A Lady and Her Honda Insurgent

After I inform individuals I’ve a motorbike, I get one in every of three responses. The primary is that bikes are harmful and never definitely worth the threat. The second is {that a} Honda Insurgent 250 isn’t a “actual” bike. The third response – and my favourite by far – is delivered within the type of a narrative about somebody’s trusty first bike that they’ll always remember.

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I’ve heard the horror tales of life-changing accidents. These tales I can respect. They arrive from a spot of caring, generally a spot of loss. They’re not enjoyable tales, however they’re tales that need to be heard.

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As to the second response, I’ve misplaced endurance with those that say the Insurgent isn’t an actual bike. The Insurgent 250 is small, that’s true. You gained’t discover it on a listing of the highest 10 strongest bikes. You gained’t discover it on anybody’s record of dream bikes. But when individuals who inform me the Insurgent 250 isn’t an actual bike might hear a number of the third sort of responses, they could have a special perspective.

The third response is my favourite as a result of it’s the one that almost all aligns with my very own expertise. It comes from riders who’ve owned a Insurgent 250, normally as a primary bike. After I inform these individuals what bike I’ve, they gentle up. They inform me about how they discovered to experience on a Insurgent. Or how they left work in a path of mud on a Insurgent when their partner was going into labor or taught their little kids to experience on a Insurgent. I can relate to those tales as a result of they’re fueled by that first pleasure of sitting on a motorbike.

After I determined I needed a motorbike, I searched all over the place. I printed off Craigslist postings and requested my family and friends what they considered them. I took photos of bikes with “For Sale” indicators on the facet of the street. I didn’t actually know what I used to be on the lookout for till I noticed a posting for a 2014 Honda Insurgent 250.

I took my dad with me to have a look at it the very subsequent week. It was the least intimidating bike I had seen thus far. It was attractive, with shiny black paint and a trendy “Insurgent” sticker on the gasoline tank. I admit, my enthusiasm about lastly discovering a motorbike that was inexpensive, sufficiently small for me to take a seat on comfortably, and in nice situation might need clouded my judgment, however I nonetheless assume it’s a ravishing bike. 

Some issues are stunning not due to their complexity however due to their simplicity. The Insurgent wasn’t making an attempt to be something it wasn’t. Likewise, I wasn’t making an attempt to impress anybody with a thundering loud exhaust or state-of-the-art know-how. I simply needed to be what I used to be: a brand new rider comfy and joyful on her first bike.

Earlier than I ever sat on a motorbike, I rode horses. My horse is known as Chief. I nonetheless have him, though now he spends his days grazing by way of retirement. He’s a delicate large, calm and regular. He caught with me by way of thorn briars and winding wooded trails. We even have the identical hair coloration. One factor I discovered from Chief was the right way to belief what carries you. I developed an analogous belief with the Insurgent.

My Insurgent has been my loyal mount for six years. It has carried me from Dover, Tennessee, as much as Grand Rivers, Kentucky, a city of about 400 individuals nestled between the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers with a implausible restaurant referred to as Patti’s. To get there, I am going up the Hint by way of Land Between the Lakes. I cease for a break in entrance of the outdated iron furnace. I experience by the elk and bison vary. I swing by the planetarium and watch a Beatles laser present. Earlier than lengthy, I’m eating at Patti’s, chowing down on bread baked in a clay flowerpot and a 2-inch-thick pork chop.

My Insurgent has additionally carried me to Aurora, Kentucky, house of the Hot August Blues Festival and Belew’s Dairy Bar. The reminiscence of a Belew’s double cheeseburger with the patty edges crispy with grill taste nonetheless makes my mouth water. On the Scorching August Blues Pageant, of us from all walks of life stretch out on the riverbank and catch up whereas bands get down with it. You by no means meet a stranger in Aurora, even in the event you’ve by no means seen a single particular person there earlier than. By way of all these experiences, my Insurgent was with me.

I’m not making an attempt to persuade you to go purchase your self a Insurgent 250. Should you’re new to bikes and wish one that’s straightforward to experience, reliable, and never very costly, then a Insurgent is an effective alternative. It’s not flashy or spectacular, nevertheless it has a personality of its personal. Nor am I making an attempt to persuade myself that I made the precise alternative. If I might do it over once more, I wouldn’t change a factor. All I would like is for brand new riders to cherish their time with their first bike and for skilled riders to take a second and bear in mind what that felt like.

Allison Parker joined the Rider workers as assistant editor in August 2022. That is her first story for the journal, and it appeared within the December 2022 concern. –Ed.