Howdy from Houston

[CC-John]

Howdy y'all!

I stumbled across this place after searching for more info on ChiCom motorcycles after watching a on a YouTube channel I follow. Been having an itch for a while to get back into dual sport type bikes for a couple years, but the sticker shock of anything from the big 4, and clean used bike prices put a quick damper on that itch.

Then after watching that video, I started giving the ChiCom bikes a closer look and definitely am impressed with the bang for the buck I'm seeing. I'm no stranger to dual sports, grew up with a slew of Honda XL's (70, 100, 250, 500) from the mid 70's thru the mid 80's.

I think I've narrowed my choice down to the Templar 250 X for building a sweet neighborhood scoot for running errands on or occasionally loading it on a hitch carrier to haul it north of Houston to ride the trails in the National Forest.

Already have a short list of mods from lurking around here for the past few days. Since this bike will be a 70/30 pavement pounder I'm planning on fitting it with a set of Shinko 705's, and either a 40 or a 42 tooth rear sprocket installed during the build. In addition, it will get the carb rejetted, cat delete, and a full teardown and build with no fastener left untouched, untorqued or un Loctited, along with all factory fluids getting replaced.

Gotta get my finances settled after dealing with a few house repairs after the little storm we just had blow through, but hope to be able to place an order in a month or two. Then the fun begins!

Damn! Didn't mean to write a novel for a first post.

[Crossbar]

Just got my Templar X a few months ago - love it so far. The Honda Shadow is feeling neglected right now.

[CC-John]

After everything I've researched on the Templar, it just checks all the boxes for what I'm looking for. And the fact that its a true 250cc is just icing on the cake.

Need to start looking into local motorcycle safety courses so I can get get a motorcycle endorsement on my driver's license.