The Joys of Riding and the BMRC

What can I say? I'm breaking the law...

I've road tested the bike, sans endorsement, and so far, so good. I like the feel of this bike, the quiet whistle of the motor, the ease of shifting, the fast take off... whoops.. shouldn't have said that. It's true though. I almost lost control a couple of times due to the rapid acceleration, something I didn't really expect from a bike this size.

Speaking of that, always remember which side has the clutch, and which side has the throttle. No matter how hard you press in on the clutch, other than disengaging power to the back wheel, it does nothing to slow you down. Also, always remeber to engage both front AND rear brakes.

I had my first (of many, I'm sure) negative interactions with motorists today. Doing the speed limit (25mph) someone shouted out their window as they passed, "Hurry the hell up, jackass!" Yeah, right lady. Why not close the cell phone and focus on the road.

As I mentioned earlier, I had to get the rear wheel fixed, and how. I took it to College Motors, their link here.

The part guy, named Brent H. was very helpful in helping me choose a tire (exceeding the budget I had placed upon myself, but answered succinctly when he said, "Well, if you have a $10 ass, buy a $10 tire." Thanks Brent.) and the service department had it installed in a couple of hours. According to the service guy, the wheel was in pretty bad shape, but he was impressed overall in how the bike looked. This from a guy who, is either one hell of a schmoozer, or was telling the truth. He allowed me to watch the process, and I realized there is no way I could have removed the rear wheel myself. I probably could now, but it isn't easy. I spent some time in their showroom which is HUGE. Lots of stuff for the aspiring motorcyclist with money to burn. I saw something I would like to get, perhaps for christmas, a tank bag.

In the downtime, I walked through our bustling business district and watched a group called Group Therapy play. They were pretty good, the lead singer a female with a voice rivalling that of the ACDC vocalist in terms of scratchiness and resonating, sonorous tonality.


Things planned for the bike:
* New paint for the gas tank
* clean up of all the chrome (though I started on this using a $2 chrome polish and was amazed at the results.
* clean up (better) of the rims. I found Gojo works wonderfully to get off crap and oil.

Actually, there is a huge laundry list of things I need to do. Oil change, radiator fluid change, spark plug change....

hopefully, I'll get the chance to ride it again soon. :)

I'll post pics of it soon.