Well, right now I've got my eye on several different motorcycles.
First off, I want one of the new Royal Enfield twins. 650cc, british style parallel twin. Looks more a Triumph than Triumph does. Sub-$6000 price point, good power, good brakes, EFI, what's not to like? When a new Bonnie or Scrambler is pushing $11k, I could buy a new RE Interceptor and deck it out to my heart's content, and still be nowhere even approaching the ballpark of the Triumph price. The new RE twins have the same horsepower as our (stock) SCR950, but weighs 100 lbs less. That sounds like a perfect base to throw some high pipes on it and flog it in the dirt.
Next up, I'm looking at two bikes from CSC. The San Gabriel SG250 and the RX3. The San Gabriel is a slick little 250. It's got decent power for a 250, it weighs next to nothing, and it's got a slick cafe racer style. And it's $2500 shipped to my front door. That's it. $1999 plus $500 freight delivered to my house from california, fully assembled in the crate. Roll it out, put on the mirrors, put some gas in it, and go. I originally was looking at the SR400 for a small fun around-town bike, but they're overpriced, and my local dealer adds on $900 in non-negotiable fees, making the bike even MORE overpriced. Plus then I'd have to kit it out in a cafe racer style myself, which is going to cost at least another grand.... and the SG250 is already styled well. It's down on horsepower compared to the SR400 (16.1 vs 24) but it's also a lot lighter. 273lbs vs 384lbs. That's more than 100lbs difference! It ticks the same boxes for me that the SR400 does, and at considerably less than half the price. Also it comes in several truly sexy colors. The cream and mocha is the one I want, though blue is nice too.
Next up is the RX3. It's currently on sale for $3895 with free shipping to your door. Since shipping is normally $500, that's like $800 off! It's water-cooled 250cc twin with 24.8hp, 16.6fl lbs of torque, and a weight of 385lbs. That's including the crash bars, racks, hard panniers, and top box. All of which it comes with at that sub-$4000 price. So it weighs as much as an SR400, puts out the same horsepower as an SR400, and has full luggage, crash bars, and fairing. It's kitted out for adventure touring with the emphasis on dirt instead of street. After riding my SCR on the dirt a bit, it's a lot of fun. But for anything truly gnarly, I wouldn't want to take the SCR. I can't even imagine trying to go on deeply rutted, muddy single track on one of the big BMW 1200cc adventure bikes. But this little thing? It seems like the solution to a problem I didn't even know I had. Instead of turning around when things get hairy... I could just ride a bike that is better suited to hairy! And still be able to ride interstate on it if I want!
So yeah, these are what I'm lusting after currently. I'm probably going to order one of the CSC bikes before the spring... and give the RE a year or two to work out the kinks in their new motor before I buy one.
Charles
