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Bicycling is hard. Oh my lord it is hard. I got one to start trying to get some exercise done. Wow. I'm fat. This was easier when I was 9 years old and 100lb. Wow. It was also really really fun. My respect for bicyclist has always been high but its higher now.

I trundled out to get bird food for my parrot. At the gas station this guy approaches me and compliments my bike. He hands me his card and its for some motorcycle group that is in the area. Quite interesting, I may look into it. I think its a bunch of squids however. He seemed thrilled to meet me and said that they don't often see female riders around here.

Also, at the grocery store yesterday a dude was getting into his car parked across from my bike. He stares at it and goes 'Is that a transformers symbol?!' and I am like 'Of course!'

I'm so cool. :)

I did something stupid

It may not be stupid on the cosmic scale, but it is pretty dumb for me. I got into an argument with my spouse last night around 0030 hours. I was very unhappy and didn't want to be in the house with him because I'd be tempted to lose my temper and go and raise my voice at him.

So instead, I got my stuff, pulled my gear over my sweats and hopped on my bike. I know one shouldn't ride when emotionally upset, but sometimes you do things anyway. I actually did some errands. I had some checks to drop off at the bank. If anything makes me feel better its watching the ATM eat and scan my checks and give me the numbers.

However, it couldn't read the numbers on ether checks. That was a disappointment. So I continued to ride. It was pretty cold. I really needed it to be warm. Thankfully, I didn't wear my lightest jacket and had a sweatshirt on. I stopped at the grocery store and got some cough drops.

So I rode and rode and rode till I calmed down. Its night and the deer are out in force so I stuck to major highways. I wound up in the middle of a road repaving. That sucked. I also passed numerous cops but I was so depressed that I was puttering along at the speed limit if not a bit below it.

I headed down to 495. I was to cold by the time I got all the way east to do the second part of my plan which was loop around the beltway. It takes a bit over an hour but I was now cold and already a bit congested from being sick for the last two days so I turned around, got another cough drop out, and went back home.

I didn't feel a whole lot better but some.

I debated if I should write this up or not but seeing as I write about everything else I figure why avoid it? This is the Saga of Tim's Motorcycle.

Last week Tim and I decided to move forward with him getting a new bike. The weather has improved and he was not comfortable on his Ninja. I started calling around trying to find him a 2008 black vstrom 1000. For some reason, suzuki has not sent many of them over yet. Our bike shop could get an 2007 in blue. This was not what Tim wanted. I of course was fine with it but it is not my bike :)

I started calling all the local shops. VA, MD, WVA. I finally found a new 2008 in black and called the shop to verify they had it. They said yes, so instead of going to sleep last Wednesday I trundled my butt down to the shop which is about an hour away from my house to put a deposit on the bike.

I got all of my paperwork for the deposit. They where fine with the price I wanted to pay. It was nice not to have any arguments over it. I am willing to be fair about price so that went well. I put down a 500 dollar deposit and before I did that I got a copy of my paperwork for the price agreement. This turns out to be important later.

We set up pickup for Saturday afternoon. The bike is still in its crate. I should have asked to look at it in the crate. That would have solved a lot of problems. At this point things become our fault as well.

On Saturday we go to get the bike. Its all together and they roll it out. Tim questions the color. The bike has a black front cowling and black rear plastics and a silver tank. The other one was the reverse. Tim wanted to black and our salesman assured us this was the black model. In fact he says, "This is as black as it gets".

This is where we went wrong. We should have questioned further. We let excitement rule us. We made a stupid mistake and we took the bike.

The bike is wonderful. Tim loves how it feels, how it rides, how it fits, everything. However, looking up stuff to get for it he realizes that it is the silver and black not the black and silver. He gets pissed because he did question the color. I get upset because I felt we should not have accepted it if there was any worries and it was our fault. Tim feels the shop should make it right. I feel its our fault and they don't hold any liability.

Tim decides to move forward with arguing with the shop. I'm upset by this. I feel responsible and that we should just deal. Tim felt the shop should fix it because they said it was the black bike. Our paperwork also says it is black and the salesman said it was black. He is paying about 9k for this bike, he wants a black one. We're not in agreement but I'm not going to argue with him over it, but I'm pretty upset.

He calls the shop on Monday to speak to the sales manager. The sales manager says he'll call him back after he talks to the salesman. Tim calls back again and the sales manager says that he will look into resolving the problem. Tim suggests they switch out the side fairings and the tank for the black ones. That will fix the problem. The sales manager tells me he can't do that becuase sales and parts are not the same thing and he'll look into a solution.
'
Tim calls back a third time and the sales manager is ready for him. He tells Tim to bad, so sad, we can take the bike back as a trade. Tim says that is unacceptable and again suggests the fairing swap. The sales manager says nope and Tim asks who can he speak to next. He is told the owner, but she isn't in today try back in a few days.

At this point Tim tells me to cancel the check. I do so and he hunts down the owners email address and emails her the entire story. Meanwhile I freak out, worried that they will file a theft complaint and take a warrant out against me. Sure, it may seem far fetched but I spend to much time dealing with warrants and arrestees. My mind makes the jump easily and now I am having a very very bad day.

