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!
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!
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!
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
(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
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
