Welcoming La Niña into my life: Difference between revisions

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March 24th, 2008

Back in the Nixon administration my brother Dave bought a Honda Dream 305 motorcycle. When that was stolen he replaced it with a Bultaco 250. Our good friend Dan had a nice Suzuki 350 two stroke. Dave and Dan let me drive their cycles frequently, which I enjoyed a lot. I earned my ‘M’ drivers license endorsement back then; I vaguely recall being followed around the block near the 51st St DPS office by a trooper in a patrol car who honked once for a left turn, twice for a right. Amazingly, my driver’s license still carries the ‘M’ endorsement all these years later.

Back in the Nixon administration my brother Dave bought a [http://www.rocketworld.org/honda_dream_305.htm Honda Dream 305] motorcycle. When that was stolen he replaced it with a Bultaco 250. Our good friend Dan had a nice Suzuki 350 two stroke. Dave and Dan let me drive their cycles frequently, which I enjoyed a lot. I earned my ‘M’ drivers license endorsement back then; I vaguely recall being followed around the block near the 51st St DPS office by a trooper in a patrol car who honked once for a left turn, twice for a right. Amazingly, my driver’s license still carries the ‘M’ endorsement all these years later.

Interest in motorcycles never really died, but it smoldered in me for many years. Back in the 80s I put a deposit down on a Honda motorcycle, but a sudden transfer caused me to cancel that order. Interest remained, but I never quite got around to acting on it.

A couple of decades later, in fall 2007, my old friend Craig showed up at my house, having driven pretty much non-stop from Tucson on his magnificent Honda ST-1300. Craig’s Honda really caught my eye, and my long-smoldering interest in two wheel travel ignited like a magnesium flare.

A couple of decades later, in fall 2007, my old friend Craig showed up at my house, having driven pretty much non-stop from Tucson on his magnificent [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_ST1300 Honda ST-1300]. Craig’s Honda really caught my eye, and my long-smoldering interest in two wheel travel ignited like a magnesium flare.

There followed several months of web surfing, visiting motorcycle dealers, attending motorcycle shows, and pestering with questions any motorcycle rider who crossed my path.

All this led me to a Motorcycle Safety Foundation beginner’s course, taught by Total Rider here in Austin. The five hour Friday classroom school was about as interesting as a driver’s ed course could be. The real fun started before dawn the next morning, when I arrived to find eight small Kawasaki 125 motorcycles waiting for us eight excited student riders.

All this led me to a Motorcycle Safety Foundation beginner’s course, taught by [http://www.totalrider.com/ Total Rider] here in Austin. The five hour Friday classroom school was about as interesting as a driver’s ed course could be. The real fun started before dawn the next morning, when I arrived to find eight small Kawasaki 125 motorcycles waiting for us eight excited student riders.

[[image:2289720971_f0a4739eb5.jpg|150px]]

The MSF course was a lot of fun, and taught me a lot that I never learned all those years ago when I was riding Dave’s bikes. In retrospect, it is a miracle that I even survived riding with no training at all.

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I initially didn’t think I wanted a ‘crotch rocket’, or more correctly a ’sport bike’. But as I researched the subject I found that Kawasaki makes two sport bikes that are configured more for beginners. These bikes, the Ninja 250 and Ninja 500, have a fairly upright riding position and are not considered ‘tall’. I found a very clean Ninja 500 at TJ Cycles in Austin. I went and sat on it several times and spent a lot of time looking at it. Except for a missing lower fairing it seemed in almost mint condition. It was easy to mount and felt very comfortable. The handle bars are not extremely low, and I learned that there exist fairly low cost risers to make them even more upright. At 50hp it's powerful, but not insanely so. Most of all, the Ninja just seemed to excite me in a way that none of the cruisers did. I looked at all the pretty chrome and the wire spoke wheels on the cruisers and just thought they looked silly. The Ninja seemed like it was designed for the rider; the cruisers seemed more designed to impress some audience.

