Wow. What a day.
[rewind]
My beloved sweetheart has always wanted to pilot a bike (she lubs da Ducs, 'specially the Diavel), but has only ever been the passenger for 20+ years on the back of her ex's HD Sportster. So last summer I surprised her with a MSF course for her birthday and took the course with her. That was a lot of fun but a bit alarming as well (high risk activity) and we put off talking about getting bikes until this year to see if it was something we still wanted to pursue.
Short answer after today: this is worse than crack because it's dirt cheap and there is no rehab for this.
I finished my contract gig 3 weeks ago and have some downtime before my next project. Studied and took my CA DMV M1 on a Thursday and passed. That Saturday we went to Bert's Mega Mall because it had every manufacturer I was interested in except BMW.
Salesguy Mark greeted us after a few minutes of gawking at the huge selection, asked me a few questions about what I was looking for in a motorcycle, and said, "You're gonna get a Yamaha FZ6R today."
I said, "I'm kinda set on a Triumph Daytona 675R, but I'll probably start with a CBR250R to get experience." I've been researching bikes for over a year and just love the sound of that Triple, but never drove (rode?) one.
Mark said, "Nah. You're gonna get a Yamaha FZ6R today."
7 hours later after trying just about every bike in the store, darned if he wasn't 100% correct in selecting the perfect bike for me, so off to finance with numbers wizard (and comedian) Gary to finish the paperwork on the "Stormtrooper Speeder". (Plus, it's kinda hard to ignore $0 down, 3% financing, and a screamin' OTD discount to dump the 2012 to clear way for 2013s).
Bert's doesn't allow test drives, but Mark was kind enough to agree to wheel out the Street Triple 675R and the FZ6R to the front, start them, and let me hear the engine note and feel the throttle response characteristics while parked in neutral.
So I got the 'Speeder, never having even heard of a "FZ6R", let alone ridden it.
Leap of faith... and trust in Mark's expertise after 40 years of riding.
I like the whole white and black theme, and my youngest daughter and I nicknamed our FJ the "Stormtrooper Penguin".
By the way, that's my daily driver (only veehickle I gots). 5 years and 100k of miles, smiles and awesome memories.
But I couldn't ride the bike home because it was dark, home was over 30 miles away, and I had no gear, and the gear department closed an hour earlier.
So back on Sunday for gear. I had nothing. Zip. Nada. Zilch. Another 6 hours with the ever patient Lauren to find the Goldilocks helmet, gloves, jacket, boots, kevlar jeans, cleaning supplies, Pit Bull rear SS, frame sliders, tank protector, disc lock, battery tender, face shields, etc. etc. etc. And Yamaha allowed me to finance just about half of it. Wow.
And these:
Still couldn't ride the bike home because no insurance yet and no jacket (had to order my size/color).
But Monday came...bright and happy.
Woot!
On with the sliders following the wonderful directions from a post elsewhere in this forum. But Shogun's right side engine bolt was 3 mm too long and bottomed out.
But I know how to fix that.
<heh heh>
But still couldn't ride it because no jacket (Wednesday) and I'm old enough to realize that ATGATT is probably a good thing.
As it turns out, prophetic, too.
Then Wednesday came... bright and happy, as well.
But still couldn't ride it (gone for a wonderful weekend with my sweetheart).
So the 'Speeder sat, patiently, getting to know its stable mates.
Sadly handcuffed, for its own protection, of course.
Back home last night and figured out where to put the GoPro's. Well, two of them to start. Worked out really well (I'll take and post pics tomorrow). I really like that GoPro app for Android which lets you see a preview to aid in dialing in the right shot angle - sweet!).
Note to self: HOLD ONTO THE NUT WHEN TAKING OFF THE GOPRO!!!
:banghead:
(On the upside, now I know how to replace the air filter with the K&N unit coming next week.)
Then today came after less than three hours of sleep (too excited!).
But still couldn't ride it because it took me 2.5 hours to adjust the jacket (Tour Master Transition 3.0), pants (Tour Master Flex), and other riding gear.
At last, this ol' dog had his day.
Funnily enough, I put almost a half mile on the odo without ever leaving the driveway in the past week. Every time I took it apart and put it back together, I gave it a test drive down the driveway and back to make sure I didn't do anything more stupid than usual and that everything worked.
My neighbor's daughter rides a lowered GSX-R750 and said when I got my ride, I should spend time in Griffith Park near Burbank and practice, practice, practice.
