Currently bike-less and living on Shetland in the far north of the UK. Lived here for over a decade, but am English.
Last bike was a Hayabusa, before that there have been many: Lambretta 100, Honda CB250 G5, CX500, Africa Twin, Pan Euro, Goldwing 1500, Suzuki GP100, GSX400F, Kawasaki GT750, KLR650, Yamaha v70, James Captain, Villiers 123cc, Gilera Runner SP180 and probably others long since forgotten.
I have been thinking about a GS for ages, every other bike that I passed in the north of Scotland on the Wing was a GS, usually with foreign plates. What puts me off is my height, 5'8" with a 29" inside leg. I am not worried about the weight as the Wing was a beast and I was only 10 and a half stone when I bought that. The weight was low down, as I read it is on the GS. Slow speed turning scares me shitless at the best of times though.
I don't plan on any off-roading. I want a GSA so that I can go touring on the continent with a huge fuel capacity. My other half was on the cusp of saying yes to a big trip through Europe to Greece, and I don't think that it would take a lot more persuasion. Anyway, these are just big words until I do something, but as have found that cycle touring is just getting too hard at my age and with lungs like a 70 year-old. I ought to own up to not having ridden a motorbike on the continent since 1978, but this isn't rocket surgery, what could go wrong!?
I don't have a big budget so it's going to be probably around 2010 model. Being so far north getting to see likely candidates will not be easy. I have also got rid of all my bike gear, so I will need to start from scratch with everything. I looked at Schubert helmets and decided that was a very bad place to start.
I am not really into cleaning bikes. If I wanted to polish something I would buy a sideboard, so I will be the one who has a clean number plate and lights and the rest will be "dusty"
Sorry for the long intro but I like the look of my bytes.
Last bike was a Hayabusa, before that there have been many: Lambretta 100, Honda CB250 G5, CX500, Africa Twin, Pan Euro, Goldwing 1500, Suzuki GP100, GSX400F, Kawasaki GT750, KLR650, Yamaha v70, James Captain, Villiers 123cc, Gilera Runner SP180 and probably others long since forgotten.
I have been thinking about a GS for ages, every other bike that I passed in the north of Scotland on the Wing was a GS, usually with foreign plates. What puts me off is my height, 5'8" with a 29" inside leg. I am not worried about the weight as the Wing was a beast and I was only 10 and a half stone when I bought that. The weight was low down, as I read it is on the GS. Slow speed turning scares me shitless at the best of times though.
I don't plan on any off-roading. I want a GSA so that I can go touring on the continent with a huge fuel capacity. My other half was on the cusp of saying yes to a big trip through Europe to Greece, and I don't think that it would take a lot more persuasion. Anyway, these are just big words until I do something, but as have found that cycle touring is just getting too hard at my age and with lungs like a 70 year-old. I ought to own up to not having ridden a motorbike on the continent since 1978, but this isn't rocket surgery, what could go wrong!?
I don't have a big budget so it's going to be probably around 2010 model. Being so far north getting to see likely candidates will not be easy. I have also got rid of all my bike gear, so I will need to start from scratch with everything. I looked at Schubert helmets and decided that was a very bad place to start.
I am not really into cleaning bikes. If I wanted to polish something I would buy a sideboard, so I will be the one who has a clean number plate and lights and the rest will be "dusty"
Sorry for the long intro but I like the look of my bytes.