A week ago, I sold my 2015 SR400 for an offer I couldn’t refuse and put the money toward this brand new NX500. The weather has been very cooperative in my area and I’ve been able to get it through 300 miles commuting to work, and doing my best to do a proper break-in otherwise.
I put nearly 13k miles on my SR. It wasn’t the fastest, but it got me to work for years reliaby and took me on some amazing multi-day road adventures. I’ll certainly miss the charm of the 400 thumper and novelty of being kickstart only, but I think dailying an SR through even rain and freezing cold has earned me the smoothness of the NX (in comparison) and electric start.
This was the SR earlier this year.
If you have the access, money and time … go over to dirt bikes first and ride off road … which doesn’t need any licensing in most areas.
Riding in the dirt is more complicated, difficult, needs to build lots of skill, strength training and ability. But since it is unregulated, you’d get lots of practice time. You will also fall often at the beginning which is a good lesson to learn because it will show you how it feels to fall on a bike at low speed in soft dirt, sand or mud - imagine what it would feel like on solid asphalt at 100km an hour. You also get the little bonus of knowing how to pick up your bike again, especially if you are on your own.
And once you get past all that learning, riding a bike on public roadways will feel a lot easier and you will become a stronger master of your bike because you will know how to manoeuvre and handle it, even in the most unusual situations.