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Motorcycle
Jun. 19th, 2018 10:02 amSo after 30 years, I'm back on a motorcycle. I bought this thing last friday:
So far I like it. It's a beginner cruiser. It can easily do highway speeds, but it's not a rocket (670cc). That means insurance on it is very cheap.
I have a scad of updates for it coming this week. Full windscreen, trunk mount adapter and a trunk box, gear indicator. Looking at Bluetooth headsets too; the Bell helmet I bought has a spot for one.
I've spent about $800 on safety gear. There's some very nice stuff available these days.
The salesperson was rightly nervous when I was leaving - I was too. 30 years off the bike. But a few times around the parking lot and I felt I was up to going home at least (80 miles on I94). Over the weekend I went in to the high school and noodled around the parking lot doing low speed maneuvers for a while, and practiced countersteering on open roads with no traffic. The first day was a little rough, not bad. Today (2nd day) I feel like I've got this. Still need a few hundred hours before I feel I can consider myself competent but I think I can handle myself OK now.
Of course, this whole thing has gotten Tom quite excited. We're finally getting around to getting him trained up on manual transmission in cars, and he's signed up for the motorcycle safety/training course at WCC next week.
So far I like it. It's a beginner cruiser. It can easily do highway speeds, but it's not a rocket (670cc). That means insurance on it is very cheap.
I have a scad of updates for it coming this week. Full windscreen, trunk mount adapter and a trunk box, gear indicator. Looking at Bluetooth headsets too; the Bell helmet I bought has a spot for one.
I've spent about $800 on safety gear. There's some very nice stuff available these days.
The salesperson was rightly nervous when I was leaving - I was too. 30 years off the bike. But a few times around the parking lot and I felt I was up to going home at least (80 miles on I94). Over the weekend I went in to the high school and noodled around the parking lot doing low speed maneuvers for a while, and practiced countersteering on open roads with no traffic. The first day was a little rough, not bad. Today (2nd day) I feel like I've got this. Still need a few hundred hours before I feel I can consider myself competent but I think I can handle myself OK now.
Of course, this whole thing has gotten Tom quite excited. We're finally getting around to getting him trained up on manual transmission in cars, and he's signed up for the motorcycle safety/training course at WCC next week.
