I sure didn't recognize you,didn't you have a beard at one time ?
That 250 would have been no good for you the last time I saw a picture.
Well congratulations on loosing all that weight,your are looking good.

mick wrote on 05/21/11 at 19:08:15:


Yes, I did have a beard and a mustache too..  I guess you can say I look (and feel) like a brand new man!!  

You're dead on about the weight thing too... There were times my 650 felt sluggish.  I would LOVE to ride it again  now that I'm down to 160....

I ran my first Marathon last month.  it was the hardest thing I ever attempted, but I finished and had a blast doing it!

looking good, you and the bike. I had considered a xv250 instead of the savage way back when. Can you make any comparisons? The rebel I had had kind of soured me on the idea of another 250 even if it is a vtwin but all the specs put it just maybe a smidge behind the savage in performance and WAY ahead in mileage.

Congratulations on both, weight loss and the bike.
250's are surprising at times. I remember my Rebel
when I had it. Of course the S-40 has more zip, yet
for a 250 I thought the Rebel held her own.
Sometimes it takes a wakeup call in order for one to
realize how important life is. Glad to hear things are
going well in that dept as well. You look good and
you have accomplished a marathon now as well.
Sounds like your whole life changed for the better. kim

Congrats on the weight loss. I dropped about 25 lbs myself recently. I have a 2003 suzuki gz250 as well as my s40.  The geezer is a single also for those who are unfamiliar with it. It was great to learn on and still fun to ride. It is my daily rider and gets about 70mpg.  

skrap hasnt made any comparisons because he's busy riding his new bike   :'( - jealous

Thanks all!   I'm glad I'm still remembered...  Mostly in a good way, I hope...  

Let's see.  Comparing the Virago to the Savage is like comparing a Civic to a Civic SI.  On the outside, they look very similar.  Minor differences here and there, but from a distance, almost indistinguishable from one another.  Underneath, it is a whole other ball game.

The Virago peaks at a very respectable 25hp, somewhere around 4400 rpm.  It makes and equally respectable 26 ft/lbs of torque right around 3k.  Compared to the Savage, it is anemic.  The big single just lays the torque down like nobody's business.  Dare I say, the Savage acceleration is crisp?  By no means is the Virago a slouch.  It is one of the more powerful 250cc bikes on the market.  It will accelerate steadily to about 75mph, but then runs out of breath.  At that speed, the engine is spinning so fast, you can feel the vibes all the way to your spine...

For a get-around-town little scoot, it is great.  I got just over 91mpg on the first tank.  That makes the 51mpg I usually get on my C50 seem downright inefficient!  Not to mention the Virago weighs almost 250lbs less than the C50.

As to the other queries...  My daughter and I have stripped her dirtbike to the frame.  Funny you should ask about it, because when I rode the Virago home yesterday, she was in the driveway with a putty knife and kerosene trying to strip the grease off the bottom of the frame.  We're hoping to get the frame to the poweder-coater before July.  The tank is off being 'refreshed' (years of rust inside) then we're going to repaint it and the fenders back to the original red.

Mrs. Skrap graduated from her scooter and is now riding my FZ6.  I never thought I'd see the day when my wife is riding something that makes about twice the power of my bike, let alone be perfectly ok with that fact.  She loves it and put over 12,000 miles on it last year alone.

We're actually leaving on Wednesday and riding to Philadelphia.  From there, to Ocean City, Md then on to Washington DC for Rolling Thunder over memorial day.  in July, we're riding from Pittsburgh to Grandfather Mountain, Nc, then to Charleston SC, Savannah Ga and then back north through Norfolk, Va.  We're hoping to have over 5400 miles in touring before the summer is over!

Thank you for the complements on the weight loss.  It was a scary thing to look in the mirror, realize that people my age are dying from heart attacks and then figuring I have to do something about it.  I started walking.  Walking turned to jogging, then jogging turned into distance running.  I now run an average of 45 miles a week and compete in distance events (half marathon or greater) at least once a month!  I haven't felt this good in a LONG time!  I only wish I had done it sooner!