M4's Ride

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m4lu6
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M4's Ride

#1 Unread post by m4lu6 »

At some point I will backtrack and paste previous "blog" like entries into this post, since there are quite a few of them, prirmarily in the New Biker's Forum, and on my personal site.

I've decided to consolidate here in this blog "space", perhaps to expose my riding, and sometimes longwinded writing, to a wider audience.

A little background on little ol' me:

I decided to throw myself a 30th birthday party for myself. A three day affair. It just so happened that MSF was having a party of their own on the same three days I would be at party central. What a coincidence!

Well, far be it from me to pass up a party!

Three days later, and a week before my 30th, I was a certified Basic Motorcyclist.

Over the next week, I feverishly scoured Cycletrader, Ebay, St. Pete times classifieds, craigslist, and just about every pawn shop in the city looking for a good starter bike.

Just as I was about to give up, I got a call from my girlfriends cousin, who wanted to ask me how I liked my MSF course, and to mention that she was in the process of upgrading her bike. She wanted to sell me her EX500! Joy.

Two days later, the bike was mine. Two days and minutes later, I was on the road.

It's been an adventure since.

Since I took posession of my bike toward the end of October, I have managed to put about 1200 miles on it. I try to get out at least once a day. My job is condusive to frequent breaks, and rather than *cough cough* mow the lawn, or do laundry, or dishes, or read the latest issue of The New England Journal of Medicine (Playboy), I gear up, and get out. Working from home for the last 8 years has been fun, and quite productive, but DAMN, I needed a hobby that would get me out of the house.

It was either a bike, or a boat. I did the math, and realized that the bike would give me much much more bang for my buck. Duh.

Besides I have friends with boats. What's the acronym... OPBs? Yeah. I like that one.

Anyhow. On to today's meat:

"Why you should always pay attention to changing road conditions, a lesson taught by M4"

Each week, I head down to the sprawling parking lot at our (haha) baseball stadium. It's typically 1/2 empty during season (Devil Rays), but completely empty for the 6 months between seasons. I pack my little nano-cones I bought from sports authority, the same ones they had at the MSF class, and I head to the lot for some practice.

Last night was my fourth trip to The Dome, and it was already dark. Not a problem. There's enough ambient light thrown down on the tarmac that I would have no problems seeing a) the ground b) my cones.

I set up my cones in the same spot I normally do, in the center third of the southern-most parking lot. I like this spot because the lights on the interstate onramp shine down on to the pavement (and there are no vagrants on that side of the stadium to play the part of roadkill). So I set my cones up, and walked back to my bike, and began my first, and only, slalom practice.

As I was riding through the last cone, I noticed, "hmm. That's odd. I don't remember there being a grade to this parking lot, and then I noticed the odd drop off I was closing in on. Instinctively, I grabbed the clutch, and went for the brakes. "STOP STOP STOP!"

I flipped my face shield up, and noticed some new pavement had been thrown down. I looked around my position, and realized I was sitting atop one of three new asphalt pads, each about 60 to 70 feet in diameter. What the frack was this?!

I got off my bike, and surveyed the lay of the land. AHH! Nice. I realized quickly what these shapes were, and gathered up my cones. "There will be no more practice for me tonight."

It turns out that at some point in the last few days, the city of st. petersburg laid down these asphalt turdlets, no, not for UFO landing practice, but for Cirque du Soleil! It seems that each year, and I've never noticed this before when I go see the cirque, that they lay these pads down to give a flat surface to the parking lot where the cirque is held.

Curse you Guy De Liberté [sp?], curse you! Now I have to find a new parking lot!

Lesson: Survey, COMPLETELY survey your practice paddock prior to going mobile. You might find yourself flying through the air to a sudden *crunchy* ending.

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I have taken possession

#2 Unread post by m4lu6 »

As of 6:34PM EST 2005, I have become the proud owner of a 2006 Yamaha YZF-R6. Raven.

Her name has yet to be determined.

She is beautiful.

She is healthy.

She is in the garage, with no other vehicles. She must be lonesome...

more to come.

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A few notes to self: Squid + CBR = Statistic

#3 Unread post by m4lu6 »

I've noticed something completely different about this bike, aside from the obvious.

Center of gravity: MUCH different from the 500. She's really slung forward. The riding position itself isn't so much different from the EX, which is great. The R6 is a terribly comfortable ride. But wow. For being just about the same weight, maneuvering her around the garage/driveway is a lot different. I think perhaps because the prior owner of the EX had lowered it. That's probably the explanation.