So I practiced, practiced, practiced.
For about an hour.
Then I hit Mulholland Drive from start to finish and back.
Wow. What a day.
Things I learned:
Looking forward to ridin' with other forum members in the SoCal area!
Cheers!
(Edited 2013-04-05 0738 to fix typos.)
[rewind]
My beloved sweetheart has always wanted to pilot a bike (she lubs da Ducs, 'specially the Diavel), but has only ever been the passenger for 20+ years on the back of her ex's HD Sportster. So last summer I surprised her with a MSF course for her birthday and took the course with her. That was a lot of fun but a bit alarming as well (high risk activity) and we put off talking about getting bikes until this year to see if it was something we still wanted to pursue.
Short answer after today: this is worse than crack because it's dirt cheap and there is no rehab for this.
I finished my contract gig 3 weeks ago and have some downtime before my next project. Studied and took my CA DMV M1 on a Thursday and passed. That Saturday we went to Bert's Mega Mall because it had every manufacturer I was interested in except BMW.
Salesguy Mark greeted us after a few minutes of gawking at the huge selection, asked me a few questions about what I was looking for in a motorcycle, and said, "You're gonna get a Yamaha FZ6R today."
I said, "I'm kinda set on a Triumph Daytona 675R, but I'll probably start with a CBR250R to get experience." I've been researching bikes for over a year and just love the sound of that Triple, but never drove (rode?) one.
Mark said, "Nah. You're gonna get a Yamaha FZ6R today."
7 hours later after trying just about every bike in the store, darned if he wasn't 100% correct in selecting the perfect bike for me, so off to finance with numbers wizard (and comedian) Gary to finish the paperwork on the "Stormtrooper Speeder". (Plus, it's kinda hard to ignore $0 down, 3% financing, and a screamin' OTD discount to dump the 2012 to clear way for 2013s).
Bert's doesn't allow test drives, but Mark was kind enough to agree to wheel out the Street Triple 675R and the FZ6R to the front, start them, and let me hear the engine note and feel the throttle response characteristics while parked in neutral.
So I got the 'Speeder, never having even heard of a "FZ6R", let alone ridden it.
Leap of faith... and trust in Mark's expertise after 40 years of riding.
I like the whole white and black theme, and my youngest daughter and I nicknamed our FJ the "Stormtrooper Penguin".
By the way, that's my daily driver (only veehickle I gots). 5 years and 100k of miles, smiles and awesome memories.
But I couldn't ride the bike home because it was dark, home was over 30 miles away, and I had no gear, and the gear department closed an hour earlier.
So back on Sunday for gear. I had nothing. Zip. Nada. Zilch. Another 6 hours with the ever patient Lauren to find the Goldilocks helmet, gloves, jacket, boots, kevlar jeans, cleaning supplies, Pit Bull rear SS, frame sliders, tank protector, disc lock, battery tender, face shields, etc. etc. etc. And Yamaha allowed me to finance just about half of it. Wow.
And these:
Still couldn't ride the bike home because no insurance yet and no jacket (had to order my size/color).
But Monday came...bright and happy.
Woot!
On with the sliders following the wonderful directions from a post elsewhere in this forum. But Shogun's right side engine bolt was 3 mm too long and bottomed out.
But I know how to fix that.
<heh heh>
But still couldn't ride it because no jacket (Wednesday) and I'm old enough to realize that ATGATT is probably a good thing.
As it turns out, prophetic, too.
Then Wednesday came... bright and happy, as well.
But still couldn't ride it (gone for a wonderful weekend with my sweetheart).
So the 'Speeder sat, patiently, getting to know its stable mates.
Sadly handcuffed, for its own protection, of course.
Back home last night and figured out where to put the GoPro's. Well, two of them to start. Worked out really well (I'll take and post pics tomorrow). I really like that GoPro app for Android which lets you see a preview to aid in dialing in the right shot angle - sweet!).
Note to self: HOLD ONTO THE NUT WHEN TAKING OFF THE GOPRO!!!
:banghead:
(On the upside, now I know how to replace the air filter with the K&N unit coming next week.)
Then today came after less than three hours of sleep (too excited!).
But still couldn't ride it because it took me 2.5 hours to adjust the jacket (Tour Master Transition 3.0), pants (Tour Master Flex), and other riding gear.
At last, this ol' dog had his day.
Funnily enough, I put almost a half mile on the odo without ever leaving the driveway in the past week. Every time I took it apart and put it back together, I gave it a test drive down the driveway and back to make sure I didn't do anything more stupid than usual and that everything worked.
