That’s what happens when you leave two motorcycles who love each other alone for too long. They make a baby. Congratulations to the proud parents, Vader and TK-421, on the arrival of their child, Chopper.
Chopper is a 2020 Kawasaki Z125. I’ve wanted a pint-size Honda Grom or similar ever since the first time I rode one. They’re tiny and slow, but they’re so much fun. You can go full throttle pretty much everywhere without even breaking the speed limit, and they’re so small and light they handle like a dream. But I couldn’t justify owning one because they struggle to hit 55 mph and have absolutely no room for cargo. That just wouldn’t work for van life, where I needed a daily driver that could hit the highway and make store runs like I do on my V-Strom.
My wife has been struggling to get comfortable on her KLR. She passed her MSF course last fall and rode it a little bit before winter, but after a few months off the bike, she struggles with its height and top-heaviness. I’m confident that if she gets comfortable with riding a smaller bike, she’ll master that KLR in no time. This was the practical purpose I was lacking in getting a little 125 for myself. We shopped around and picked up this Z125 from a couple of towns over.
It needs a new back tire, which got the seller to drop the price a bit. We’re going to use that as an excuse opportunity to put some knobby tires on both ends, optimizing it for the dirt county roads that crisscross this area. She can practice on the quiet back roads, and I can pretend to be a hooligan when she’s not riding it. If she ends up outgrowing it, we can sell it for pretty much what we’ve invested in it. Or we can keep it around as a training bike for others in the family, or if we’re just having too much dang fun on this little thing.
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