This morning I took a drive out to a town about ten miles northwest of Durham.  Along with me went a friend by the name of David and a wad of cash.  On the return trip we were light the cash, but heavier by 500 pounds of Japanese liter bike.  It’s a 1997 Suzuki Bandit 1200, originally equipped with a front fairing that was removed by the original owner to give a naked street fighter look.  It’s in pretty good shape for its age and mileage, and it’s an outstandingly fun ride, with sufficient torque that I rarely need to down-shift unless I am coming to a full stop.

In fact, so much fun is the Bandit that I rode about 80 miles of country roads on it this afternoon!  Here’s the route I took along some nice, scenic, low-traffic highway not too far from where I live.