I bought my first dual-sport

For the last two years I’ve been thinking about getting a bike that can go on road and off road. I wanted to start small, after all I’ve never ridden on dirt before. After considering a few different bikes, I chose the Yamaha XT225 for a few reasons, one of the most important reasons was the low seat height, a lot of the off road bikes are very tall.



I wanted a used bike and I looked long and hard, but I couldn’t find one that I wanted to get. Some were too far away and some were already a few years old but hadn’t even had their break in service done. These bikes really hold their value too. I found a used one in Wisconsin for a good price but then when I called around I found a brand new one for a few hundred dollars more, so I went for the new one. It’s a left over 2006, and I got it for a $100 over dealer cost.



This afternoon I took my first ride on the XT225. It’s so weird to ride a bike that is so slow and so light. I didn’t feel safe on the paved roads not able to accelerate quick enough, so I rode though residential streets looking for dirt roads, but these are the suburbs of Chicago and dirt roads are hard to find. I did find some dirt near the railroads.



Then I found a patch of land behind some factory that was pretty cool.



Parts of it had gravel and further down it was overgrown by vegetation, I rode as far as I could.





Then I saw the sun going down and a storm moving in, got home with 24 miles on the odometer. It will take a while to brake this one in.

So I guess I own four motorcycles now.