Ah... as I walked into the store last night, I saw a bright orange '06 CBR 600RR. It had been purchased by some as-of-yet unknown customer, indicated by the red tag on the left hand grip. I made little note of the bike, since all my eyes could see was my R6 sitting across the pad.

I did some yacking with my salesman, and we headed over to my bike. I was hesitant to sit on her, she looked like a predator about to strike, and I wanted to appreciate the natural beauty that is the YZF-R6. DAMN she's good looking... anyway.

I sat down on the bike, and the salesman went over where all her controls were. I noticed immediately that the turn signals were a little harder to reach, but quite doable. I clicked left, then right, then pressed them off.

As I was toying with the lights, I heard this ungodly THUD, and a gasp of "HOLY *$@*!" from my salesman. I looked up, and saw 3 other salesman running to where the Orange CBR was. It was now lying prostrate on it's right side, with it's new owner scrambling to figure out what to do.

Apparently this jackass had decided to roll his brand new bike down the entrance & service ramp all by himself. The ramp is about 30 feet long, and looks to be about a 7% grade. The store uses it to move product into and out of the main showroom, which is on the 2nd floor of the building (good for keeping florida floodwaters out, I suppose)

I put my kickstand down, and got off my baby. She seemed upset at what she'd just seen. So was I.

The 3 other salesmen picked up the bike, and rolled it down the ramp, scolding the new owner all the while. He'd managed to crack the right front fairing, rip the seat, and bend a foot peg. Heh. No sliders. Damn. $8500 bike: Now $9500 bike.

My salesman comes back over to me and says, "He's getting his first bike today", and we both shook our heads in unison. "He's never ridden before, so he has a friend coming to pick up the pieces, and ride it home for him."

So we continue to yap for a while, and a few other customers come up and start making commentary about what just occurred. "Squid." was the general sense of things.

As we're standing there talking, I noticed the guy get on the bike, and start it up. I looked over to one of the other customers and said, "I bet $100 that he goes straight for the throttle." We can see him stall a few times, and start it back up. And wouldn't you know it, BAM. Back wheel spins out, and bike goes 5 or so feet forward, and down again.

I don't know how much damage was done on this second drop, since I went back inside. This IDIOT wasn't doing much for my confidence.

Over the next 2 hours, customer after customer breezed through the sales managers office to close deals on bikes ranging from scooters to CBRs to a great looking Yamaha Roadking. Nice bike.

Finally, it was my turn. I whipped out my Amex, threw $3000 at my new bike, and financed $4000. With trade in on my EX, I think I came out pretty good. I should have R6 paid off by August or September, or earlier if I choose to eat Ramen Soup for the next few months.

I came out of the sales managers office, and "rang the bell", a big brass ship bell that you get to ring when you buy a bike. "Ding ding" {applause} "Ding ding" {applause} "Ding ding" {less applause} Ok, so I rang the bell a few too many times. I was excited!

I grabbed my gear, and went down to get my bike. By now, it was well past rush hour, and the temperature was dropping as fast as the sun had dropped over the horizon.

I spent a few minutes in the parking lot learning the friction zone of the new bike. I KNEW I was not going to make the same mistake as the squid by going straight for the throttle. This bike is fuel injected, and has 73 more horses than the Kawasaki. I was not about to tweak the trottle, even slightly. I've read enough posts on this board to know what these rockets are capable of, and I'm not willing to experiment yet.

I pulled out onto the main drag in front of the dealership, and headed home.

On the way home, I tell you, I was ABSOLUTELY terrified, and exhillerated at the same time.

The bike handled well, it just bloody purrrred beneath my legs. Given the riding position is a little more aggressive than my EX, I did find that it is just as comfortable. The foot positioning is a little more to the rear, but not so much as to be uncomfortable. The bike just feels right. I can't say the same for the CBR, which I've sat on for comparison's sake. Wow, that bike is low. I can't see how people ride it in comfort. Feels shaky.

Anyhoo. Off to work I go. Time to put my baby on the bridge to Tampa and go make some money.

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12/1/2005 - A day which will live in inf... well...

#4 Unread post by m4lu6 »

It will go down as a pretty decent day, I suppose.

I crept out of work today about 3:00PM, my brain just wasn't in it anymore. Between looking at $this and $that and picking coffee grounds out of my teeth, I'd had enough.

It was time to go home. I left the laptop at the office today, partially to give myself a little more wiggle room on the bike, and partially because I really need an incentive to go back to the office tomorrow. It's supposed to be cold in the AM, yeah, 50s. {shudder}

I came home, and garaged the bike. I let the dogs out, paid a few bills online, and settled into ... malaise. "hmm. What should I do with myself until bed time? Mow the lawn? Hah. No. Play solitaire? Nah. Crack into my Learning Italian books? Nay. Go for a ri" and before I could register "d" and "e" in my brain, I tossed the"?" and marched off for the garage.

