Wrider's Scribblings

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Wrider
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Posts: 5285
Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2006 1:46 pm
Real Name: Ryan
Sex: Male
Years Riding: 4
My Motorcycle: 2005 Kawasaki Z750S
Location: Colorado Springs, CO

Wrider's Scribblings

#1 Unread post by Wrider »

Hey everybody, most of you know me, but for those of you that don't!

I'm Wrider, AKA Ryan. I was born and raised in the 6000 Ft. elevation of Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA, and now living in Phoenix, AZ, USA. I'm 21 years old now, and first got into motorcycling just over a year ago in August 2006 when I took the MSF beginner rider's class and bought my first bike.

Before I plunked down the money to take the class, I had a friend show me a little about bikes. Not your typical friend who rides a Gixxer 1000 and stunts it. No, my friend is 40-some years old this year, has ridden dirt and street since he was a little kid. He's ridden everything from cruisers to sportbikes, to touring bikes. Claims he has over 200,000 miles under his belt, which in Colorado is actually impressive.
Anyway, at the time he didn't have a bike, but his wife did. She had a Honda Rebel 250 that she rode to work and back everyday.
I'm 6'2" and 300 (although most guess at about 230) lbs, and he's bigger than I am (diabetes sucks), so I can only imagine how we looked toodling around a parking lot on that tiny little bike! :laughing:
Anyway, so we took that to a school parking lot just down the street from his house on a Sunday morning so I wouldn't have to deal with any traffic.
He taught me the basic controls, brakes, clutch, shifter, throttle, and demonstrated how to ride the bike.
Then he let me ride the Honda.
From the start I was hooked, let out the clutch slowly, revved it to get speed, shifted gears, and I couldn't wipe the grin off of my face with sandpaper!
Took it around the parking lot for about half an hour, and I was happier than I'd imagined I could be.

That hooked me for good.

When I decided to plunk down the dinero for the bike and the course, I researched thoroughly. I knew I wanted a cruiser for a couple of reasons.
1. I didn't want to be a squid
2. I didn't want the insurance rates
3. I wanted to survive my first ride! :lol:

So I looked at everything from Honda Shadows to Kawasaki Vulcans to Yamaha Stars, but ended up deciding on a 2001 Suzuki Intruder Volusia.
805 cc V-Twin powerplant, liquid cooled, 5.1 gallon tank, carbeurated, and shaft driven.

I had my friend ride it home for me from the seller's house, which was about 30 miles from my house.

There it sat in my garage, for two weeks, waiting for me to ride it... Gah it was tempting. But, I'm proud to say, I didn't give in to the temptation! :laughing:

I went and took the MSF class. As a 20 year old male who has earned the nickname "Speed Demon" by a pro race-car driver that taught a "Remedial Driving Skills" Class, I highly recommend it for anyone and everyone thinking about entering the world of motorcycling. I know for a fact that it taught me a lot of skills that I used to keep the bike shiny side up.

So yeah, I now have the MSF class under my belt and a shiny bike sitting in my garage, what do you think I do? I HOP ON AND GO FOR A RIDE!!!

My first ride was just around my neighborhood, getting a feel for the throttle, brakes, shifting, etc. I'm sure most people can agree that when I was cruising at about 25 it seemed like 40 at first! Took corners, hills, straightaways, etc. It was the most exhilarating moment for me!

On my second ride I took a couple of main roads, speed limit 55, which was absolutely no problem for me, although it seemed like I was doing about 90 :twisted: (that's not a bad thing for me btw).

So yeah, from August of 2006 until I had to sell the bike on April 2nd 2007, I was ALWAYS hopping on it if I could. Joyrides, transportation to school, to work, etc, I basically only rode it unless it was snowing, was forecast to snow, or there was already snow on the ground.

I bought the bike with just over 3500 miles on it, barely broken in, I was the third owner. By the time I sold it, I had over 6800 miles on it. I was often the only one out when it was 0 degrees (- the windchill), and still I enjoyed it.