The owner mails Tim back in about 15 minutes and tells him someone will call him. The sales manager calls and says that Tim can bring the bike back, no harm no foul.

So we take the bike back on Tuesday. I refuse to go inside. I don't want to deal with this at all anymore. However, the sales man who sold us the bike approaches Tim and apologizes. He says that he thought the silver bike was solid silver. The computer lists the bike as black as well. They still have our deposit and should be getting us a black one.

We did forget one of the keys. I found it in my jean pocket so we have to take that back as well. They are hunting down a black one as we speak.

This whole thing ended up a lot better then it could have. I am still kicking both of us for the mistake. I'm glad the shop did right by us. Tim was ready to go all the way to court over it. I just want him to have a new bike.

Well that's just weird. I never knew they were like that now - my '05 DL1000 is black, and I mean BLACK - everything on it is black. But I went to the Suzuki website and played with the color preview thingy, and I see what you mean - silver & black versus black & silver. I like my all black one. Tell Tim to look for an older used single-color one. They hold up real well, should be no issues buying used.

He is fine getting the black and silver and swapping the cowl and rear fender fairing things for solid black ones. We did like the silver and black but that is not what we where supposed to be buying.

It was all very yucky.

I noticed a sport bike in the parking lot a few days ago at work. It had to be someone from day shift. The other two people that ride both ride Harley's. The red and black R6 bespoke of a new purchase, but I didn't know that anyone else at work rode.

It turns out that no one else did. One of the guys from day shift, someone who I like well enough although he is a horrible co-worker to have, just got the R6. He is also a new rider. I'm glad to note that he has full gear on. Jacket, pants, boots, gloves, helmet. I am vain enough to think that my crash last year mixed with my full gear may have helped him to decide to go all the way.

However, on a brand new R6. I also know this guy doesn't have a lot of free cash so he probably took a rape at the dealer. Perhaps one of those nice balloon payments they have.

I can only shiver and shake my head. With complete honesty, I expect to see the bike on the ground. I want to offer to ride with him but at the same time I don't know if I want to be in that situation with him being such a new rider on that bike.

On another note, I'm going to buy shorty levers for Mantis. I think it will make us happier.

Michelin Pilot Powers

I just got a set put on my FZ6. They feel amazing. I've read people's reviews of tires when it comes to feel and bike maneuverability but I couldn't relate. The difference between these and the stock dunlops is incredible. The feel and confidence in what the bike is doing is greatly enhanced. The road feel is higher while the ride is smoother.

I haven't been able to scrub them in fully yet, but I should have that done by tomorrow. So far, the grip into turns feels a lot smoother and more natural. I felt silly riding home because I was so amazed by the difference. I had thought that people over exaggerated a bit about the change a set of tires can make.

The other half's new bike!

He got it on Saturday (happy birthday for him) and had to leave Sunday night for a week long business trip. He will be back this weekend and he can ride with Nalian and I since she is riding down from Boston.

I put on the top case I got him and raised the windshield up two notches for him. Waiting for frame sliders.

Really, really bad riding.

On Saterday, when we picked up the vstrom (as seen above) there where a lot of bikes at the shop. I tend to go during the weekday so I do not often see other people.

There where two different couples. Both pairs were on cruisers but what excited me was that the women rode their own bikes.

Now I am pretty critical about gear. I hold my tongue about riding pants (I actually ran out to grab lunch at work with only jeans on, the first time in over a year I've ridden without pants last week and thought I was going to die), but jackets, gloves at least. I understand that most people ignore their lower bodies.

So the lady had on hiking boots, the guy had on loafers, and another random dude had on sneakers. No gloves and no jackets and one dude had shorts on, gah. It had been raining earlier so the parking lot was wet in a few spots and their feet kept slipping off the pegs.

The second couple had on windbreakers at least and both wore full faced helmets. In fact, I have seen more full faced helmets on cruiser riders this spring then ever before.

However, the second couple leaves in front of us. I'm in the Charger serving as a pacer for the husband so he can focus on getting to know his new bike. The lady is wobbling all over the place. ALL. OVER. THE. PLACE.

Her husband is waiting for her at the exit to the shop but she can't make the turn to get to it so she chooses the far exit. They face the same road so he meets up with her. However, I thought she was going to fall over before she got to the freaking road. She was wobbling like nothing I have ever seen before. I think her bike was just to physically large for her and she wasn't managing the weight.

Once they hit the road (speed limit in town is 25mph) she is wandering all over the place. Her hubby is nice and neat on his side of the lane but the lady was frightening me. I was ready to stop and help her up because I was very sure she was going to fall.

To my intense amazement, she did not.

We load them when we broke off to head out of town. She relaxed a bit as she got going but I was honestly stunned at how poorly she rode. From behind the big huge butt of my Charger my other half could see how poorly she was doing. I am VERY glad she was riding her own bike but something tells me she hasn't been to class.

IcyHound wrote:The other half's new bike!

He got it on Saturday (happy birthday for him) and had to leave Sunday night for a week long business trip. He will be back this weekend and he can ride with Nalian and I since she is riding down from Boston.

Hey! What's my bike doing down there in Virginia??!!!






Congrats to your other half. They're great bikes.