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Greetings from Portugal

Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2015 11:20 am
by Dalamar
Greetings everybody,

I'm Hugo, i'm 28 and posting from Portugal.

A little short story about myself, since my 7 years until i was 18, i was a backseat rider in my fathers 91 FJ1200 so i got that bike thing, i loved to ride with him, but then a person grows, starts to work, the normal thing in life, at 18 i took only the car license, since the bike one was another extra that i didn't want to afford at the time, since i was going to be "stuck" for 2 years in the 250cc category, so i though of waiting until i was 21 to take the exam in a "big" bike and be category free.
But the 21s came, like the next ones, and life did not provide with the time and chance, until last November, a week before making 28, my girlfriend decided to give me my birthday present, the enrollment in the driving school :) that brought me a "problem", Christmas was a month away, and i wanted a present for myself, witch mean i wanted to buy a bike lol lol

Of course that wasn't a priority, i wouldn't had the license until late January, early February, so i didn't need to rush things.
To be honest my first option was a YZF thundercat, but even with 15 plus years, they still go for a lot more money than the XJ, and even though it's a more powerful bike, it also has a more expensive maintenance and it's more gas station friendly.

So i turned to my second option, maybe influenced by the looks of the FJ, i really liked the XJ looks :) :) started searching for information, on the web, asked around, and the general input was that, it is a rookie friendly bike, less maintenance expensive, and with a good fuel consumption, also found about the changes along the years, until 97/98 when they had the twin front brakes disks, the 41 forks, the new seat and so on. I'm no mechanic, in truth i don't know a thing about it, but if they were equipped with some improvements, it means they are relevant, and i tried to find one of those :)

So in December i found a stock 2000 XJ600s Diversion, 300 km away, got my father to go with me, since it would be him to bring it, in case i bought it obviously, i still hadn't had a single driving lesson.
It has been since late May (when the rain stopped), my daily transport to and from work, and i must say, its a great first bike, its newbie tolerant although i only had problems to get used to the clutch in the first days, its transmits safety to me, the fears i had, were in myself and not the bike (inclining in the curves :P), it teaches me everyday, getting comfortable with her, and i'm really enjoying it, if nothing happens to either of us, i expect to keep it for long years.

I'll start a project in the correct section, but here's a pair of pictures from the day i bought it, to compensate you guys for the (not so) short introduction.

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