My year in riding, 2019 (with lots of links)

From crossing the Continental Divide in Carson National Forest in northern New Mexico, still snowy in May, to cutting laps on the Circuit Cartagena under the sun in Spain, my riding in 2019 had some memorable highlights that were obvious. But I will also remember this year for some mundane rides across town, barely topping 45 mph. I will remember it as a transitional year as the motorcycle I’ve primarily ridden for most of a decade moved on to a new owner. It was a pretty good year, by any measure.

First, the stats: In 2019 I rode 10 motorcycles a total of 17,308 miles. That’s more than five times the average annual mileage ridden by a motorcyclist in the United States but it still didn’t feel like that much to me. Largely, that’s because I mainly work at home, so I have no commute; I only made three business trips to Philadelphia by motorcycle this year, two of those were one-way, and I didn’t tack on a trip to Maine, as I do most years to visit family; and, opposite of the typical U.S. motorcyclist, I do almost no recreational riding. That’s not to say every ride is essential, but I almost never go out, ride around just for fun and then go home. I always have a destination and a purpose.

Highlights of 2019

The highlight of my 2019 in riding was clear. In a period of a little more than a month, I rode almost a third of the miles I rode all year. In mid-May, I flew to Arizona for the press launch of the new Kawasaki Versys 1000 SE LT+. Kawasaki took the bigger Versys upscale for 2019 by adding its full suite of electronic rider aids, including electronically adjustable suspension, a Bosch IMU to allow lean-angle-sensitive ABS and traction control, and cruise control. Two days of riding from the outskirts of Phoenix, overnighting in Prescott and stopping at Sedona before ending up in Flagstaff was fun on its own. But the best part was that Kawasaki let me ride a bike home for long-term testing at RevZilla.

I made the trip from Flagstaff to home in Ohio in three days and after a short break I rode the Versys to Wisconsin for the MotoAmerica round at Road America. After another short break I rode the Versys to Philadelphia and dropped it off at RevZilla HQ, where my colleagues put another 5,000 miles on it. In all, I rode the bike 5,403 miles in a little more than a month, and wrote my review at RevZilla in the form of a travel piece, explaining how my long trip with the bike let me evaluate its strengths and weaknesses.

Having many days and miles with a bike that I’m evaluating is a luxury, and not one I usually get. My second most memorable ride of 2019 was at the other end of the spectrum, in terms of length. In September, I went to Spain for the introduction of the 2020 Triumph Street Triple RS. The Street Triple has always been a competent, fun motorcycle and the new version is noticeably improved. I had a fun day of riding on the winding roads in the countryside near Cartagena and on track at the Circuit Cartagena, but it added up to less than 100 miles of riding — and a few days of travel getting there and back home. Am I glad I got a chance to go to Spain? ¡Si señor, sin duda! But having time with the bike, as I did with the Versys, sure makes it easier to provide a useful and thorough report to our readers.

A year of transition

Before all that happened, 2019 became a year of transition in my garage in March and April. First, in March I dug my mother’s old Suzuki GN125E out of the shed where it had sat unridden for five years. I’ve already told the story here about how the bike was a birthday gift my father bought for her. In his memory, and knowing my mother could never ride it again, I decided to get it back on the road, as a way to honor them both. This year, I’ve put 984 miles on the little tiddler, and other than the 121-mile ride the day I brought it home, all of that has just been riding it around the city, running errands, which is what it’s good at, happily sipping gas at the rate of 100 miles per gallon if I’m dawdling, 80 miles per gallon if I’m wringing the throttle. I’ve had a surprising amount of fun riding the antiquated thumper, but the best fun was showing my mother the story I wrote and the photos of her old bike on the city streets and seeing her joy in knowing it was no longer neglected and was back on the road.

The other transition took place with my final ride on my 2009 Kawasaki Versys, when I made a one-way trip to Philadelphia in April. If you look at the Popular Posts list in the footer below, you’ll see multiple posts about the Versys, as owners and potential owners found articles here as they searched for information about the model. Having put nearly 90,000 miles on the bike in the eight years and 11 months I owned it, I certainly could provide an owner’s perspective. I sold the bike to my colleague Spurgeon’s uncle Bob for $900. Spurgeon wrote a charming article about Bob, who was instrumental in sparking Spurgeon’s interest in riding. Bob is living proof you don’t have to spend a fortune on motorcycles to have fun, and the Versys is the best evidence in my riding experience that you can travel wherever you want on a “too small” 650 cc bike. Don’t let anyone tell you what you can’t do or that you should “get a real bike.”

Other motorcycles

Easily the most significant new motorcycle I rode in 2019 was the Indian FTR 1200 S we had for testing at RevZilla. Spurgeon did the full review of that one and I only had a short test ride during my visit to HQ in April. The FTR has drawn a lot of attention, though it’s not a motorcycle that appeals to me personally. But, as I discussed in my recent appearance on RevZilla’s Highside/Lowside podcast, the FTR 1200 has the potential to be a historically significant model, if Indian follows through (as Harley-Davidson is also promising to do) and branches out into something other than V-twin cruisers, baggers and tourers. The FTR is a first tiny step in that direction. The future health of the major American motorcycle manufacturers will depend on how well they can attract new customers and doing that will require building something other than the same old traditional stuff.

The sale of my Versys left me with a trio of personal motorcycles too old (my 1997 Speed Triple), too uncomfortable (my 2006 Daytona 675) or too slow (the GN125) to be ideal for a 500-mile ride to Philadelphia. I’d already done it once before on the Speed Triple, so I decided to try it on the Daytona, since I’d put HeliBars on the bike. It wasn’t so bad, really, except for the total lack of options for carrying luggage. A long day wearing a backpack just reminds me how much I dislike wearing a backpack when riding.

To take a break, I rode our Benelli TNT 300 test bike from Philly to New Jersey Motorsports Park for the MotoAmerica races during the weekend I was there. That gave me a chance to see how Chinese bikes are measuring up to the more established competition these days. It also let me add another name to the list of motorcycle brands I’ve ridden.

So 2019 provided a few memorable rides, some rides on interesting bikes, and some changes that push me to make some more changes, because I still need to buy something suitable for traveling. One goal for 2020 will be filling that important niche in my lineup.

The Street Triple RS launch revealed another issue I need to consider for 2020. I try to send the younger guys to the press intros, especially any that involve track time. In this case, the timing didn’t work out for anyone else, and it was a bike I was happy to go test. One afternoon on the track just served to show how awkward I felt and how rusty I was. I think 2020 is decision time. I need either to commit to doing multiple track days a year to try to knock the rust off or swear them off altogether. Doing things semi-poorly is never a satisfying option and one track day a year is not enough, especially not at my age and skill level.

Unlike some years, it looks like the weather today will be hospitable enough for me to keep my preferred tradition of starting the new year with at least a short ride — one of the few times I ride strictly for fun and recreation, and not to get somewhere. Here’s hoping it’s just the first wheel rotation of another good year of riding for all of us.