A little while ago I was contemplating giving up riding completely and selling off my collection... a few nano-seconds later the thought had passed and I decided instead to get my collection all running again, or as many of them as reasonably possible. The garage was a mess though, well not really a mess, but cluttered. Yes that's the right way to put it. With two vintage cars, 4 motorcycles, my bicycle, my daughter's bicycle and all the other stuff that just amasses and absorbs space in a garage things were getting a little tight.
Starting to clear through the clutter I stumbled across a set of casters that I had forgotten that I had. After removing three of the motorcycles I could see this wall space that was remarkably the same size as the '67 MGB. I slipped the casters under the wheels of the MGB and carefully pushed it over tight to the side of the garage. Stepping back I had the dawning realization that I had room for a fifth motorcycle, and so...
My mind turned to scramblers, or rather returned to scramblers as I had been researching off road capable bikes for some time, even considering the all electric Zero DSR. That bike was a real thrill to ride and I had no doubt it was the right design for the mix of road and trail riding that I want to do more of. The two deal breakers though are the high price and the lack of range. Even to get a modest 160 mile range out of the bike (under controlled conditions!) you'd have to shell out an extra $2,500 for an extra battery on top of the high price of the bike. And that battery would sit so high on the bike, basically sitting where a gas tank would be, that it upsets the balance of the bike. If you didn't buy the battery, but bought the fast charger you are still in for an extra $2,500 and then you have to carefully plan the logistics of your rides to get you to a fast charge station when you need it and hope that nobody else is using it, so you can grab your hour of standing around to recharge your bike. No, electric is not there yet, but I have no doubts it is going to get there and the thrill of that instant torque and adrenaline pumping acceleration is hard to beat.