After I sold it, I vowed that I would stay active in the motorcycle community. I have been on here ever since, I have attended rallies and shows, and most recently, I applied for and was accepted into Motorcycle Mechanics Institute down here in Phoenix, AZ.

I applied for and got into the Suzuki and Yamaha manufacturers' specialties. I hope to also do Honda and Kawasaki eventually, but for now, the tuition is enough :roll: :frusty:

As I write this, I'm currently aiming for either a Suzuki SV650/1000 (naked), the Yamaha FZ6, or the Suzuki DL650/1000 V-Strom all of which are wonderful bikes I've heard, although only test ridden the FZ6.

Anyway, I'll hopefully have time to keep this updated as I go through MMI and let you all know how it's going!
Wrider
Have owned - 2001 Suzuki Volusia
Current bike - 2005 Kawasaki Z750S
MMI Graduation date January 9th, 2009. Factory Certifications in Suzuki and Yamaha

Wrider
Site Supporter - Gold
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Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2006 1:46 pm
Real Name: Ryan
Sex: Male
Years Riding: 4
My Motorcycle: 2005 Kawasaki Z750S
Location: Colorado Springs, CO

The First Day

#2 Unread post by Wrider »

Well, my first day went pretty smoothly. We learned about the school, about the courses, and about what's going to be happening over our careers as both students and mechanics. Many of the instructors there attended MMI, went out, worked in the field, and are now back teaching!

One guy there is my class's main instructor, and I think he has a little mor experience than even most of the members here, he's been riding continuously since 1965. His claim to fame is that he graduated from Harvard, as in Harvard High School in Harvard, Illinois... :laughing:

For those of you who have seen Easy Rider, at the very beginning, when they try to pull into the motel but the clerk clicks on the "No Vacancy" sign, he actually bought that motel with his boss years ago, and fixed it up to the original condition it was in when the movie was filmed. That's pretty cool!

Anyway, I'm off to bed now, 6:30 to 11:30 is longer than it seems when you're sitting in an uncomfortable seat!

Night!
Have owned - 2001 Suzuki Volusia
Current bike - 2005 Kawasaki Z750S
MMI Graduation date January 9th, 2009. Factory Certifications in Suzuki and Yamaha

Wrider
Site Supporter - Gold
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Posts: 5285
Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2006 1:46 pm
Real Name: Ryan
Sex: Male
Years Riding: 4
My Motorcycle: 2005 Kawasaki Z750S
Location: Colorado Springs, CO

#3 Unread post by Wrider »

So... Update as to how I'm doing... Well, I'm in a Harley guy's beginning class. Not sure if I like him or not, but I'll do my best to keep and open mind, just like the gasket on a panhead... :mrgreen:

So yeah, we've split up that huge class into two smaller classes, both of about 30, maybe 35 people, not too big, not too small, just what I'm used to.
In our classroom, there are two perfectly good bikes being wasted by being put on display!!! One is an original early 90s Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Race bike, and was actually ridden by one of the professors there, and the other is a brand spankin new Buell XB12R Firebolt. *Audience hears Wrider begging instructor for a teeny little test ride*

Our instructor, while I'm sure was simplifying it for most of the students' sakes, drove me UP THE WALL with his astounding lack of physics... For example, mass = weight, not true... and don't start with kilograms, I forget what the metric weight measurement is, but it's not kilos, that's a measurement of mass...

All kinds of loopholes he exposed in the laws of solids, liquids, and gasses, according to him I'm all three! lol I'm a solid because I have three dimensions, I'm a liquid because I have no definite shape, and I'm a gas because I'm easily compressible... lol

Anyway, updates will probably be coming weekly, daily, or whenever I feel like it and I remember...

