was also very hooked on long distance riding. Unfortunately family obligations and several moves kept me from doing any more long rides, and in fact I did very few rides at all until a couple years later when I had to let the bike go just before a move to an apartment, where I had no room to keep it.
Next in line was a new 2006 Kawasaki KLR650. I purchased that bike because I now lived in the North Country of NH, with many miles of dirt log roads and beautiful scenery. I planned to explore those roads and also use the bike to commute. As often happens with plans, things changed. I found the northern NH law enforcement didn't like "dirt bikes", even legally registered and insured ones, on those log roads. They also aren't allowed on most of the ATV trails. My KLR went through a bit of a transformation to handle road riding better, including a lower front fender, custom hard panniers, tank bag, Givi top box, and tank panniers. I racked up over 16k miles the first couple years I owned it. I took several long day trips, including a 400+ mile ride around Lake Champlain, several rides through southern NH and lower New England, and a 700 mile ride to the northeast corner of Maine. I was once again hooked on traveling. I scheduled a trip to Harlan, Kentucky and had a blast, even with some mechanical problems. I was back into long distance riding in a big way. My mind and body were ready, but my bike and wallet were holding me back.
After my KLR seized up on my way to work one day it went into storage for a couple seasons until I could afford to do something. Once it looked like I had the finances to get back into riding, I weighed my options- invest money in the KLR, which would really limit my long distance riding; or buy the bike I had always wanted, but just hadn't realized it yet. I went for the bike I wanted. Enter my 2006 Honda ST1300, purchased on March 12, 2011. As of this writing, I have logged over 6000 miles on it and there is still some snow on the ground if I look hard. I like this bike. No, that is incorrect- I LOVE this bike. Comfort, performance, and reliability rolled into 1.
Read my other posts to learn about my rides, both short and long.
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