What are you riding? :)

A 2001 Yamaha XT600E, awesome first bike. She's got 90,000kms so I'm trying to get rid of it.

What is interstate travel like on these?

The XT provides a lot of power on highways and overtakes easily. It's comfortable to ride and the wind isn't bad when you pop on a windshield (I take it off for city riding). Only downside is that it is a single cylinder, and if you're going less than 45mph it gets somewhat shaky.

Do you have a pic from the front with the windshield on? I'm wanting to ditch my car for a bike, but I'm not sure what bike to get. I want a dual sport, but I'll be doing a lot of highway riding year round. I like the way the XR650L looks, but at 6'2" I can't even stand flat footed on it. I don't want to have a center of gravity that high and I want to be able to put a foot down for off roading without falling over on looser terrain. I really want a dual sport or sumo conversion, but I'm not sure how realistic that is.

It's not a good angle but the only one I have at the moment. Dual sports are fantastic first bikes, they're forgiving and can take a beating. I was considering a KLR650 but the XT was only $1800 when I bought it.

drz

... this, if you go by average hours per week

And this when the weather is nice enough

2010 Yamaha Xt660r
I quite enjoy it.

That is a really sexy looking bike, how much was it?

Thank you, I bought it for 6000 aus dollars when it had around 3000 kms on it. Most seem to be around the same sort of price.

1979 GS550E
obviously it has a few nuances but it's awesome
Just took it through 30km of brush trails and logging roads yesterday, outperformed a CB500X

I putt around on this thing.

Why are used bikes so low mileage? Do people just puss out of riding?

Bikes have shorter life spans when it comes to kilometres, it's better to sell them before they rack up too many

I'm thinking of selling my XT600 (mentioned in the thread) and buying a grom, is it worth it? I have a car for long trips to uni and just want something I can fuck around on with friends.

Do you not want to off-road?

It's great for hooliganing around town with buddies. We even take it off road, nothing too crazy but it's light enough to manhandle despite the street tires. Pretty hilarious fitting up to five bikes in a single parking spot if they are horizontal. Don't have a full group picture yet, but we have a little squad of 4 guys with groms who do stupid shit when we're off duty and it's the best.

Not really, just want to get better at wheelies and fucking around on the street. I might get a YZ125 for offroading once I start making real money.

Sounds exactly like the fun I want to have, I have a few friends with groms that I'd love to ride with. Any downsides in owning one?

They don't really get up to freeway speeds unless you put some work into them. Mine is bored out to 186cc and can reach 80, my buddies can only reach the low to mid 60s max on the stock engine and they weigh a lot less than I do. Around town, no real downsides. The shift linkage is sloppy and not consistent, front fork springs are rated for a 100lb rider AKA they are crazy soft and easy to bottom out. Recommend the 15 dollar mod that increases their travel and makes them much better. Brakes are pretty mushy until you get steel brake lines. Can be hard to find neutral when it's cold and occasionally will slip into neutral from 2nd, not cool when it happens in the middle of a turn.

Tough engines. Go to the gsresources forum for all you'll ever need to know about GSs.

thegsresources.com/_forum/index.php

Mechanic here. Yes, they puss out. Most bikes are capable of many more miles without major maintenance then owners put on them, but so many people sell low mileage bikes that the expectations are changed.

I'm not bothered by thirty or forty thousand miles on a street bike since I'm a mechanic and look for condition. Of course I pay less for more miles because I'm a cheap fucker.

Sitting, not riding (unless owner is a crash prone mongtard) is what really kills motorcycles.

Ride a Grom then ride a 250 dualsport and compare to what you have. You may want more hp than a Grom but less weight than your current ride.

You'll know what you prefer.

The dealership down the road from me has an 09 Ninja 650 for $2,900 with less than 4,000 miles on it. Do these people move up to bigger bikes or just stop riding completely?

$900
Efficient
Breaks 60
Bulletproof

I'm on year two with this, after a year on a $300 scooter. Literally only bought because my sister had a baby and I need to take I5 to see her.

And if you want to get super buttmad, I'm upgrading to a cb500f at next year's thaw. Literally because they no longer make pannier packs for the 250.

Depends on the manufacturer. A Kawasaki or Yamaha will run like a top until they explode at 60-90k. Suzukis are usually ridden into the ground early, but that's an owner culture problem. They'll go as long as you're comfortable with the embarrassment.
Bikes like BMW's need everything but the engine replaced by 100k. Harley makes their engines so beefy in order to survive six or seven rebuilds.
A Honda will break once. It will be the rectifier. Replace with something from an electrically inclined company, like Yamaha. They seriously design their bikes for abuse, and don't disappoint. 175k miles if you carry no more than three goats and only miss two of three oil changes.

Totally depends on the person. Everyone's different, but ultra low mileage suggests they never cared about riding. I put 4000 miles on my first Harley in first month and a a half I owned it.