250cc Cruiser? Well, why Not?

A friend of mine, Robin Douglas Gazdecki will leave Korea before the end of April, returning to his native Wisconsin. Consequently, he's interested in selling his motorcycles, and thought a series of increasingly desperate-looking Facebook status updates would sell his wares. He offered a choice of two different bikes to me (and anyone else who hasn't blocked him yet). And so, with less thought than I give to purchasing dish-soap, I chose the "cruiser" with the (slightly) bigger engine (which he said tops out at about 100 miles an hour).

But just so you all don't think that I've completely lost my mind, I will mention that Robin has offered to give me a few lessons on the bike before I take to the mean streets of Changwon. This will prove critical, as I haven't been on a 'real' motorcycle since I was 10 years old (and was riding with a friend of my father, Ted Duncan). I rented a 50cc scooter once in Thailand (which hardly counts), but that is about the extent of my experience. Here's my new ride.

Moreover, I think a motorcycle would prove advantageous in Korea in many ways. After driving Carlos' truck for 2-3 weeks, I find the most annoying aspect to driving in Korea to be the lack of parking. I won't really have this issue with the motorcycle. Moreover, during the frequent traffic jams that plague this city, I will be able to bypass everyone on the shoulders with all the scooters and other motorcyclists. The only disadvantages I see include rain and safety.

But I also just realized that I made a major lifestyle choice with very little thought. So I naturally felt I should perhaps learn a thing or two about motorcycles and spent a good portion of this evening reading up on the topic. On Youtube, I sifted through 20 or so videos of boneheads on crotch-rockets that didn't quite make the cut for Failblog. Then I found this very informative video and watched it about 10 times.