My neighbor's daughter rides a lowered GSX-R750 and said when I got my ride, I should spend time in Griffith Park near Burbank and practice, practice, practice.
So I practiced, practiced, practiced.
For about an hour.
Then I hit Mulholland Drive from start to finish and back.
Wow. What a day.
Things I learned:
- I suck at shifting.
- At this rate, I will most likely need to replace the clutch every 6 months.
- I should probably change my forum name to "Over-Rev".
- Thank heaven I'm more cautious than my desire, and waited until after the frame sliders and all the gear arrived and was properly fitted before heading out - not a nick on the bike except bar end scuff and slider scuff.
- Shift into first before stopping, otherwise the bike is stuck in second, not first, which, upon a take off attempt, causes the bike to lurch, sieze, stall, and stop suddenly, thereby upsetting balance in gravity's favor when starting uphill.
- Adrenaline is your best friend when deadlifting a 470 lb. bike, alone, back onto the rubber side facing down.
- Remember to cycle the ignition off then back on before attempting to restart after a deadlift.
- The batteries on a GoPro Hero3 Black on 1440 x 48fps with WiFi will run out of juice in less than one hour, leaving 3/4 of the 64GB microSD card unused, and fail to record a teachable moment, or any of the stunning vistas from Mulholland. (If a drop happens at a remote stop sign and no GoPro is alive to record it, did it even occur?)
- The FZ6R's torque allowed me to leave the bike in 4th gear for nearly the entire ride so I could focus on avoiding pot holes the size of the Grand Canyon at every bleeping corner. Gotta luv the City Council of Lost Angels - spend money on everything else except basic services.
- It is impossible for the 'Speeder to behave and remain within the 25 mph speed limit after waiting nearly a year from the day of its creation to get a chance to run.
- I suck at shifting.
- And forget about rev match blipping like this guy on the downshifts for a loooong while. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCd0bwqfEUo]ZX10r sportbike fast downshifting w throttle blip / rev-match Part1 - YouTube[/ame]
- Watch this more often: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_cPblE6my4]How To Downshift While Rev Matching - YouTube[/ame]
- The Tour Master Transition 3 jacket is brilliant. (And I appreciate the elbow and shoulder armor even more.)
- The Tour Master Flex pants are fantastic. (Hooray for hip padding, too!)
- The Tour Master Solution WP Air boots are super comfy and cool.
- I didn't even realize that those items were all Tour Master until I just typed them out.
- I suck at shifting.
- I need to practice slow speed tight figure 8's and u-turns.
- I can't believe what an amazing time I had for less than a gallon of gas. Disneyland - eat your heart out; I got my own E-Ticket ride. (Does anyone else remember E-Tickets? Or am I the only ol' fogey around here?)
- This experience was VERY different than racing cars, but apexes are apexes, and best practice is still best practice.
- Removing the quilted liners from the jacket and pants on 80 degree F days is a must.
- I need more H3 batteries. This looks like a great place to start.
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AAIPT76/ref=ox_sc_act_title_6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A26DOG57FL5OY2]Amazon.com: Wasabi Power Battery (2-Pack) and Charger for GoPro HD HERO3 and GoPro AHDBT-201, AHDBT-301: Camera & Photo[/ame] - The FZ6R's seat is very comfy - no monkey butt even after a 3 hr maiden voyage.
- Mulholland Drive is much more pleasant at 1pm than 5 pm.
- Yes, Yes, Yes - get the smallest helmet you can stuff your noggin into without getting a headache.
- Speaking of headaches - put a drop of blue Loctite on every H3 nut.
- T-Rex No Mod swingarm spools are a must; it is an alarming sight to see how far the Pit Bull rear stand can travel up the swing arm after working on the 'Speeder for just a short while.
- Mark was right - just get out there and ride... all my preconceptions about what I thought would be "the perfect bike" will fly out the visor within seconds of leaving the driveway.
- I love the sound of straight cut gears... and the 'Speeder has just a hint of that wonderful sound.
- Rolling off the throttle slows down the bike MUCH more than I would have expected.
- 1,000 mi cannot get here soon enuf.
- I can get to Devils Punchbowl via Angeles Crest Highway tomorrow without ever touching the freeway.
Looking forward to ridin' with other forum members in the SoCal area!
Cheers!
(Edited 2013-04-05 0738 to fix typos.)
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