My Ride and Why
Five months on and I’ve finally got my transportation setup complete. My plan is to spend the first year exploring and decide where I want to live next. In order to freely travel, I have to have my own transportation.
My requirements are few, but important:
Had to be a motorcycle so I could deal with traffic and parking restrictions.
Had to be over 400 cc for expressway.
Had to have enough HP and Torque to not struggle (with passenger and luggage) up mountain grades.
Had to be able to mount luggage.
Had to be maneuverable in nasty traffic.
Easy to get on and off a ferry.
The perfect size range seems to be from around 700-1000 cc’s. The KTM 790 Duke is what I ended up buying. With 105 hp and about 63 lb/ft tongue it is a very capable machine, and the twin has some personality.
For Luggage I ordered from SW-MOTECH. (Link Here) The brackets to mount the bag and box to my bike had to be special ordered and took three months to arrive. Originally estimated for arrival in May, I drove over to Big Bike Tech to visit and check on order status. The ETA for my order had moved from May to June. I decided to stopp in the neighborhood behind the shop and get my motorcycle washed. What a great experience! I met a couple of young entrepreneurs willing to wash my motorcycle, walked across the street to the Sari-sari store and bought 3 bottles of coke for us (54 pesos), and sat and laughed and talked while they detailed my motorcycle. The charge for washing my bike was only 80 pesos!
Murphys law:
My luggage showed up a couple days after my visit and of course with a sparkling clean motorcycle I pulled out of the garage to zip over and have my brackets installed only to see it was raining. Rain notwithstanding, It turned out to be a great day of laughing at the store! One of the girls was even singing Frank Sinatra songs…. You’ll have to visit to see who was the singer.
Watch the video to see where I’ve been, my favorites so far, and where I’m going next
Joey out!
Comments