I’ve always loved bikes and my parents wouldn’t let me get one so as soon as I could afford to I bought my own bike, a cute little Honda XL250R which started on the second kick after months of standing outdoors!! Great bike. Parent’s request was at least do a beginners motorbike course which I did before I even rode my own bike and it was the best thing just for practical tips and learning good riding basics and traffic awareness….
Being 1m59 tall I have always been limited in my choices (yes - I am aware of the many ways to get around it but at the end of the day I’m the one who has to ride in Joburg traffic every day in all weather and needs to be comfortable, so at the least toes touching the ground on both sides is my minimum requirement) so my repertoire has been Suzuki Bandit 400 (shockingly bad to ride but oh how I loved that bike!) to Suzuki GSR600 to Ducati Monsters for a few years upgrading models along the way. While I thought I would never go away from Ducati, I have recently had a hankering for an adventure bike. Man I looked and “test rode” (i.e. Hubby rode and I checked if I could even touch the ground which 95% could not!) SO many bikes. I loved them all but couldn’t find any that would work for me and the ones that I fit were so underpowered it was like having an ice cream at the top when the cone is empty...
I was starting to lose hope and then my husband sent me an article on adventure bikes for shorties. I had already tried them so was despondent until the one spec stood out - the Tiger 800 XRX but the “Low” version. So the search started for that particular model, and I struggled for a while. Apparently they did not bring many into the country and Triumph SA doesn’t sell them anymore (thank goodness coz I couldn’t afford new anyway!). Eventually I found one at a dealership but in Boksburg far far away…. I made the salesperson measure the seat height before I rode through for a test ride - jackpot at 76cm!
The rest is history, to say I am happy with my new bike is an understatement! This bike is just AMAZING. It cost more than I had hoped and hubby gave me “The Look” when I asked if I could still keep the Ducati (clearly the N+1 formula does not work in my household
).
I am super excited and ride it everywhere, yet it is still a big bike to manoeuvre so I’m signing up for the Triumph off-road course at the end of the month to try learn some new skills, even though the low model is so low to the ground I won’t be able to do much more than district roads. I don’t really mind, this bike is just the best to ride anywhere anytime, and now we can enjoy some touring comfortably.
Being 1m59 tall I have always been limited in my choices (yes - I am aware of the many ways to get around it but at the end of the day I’m the one who has to ride in Joburg traffic every day in all weather and needs to be comfortable, so at the least toes touching the ground on both sides is my minimum requirement) so my repertoire has been Suzuki Bandit 400 (shockingly bad to ride but oh how I loved that bike!) to Suzuki GSR600 to Ducati Monsters for a few years upgrading models along the way. While I thought I would never go away from Ducati, I have recently had a hankering for an adventure bike. Man I looked and “test rode” (i.e. Hubby rode and I checked if I could even touch the ground which 95% could not!) SO many bikes. I loved them all but couldn’t find any that would work for me and the ones that I fit were so underpowered it was like having an ice cream at the top when the cone is empty...
I was starting to lose hope and then my husband sent me an article on adventure bikes for shorties. I had already tried them so was despondent until the one spec stood out - the Tiger 800 XRX but the “Low” version. So the search started for that particular model, and I struggled for a while. Apparently they did not bring many into the country and Triumph SA doesn’t sell them anymore (thank goodness coz I couldn’t afford new anyway!). Eventually I found one at a dealership but in Boksburg far far away…. I made the salesperson measure the seat height before I rode through for a test ride - jackpot at 76cm!
The rest is history, to say I am happy with my new bike is an understatement! This bike is just AMAZING. It cost more than I had hoped and hubby gave me “The Look” when I asked if I could still keep the Ducati (clearly the N+1 formula does not work in my household
).I am super excited and ride it everywhere, yet it is still a big bike to manoeuvre so I’m signing up for the Triumph off-road course at the end of the month to try learn some new skills, even though the low model is so low to the ground I won’t be able to do much more than district roads. I don’t really mind, this bike is just the best to ride anywhere anytime, and now we can enjoy some touring comfortably.