[[image:ex500.jpg|150px]]

Since I’m old, fat, and dorky I know that I can have all the chrome in the world and I’ll still be old, fat, and dorky. I’m not buying this bike to impress other people.

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I wound up looking at his cheapest Ninja 250. It was a 2004 silver colored model. It seemed in excellent shape, except for tires that were getting thin. The silver and orange wasn’t as pretty as the bright red of the newer model, but it wasn’t a disgrace, far from it. No rash on it that I could detect, and it started and ran fine. His asking price wasn’t more than what I’d seen similar ones go for on eBay. I was able to dicker a few hundred dollars off the price, keeping it well below what I had budgeted. A hand shake, some paperwork, and I drove off the lot on the motorcycle I’ve come to call La Niña or ‘Baby Ninja’.

[[image:2335850640_91c6bc73ff_b.jpg|150px]]

I was very glad that Whiteside adjoins a quiet residential area. I drove La Niña around the neighborhood for about half an hour, never going above about 35mph. The bike was very well behaved, it was very easy to drive, and was very comfortable. A few of my stops at stop signs were a little wobbly, but she is so light that it's easy to catch a mistake before the bike is on its side. Once I had some feel for the bike I took a deep breath and pulled on to busy Burnet road. The SUVs were sure big, but I had zero problems keeping up with traffic. I went north on Burnet to Braker Lane, where I pulled in to the outer of two left turn lanes. I think I stumbled a little pulling into the intersection, and my left turn veered wide, almost to the curb, giving me a little scare. I recovered and continued until I got to the MCC building, where I work. This building is encircled by a two lane road and has a number of parking lots. I drove this circle in both directions, pulling in and out of the parking lot practicing some of the MSF maneuvers I’d learned in class. I was quickly gaining confidence in the little bike. By now it was clear that it handled like a dream, and that it had plenty of power. To get to the power you had to be willing to use all six speeds to keep the engine rpms high. The power is there.

