Buying a Motorcycle

Hello again.

So you want to ride a motorcycle around the world?  Step two, buy a motorcycle!

It has been awhile, but we are finally back.

So things were delayed a bit as I had some other things to deal with late in 2017, so pushed off the motorcycle shopping till early 2018.

Finally got the money gathered and decided it was time to go looking.

All along I have been leaning toward buying a Suzuki V-Strom model as most of my research I have done in last few years keeps bringing them up as great bikes, and some people I trust recommended them as well.  I was also told by many to avoid going with one of the larger adventure bikes as my riding skills are of course not as good as they need to be to handle such a large, heavy and powerful bike.

So I decided in early April of 2018 to price out the Suzuki model I was looking at which was the Suzuki V-Strom 650 XT.  I wanted the XT model because it has some extra options that make it a better choice for rougher terrain which is what a good part of my future riding plans will involve.

I looked at the new 2018 bikes, but also wanted to check older inventory with the hopes of getting some discounting on the costs.  About same time, I also looked at used bikes locally, figured I should at least look.

I found a very low mile 2013 650 (no XT model that year) and made arrangements to look at it on the weekend.

The dealer close to my work had a 2017 non-XT bike and same company had a 2016 XT at another showroom in the valley.  Both new bikes and both discounted in price.

This was on Friday.

On Saturday after talking with some others and doing some more research, I decided to avoid the potential problems with a used bike, and gain the advantages of warranty and easier title and licensing as well as the ability to get bike delivered to my home by going with the new bike.  Not to mention that the price difference for the new bike vs the used bike was only about $1,000.

I canceled appointment with used owner on Sunday morning, but dealer did not open again till Tuesday (one of those closed on Monday businesses.)

I called the dealer on Tuesday, only to find out that the 2016 XT had sold  on Saturday!!!  Well that sucked.

So I did more research and found that I can buy all the XT options separately to install on the 2017 model, which was only a few hundred dollars more than the 2016, and the parts would not be needed for the first year of my riding as I will not be doing much off highway riding till I get my skills more polished.

So on April 11th, 2018 I finalized the purchase of the 2017 Suzuki V-Strom 650 ABS bike.  I also at that time ordered a few upgrades to be installed before I get the bike.  I wanted to get the hand grip guards, lower engine cowl/guard and center stand installed as those are definitely things I wanted and no real difference in who makes it, and they gave me a small discount on the parts for getting them then.

So hopefully I will have the bike delivered late next week.  I will post some photos then and hopefully can start being more active with this documentation of my hopefully great motorcycle adventure.

Till the next installment, have a great day. :)