"Jacket" - Check
"Bucket" - Check
"Glovies" - Check
"Dogs" - damnit. Forgot to put the dogs out.

Ok. Dogs out. Start bike, let her warm up in the garage, head back inside to grab my wallet, and leave a message for the gf on the whiteboard, "out. have cellphone. call if needed."

I cruised through downtown st. petersburg, noting the higher-than-normal amount of St. Pete's Finest cruising the streets, "Go ahead, " i mumbled to myself, "Pull me over. I'm doing the posted 30."

Passing through the nasty part of St. Pete, I had no troubles. I even spotted another biker on what looked like a GSX waiting to merge into traffic. We acknowledged each other.

Digress... I still seem to be one of the only people out there with a proper jacket on. Hmm. Oh well. It's not a fashion thing for me. I have a t-shirt on underneath!

I hooked a right westbound on 54th avenue south. It was well past 3:00 at this point, so there wouldn't be any school kids jacking around on 54th (or would there?!?)

Yeah, sure as hell, there would be. I was minding my own business, going about 5 mph faster than the right hand lane traffic, and I noticed a silver toyota camry coming into my lane. BRAKES!

I glanced over, and saw what had to be a 16 or 17 year old on her (gasp!) cellphone and fiddling with her stereo. I got a little pissed, and went around to her right hand side and did The Glare. She knew. She didn't even look at me. She just stared straight ahead. B****.

I cruised around the beach, and back up through the mall area, which is always a good exercise of reflexes this time of year. No issues. Ah, but one jackass in his Tiburon, he wanted to racey-race. No thanks.

Came back home, and did some chores, and settled in for a nice boring night, up until about 9:30 this evening, and I just had to go out for another ride.

So I did! Huzzah. And I managed to finish off the complementary tank of gas from the dealership.

Anyhow. Night night. Off to bed to dream about all things Yamaha.

Ahh, yes. One last observation.

This bike wants to MOVE. It's taking a considerable amount of mental power for me to baby this beast. I'm finding that even the slightest flick of the wrist in certain RPM ranges, and this bike wants to say hello, in person, to the space station.

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OH... and for anyone who actually reads this...

#5 Unread post by m4lu6 »

or any of my other posts...

The little doggie face in my profile is my JRT Marley. He's evil (very evil)

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Sir Isaac Newton

#6 Unread post by m4lu6 »

Don't ever try and fight that force which makes fruit fall from trees.

I tried, and I lost.

I now have a small scratch on my left mirror, very small. A little mother's Back to Black, and you cannot see it.

It happened in the garage.

It was horrifying.

My baby, my poor baby.

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Another Day, Another 150 miles

#7 Unread post by m4lu6 »

Beautiful weather. High 70's today. No humidity, no clouds, no worries.

Lotta bikes on the road today. Most people sans-helmet. I think twice now about supporting the legislation to get rid of the mandatory helmet law... but then I think people should be responsible for themelves anyhow, not the government.

I rode down to Sarasota last night with the gf, where she volunteers at Mote Marine animal hospital. They have two dolphins there, Risso(sp?) which stranded back in July. Apparently the female of the pair is pregnant, and not eating. My gf has "skills" when it comes to the dolphins, so the director asked her to come down (60 miles south) to help with the tube-feeding.

Anyhow, I rode down, and followed her car. It was my first long highway drive, and it was quite enjoyable. Averaged 80mph to keep up with traffic, but I did try and vary my speed con a constant basis. Anywhere from 65mph when no traffic was around, in 5th gear, to 90 mph, keeping up with the speeding cages, in 6th. The speed variances were advised by my salesman, specifically for the purpose of the break-in period. I try and do what I'm told.

The ride back was a b****. Rush hour traffic in Sarasota is a giant pain in the a**. Stop go Stop go Stop go. Once traffic was past the horse trailer crash (yes, with horses inside) the flow picked up to normal speed. It's a nice reasonably new 3-lane highway from St. Pete to sarasota and back, very few bumps.

Ah! The sunshine skyway bridge [google it] was EXCELLENT. I've taken the jeep over it a number of times with the doors and top off, but that's NOTHING compared to the motorcycle. It was a rush. Riding a couple hundred feet off the mouth to Tampa Bay on a bike is ... is something you should try given the opportunity.

Well. It's off to the garage to wash my baby (again), and hopefully sit down for a relaxing evening of boob-toob.

... but if I get the itch to go ride, I might just have to scratch.

