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Kingwood Comeback….?

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Mugochap

Joined
Dec 26, 2023
Messages
20
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45
Location
Kingwood
Hey all, hoping to get some helpful guidance and feedback here. A little background on me… I’m 43 and bought my first sport bike at 19 (Suzuki RF600). I rode that for several thousand miles over 2 years and then replaced it with a CBR600F4i. I took the CBR to about 13-15 trackdays and got my CMRA license on that bike though I actually never raced. In all, I did around 20k miles on track and road on the CBR before selling it when my daughter was born in 2009. I also raced a Honda NSR50 for two years in TMGP and put a few thousand miles on my dads Honda Shadow 750. So I’m not a stranger to motorcycles but, I actually haven’t ridden a motorcycle since 2010. As I was transitioning away from track riding I started riding with the TWTex group around 2008/2009 so I may be familiar with a few of you all here.

In the intervening 13 years I’ve been racing and riding mountain bikes (gravel and road bikes as well) all over the southern USA. So while I haven’t always had a motor, I’ve continually been on two wheels for the majority of my life and most it riding off-road.

I’ve recently made the decision to get back on motorcycles but want to be able to take my new bike on the many gravel roads and double track we have available here in east Tx. I know of many good gravel/dirt road routes that I’ve raced bikes on. Likely a higher percentage of my riding would be on paved road but I want something that will be able to do both well. I’m leaning towards either the Transalp, Tenere or Vstrom 800DE but would love to get some others feedback based upon my experience, expected riding conditions and size (6’3 and 190lbs).

I almost pulled the trigger on the Transalp last weekend, but I’m trying to take my time to really do my research and find the “right” bike for me. Any thoughts or feedback y’all have would be much appreciated!
 
Your going to have to be more specific on what you are looking for and how many total motorcycles are you planning to get. There is no perfect motorcycle that does everything well. :-) Good luck.
 
Mugochap said:
Hey all, hoping to get some helpful guidance and feedback here. A little background on me… I’m 43 and bought my first sport bike at 19 (Suzuki RF600). I rode that for several thousand miles over 2 years and then replaced it with a CBR600F4i. I took the CBR to about 13-15 trackdays and got my CMRA license on that bike though I actually never raced. In all, I did around 20k miles on track and road on the CBR before selling it when my daughter was born in 2009. I also raced a Honda NSR50 for two years in TMGP and put a few thousand miles on my dads Honda Shadow 750. So I’m not a stranger to motorcycles but, I actually haven’t ridden a motorcycle since 2010. As I was transitioning away from track riding I started riding with the TWTex group around 2008/2009 so I may be familiar with a few of you all here.

In the intervening 13 years I’ve been racing and riding mountain bikes (gravel and road bikes as well) all over the southern USA. So while I haven’t always had a motor, I’ve continually been on two wheels for the majority of my life and most it riding off-road.

I’ve recently made the decision to get back on motorcycles but want to be able to take my new bike on the many gravel roads and double track we have available here in east Tx. I know of many good gravel/dirt road routes that I’ve raced bikes on. Likely a higher percentage of my riding would be on paved road but I want something that will be able to do both well. I’m leaning towards either the Transalp, Tenere or Vstrom 800DE but would love to get some others feedback based upon my experience, expected riding conditions and size (6’3 and 190lbs).

I almost pulled the trigger on the Transalp last weekend, but I’m trying to take my time to really do my research and find the “right” bike for me. Any thoughts or feedback y’all have would be much appreciated!
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Sorry, I can’t help with dirt/gravel, but I’m in Kingwood too. If you ever want to ride pavement gimme a shout!
 
Inseam length is more important than height with regards to picking bikes, but at 6' 3" I think your legs will be long enough. For mostly paced, but still good on the abundant gravel roads, really any adventure bike will do. Going more off-road than that will be more rider dependant than bike dependant, IMHO. Any of those three would probably serve you well as would plenty of others. Go sit on as many bikes as you can and see what feels like yours be comfortable on it.
 
So I wound up going a different route than I initially planned….. and of course spent more money than I told the wife I would. :)

One quick ride on the Scrambler XE and I was hooked. It’s my first twin so the power delivery is very different than the inline 4s that I’m used to. I had a great buying experience from Woodlands Premium Motorcycles and would definitely recommend them.

I’ll be starting slowly getting used to the bike on road then starting to venture off-road on some of the local gravel roads we have around here.
IMG_4247.jpeg
 
William Wolfen said:
I'd that the 1200? I test rode one of them. It's quite a rocket!
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Yep, it’s the 1200… I haven’t really gotten on it too hard since I’m still a bit rusty and it’s still in breakin mileage. But yeah, it feels like it has a heck of punch to it.
 
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