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Unexpected purchase
Jul. 15th, 2023 06:51 am3 years ago I bought an ADV motorcycle, which is a mostly road going but offroad capable bike. But it's not very comfortable, it's tall and if it goes down it's hard to pick up due to its high center of gravity, and there's no off-road within over 100 miles and it turns out I don't like it that much anyway.
I've had my eye on a Royal Enfield INT650. It's a pretty bike and people seem to like it. They had a demo event yesterday in Lansing which I planned to go to.
I searched for "my thoughts after owning this bike a year" videos rather than the "first ride" videos I had been seeing, and I saw some thing coming out I didn't like.
Also another Enfield dealer in the area had better deals, so I went to their website to print out the deal to see if the other dealer could match it. While there I clicked on "pre-owned" and one of my dream bikes from the list last year popped up at a newly reduced price of $8000 - new it's a $14000 bike. I rode up to look and it is immaculate - owned by one older gentleman who was clearly VERY meticulous about maintenance. Every maintenance was carefully written in the owner's manual including what brand of oil was used, and the manual had been read and relevant bits circled.
At the end of the day I rode it home. I got pretty wet in a thunderstorm on the way so it's currently a little dirty, but it's going to the UP on Monday so I guess there's not a lot of point to cleaning it thoroughly at this point.
FWIW I did sit on an INT650. It's pretty but it seems kind of heavy, and it is quite slow. It can do highway speeds but it doesn't like it, so I think it's just as well I didn't get one. I did see a smaller brother that I love, the Hunter 350. It's a cute little bike and it'd be a fun second bike for buzzing around town but I already have two bikes.
I'm bolting stuff on to it, got the top box mounted last night after a trip to Menards for some hardware. It's been lowered about an inch and I'm going to bring that back up, at least dial up the rear suspension, as it's all the way down with no preload so that'll bottom out when I put on the luggage. I may need to go out and buy (or make) a suspension wrench unless there's one in the factory toolbox. I may be able to dial it up if I can get it on the center stand, though that's very difficult with it as low as it is now.
I've had my eye on a Royal Enfield INT650. It's a pretty bike and people seem to like it. They had a demo event yesterday in Lansing which I planned to go to.
I searched for "my thoughts after owning this bike a year" videos rather than the "first ride" videos I had been seeing, and I saw some thing coming out I didn't like.
Also another Enfield dealer in the area had better deals, so I went to their website to print out the deal to see if the other dealer could match it. While there I clicked on "pre-owned" and one of my dream bikes from the list last year popped up at a newly reduced price of $8000 - new it's a $14000 bike. I rode up to look and it is immaculate - owned by one older gentleman who was clearly VERY meticulous about maintenance. Every maintenance was carefully written in the owner's manual including what brand of oil was used, and the manual had been read and relevant bits circled.
At the end of the day I rode it home. I got pretty wet in a thunderstorm on the way so it's currently a little dirty, but it's going to the UP on Monday so I guess there's not a lot of point to cleaning it thoroughly at this point.
FWIW I did sit on an INT650. It's pretty but it seems kind of heavy, and it is quite slow. It can do highway speeds but it doesn't like it, so I think it's just as well I didn't get one. I did see a smaller brother that I love, the Hunter 350. It's a cute little bike and it'd be a fun second bike for buzzing around town but I already have two bikes.
I'm bolting stuff on to it, got the top box mounted last night after a trip to Menards for some hardware. It's been lowered about an inch and I'm going to bring that back up, at least dial up the rear suspension, as it's all the way down with no preload so that'll bottom out when I put on the luggage. I may need to go out and buy (or make) a suspension wrench unless there's one in the factory toolbox. I may be able to dial it up if I can get it on the center stand, though that's very difficult with it as low as it is now.
