Moving on from the SCR950. I'll be selling it in the spring I think.

Well, I'm planning to sell my SCR950 in the spring. I'm too old for a bike that injures me every other ride. My back is not in the best shape, and the lack of suspension travel means even tiny potholes can leave me sore and crunchy for a week. Seems every other ride I hit something that hurts my back. I don't have that problem with any of my other bikes, and I'm just not riding the SCR because of it. Sure.... I could make it a little better with about $600+ worth of shocks, especially since I lifted the rear an inch already. I could get custom shocks with more travel and make it slightly better... but I'd still be going from 1.7" to 2.7". That's not a lot. (no matter what the specs say, I measured the swingarm travel to be 1.7" from fully extended to where the shocks hit the rubber bumper inside the spring).

And... the shocks aren't the only thing. It also needs a seat. Badly. My balls cannot take the agony of the stock seat. That's even more money. And the wind buffetting is highly annoying, and that can't be fixed. I've tried no windshield, I've tried the little windshield, I've tried large windshields, it can't be worked out. The cornering clearance, even raised up, sucks (I drag ALL THE TIME). That also can't be fixed, I just have to hang off the bike like a fool. The killer is that it's just not suitable for gravel and dirt roads of any kind. I bought this bike to ride 200 miles to the mountains, and then stay in a campground or hotel and bomb all the great unimproved dirt and gravel roads in the area. But I'm a cripple after 200 miles, and the dirt and gravel is more than the suspension can handle.

The real tell that it must go is that I put 8000 miles on it in four years. That's 2k a year. In that same time period, I bought a dirt cheap SSR Buccaneer 250 for $3200. A brand new chinese motorcycle for $3200. I figured the Yamaha was my touring bike and I need a small around town bike. Well, I put 10k that Chinese 250 in 14 months. I took it on tours instead of the Yamaha, because I found I had no pain, no injury, and I was less fatigued, even though the 250 was screaming wide open the entire time on the interstate. I was still less fatigued than I would have been riding the SCR950. Once there I took it on all the cool dirt roads that the yamaha bounced and wallowed and tossed me about on, and I had a FAR better time.

Now that the SCR950 is relegated to around-town duty because it's so miserable to tour on. Well... I don't need a 540+ pound bike with the turning radius of a school bus for around town. I have a 283 pound 250 that's a blast in an urban setting. Nimble and light and easy to maneuver, instead of top heavy and cumbersome.

So... because of all of this I decided to replace the SCR950 as my main motorcycle. I've got a Benelli Leoncino Trail (scrambler) waiting for me at my local dealership, and I take delivery in early february. It's got almost the same horsepower (48 vs 51) and it weighs a full hundred pounds less, with 4 inches more rear suspension travel.... all for $6400.

I'm still lamenting the decision because I LOVE the way my SCR950 looks... I'm just not comfortable on it. I ended up having more fun modding it than I did riding it. Even now I'm excited about the idea of doing a chain drive conversion or fabricating rearsets... but the thought of actually throwing a leg over the bike has me almost cringing.

Charles.