On The hunt.

My long time PEI buddy, Mike; had bought a trunk equipped SR 250T Exciter Yamaha back in the 80's.

At some point the bike was sold for some reason or other, but he always had a hankering to 'get back in the saddle again.'  Like I have said many times over the years, once bit, the bug never goes away, it just hibernates until you are ready to break out of whatever humdrum existence had been holding you back and feel free again.

During our many conversations, Mike always mentioned a particular ride we'd had on a pair of Viragos when I still lived here on the Island. Since then he's always bent my ear whenever we met or spoke.

Well, last year after my return (like Douglas MacArthur, but not captured on news reels, wading into the surf from an LST) to the Island, we went and checked out a very nicely kept V Star 650 Custom.  Bike was in very good shape and had relatively low mileage in the 40's.

He didn't ride it much, feeling somewhat vulnerable on the highways.

We had taken a ride on my two XT's last fall and he seemed to enjoy the smaller size, nimble handling and FUN factor involved with riding on (what barely constitutes) secondary highway and clay back roads.

After many conversations and trepidations, I did up an ad for him and he sold his V Star to a young man from Summerside, whom I'm sure we'll be riding with soon.  Given the wonders of the internet I found him a suitable Kawasaki Sherpa in N.B. and after an extended period when work intruded, we went over last Monday and picked up the Sherpa.

Some minor adjustments, and tires ordered today, and he is actually riding, right now as we speak.

We have so many machines to choose from don't we.  There are manufacturer's from the USA, Japan, Germany, Italy, Spain, India and China amongst others and the model proliferation is absolutely immense.  I have no idea how many models are manufactured world wide but it is HUGE. 

Later today I hope to get him out on a short Dual purpose ride, and start him on seat time which is what we need to get more confident and skilled at riding.  Will Mikey ever return to street riding, is guess work at this point, but since my earliest days on high piped street bikes like my A-100 or Big Bear scrambler, I have enjoyed being able to venture off the beaten path to one less traveled. 

Stay tuned on my friend Mike's initiation, I'll let you know how it goes...