<-- A little moped I spotted.
<-- The BTM
<-- Free coffee with fill-up? We don't do that in Illinois... 
<--Mechanic in Motion. Nice! 
<-- An interesting old piece of.... machinery we spotted
<-- On the ride home 
1994 Kawasaki Ninja 250 - I bought this used for $1200. I didn't notice until after I made the purchase that it's aftermarket Yoshimura exhaust blocked the oil filter. Dammit! I also bought this thinking that my wife would learn on it. She changed her mind. Kawasaki's Positive Neutral Finder is a nice touch for newbs, but I would have traded it for a smoother shifting gearbox. This was the only 250 that was fast enough to get out of its own way. It would go about 100 mph on the top, but it needed the revs to get there. It didn't make any power until 8000 RPM, and needs frequent shifts. It is styled like a sportbike, but the seating position is actually more like a standard.
for $1200. Nice bike, but it had lean carburation. It was better than the Suzuki GS, as it ran fine when warm, but it took at least 10 minutes of riding to warm up. For cross-town stuff, this is not acceptable. My wife actually signed up for the MSF course and practiced in the parking lot on this bike. She liked it too. But on the first day of the MSF course, they scared her away from motorcycling. She has not permanently decided that she doesn't feel safe or comfortable enough riding. I finally sold this because of the long warm-up issue, though it could've been fixed by shimming the needles.2006 Honda Metropolitan - After being discouraged by the Nighthawk for around 
town riding, I figured I may as well get the ultimate around-town bike, a nice 50cc scooter. I really liked this bike too, but with my wife unwilling to ride her own vehicle, and with it not being fast enough to leave town it didn't keep its excitement for long.
2006 Genuine Buddy 125. - I believe this is the culmination of my search for a 
small bike. Fast enough for inter-town travel. Efficient enough (90+ mpg) & cool enough, temperature-wise. Fun, doesn't give a burning clutch arm. Just perfect. it has a good reputation among afficionados, but I'm afraid it is going to take a few thousand trouble-free miles before I'm convinced. (too many years on Jap bikes has made me skeptical of anything else.)
60 in 3.2 sec. Light weight, good weight distribution, handled very well. Upon returning from the second Tennessee trip, the chain broke and cracked the crankcase. I didn't have the money to fix it, so I sold it for parts on ebay. I have fond memories of this bike, and have promised myself that I will have another one some day. It was that good.
claimed all it needed was a carb clean, which I was prepared to do. I learned how to wrench on carbs on this bike. Completely dismantled them & cleaned them out by the book. Still ran like crap. (needed the choke on, and didn't make much power) I then bought "mercury sticks" and learned how to balance carbs. Still ran like crap. One time, while out for a ride, I decided I was going to try to ride it without choke, and it nearly stranded the wife & I. Air-cooled Japanese bikes from the early 80s are dicey, unless the carburation has been richened up. Don't buy one unless you know how to do this. They're just too lean, which means they take forever to warm up, they run hot, and sometimes, they even need choke to run normally. 
Anyhow, nearly stranding us was the last nail in the coffin for this bike. My wife said she would not ride with me on it any more, as she didn't want to have to walk 30 miles home or help push it.
and the hard luggage was fantastic. Two fatal flaws:
shelter in the local Yamaha shop. (bad idea for our checkbook) It was there that we saw the FJR, close-up, for the first time. Kate asked me: "Could we afford this, if we traded in the Concours?" Who am I to say no when the wife wants a faster bike!!??So we bought the FJR in the late summer of 2005. Traded in the faithful Conco
urs, which saddened us. (it had more luggage room!) However, all of this was forgotten the first time I pulled away from a stoplight. This thing has massive torque from 2000 RPM all the way to 8000 RPM. (the Concours didn't make any power until 5500 RPM, as it had an old Ninja engine from 1986) Not only that, but the Yamaha engineers knew that it would be worth it to sacrifice some horsepower to get that torque, and went with a low-revving, long-stroke engine design. So I "settled" for 120 rear-wheel horsepower on this instead of the 160 of the Suzuki Hayabusa. It was a smart decision. I have never lacked for power or speed on this bike, neither one-up nor with passenger & luggage. Not only is it twice as quick as the Concours, but it is also 7 mpg more fuel efficient! (42 mpg, with passenger, 45 solo)
Gotta love the modern fuel-injection. We installed a Corbin saddle and Givi V46 topcase, and it is nearly perfect. We don't use the saddlebags except on road trips now, we just use the Givi topcase, as it doesn't spoil the aerodynamics. It also makes a fine backrest for my wife. The bike does heat you up though. The first versions of this bike were not cooled well enough, so the tank would make one's legs sweat, and engine heat blew onto one's legs all the time. From 2006, this was fixed by Yamaha. My take is that it isn't bad unless it is warmer than 80°F and you're not going at least 50 mph. Also, it is still a tad buzzy in the handlebars, though much much better than the Concours. It is not bad enough that I have addressed it yet, and I think it could be fixed with bar-end weights. We spent an extra $1000 or so for the ABS option. Since my wife riding 
with me over 85% of the time, I consider it worth it. All in all, this bike was over $15k. We don't even flinch when making the payment every month. We come off of every ride with huge smiles. The bike is like mental therapy. We thought about a Honda ST1300, but it cost $1000 more with the same equipment, and isn't as quick. It is said to be difficult to view the instruments when the sunlight from behind is wrong, but I bet the engine vibes are not there. (Honda uses a 90° longitudally-mounted V4, with perfect primary & secondary balance)
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