Noah's Snark

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MolokaiRider said:
It is still pretty dangerous though, and gear is important. People don't give riders much leeway.
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These days you can find outstanding gear made from single layer denim, and various textiles, along with leather of course, with ever improving armor in key locations. I'm still window shopping a bit.
Jerry D. said:
Gah - You people and your bikes.
I still have the want for a KLR 650.
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That KLR is a decent prospect.
 
The Warrior said:
Doesn't really have to be anything fast or fancy really. Mostly about the gas mileage. I had a chopped Honda 750 years ago, haha. Bought it at a garage sale for a song.

EDIT: Just looked up the bike you mentioned. That would certainly suffice. Have always wanted an enduro/dual sport.
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For your purposes, you can’t do better than some kind of dual sport bike. If you want to get serious about fuel savings, you will probably need something in the 250cc range, where you can expect 70mpg with most bikes.
The KLR650 is a great bike, and a great commuter (I have put over 55,000 miles on mine), but you can expect mileage in the neighborhood of 40-45mpg, a lot better than my old Buick, but not much better, if at all, than a lot of new cars. Most 650-class DS bikes will give you about the same mileage.
The 650s will cope with highway speeds much better than the smaller bikes, so the nature of your commute may dictate your choice.
 
Henry Beige said:
For your purposes, you can’t do better than some kind of dual sport bike. If you want to get serious about fuel savings, you will probably need something in the 250cc range, where you can expect 70mpg with most bikes.
The KLR650 is a great bike, and a great commuter (I have put over 55,000 miles on mine), but you can expect mileage in the neighborhood of 40-45mpg, a lot better than my old Buick, but not much better, if at all, than a lot of new cars. Most 650-class DS bikes will give you about the same mileage.
The 650s will cope with highway speeds much better than the smaller bikes, so the nature of your commute may dictate your choice.
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All that.

My former SV650 (carb'd) would get 43mpg no matter how I rode it. It would do 70mph in 2nd gear, so was fine on the highway - except it was naked, so wind got exhausting.

The Yamaha XT225 I posted above is a 225cc single weighing only 275lb wet. It will hold its own on any road signed up to 50mph. It will do 70mph indicated, but arguing with highway traffic and wind speeds is NOT fun or safe. Gets great mileage, tho, even for an old carb'd bike. (When it isn't leaking gas out the petcock gasket. :rolleyes:)
 
Yup. I concur that my 250 does not enjoy 60mph.

I am in a unique situation as our highest speed limit is 45, so I can get away with commuting on it.

I have been tempted by the large scooters. But I imagine mileage is still not super great.
 
MolokaiRider said:
Yup. I concur that my 250 does not enjoy 60mph.

I am in a unique situation as our highest speed limit is 45, so I can get away with commuting on it.

I have been tempted by the large scooters. But I imagine mileage is still not super great.
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Which island are you on?

It's more fun to ride a slow bike "fast" than a fast bike slow anyway.
I live less than a mile from I-95, but am surrounded by tons of secondary roads. RT-1 along the southern Rhody coast is signed at 50mph. Traffic goes 50-60mph there, and the little 225 is fine in that environment (the old 1972 Honda CB350 ruled it!). But I-95 is signed at 65 and traffic consistently runs 70-80mph. Plus trucks. Plus idiots. Plus NJ drivers. The easiest way over the bridge to get to work is I-95 (nearest next crossing is 6 or 7 miles north plus inconvenient detour. And if I take back roads to get to that southern I-95 crossing, I have to cross 4 lanes of traffic REALLY fast from left to right to exit. BUT I just discovered there's a right-side entry from a different neighborhood, which is basically in the exit lane already... I've been commuting by car past it for 3 years, so I guess I'm slow to figure things out. 😆
 
daizee said:
Which island are you on?

It's more fun to ride a slow bike "fast" than a fast bike slow anyway.
I live less than a mile from I-95, but am surrounded by tons of secondary roads. RT-1 along the southern Rhody coast is signed at 50mph. Traffic goes 50-60mph there, and the little 225 is fine in that environment (the old 1972 Honda CB350 ruled it!). But I-95 is signed at 65 and traffic consistently runs 70-80mph. Plus trucks. Plus idiots. Plus NJ drivers. The easiest way over the bridge to get to work is I-95 (nearest next crossing is 6 or 7 miles north plus inconvenient detour. And if I take back roads to get to that southern I-95 crossing, I have to cross 4 lanes of traffic REALLY fast from left to right to exit. BUT I just discovered there's a right-side entry from a different neighborhood, which is basically in the exit lane already... I've been commuting by car past it for 3 years, so I guess I'm slow to figure things out. 😆
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We are on Molokai. My wife is Hawaiian, and I met her after school while on a job that I traveled from my native state of Iowa.

I have been saving up some cheddar to purchase a side by side. The Polaris General is in the lead so far, but I am a bit trepidatious as I am concerned about their questionable reliability.

Not too many options for repairs here lol.
 
Had this gixxer several years ago. Fun but impractical. I actually sold it for more than I paid for it, so that was cool.

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I went through a phase of modifying mini-motos. It was also fun and I had a blast farting around on them. My kids loved them too.

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Current bike:

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I had these for a minute, bit dumped them quickly after I realized I would be wrenching more than riding. The Harley was an easy sell. The Vulcan, not so much. It had way too much torque and would eat clutches.

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I know we were discussing solar a while back. I rigged up some cables I have to the 1000 watt inverter I was given . I checked the voltage on on of the batteries hooked up the inverter I took one of the mini griddles cooked 2 eggs and tater tots with no voltage loss . I don't have enough panels to run it daily but I can trickle charge it I plan is to put everything in a 4 wheel garden wagon with the panel mounted on a board across the top this would allow me to pull it outside to charge . Store to inside move it to where needed. Fully charged it should run my furnace a day or jump a semi tractor if needed
 
Bikes can be whatever you want them to be. :cool:
I am surrounded by freeways with millions upon millions of lunatics. The thought of spending long hours on the freeway with an under powered 'dirt bike' swayed me away from that direction. Not to mention that I had years of experience on a similar, but smaller displacement (4 cylinder 650) cafe bike. Actually I was contemplating a handle bar swap for a more pronounced drop on the new 900.
The more I ride these freeways, the more I like having enough power to leave morons in my jet wash.
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I drive a lot with my knives in the car so they are ready if needed or I just want to have fun and self tacti-training with them. And with all the driving I do with them in the car, they don't seem to have any wear and tear on them after all the driving I do with them in the car. 🤓
 
tanglediver said:
The more I ride these freeways, the more I like having enough power to leave morons in my jet wash.
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YUP. If I were actually a motorcyclist, I would stick with a (modern) 650cc or up for the highway. The new (since 2012?) V-Strom 650's are kinda my style, but I don't ever want to own another bike that you have to dig inside of to service. :-P
 
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