Woodswoman
Member
Hi. My name is Chris, and I’m a bike-a-holic.
“Hiiii, Chris.”
I’ve been a rider for 14 years. In that span of time, I have owned a lot of bikes, both as my needs and tastes have changed, and as I have learned more about motorcycling.
The trouble started after a vacation to Europe in 2002, where I came to admire the many and varied scooters that the Italians use instead of a car.
One day the following year, my husband surprised me with a scooter of my very own: a third-hand 1996 Honda Elite 80, just like this one.
I called it “The Bug,” and I spent many delightfully happy months learning to ride it, all over the local back roads. I strapped a milk carton to the luggage rack to accommodate trips to the grocery store.
I remember what an accomplishment it felt like to ride it all the way to my parents’ house and back — a round trip of 12 miles (keeping on the back roads as much as possible, because I had no motorcycle license yet). And I’ll never forget the time I rode The Bug down a long hill, throttle wide open, and broke 40 MPH. It was exhilarating.
Naturally, I began to think about more ambitious travel, and to research bigger scooters. On my next trip abroad, in 2003, I first laid eyes on the Suzuki Burgman 400. One passed our car, with two people in the saddle, on the Italian Autostrade. I liked what I saw.
In early 2004, Mike and I closed the deal on a pair of leftover 2003 Burgman 400s. His was dark gray, and mine was blue.
What a great commuter bike! It could practically do it all, and got excellent gas mileage. I took my first road trip on this machine, riding to the coast of Maine for a week’s vacation.
After a year, Mike decided to upgrade to the Burgman 650, which was really a better fit for a guy his size and experience. (He was returning to riding.) I stayed with my 400 for two years. But then one day while Mike was traveling on business, I yielded to curiosity and rode his 650 to work and back. The smooth power from the 650-cc parallel twin engine hooked me. In 2006, I got my own 650, nicknamed the Gray Ghost.
To this day, the Burgman 650 is my favorite bike. It was a well-rounded, seductively fast bike, with technology that still makes me think of it as a Goldwing wanna-be.
But like its smaller sibling, the Burgman 650 had one abiding problem: The seating position caused me a lot of back pain. I mean, a lot. And because of the design of the Burgman’s seat pan and handle bars, I found no way to change things up to fix the problem.
“Hiiii, Chris.”
I’ve been a rider for 14 years. In that span of time, I have owned a lot of bikes, both as my needs and tastes have changed, and as I have learned more about motorcycling.
The trouble started after a vacation to Europe in 2002, where I came to admire the many and varied scooters that the Italians use instead of a car.
One day the following year, my husband surprised me with a scooter of my very own: a third-hand 1996 Honda Elite 80, just like this one.
I called it “The Bug,” and I spent many delightfully happy months learning to ride it, all over the local back roads. I strapped a milk carton to the luggage rack to accommodate trips to the grocery store.
I remember what an accomplishment it felt like to ride it all the way to my parents’ house and back — a round trip of 12 miles (keeping on the back roads as much as possible, because I had no motorcycle license yet). And I’ll never forget the time I rode The Bug down a long hill, throttle wide open, and broke 40 MPH. It was exhilarating.
Naturally, I began to think about more ambitious travel, and to research bigger scooters. On my next trip abroad, in 2003, I first laid eyes on the Suzuki Burgman 400. One passed our car, with two people in the saddle, on the Italian Autostrade. I liked what I saw.
In early 2004, Mike and I closed the deal on a pair of leftover 2003 Burgman 400s. His was dark gray, and mine was blue.
What a great commuter bike! It could practically do it all, and got excellent gas mileage. I took my first road trip on this machine, riding to the coast of Maine for a week’s vacation.
After a year, Mike decided to upgrade to the Burgman 650, which was really a better fit for a guy his size and experience. (He was returning to riding.) I stayed with my 400 for two years. But then one day while Mike was traveling on business, I yielded to curiosity and rode his 650 to work and back. The smooth power from the 650-cc parallel twin engine hooked me. In 2006, I got my own 650, nicknamed the Gray Ghost.
To this day, the Burgman 650 is my favorite bike. It was a well-rounded, seductively fast bike, with technology that still makes me think of it as a Goldwing wanna-be.
But like its smaller sibling, the Burgman 650 had one abiding problem: The seating position caused me a lot of back pain. I mean, a lot. And because of the design of the Burgman’s seat pan and handle bars, I found no way to change things up to fix the problem.