Oh, and I managed to get my license suspended today! Go me!!! Warning to all who drive through Colorado, don't do 20 over, especially 4 times in a year, the cops really don't like it!
*Disclaimer: Not saying cops are bad, Yes I deserved it, Yes I'm taking responsibility.
Wrider
Have owned - 2001 Suzuki Volusia
Current bike - 2005 Kawasaki Z750S
MMI Graduation date January 9th, 2009. Factory Certifications in Suzuki and Yamaha

Shorts
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#4 Unread post by Shorts »

Good to hear class started. I was wondering when they'd be.

And a suspended license?? :frusty: :lol: What're you gonna do now? Jog?

Wrider
Site Supporter - Gold
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Posts: 5285
Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2006 1:46 pm
Real Name: Ryan
Sex: Male
Years Riding: 4
My Motorcycle: 2005 Kawasaki Z750S
Location: Colorado Springs, CO

#5 Unread post by Wrider »

Bus/Carpool/Ride a supersport so they can't stop me :wink: :laughing:
Wrider
Have owned - 2001 Suzuki Volusia
Current bike - 2005 Kawasaki Z750S
MMI Graduation date January 9th, 2009. Factory Certifications in Suzuki and Yamaha

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aw58
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#6 Unread post by aw58 »

Sorry to hear your suspended - what sort of timescale?

Ade
If you can see the tops of the mountain's it's going to rain.
If you can't - it's raining.
All Characters and events here are allegedly fictitious...Any resemblance with either dead or living is purely co-incidental
And don't ride faster than your Guardian Angel can fly

Wrider
Site Supporter - Gold
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Posts: 5285
Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2006 1:46 pm
Real Name: Ryan
Sex: Male
Years Riding: 4
My Motorcycle: 2005 Kawasaki Z750S
Location: Colorado Springs, CO

#7 Unread post by Wrider »

aw58 wrote:Sorry to hear your suspended - what sort of timescale?

Ade
Well I told the hearing officer (apparently license suspensions aren't worth a judge, but tickets are??? :roll: ) about my situation and school and all, and he agreed to go easy on me, gave me the legal minimum of 6 months, which is cool. Out of Colorado Springs, I have a relatively small group of friends, maybe 30-40 if I include acquaintances I've met more than once. Out of those, because of our city's driving style and the second department of revenue there, the CSPD, I'm the 4th among my personal friends to get my license suspended. And none of us participate in any organized street racing or have particularly fast cars *one friend has a 92 Dodge Stealth that's pretty quick*. All of them lost their licenses for 1 to 1.5 years, but fortunately my license is only gone for 6 months. So I'm excited (relatively) about that.
Wrider
Have owned - 2001 Suzuki Volusia
Current bike - 2005 Kawasaki Z750S
MMI Graduation date January 9th, 2009. Factory Certifications in Suzuki and Yamaha

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ceemes
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#8 Unread post by ceemes »

Six months....still a bummer....but look on the bright side, you'll get it back around the same time the snow's start disappearing.......
Always ask why.

Image

Wrider
Site Supporter - Gold
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Posts: 5285
Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2006 1:46 pm
Real Name: Ryan
Sex: Male
Years Riding: 4
My Motorcycle: 2005 Kawasaki Z750S
Location: Colorado Springs, CO

#9 Unread post by Wrider »

ceemes wrote:Six months....still a bummer....but look on the bright side, you'll get it back around the same time the snow's start disappearing.......
Lol I forgot... I still haven't changed my location... I'm in Phoenix, AZ now... Snow? Non-existent! :laughing:
Ah well, if I get a literbike, I can always outrun the cops right? :laughing:
Wrider
Have owned - 2001 Suzuki Volusia
Current bike - 2005 Kawasaki Z750S
MMI Graduation date January 9th, 2009. Factory Certifications in Suzuki and Yamaha

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High_Side
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#10 Unread post by High_Side »

Winter in Phoenix, with a bike in the garage and no licence? You really know how to torture yourself! I'm sure looking at, and working on bikes all day every day will make the time pass faster :lol:

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