Motocycle Update

It's been a month now since I got the motorcycle. I'm definitely loving it. I've put several hundred miles on it between practicing my slow maneuvers, neighborhood street riding and commuting to work a few times. Today was my 4th time riding to work. I'll be taking a motorcycle safety course on June 12th, 14th and 15th from the folks at www.2wheelsafety.com they'll get me started on the right track for learning how to ride properly, how to ride safely, equipment choices and riding strategies. If I complete the course successfully, I will be able to waive the DMV skill test and just have to take the written test.

Each time I get on the bike, I get a little better and more confident. I'm trying to avoid being cocky since this will just get me into trouble. Every ride has a little gotcha that needs me to work on. It might be better start offs where I don't paddle my feet, over rev the engine or stall out the bike when I release the clutch. It might be that slow u-turn that I can't quite make without almost coming to a stop or coming to a stop too short or far from the stop line. Little things like that. The big one I need to watch out for is taking a curve too fast and wide. That one can land me in a ditch or into another lane. The rule is slow down! Since I'm taking the bike to work once in a while, I get lot's of practice on 40 one way miles of commute. I also found out I needed to get some different equipment.

First of all, I changed helmets. The salesperson started me off with an open face helmet. That's what he wore. Closed faced helmets make him claustrophobic. I wear glasses and full face helmets can be a pain. It was OK when I was only riding up and down my street. The first time I commuted with it, I knew that the helmet was not going to work out well at 5:30 am with sub 50 temperatures. Also, it was a little big, noisy, not as safe as I wanted and oh, did I mention I froze my face off? I immediately got a face shield. That was better but not good enough. I ended up getting a very well made closed faced helmet from Shoei. It solved all my problems except one. It fogs up when you're not moving but then so do my glasses. I have a potential fix for the face shield and I need to look into something for my glasses. My gloves were too thin and not windproof. I got some better gloves but they were not lined. Frozen fingers. I got some new gloves that are much better. Problem solved but I may need a size larger. I have one pair for the morning and one for the afternoon.

The bike is in excellent shape equipment wise. I'm learning how to fill the gas tank properly and trying to remember it has a fuel shutoff valve I need to turn back on when I start up. I've gone down the road a few times and had the engine almost quit on me before remembering I didn't turn it on. It's also good to know how to switch it over to reserve when your main tank it out. I got 55MPG on the last tank of gas but I suspect that was too high. I'm not sure if I filled it right. I have to avoid filling it too much or I can damage the evaporative fuel system. It does need a few things for my own safety concerns. One thing is passing lights and mounts. The better people can see me the safer I will be. I still have to ride like other drivers never see me. I'm "invisible" to them. That's one of the riding strategies I have to adapt. The other piece of equipment is new tires. I have stock Bridgestone D707/D703 on the bike and I'm switching them to Pirelli MT66 tires. I feel that the original tires while not having many miles on them might have been sitting around too long and don't have the performance characteristics I would like to see. The most important piece of equipment on the bike is your tires. Don't ever skimp on them or settle for poor performance. The next item is cosmetic. I want chrome tips on the fenders. OK, that's cosmetic but they look cool and they will hide the two scrapes on the bike. One on the rear fender that was there before I bought it, somebody was sitting on it and backed it into a concrete retaining wall. The second scrape is on the front fender where I had to lay the bike down in a sand patch the very first time I rode it. This was right after I stalled it out right in the driveway. Talk about embarrassing! Oh well, lesson learned. Did I say they were cool looking? The last item is chrome light covers. OK, they are just cool. I can't justify them any other way.

Other than that for equipment, I where jeans, a thick cowhide leather jacket that has zipper vents and places for armor inserts, the aforementioned gloves and helmet and finally some sturdy, no slip, rubber soled, cowboy boots to give me support and protect my ankles. For added protection and warmth I can always wear my cowhide leather horse riding chaps. I'll smell like a horse but I'll have some protection!

Now back to riding. I've gotten to the point where I can put my daughter on the back and give her a ride up and down a parking lot. She needs a better helmet though. I can ride on a highway since I can comfortably do 65 mph. Legally, I need to wait until I have my license before I actually get on one. We have a few high speed roads around here that are not highways. My riding restrictions are no passengers, no highways and no riding at night. I'll be glad when that is over. It'll still be a while before I'll give full rides to my wife and daughter. I'm getting much better but I still have a lot of newbie issues and I'll probably will for a long time. Like I said, the big one is slow down enough for a curve! Oh, and proper start offs. More practice. I went down to the DMV parking lot on a Sunday to see if I could do the skill test when nobody was around. It took some work but I finally was able to do it right a few times. It's really hard putting a 650lb 1100cc bike into a really tight circle to the left and right. That's why the put you on 250cc bikes during the training classes. I was able to get on a parkway a few times with 55mph speed limits on the way to work. I wasn't sure it was technically a freeway until I found out the recent construction completed last year did turn it into a freeway for part of the way so, I guess that rules that out for now. When is my class done and I get my certificate so I can get my license? I figure by the end of this month I'll have git'er done. I can't wait. In the mean time. Practice, practice, practice and save up some money to get my lights, tips and covers. Safety and looking cool. I can live with that. I can also live with the 50+ MPG if that holds up.