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 March 24th, 2008
-Back in the Nixon administration my brother Dave bought a Honda Dream 305 motorcycle.  When that was stolen he replaced it with a Bultaco 250.  Our good friend Dan had a nice Suzuki 350 two stroke.  Dave and Dan let me drive their cycles frequently, which I enjoyed a lot.  I earned my ‘M’ drivers license endorsement back then; I vaguely recall being followed around the block near the 51st St DPS office by a trooper in a patrol car who honked once for a left turn, twice for a right.  Amazingly, my driver’s license still carries the ‘M’ endorsement all these years later.
+Back in the Nixon administration my brother Dave bought a [http://www.rocketworld.org/honda_dream_305.htm Honda Dream 305] motorcycle.  When that was stolen he replaced it with a Bultaco 250.  Our good friend Dan had a nice Suzuki 350 two stroke.  Dave and Dan let me drive their cycles frequently, which I enjoyed a lot.  I earned my ‘M’ drivers license endorsement back then; I vaguely recall being followed around the block near the 51st St DPS office by a trooper in a patrol car who honked once for a left turn, twice for a right.  Amazingly, my driver’s license still carries the ‘M’ endorsement all these years later.
 Interest in motorcycles never really died, but it smoldered in me for many years.  Back in the 80s I put a deposit down on a Honda motorcycle, but a sudden transfer caused me to cancel that order.  Interest remained, but I never quite got around to acting on it.
-A couple of decades later, in fall 2007, my old friend Craig showed up at my house, having driven pretty much non-stop from Tucson on his magnificent Honda ST-1300.  Craig’s Honda really caught my eye, and my long-smoldering interest in two wheel travel ignited like a magnesium flare.
+A couple of decades later, in fall 2007, my old friend Craig showed up at my house, having driven pretty much non-stop from Tucson on his magnificent [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_ST1300 Honda ST-1300].  Craig’s Honda really caught my eye, and my long-smoldering interest in two wheel travel ignited like a magnesium flare.
 There followed several months of web surfing, visiting motorcycle dealers, attending motorcycle shows, and pestering with questions any motorcycle rider who crossed my path.
-All this led me to a Motorcycle Safety Foundation beginner’s course, taught by Total Rider here in Austin.  The five hour Friday classroom school was about as interesting as a driver’s ed course could be. The real fun started before dawn the next morning, when I arrived to find eight small Kawasaki 125 motorcycles waiting for us eight excited student riders.
+All this led me to a Motorcycle Safety Foundation beginner’s course, taught by [http://www.totalrider.com/ Total Rider] here in Austin.  The five hour Friday classroom school was about as interesting as a driver’s ed course could be. The real fun started before dawn the next morning, when I arrived to find eight small Kawasaki 125 motorcycles waiting for us eight excited student riders.
+[[image:2289720971_f0a4739eb5.jpg|150px]]
 The MSF course was a lot of fun, and taught me a lot that I never learned all those years ago when I was riding Dave’s bikes.  In retrospect, it is a miracle that I even survived riding with no training at all.
@@ Line 32: / Line 34: @@
 I initially didn’t think I wanted a ‘crotch rocket’, or more correctly a ’sport bike’.  But as I researched the subject I found that Kawasaki makes two sport bikes that are configured more for beginners.  These bikes, the Ninja 250 and Ninja 500, have a fairly upright riding position and are not considered ‘tall’.   I found a very clean Ninja 500 at TJ Cycles in Austin.  I went and sat on it several times and spent a lot of time looking at it.  Except for a missing lower fairing it seemed in almost mint condition.  It was easy to mount and felt very comfortable.  The handle bars are not extremely low, and I learned that there exist fairly low cost risers to make them even more upright.  At 50hp it's powerful, but not insanely so.  Most of all, the Ninja just seemed to excite me in a way that none of the cruisers did.  I looked at all the pretty chrome and the wire spoke wheels on the cruisers and just thought they looked silly.  The Ninja seemed like it was designed for the rider; the cruisers seemed more designed to impress some audience.
+[[image:ex500.jpg|150px]]
 Since I’m old, fat, and dorky I know that I can have all the chrome in the world and I’ll still be old, fat, and dorky. I’m not buying this bike to impress other people.
@@ Line 55: / Line 59: @@
 I wound up looking at his cheapest Ninja 250. It was a 2004 silver colored model.  It seemed in excellent shape, except for tires that were getting thin. The silver and orange wasn’t as pretty as the bright red of the newer model, but it wasn’t a disgrace, far from it.  No rash on it that I could detect, and it started and ran fine. His asking price wasn’t more than what I’d seen similar ones go for on eBay.  I was able to dicker a few hundred dollars off the price, keeping it well below what I had budgeted. A hand shake, some paperwork, and I drove off the lot on the motorcycle I’ve come to call La Niña or ‘Baby Ninja’.
+[[image:2335850640_91c6bc73ff_b.jpg|150px]]
 I was very glad that Whiteside adjoins a quiet residential area.  I drove La Niña around the neighborhood for about half an hour, never going above about 35mph.  The bike was very well behaved, it was very easy to drive, and was very comfortable.  A few of my stops at stop signs were a little wobbly, but she is so light that it's easy to catch a mistake before the bike is on its side.  Once I had some feel for the bike I took a deep breath and pulled on to busy Burnet road.  The SUVs were sure big, but I had zero problems keeping up with traffic.  I went north on Burnet to Braker Lane, where I pulled in to the outer of two left turn lanes.  I think I stumbled a little pulling into the intersection, and my left turn veered wide, almost to the curb, giving me a little scare.  I recovered and continued until I got to the MCC building, where I work.  This building is encircled by a two lane road and has a number of parking lots.  I drove this circle in both directions, pulling in and out of the parking lot practicing some of the MSF maneuvers I’d learned in class.  I was quickly gaining confidence in the little bike.  By now it was clear that it handled like a dream, and that it had plenty of power. To get to the power you had to be willing to use all six speeds to keep the engine rpms high. The power is there.