Niobe, my Yamaha Warrior sport cruiser, is a powerful gorgeous bike, but she’s not really built for adventure motorcycling.  At 1700cc, she’s got tons of power, but she also weighs around 800 pounds.

All those stylish curves and that massive muffler mean that bags just never looked right on her.

I think it’s time for something different.  A bike that has a bigger gas tank (the warrior holds about 4 gallons for a range of about 160 miles).  A bike that doesn’t weigh so much and could handle some off-highway action (I’m thinking the rough surface of the Al-Can, or fireroads in the Cascades) and not be quite so heavy to pick up.

A bike that looks like it was designed for some cargo cases.

And a bike with a bit of a fairing, like my old Honda, would be nice to cut down on wind fatigue on long rides.

A friend suggested the Tiger 800.  Hmmm.  There’s always the BMW adventure bikes too.  Hmmm…