I decided to build one. That bike above is not a supermoto. That is what is considered a dualsport. The basic concept is the wheels. For all intents and purposes a supermoto is a dirt bike that is slightly altered to be superior on the street. I picked this bike up with intentions to "build" one. Never happened. I sold off the dirt rims and started saving for the very expensive supermoto rims. I then decided to give it up considering how old the bike was. In the long run it wouldn't be worth it as the suspension stunk and the bike overall was pretty beat. So I sold the bike without it's wheels. It made it a little odd to sell but after some typical lowballers I found someone that understood how good of a deal it was. Now I was really irritated, the supermoto lust was stronger than ever.
Okay still no supermoto. I had this bike (2008 Z1000) at the same time I picked up the DRZ above. Without a doubt it was a sexy machine. Too sexy. I put 22,000 miles on it in a very short period of time and it still didn't tickle my fancy. Great bike but wasn't for me. I didn't like how clean it was, how "perfect" it was. Polished aluminum rims were annoying to keep clean. Unfortunately it was a difficult bike to sell for two reasons.20,000 miles on a motorcycle is the same as 100,000 on a car. When you pass that mark people get scared and consider it "high mileage". Even though 20,000 on a bike is really nothing. Fact is most bikes are totaled or stolen before they can reach 20,000. The second reason that made it a hard sell was that its a rare bike. A lot of people werent familiar with it and the naked styling doesn't appeal to the American masses. It's huge in other countries but here in America not so much. So I was trying to sell an undesireable bike that had scary mileage. I never sold it. I actually traded it straight up for the bike I wanted. In terms of book value to book value, I lost money on the deal but I didn't care. Its about what I wanted.
2008 DRZ supermoto model. This is what the blue bike should've been. It was pretty well decked out too. Didn't require anything. I was so happy to finally be on what I've wanted for years. But then came a time where I needed a bike that could carry a passenger. Damn it. I made a sacrafice, regrettably. Sold off the DRZ and quickly picked up a plain jane all factory CBR600RR in bumblebee yellow. Gross.
I absolutely hated it. I've been off bikes with "clip-on" style bars for awhile. Felt like a monkey humping a football. Didn't help the color was bumblebee yellow. I wasn't too fond of the sacrafice I had made.
It didn't take me long to strip it down and make it into something I'd be happy with. I was so giddy to be back on a bike that I didn't have to keep clean. I was really happy with the results. It wasnt the first time I've done this to a bike so it was a pretty quick process. My lust for supermoto didn't recede though. I tasted it with the DRZ400SM. However now I found myself wanting to step it up. There were a few issues I had with the DRZ. Electric start only. It's a little heavy and underpowered without dumping a lot of money into modifications.
This is the bike I should've had all along. Lightweight, great power, kickstart/electric, fairly reliable and downright awesome. Granted it didn't quite come this way. The bike itself is not street legal in NY. I had to find one from another state that was converted to street legal status. Fortunately I didn't have to travel too far. Unfortunately the previous owner was a bit of a dolt. Upon initial inspection of the bike it wasn't too bad. The factory blue plastics were sticker bombed. If you look at all the bikes I've owned they are de-stickered as much as possible. It wasn't until I got it home did I start seeing how many things were halfassed. A lot of stripped bolts. Rust inside the throttle body (bike was submerged at some point), jetting was way off, rear rim adjustment was cockeyed to keep the chain off the rear tire as he used the wrong size rear tire. There was more but in the end I was still happy with the bike.
That leaves me to where I am now. I'll forever be buying, selling and trading bikes. They break. They get old. They lose some of their flare. But I do know for sure that a supermoto will be somewheres in my garage. Its made to be ridden, not sitting at bike night to be gawked at. They can be dropped with nothing but a scratch. They aren't too attractive to thieves. They are quite agile and operate well on just one wheel. Like everything there are cons. Limited distance due to gas tank size. Not exactly comfortable at long distances at higher speeds. Its within my happy medium though.
There have been other bikes in the mix, some didn't make the cut or weren't worth mentioning.
