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Hey all.
My name is Les Baker and I own a 1995 GSX600. I'm from Kenai, Alaska which is a smaller town about 150 miles south of Anchorage. I've always grown up on dirt bikes, 4-wheelers, side-by-sides, snowmachines ect... you get the picture. Living in Alaska however, buying/owning a motorcycle isn't the dumbest thing on earth, but you're very limited to when (and where) you can drive because of the seasons. That being said I never took initiative to buy a motorcycle because there was always something better I could spend my money on. That all changed when my moms best friend offered me her Katana for $500 dollars! She new I was a broke college kid and gave me the deal of a lifetime. I bought some leather saddle bags, and a hard-case for another $200 haha
By this point you must be thinking that this thing (for $500) must have been the biggest piece of junk on earth, but you couldn't be more farther from the truth. This bike has a little over 5000 miles on it and more than half of those I've put on myself since early June 2012 when I purchased it. The lady who sold it to me is a tough gal no-doubt, but this bike was way to big for her. She laid it over twice, one on each side and scraped up the decals pretty good but she was not harmed in either accident.
This bike here also saved my life. Although I hail from Alaska, I go to school in Oregon. I make the trip through Canada each year (I've done it 6 times now) with my 04' Chevy Colorado and usually a truckload of crazy people haha This time however, on the way to Oregon from Alaska after the summer, my axel sheered straight through right at my wheel baring when I was driving through MIDDLE OF NOWHERE CANADA at 3AM. Me and my friend hadn't seen a car behind us or in-front of us for probably a good 300 miles so getting picked up probably wasn't an option (the fact that hitch-hiking is illegal in Canada didn't help either). So what do I end up doing? Throw that bike out of the back and hit the negative degree freezing (by this time) 4AM morning. I thought the closest town was about 70 miles and didn't find out I was wrong until I was putting the bike into it's reserve tank after around 170 miles... Long story short I finally get to a tele where my girlfriend picks up and comes to rescue me and my friend (who by the way I left in my broken truck on the side of the road). $1300 to get the truck into town, $1300 to repair, $695 ticket on my motorcycle in Canada while waiting 4 days to get my truck repaired. This is how I have FUN apparently hahaha
This has turned out to be a lot more then I planned on writing so if you've made it this far congrats and I'm sorry I'll wrap it up. The reason I'm even on here is because I was parked at a 7/11 in Corvallis, OR and 2 guys from Alaska no-less stopped me and asked about the bike. I was telling him how I wanted to paint it but really wanted to find other fairings ect. ect. and he mentioned KatRiders and said that either he might have been a member, or his friend was. Regardless, I'm not new to riding, but I'm new to Katanas and I really want to take care of this thing.
The last oil-change was with royal purple (I'm a high-rev rider) but I need to go get a tune-up and get everything all sweetened up. I'd like to paint it white with maroon effects but we'll see what that turns into. The guy at 7/11 mentioned something about getting a wider rear tire and that sounded pretty good haha I'm sure I'll find different threads about what to put on here but I really want to trick this thing out with the high-performance pieces and make it look and feel like I know it can.
Thanks guys,
Les
My name is Les Baker and I own a 1995 GSX600. I'm from Kenai, Alaska which is a smaller town about 150 miles south of Anchorage. I've always grown up on dirt bikes, 4-wheelers, side-by-sides, snowmachines ect... you get the picture. Living in Alaska however, buying/owning a motorcycle isn't the dumbest thing on earth, but you're very limited to when (and where) you can drive because of the seasons. That being said I never took initiative to buy a motorcycle because there was always something better I could spend my money on. That all changed when my moms best friend offered me her Katana for $500 dollars! She new I was a broke college kid and gave me the deal of a lifetime. I bought some leather saddle bags, and a hard-case for another $200 haha
By this point you must be thinking that this thing (for $500) must have been the biggest piece of junk on earth, but you couldn't be more farther from the truth. This bike has a little over 5000 miles on it and more than half of those I've put on myself since early June 2012 when I purchased it. The lady who sold it to me is a tough gal no-doubt, but this bike was way to big for her. She laid it over twice, one on each side and scraped up the decals pretty good but she was not harmed in either accident.
This bike here also saved my life. Although I hail from Alaska, I go to school in Oregon. I make the trip through Canada each year (I've done it 6 times now) with my 04' Chevy Colorado and usually a truckload of crazy people haha This time however, on the way to Oregon from Alaska after the summer, my axel sheered straight through right at my wheel baring when I was driving through MIDDLE OF NOWHERE CANADA at 3AM. Me and my friend hadn't seen a car behind us or in-front of us for probably a good 300 miles so getting picked up probably wasn't an option (the fact that hitch-hiking is illegal in Canada didn't help either). So what do I end up doing? Throw that bike out of the back and hit the negative degree freezing (by this time) 4AM morning. I thought the closest town was about 70 miles and didn't find out I was wrong until I was putting the bike into it's reserve tank after around 170 miles... Long story short I finally get to a tele where my girlfriend picks up and comes to rescue me and my friend (who by the way I left in my broken truck on the side of the road). $1300 to get the truck into town, $1300 to repair, $695 ticket on my motorcycle in Canada while waiting 4 days to get my truck repaired. This is how I have FUN apparently hahaha
This has turned out to be a lot more then I planned on writing so if you've made it this far congrats and I'm sorry I'll wrap it up. The reason I'm even on here is because I was parked at a 7/11 in Corvallis, OR and 2 guys from Alaska no-less stopped me and asked about the bike. I was telling him how I wanted to paint it but really wanted to find other fairings ect. ect. and he mentioned KatRiders and said that either he might have been a member, or his friend was. Regardless, I'm not new to riding, but I'm new to Katanas and I really want to take care of this thing.
The last oil-change was with royal purple (I'm a high-rev rider) but I need to go get a tune-up and get everything all sweetened up. I'd like to paint it white with maroon effects but we'll see what that turns into. The guy at 7/11 mentioned something about getting a wider rear tire and that sounded pretty good haha I'm sure I'll find different threads about what to put on here but I really want to trick this thing out with the high-performance pieces and make it look and feel like I know it can.
Thanks guys,
Les
Ride like it's your last ride 
)
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