For as long as I can remember, I’ve had an obsession with two wheels. Although my level of immediate interest in this wonderful class of vehicles has ebbed through my nearly 27 years of life, I feel it’s served as a focal point, and an interest I intend to pursue unceasingly moving forward…let me explain.

Circa 2013: My Other Car is a Bicycle

I’ve bike commuted for nearly 3 years in Houston, but I also bicycle commuted in small town Louisiana. I’ve biked to school, to a part-time internship, to my first full-time job interview, and to my first job.

If you’ve never bike commuted, I would highly recommend it! Here are some major pros:

• Exercise on your way to work.
• Exercise on you way home from work
• Get the vitamin D you desperately need (plus tanning!)
• Breath a big ol’ breath of fresh air!
• Save on gas
• If you don’t have a car, save on insurance and depreciation and maintenance and taxes - plus, you can still rent a car if you need one (road trip anyone?)

Welp, I can’t say enough about bike commuting - good and bad, but that’s for another article.

I absolutely love bike commuting and I’ve committed myself to NEVER driving a car for commuting purposes again - more on that in another post ;)

Circa 2015: My Second Motorcycle…It Runs!

I didn’t have a car when I decided to buy my second motorcycle…and I also lived in an apartment at the time, so it absolutely had to run. I also wanted something that was bullet-proof and could go anywhere anytime.

Enter the KLR.

When I bought this bike, I was not prepared for the cult following that comes with it. To pump up it’s reputation a bit, I’ll say that a diesel version of this motorcycle is ridden by the US marines and unfortunately that version is not sold to the public. There is however, someone who shoehorned a Kubota 898cc turbo diesel engine into the KLR650 frame…oh, and it’s two-wheel drive too.

The KLR650 has one giant single cylinder. As a result, you get gobs of torque at low RPMs, but it doesn’t rev too high (not so much power). It weighs a bit more than its competitors in the dual-sport category, and it’s too heavy for any real off-roading. Where the KLR really shines is that it’s absolutely bullet-proof.

As I stated before, this beast (a variation of it) is ridden by the US Marines. Kawasaki has also been making this (basically) same exact bike for more than 30 years which means there is plenty of experience and plenty of parts. The Gen-1 KLR is carbureted and as a result, basically all mechanical. The most complicated part of this bike is the rectifier used to power the thing once the motor is running. With minor modifications, there are people riding this bike well over 100,000 miles, which is nearly unheard of for a small engine machine.

At any rate, as most people say, the KLR does nothing excellently, but it does everything well. Too heavy for true off-roading, definitely not sporty enough for real knee-dragging, stock gearing isn’t conducive to long highway runs, but this machine still deserves the credit for doing everything. And that is what I’ve asked of it so far (I still own this bike!).

Circa 2016: My Third Motorcycle

As a kid, I cant ever recall thinking that I’d be so fortunate as to own two motorcycles at the same time, but that became a reality in 2016 just before I moved out to Florida.

A co-worker of mine was looking to sell his SV650, and I was eager to have a more street-oriented bike than the KLR, so I jumped at the opportunity.

The first-gen SV650 is a sleek-looking half-faired V-twin - two cylinders, arranged in a “V”-shape. The ride position of the bike is a bit less aggressive than a supersport (ie. CBR, GSX-R), which makes it (only slightly) more comfortable than those bikes.

My first impressions of the bike was that the engine was butter compared to the KLR650’s giant single-cylinder “thumper”. With the stock gearing, anything over about 55 or 60mph will shake you apart quicker than a Junker vibration test. The SV650 still gives a lot of low-end torque like it’s KLR brother (in my garage family), but I especially loved the 6th gear that the Gen-1 KLR so desperately needed.

I rode this bike all over central Florida. Unfortunately, although I did want to get it out to a track day…I never really made it a priority so sadly, although I lived in Orlando for a full year (and even bought a truck so I could transport motorcycles(.

The SV650 was an absolute blast, and I hope to possibly pick up something similar as a future run-around or, ideally, a race-specific bike! These things really are fantastic and if you can find one in good shape under about $1800, I highly recommend picking one up! (Who says motorcycles have to be expensive?)

Sadly, I sold this bike in late 2016 due to moving away from Florida and eventually, out of the United States.

Safe travels and happy surfing!

Josh S =P