We poke fun at "Bikers" and "Squids" - and often overlook the real "motorcyclist......the fellow who could care less about what you think about his machine.
My wife and I were coming back from a weeks vacation in Hocking Hills State Park in southern Ohio, and we stopped at a rest area on the Appalachian Highway....Route 32.
I saw this fellow riding a small motorcycle packed with gear and teased him about trying to disprove the belief that a touring bike needs to be 1,000 cc and weigh 700 pounds. He said he had already proven that to be wrong....as he had just been in New Mexico a few days earlier. He has been on the road since April 25th when he left Michigan.
The bike is a 1982 Suzuki GS450L that he bought recently with 7,000 miles on it, and he paid $350 for it. The bike now has 23,000 trouble free miles on it, and he gets around 60 mpg. He said he cruises at 65mph or below.
So......there are thousands of very affordable motorcycles out there just waiting to be ridden! All you have to do is find one, buy it, and go riding!