It's Here

It's here.  Finally.  Actually, it arrived yesterday.  I spent most of the evening installing my accessories -- engine guards (went on relatively quickly...about 20 minutes), saddlebags and saddlebag brackets.  The saddlebags + brackets were a bit of a chore, but in the end were definitely worth the effort.  The bike looks great, the bags and brackets fit nicely, and now I just have to wait for the snow to go away so I can actually ride.

I'm excited.  I'm very excited.  It has been two years since I last rode.  My motorcycle at that time?  Yamaha WR250R...a dual-sport bike.  I actually had two bikes.  The second was a Suzuki GSX-R1000.  I sold them both after my first daughter was born.  I had little time for riding prior to her arrival, tried to hold onto the bikes after she was born, and found that what little time I had for riding evaporated in that first year after her birth.  I paid more in insurance premiums than the kilometers I put on the bikes.  It didn't make sense to keep them.

Somehow, though, after the birth of my second daughter I felt the need to get out and ride, again.  I think that a number of factors played into the decision.  (1) I love riding.  I miss it.  Even a little bit is better than none. (2) I have colleagues who ride, now.  Grant it, all but one of them ride dual-sport machines and I'm pretty much done with off-road riding, now, but the idea of potentially going riding with like-minded people is still appealing. (3) I tend to get vehicle-crazy every couple of years -- bikes, cars, doesn't matter.  (4) I got a great deal on the Kawasaki Vulcan 1700 Classic.

My bike is a leftover 2009 model.  The fact that it was still sitting in the dealership -- and it's not the only leftover 2009 sitting on dealership floors; in that regard it had PLENTY of company -- says a lot about the state of the economy over the last several years.

Anyway, here are some photos of the bike.