Hey everybody.
I recently picked up this beautiful lady here. It's a 2012 R 500i ABS model, and only had 806km on the odometer, so it's basically a new bike. And it's the first bike I've ever owned that was less that 5 or 10 years old when it came to me, so I'm pretty stoked.
I've been lurking in the shadows for a week or two now, and as I've been slowly working my way through all the posts I've already learned a ton from you guys and gals. I've frequented some other bike forums over the years and never really felt compelled to get involved in the discussion, but this is a really great community and finally I'd like to jump in. I'm already dreaming of some bike trips I'd like to do around Korea and Japan, as well as some cosmetic and performance upgrades I'd like to make. I'm looking forward to sharing the journey with you folks and picking your brains along the way.
I've been riding for almost 8 years now, all of it in Korea, although I'm originally from Nashville, TN. A bike is the absolute best way to get around the city, and as my job as a voice actor sometimes requires me to traverse Seoul's labyrinth of gridlock traffic several times a day to get from studio to studio, it's a way of life for me. As my avatar blurb alludes to, riding here is a full-on, real-life video game. I've mostly ridden motorcycles (a few Korean 125s, a Honda CB400 and a BMW GS650), and always considered myself a motorcycle guy. However, when my CB400 was sick and on its way to the grave, I picked up a cheap Daelim Forte 125, from a friend who was leaving the country as a "filler bike." I was embarrassed to admit I kinda LIKED it!
I appreciated the simplicity, the storage, the automatic transmission in traffic, the weather protection and the way it... just worked. I ended up getting another Daelim Scooter, a bigger Freewing 250 (what's called an S2 or S3 overseas), and I began to embrace the fact that, yes, I was becoming a scooter guy after all.
Sure, I've still got my dreams of owning a cafe racer and a big adventure touring bike intact, but now that I've got this super sexy and powerful beast of a bike in the Xciting 500, I can wait for a good while.
