It's Goober from The Andy Griffith Show, an old TV comedy from the 1950s or 1960s.
This pic is in color, so it probably came from the 60s.
I think this pic depicts the mental state a lot of riders are in.
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I get a kick out of how other riders, who own and ride the very same model of motorcycle that I do, expect the opposite from the bike that I do.
On one of the message boards I belong to, one for my WR-250R dual-purpose bike, there are lots of posts and comments from too many other riders who are, basically, complaining about the very features that makes a dual-purpose bike a dual-purpose bike.
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What IS a dual-purpose bike, anyway?
Well, I know I went over that in my very first or second post, but, it bears doing again.
I'm sure you know what a dirt bike looks like.
I'm sure you know a typical dirt bike isn't street legal.
I'm sure you know what a typical street bike looks like.
I'm sure you know a street bike ain't made for off-road riding.
If you want a dirt bike that you can legally ride on the street, straight off the showroom floor, you buy a dual-purpose bike.
This is a bike that is intended to be ridden off-road and also on the street.
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Now, this is where the differences of opinion start, because what your idea of a dual-purpose bike should look like depends on a couple of key things that have to do with you and your gray matter between your ears.
Do you expect the bike to basically be a street bike in dirt bike clothes that can run with 100mph traffic with ease and have a seat made for simply plopping your ass down on it for hundreds of miles at a time, with a big fuel tank to allow such fuel range?
Or, do you expect a dirt bike that has the required parts (like lights, a horn, mirrors, etc.) on it that will make the bike genuinely street legal, letting you hang a license plate on the back so you can ride down any road without fear of getting a ticket for non-registered motor vehicle use?
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Myself, my idea of a dual-purpose bike always has been the latter - I want a dirt bike with street-legal running gear because I plan some real dirt bike riding to go along with my street riding.
The Yamaha WR-250R is exactly this.
It has compromises (like extra weight from EPA crap and taller gearing and cheaper suspension) that both cut costs and make it a better bike on the street compared to a off-road-only dirt bike, but it is, as looking at it can plainly tell you, a dirt bike in it's basic design.
It is plain to see to even the casual motorcycle observer, that it's designed like a dirt bike.
What is it about other riders riding this bike that cracks me up?
When they start putting on the 50lbs. of soft luggage, 3-foot-tall windshields, steel racks over both fenders, heated grips, complain the seat height is too tall, complain about vibration through the seat and grips, and, probably the No. 1 sacrilegious modification they all seem to do to the bike, modify the seat into something twice as wide as it once was, removing the ability to move back-and-forth easily on it, both while seated and while standing, and they always end-up making this creation of a seat shaped to hold their ass toward the rear half of the seat, something that is a big no-no while cornering off-road.
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That last one is a clear sign that, if these guys are even riding the bike off-road, they're doing it while sitting down all the time, which means they're doing it at a snail's pace.
Sorry, folks, but riding the bike at a snail's pace ain't cutting the mustard.
That is something you do when you're scared and uncertain about what you're doing.
I will joke to myself, when I see pics of other WR-250Rs that have a ton of touring-rider-type shit thrown on them, that they really want a 250cc street bike.
Well, that's just fine and dandy if that's where they want to ride, but openly wondering about and complaining about the seat which allows good rider movement while hustling the bike off-road is only gonna' make me roll my eyes and puke.
And laugh at the guy.
He deserves it because he's basically wondering why a cow says "Moo!".
Or why Santa drives a sleigh and delivers toys.
It's because that's the way it is supposed to be, and you're missing the intended purpose, Lenny.
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-Off to jerk,
-John
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