Yuppie Biker

A colleague of mine, a Harley rider, made a comment to me about my 'spiffy' sweater and umbrella and an image of a yuppie biker flashed before my eyes. Now all I have to do is get the Harley and I'll complete that image and wait for the collective groan from the H.O.G. community. "Oh no not another one !"

The weekend before last I was at Dirt-Week in Oklahoma with my 6 year old daughter, Taika (Honda XR50), and nephew Jonathan (KLX110), and we had a ball. My son has a KDX50 but was unable to join us as he was in South Africa with my wife at the time. The wife enjoys puttering around our local motorcycle track on the KDX200.

For your entertainment, here is a list of my previously owned and current bikes:
Prior:
1979 Suzuki TS50 (Dual-Sport)
1982 Honda MT50 (Dual-Sport)
1983 Honda XR200R (Off-Road with Dual-Sport kit)
1985 Yamaha DT125LC (Dual-Sport)
1986 Honda VF500F2 Interceptor (Street Bike)
1995 Yamaha TW200 (Dual-Sport)
Current:
2000 Kawasaki EX250 Ninja (Street Bike)
2000 Kawasaki KDX200 (Off-Road with Dual-Sport kit)
Future:
Road, BMW F650 Dakar, or Yamaha FZ1, or Harley-Davidson (Dyna Wide-Glide or Soft-Tail Deuce/Standard)
Dirt, CRF250X or KXF250 with magic button !

Most of my 'scoots' have been for commuter use with an emphasis on off road capability. The 86 Interceptor was a once-off foray into street bikes and the 00 Ninja was purchased as a learner bike for the wife and a cheap commuter for me. My longest 'journey' was undertaken on the DT125 two-stroke. 350 miles from Johannesburg to Durban (South Africa), in near zero temperatures. It took me nine hours and when a cop stopped me for a license check he had to open my jacket pocket as I was near frozen on the bike !

Yuppie biker, indeed !

Safe riding.

Cheers,
Neal

Thanks, Michelle. I'm thinking that a 350 mile / 550km ride in New Zealand would probably take you from the top of North Island to the bottom of the South Island. What's the longest one day trip you have undertaken and what were the weather conditions like ?

The day before my 9 hour epic it was sunny and warm. It just happened to snow on the Drakensburg Mountains the evening before I left. I was riding with a Bell Moto 3 helmet and goggles and my face ached terribly for the first hour. After that I was numb. When the cop stopped me I could not talk or use my fingers and he ordered me into the nearest town for a cuppa coffee and to warm up. If he had not pulled me over I would have been a complete zombie within another couple of minutes and who knows what might have happened to me. The trip back in warmer weather took 6 hours with the DT125 maxed out at 70mph / 110kph most of the way.

...anyone else have a humbling story that helps disguise their yuppie ways ?

GWCRIM, man are you one for pain - two sportsters ! This definitely disqualifies you as a yuppie as no young upcoming professional person could survive the vibrations. Nothing less than a counter balanced soft-tail will do !

Michelle, I know that each island is about 600 miles / 1000 kms long so you should have some good rides to talk of. Just a trip from Auckland to Wellington would be a tough one day haul. Someday I may just do the yuppie thing and rent a BMW for a week or two and tour the South Island.

...as the BMW F650 Dakar is probably my next bike my encounter with true yuppiedom moves even closer.