I have already resolved the motorcycle vs. scooter issue in my brain. I will always hold scooters first in my heart. They are easy to ride, perfect to learn on, and fun. They are great on gas mileage, quirky-cool, and the thinking man’s Harley Davidson.
My problem is that, although I do love scooters first and foremost, they are difficult to find at a deal. I cannot afford to plunk down $6,000 to $10,000 on a brand new scooter. I am not wealthy enough to do it on a car either. So with that as a given, I have always looked for a bargain. I want a newish bike with low miles for a good price. This is all but the holy grail when you are talking about a scooter, mainly due to their popularity being so much less than your traditional motorcycle. It’s the law of averages working against me.
Until I started riding, I never knew the joy and exhilaration. Once you understand, it becomes like a drug. It has become a drug I need. Just the other day somebody who knew my bike was down and I wasn’t riding any asked me how long it had been since I’ve been riding. My answer was “so long now that I just don’t look before crossing the street anymore…” The fun I get from riding is a natural mood enhancer that I have come to rely on. Without that, I am just not right. If you don’t believe me, ask my fiancée or my kids…
The GS850 has just not been working out like I need it to. It is a vintage bike which is really cool, but it is old-tech and that’s something that might not be a good decision for me. I ride year-round if possible. The Yamaha Majesty was perfect because it had wind protection and fuel injection. It would start up and go in any weather and give you a pretty comfortable ride wherever you needed. I have been 20,000 miles to Montgomery Alabama, St. Louis Missouri, Sturgis Michigan, and all over Kentuckiana on that bike. I needed something more reliable than a 30 year old dog no matter how cool it was.
It was time for me to hit craigslist again. This time, since practicality had won out over style on the scooter vs. motorcycle issue, I decided to find out what kind of motorcycle I was going to look for. I had some requirements:
1. Good gas mileage
2. Not a big engine(see number 1)
3. Not too heavy
4. Comfortable
5. Fuel injection
6. Shaft driven
Fuel economy was the primary reason I got onto two wheels. I was not giving that up for anything else the whole deal was pretty pointless in my brain. I didn’t want a big engine—firstly for gas mileage, but also I had heard that the more power the worse your insurance will be. I didn’t want a bike that was too heavy. The GS850 weighed in at about the same as my buddy Vince’s Burgman 650. I didn’t want to go much more than that. The bike had to be comfortable. If you can’t stand the ergonomics of the bike then its no good. The scoots excel at that, so I had to have something that was not too bad. Fuel injection as I have said before was something I have come to need. I have dealt with carbureted vehicles in the past in both automobile, scooter, and now motorcycle and cold starting always ended up leaving a bad taste in my mouth. My friend Jeremy warned me about older bikes and the adjustments that needed made and how often that would be required. That got me thinking about chains and belts in general. Well, the old 850 was shaft driven, so I was thinking I wanted another shaft drive bike.
I narrowed my search down to two bikes. The Honda Shadow 750cc, and the Suzuki Boulevard C50 (805cc). Of the two, I liked the Suzuki better…maybe because of Molly, maybe not. I started a search on these two bikes and found a few of them for sale on craigslist in the area.
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