I let my stepson pick the bike up Saturday morning. He rode up to work with me on it, I had the VS800, his roommate on a SV650S. He'd gotten his permit the day before. 8)
The screwballs left my shop on an all day adventure. Look on a state map of Washington and follow along...
Puyallup to Auburn. Auburn to Naches via Highway 410 through the Cascade range, over Chinook Pass, paralleling the White, American and Naches Rivers. Naches to Randle via US12. Forest Service roads from Randle to Ashford. Followed by Ashford to Tacoma via SR7. All in all, about 300 miles, maybe more. For his first "real" ride ever. And he could still walk afterwards...
They rode some more today. I think my bike is gone...
Could I have kept it? Yes. Could I have sold it? Easily. Would either have been as satisfying? Not even close. I can always build another bike, he learned on the Savage and took to it like he was born on it.
I WAS going to replace it with a KZ1300 (6 cylinder 1.286L touring bike). My wife took one look and said (and yes I quote) "no more than 50 cents per cc, WITH new brakes, tires, fuel filter, etc.". Was showing it to a customer, and found out the hard way that the new fuel filter was defective. OOPS...
Back to the drawing board, I HATE cleaning carbs, tanks, and such.
-WD