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1, 2, 3, 4 500 Miles!

#8 Unread post by m4lu6 »

The odometer reads 500.2 miles.

Not bad for having picked up the bike just last wednesday. I might have put more miles on it, but I have to work and bill hours so I can make mincemeat of the $4000 left on the finance. I want it gone sooner than later.

Oh, and It's been raining. I choose not to ride in the rain, I have a jeep for that. At some point, I'm going to have to deal with it, given that I live in Sunny Florida(!), but for now, I want my bike to be water-free.

I take the R6 into the shop tomorrow for the "600" mile service. From what I gather, it's just an oil change. Bah. I can do those myself, but not this time. I'm also getting the sliders installed, so it's worth the trip.

On a sad note, well, sad to someone, I heard of a motorcycle fatality on Monday. I haven't been able to track down any details of the crash, but it sounded particularly nasty, and tragic.

Interstate 275 cuts through Pinellas county, from North to South, it ties Bradenton to Tampa via Pinellas. The last exit before the Howard Frankland bridge is the Roosevelt Blvd offramp. http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=27.87838 ... 1667&hl=en

It passes over the interstate and hooks up with Roosevelt, which most people treat as a drag strip. I've had more than a few schmucks try and race me on that stretch of road. Anyhow, a biker was on this offramp, and apparently some car tried to pass him, and ended up forcing him into the guardrail and off his bike, over the rail, and 50 feet to his death. The Highway Patrol found the body below, and the bike above.

I'm not so keen on the idea that this is what happened. There are two lanes on this ramp, and while it is possible, I think the biker was just going to fast. Speed, and the nasty wind, were probably to blame. Then again, I really can't say for certain, since the local media outlets here are some of the worst in the nation, and I can't seem to find any mention of the wreck aside from what I found on the FHP website, which only listed the accidient call, not the full report. Regardless, what happened was terrible. I don't like hearing about bikers being killed, cage-involved or not.

Besides the accident and crappy weather, my new baby continues to treat me well, and I return the gesture. A common piece of advice given from other motorcyclists is, "Show repect for this bike." I believe I have shown nothing but respect. I am mastering the throttle control, which with this bike seems to be a primary key to survival.

She wants to move in 1st, which is good, and totally different from my EX500. But when I shift into 2nd, WOW. Power is just waiting there around 2k RPM. Draw back on the throttle too fast, and the bike will chuck you into the seat stop. The same goes for 3rd, 4th and 5th. Gentle application of the throttle is required, clearly.

I'm still working on slow speed maneuvering, as well. The range of the bars is slightly less than the EX, so turning at slow speeds continues to be a little nervewracking. Left turns are a breeze, but righties are a little more difficult for me. It's purely psychological, I think. I am improving, though. I think part of the issue, too, with slow right-hand turns is my right foot position. I use my back brake on these slow turns, or, at least I have my foot positionedon the back brake lever so I can use if it required. In the right-hand turns, I shift my weight in such a way that I lose grip on the brake pedal due to the way I lean my body. Clearly, this will take more practice.

High speed learnings? Well... she wants to move. I think I've mentioned that before.

I've driven on the interstate about 8 times total now. Typically, I follow with the flow of traffic, the slower traffic, but on the R6, I feel quite comfortable cruising along with the fast pack. I have to constantly keep my eyes on the speedsters, since they are the ones more likely to lose patience with slower drivers, and resort to aggressive tactics. But where the EX had a dearth of interstate power, the R6 does not. I can move in and out of troublespots with ease, which pleases me to no end.

THE primary reason I wanted this R6, and was so itchy to get it so early on in my motorcycling, is that the power is there when I need it. It sets my mind at ease to know "When I need go-go juice, I have it." I consider this ability to move quickly, on-demand, another portion of my "rider radar", as the MSF taught it.[/url]

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Crash

#9 Unread post by m4lu6 »

As mentioned in earlier post.

I was right. He was speeding.

Du-mass.

http://sptimes.com/2005/12/07/Northpine ... s_in.shtml

That ramp cannot take that kind of speed.

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Rain rain, GO AWAY!

#10 Unread post by m4lu6 »

There's a bloody low hanging over the eastern gulf of mexico which has managed to trap rain over my city for the last 2 days. I got some riding in yesterday, but not today.

I'm about to say "SCREW IT!" and go for a quick ride. I need to get some dinner, anyway. There's an interestate overpass next to the restaurant I'm thinking of going to, which will serve as rain-gear. At least I won't have soggy bottoms when I get done with food.

Sev, man, can't you send a nice cold front down from canada to push out this crappy weather!?

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