New Bike (and other updates)

2021-11-22 by Andrew Holmes

Holy moly it's been a while between updates - over a year in fact! During the hiatus there have been a few changes in my life, the most important of which was the birth of my son. Having a baby around has made life a lot of fun but it has certainly cut down on the amount of time I have to ride, and the few times I've managed to book a sanity weekend away on the bike in for myself the event ended up being cancelled due to the ongoing lockdowns in the country.

There have been a few changes though to my two wheeled situation over the last wee while - the DR-Z and Buell have now gone and in their place is a brand new KTM 790 Adventure R! I wasn't planning on getting a new bike (and I certainly wasn't going to buy brand new as that's a great way to lose a lot of value very quickly) but after a rather trying year between a new child and the ongoing mental strain of being stuck at home during lockdown I decided to (at my wife's insistence) treat myself as it might be a few years before I'll get the chance again - going forward I'm sure more of my time and money will be spent on my son! The KTM was a good deal as they marked the 790 down to clear them out for the current model 890 and with the money saved I've bought some nice pannier racks and luggage to go on the bike.

The original plan was to keep the Buell along side the KTM but the reality is my wife won't be coming on any multi-day rides with me for a while and paying for registration and insurance on two large bikes seemed a bit pointless, so after keeping them both for about half a year I realised it just wasn't getting any use, so it's now gone. For shorter day trips the KTM will be fine two up, even if it is a lot less comfortable than the Buell was. I'm still a bit conflicted about that - I really did like the bike and I think it's a future classic that is only going to get harder to find, but the KTM suits my current riding a lot more and it's hard to argue with all the modern safety items like lean angle sensitive ABS and traction control. It is certainly a lot more nimble down gravel roads and I find that I have a lot more confidence riding it fast on loose surfaces - where the Buell was a lot more work and felt skittish in its 17" rims the KTM is just so easy and I find myself being a lot more relaxed on it while at the same time going a lot quicker. It is certainly a lot less effort to keep up with my buddies on an Africa Twin and Triumph Tiger, even if the Buell did give a bit more excitement in the form of feeling closer to wiping out!

Anyway, here's hoping that as the lockdown eases I'll be able to sneak away for the occasional day trip on the new bike and who knows, maybe I'll be taking my boy to a motocross track in a few years on a PW50 or similar - get 'em started early I say!