I got my first dirt bike when I was ten or eleven. I got two more, bigger bikes when I graduated high school. My dad and I used to take them out most weekends. A couple of my buddies had dirt bikes growing up, too. So I’ve always been around them. Then off-roading in the Jeep put me close to ATVs and dirt bikes as well. But I had never ridden on the street.
After I paid off my Jeep in 2021, I decided to celebrate by taking on another vehicle payment. I have always kind of thought someday I would get a street bike. And knowing that if I did, it would be an Indian, this was an obvious choice. So I took a parking lot class and got my license, and ordered the Scout. It took several forevers to get here, what with the all the manufacturing shortages caused by the China virus. But it finally got here.
I was ready when it got here, too. I already had my helmet, and had been wearing my Indian t-shirts all the time. You can read about my trip home with the new bike from the Indian store, here. It was definitely an experience. The only street driving I’d ever done in my life up to that point was in the parking lot at the course, and the alleys and residentials on my way to the trails by my house as a kid. At like 15mph. For like two miles. So this was intimidating.
But it didn’t scare me away. It made me want more. I eventually got bored of riding the same neighborhood streets by my house here though, and started looking for a meetup of some sort where some like-minded people would get together for some rides. I found the Freedom Riders and joined them, and have been riding with the group ever since. So I would say it’s kind of what I’ve been waiting for. I can’t believe I waited into my forties to buy a street bike. All that wind I’ve always loved since my early twenties that I got from a naked Jeep… It’s so much more on a bike. I love it. And where doesn’t matter. Only wind.