Buying a Motorcycle in Bali
I believe I made a mistake purchasing my motorcycle. I should have just saved up and bought a super nice one. Don’t get me wrong mine is amazing however I wasn’t taking into consideration two huge factors, comfort & power. Mine is a 250cc Kawasaki Ninja custom rebuild into a cafe racer style which they call a scrambler here on the island. But it’s somewhat uncomfortable on long rides and its even more uncomfortable for Sarah riding behind me. And I didn’t realize this at the time, I wish I had. When you go up to a 400cc or a 600cc, the bike gets significantly more comfortable. In fact, most bikes that aren’t a fully custom rebuild / cafe racer are inherently more comfortable. My bike is built for looks, as opposed to power and comfort. And this is the fallacy behind the purchase. My ego wanted something, so it hopped on it, it looked amazing, and so I bought it. But I didn’t take into consideration the comfort, and the power. And I didn’t take into consideration Sarah. And although I wish I realized this before purchasing the bike, Sarah has a different perspective. And that is, she believes the bike is serving a part of me, teaching me a lesson, and that’s why she doesn’t regret it or think it should have been any different then the way it has turned out.
I just discovered a motorbike they have here on the island called a Kawasaki ER6N. It’s a 600cc and on Facebook marketplace I saw someone was selling it in Denpesar, so Sarah and I drove out there on my bike. When we arrived she told me her tailbone was hurting because it was such an uncomfortable ride. Then we saw the ER6N. It’s a beautiful bike in every way, and damn it’s loud when you turn it on! But I took it out for a test drive and Sarah jumped on the back, and as soon as she did she was in a seat orgasm. She was like “oh my God this is amazing” literally the entire time, with a smile on her face. We only drove it a few hundred meters before the rain started pouring so we turned around & drove it back. The bike is so powerful you could do a wheelie. In comparison I highly doubt I’d be able to even get the Ninja’s front tire to even slightly lift off the ground. And when we gave it back I knew that it wasn’t my bike, but I did love how comfortable it was, and how happy it made Sarah.
What I’m going to do is sell my bike, for 55 million rupiah, and use those funds to purchase a comfortable two seater bike that is either 400cc or 600cc. I guess I bought this bike because I thought I could resell it easily, but I also bought it from a place of lack / desiring security. During the initial purchase, I felt this unease that I didn’t have a bike, this sense of un-security, and so I purchased it. And yet a few months later this thing is the thing that’s now giving me un-security by now needing to sell it and going through that whole process.
The real lesson here is: whatever we think is going to bring us security, is the next thing that is going to bring us less security / safety. Much like when you have a problem, and you think the solution is the solution to that problem, but then that solution soon becomes your next problem. It’s this perpetual hunt, this perpetual search for “better” that causes us so much misery, so much discomfort, so much suffering. It’s the carrot that dangles in front of our noses and it’s always slightly out of reach, always. This “I’m never fully satisfied” feeling, which haunts us, incessantly. The truth is that what we are looking for, this sense of fulfillment, security, peace and happiness, doesn’t lie outside of us, it doesn’t lie out there, it lies within. All of your answers will not be found without, they will be found within.