Key Motorcycle Choice Metric

While at my local Kawasaki dealership looking at the bike I got, I also sat on one of the other candidates: The KLR 650, an adventure touring bike that arguably answered better to certain characteristics I sought in that it's more configured toward carrying luggage, etc. for touring.

But the KLR 650 has a seat height of 33 inches plus, and I have a 32 inch inseam. So, impossible to flat-foot it on both sides at stops. Even at kickstand lean angle, my toes barely touched the floor. At my age and with my knee problems, not ideal. The time would almost certainly come when I'd roll to a stop, lean the bike over to put my left foot down, and just go on over.

The Royal Enfield Himalayan 450, which had been my target bike, has a slightly, but not much, lower seat height, adjustable from 31.5 to 32.5 inches.

The Eliminator has a seat height of 28.5 inches.

These seem like small differences just looking at the numbers, but it's the difference between stability and instability for a rider of my height/inseam at stops (or,  in off-road or soft-sand-road riding, when needing to get a foot down for a controlled-skid turn).

My other two bikes range from 28.7 inches for the Lifan KP-Mini 150 to 30.7 inches for the Italica Bulldog 150. On the Lifan, I can easily flat-foot it; on the Bulldog, not really ...

... but a factor to co-consider is weight. the Mini and Bulldog are much lighter bikes, coming in at between 220 and 250 pounds, wet. The Eliminator is next up that scale at 330 pounds. The KLR and the Himalayan, 400 pounds plus. An extra 100+ pounds would make a big difference coming to rest with the support of an unreliable knee.

So that turned out to be a big equation for me: If I'm going to ride a tall bike, it also needs to be a light bike, which probably means, at most, a 250cc air-cooled job. And those don't produce quite the power/speed I want for longer rides that entail at least some freeway travel.

I've got more than 200 miles on the Eliminator now and am starting to get comfortable with it. In addition to higher speed potential, it also has taller tires (18" front/16" rear vs. e.g. the Mini's 12" pairing). That sounded scarier to me, but the taller tires handle bumps and potholes a lot better and feel a lot more stable. The rear tire has yet to break loose on the sand roads I ride (including the cow path I live on ... but if it does, that lower seat height will make easier for me to get a foot down.

Lena Mae: The First 150(ish) Miles

Perfect mix of a ride yesterday: A few blocks of city street here and there, about 80 miles of "country highway" (including what passes for hills and curves -- near rivers, that is -- in north central Florida), and a little bit of the "sugar sand and ruts" country road action. Finished the day with the odometer at 147 miles.

Running a top box with maybe 8-10 pounds of rain gear, etc. didn't seem to affect the handling or aerodynamics at all, and the bike didn't disappoint on any metric -- speed, power, handling, comfort, etc.

I was especially impressed with the part I was most worried about, that "might as well be dirt single-track" stuff. She just plodded along through sand/ruts with almost no rear-wheel slaloming, etc., none of it wild enough to feel like pending loss of control. If I want to ride on that kind of stuff for fun, I'll crank up the Lifan KP Mini 150 and see how many bones I can break. But when riding to get somewhere, I prefer boring and dependable performance where the terrain gets sketchy (I'm fine with just getting my jollies by riding fairly fast on pavement).

So far, this bike looks like the right decision for my "forever bike." It will get up and go, and it will settle down to low-speed work when that's what the situation calls for.

I think spending a couple of years on cheap, light, small-displacement bikes first actually served me well. 

Those smaller bikes are simultaneously more demanding and more forgiving.

I had to learn to use a clutch that might as well have been made in 1970 before moving up to the modern "slipper/assist" clutch. The difference is quite noticeable. It's just easier and feels slicker. But I've got muscle memory helping me do things right instead of just counting on modern technology to fix my miscalculations for me from the beginning.

I had to learn to get myself out of trouble with ~15 horsepower at my disposal instead of ~45 horsepower.

But at the same time, I only had to worry about wrestling (when it came to that) 260 pounds of motorcycle weight instead of 390 pounds, and I had a lot less money at stake repairing or replacing a badly damaged bike if I messed up, which allowed me to be more comfortable taking some risks to see what happened.

For the Most Part, I Won't Be Modifying the Eliminator Myself ...

... but this was an easy, five-minute exception.

BEFORE*:

AFTER:

It's from Wolf Line via Amazon (not an affiliate link). It's a Kawasaki Intruder specific, rather than "universal," rack, rated for up to 45 pounds.

At some point I'll put my large top box on it, probably semi-permanently, but I probably need to run to the hardware store and pick up some large washers first. I have a ride planned for tomorrow and will likely just bungee a backpack with my rain gear, etc. onto it.

UPDATE -- AFTERER:

Instead of waiting to get to a hardware store after figuring out how many and what sizes of u-bolts, washers, etc., I'd need, I decided to just use about 3 million zip ties to attach the top box ... for now. The sheer quantity, and the ability to fasten it from so many different angles, is probably about as good as four or five steel bolts on a rack like this. I may very well go from a top box to a top bag (in concert with my saddlebags) on a permanent basis anyway, and I had the zip ties lying around, so ...

* The "before" photo is not of my actual bike -- I forgot to take one and grabbed an image off the web to show the bike in stock condition. The "after" photo is the real Lena Mae.

First Round of Motorcycle Accessory Purchases

I have slip-on covers for the two older bikes ... when I remember to use them and I'm not in a hurry.

For Lena Mae, I don't want to leave that to chance. So (not an affiliate link):

Matches my tent in terms of color, or close, and will have room for related stuff to spare. Arrives early next week.

And (not an affiliate link):

Neither of my other phone holders fit well on the bike. This one is supposed to, and it's inexpensive. I may upgrade later to something with a vibration dampener, etc. I keep hearing that the Eliminator's parallel twin vibrates a lot. I haven't noticed that it does so nearly as much as one of my thumper engines. Arrives tomorrow.

I'm already scoping out the saddlebag/tank bag/top box/rack situation, but I'll be taking my time with that one. It's easy to get a thousand bucks deep in luggage, which I don't plan to do. I'll be on a budget but very selective.

Meet Lena Mae

 

I got a short test ride before pulling the final trigger. I've put about 30 miles on her, from the dealership home, riding through town to get a taste of how she handles in various traffic scenarios. The answer was, beautifully.

I was wrong about her being the SE model, just a regular Eliminator 450 w/ABS brakes. I actually prefer the non-SE headlight setup (the SE has a cowl that doesn't look as nice IMO), so no biggie.

On my little 150s, going 60mph means tucking head and body down, squeezing the tank with your knees, and keeping the throttle all way. On this bike you cruise to 60 then she asks you what else you got. I haven't gone more than about 60 because this is the break-in period.

In honor of the olive drab (actually "Matte Old School Green") trim, I'm naming her after Lena Mae Basilone.

Lena Mae Riggi was a Marine Corps sergeant (the most distinguished rank in this old grunt's opinion) during World War 2.

So was John Basilone. He received the Medal of Honor for his actions on Guadalcanal, was brought back home to sell war bonds, got sick of that, and asked to be put back into real duty. He met Lena Mae at Camp Pendleton (the main road of which is named for him) while he was training a platoon to go into battle. They married shortly before he shipped out with them. He was killed in action on Iwo Jima.

So, she gets a motorcycle named after her. Not much of an honor, I guess, but it's what I've got to offer, and the name seems to suit the bike.