Greetings from Florida's Great Northwest

[Ninja_Mike]

Greetings to all the folks who make this such a great forum! I've been lurking since January helping my wife decide if her first bike should be a Suzuki GZ-250, a Honda Rebel, or a Yamaha Virago 250. Obviously, the Suzuki won out. My first bike was a Suzuki GS-450E which gave me over 10 years of faithful & fun service. I commute daily on a Kawasaki now but Suzuki will always have a fond place in my heart. :bow:

A week after she graduated from the MSF course, we picked up her Ice Blue 2006 GZ-250 on E-Bay from a seller in Georgia for $2350. One beautiful Saturday morning we took turns driving it home through the back roads of Alabama and the Florida Panhandle; we stayed under 45 mph the whole way because it was still in the initial break-in period. It had 168 miles when we started and just over 500 when we finished. What a ride! :roll:

She's reeeal happy with the bike and promptly named her (what else?) 'Suzy'. It's been great finding out from the forum what mods were most recommended. We've already ordered a new windshield from MAW and are shopping now for some soft saddle bags. If anyone has strong recommendations for one saddle bag maker over the others, we'd love to hear it and why.

We especially wanted to shout out a big thank you to Bad Bob; Your website and posts have helped us a lot. It's good knowing you're a fellow Panhandler too.

See you on the road! :2tup:

[5th_bike]

Welcome Mike and congratulations to Suzy's owner
Here in MD the MSF courses don't start until next week, they're down for the winter (you know, they have that white or black slippery stuff here sometimes, in the winter). I only went to work twice on my bike this year, so far.
Great idea to name your bike, I haven't named mine (yet). So far it's "The bike", "The motorbike", "My Suzuki" etc.
Anyways, happy riding, and keep those two rubber donuts on the asphalt !!!

[Water Warrior 2]

Welcome Mike, always glad to have another rider/member in the fold. I am also the posting partner of a riding duo. Lynda also has an 06 250. I ride a Vstrom 650(Zuk naturally). Tank bags are varied and come in magnetic or strap on flavours. A Joe Rocket Manta bag will fit the tank very nicely and there is no slippage from the magnets. They are not an overly large bag but will hold enough essentials for the average person out for a ride. You might want to treat your Lady and get her a sheep skin for the seat. Lynda say hers is real comfy and I also got one after testing it on my bike. Alaskan Leathers have quite a line of sheep skins. The small size fits the GZ nicely. Both of you ride safe now.

[Ninja_Mike]

Thanks for the greetings, folks! It's true Florida provides plenty of good riding weather - if you don't mind the occasional hurricane...

> You might want to treat your Lady and get her a sheep skin for the seat.

That's a great idea! We'll check out the selection at Alaskan Leathers right away.

[Tonckawa]

Another panhandler. Me too. Southwest Pensacola. Always heading to Perdido to have a couple of beers at the Flora-Bama club on Saturday afternoons. I usually wear a red, white and blue flybanna. Maybe I will see you there sometime.