Spreading the Love

It seems that I really am a bad influence.

Junyor contacted me a few days ago via Yahoo Messenger to ask about motorcycles. Seems he'd picked up the itch from me. (Or maybe it's just the insane gas prices. I'm gonna claim credit regardless.) I began by asking him a few questions about what his intended uses were gonna be. Seems he had been looking around already and was eyeing a couple of 250cc bikes already.

As with Richard, I just had to point out that a 250cc bike will get excellent gas mileage - but there's a trade-off. Junyor was intending to ride his new bike back and forth to work (approximately a 40 mi. round trip). While the gas mileage would rock on trips like this, I pointed out that the downside would be a lighter bike that is easily pushed around by wind, both natural and that generated by larger, passing vehicles, and a bike that would be pushing its power limits on Dallas' bypass-like tollways.

We ended the conversation with Junyor looking seriously at a Honda Shadow VT750c2. It should provide him with enough power to keep him interested (and safe) for a good while, enough weight to stabilize him on blustery/high-traffic days, a seat low enough to fit him comfortably, and still get good gas mileage.

Now we just need to get Richard fixed up with a bike.

As an aside, I was finally able to get a decent idea of the gas mileage my bike is capable of. I had to switch to reserve tank yesterday on my way to work. I filled up on my way home and calculated the mileage as 32.25mpg. Not bad, considering that better than half of the driving was done just 2-3 miles per trip.