My first nine miles...

[alanmcorcoran]

As my 50th approaches, I have decided to embrace the cliche-ness of it, mainly owing to having no better ideas. Decline and death await and I can think of no better way to respond than by behaving irresponsibly. Take that mortality! I will show you... sort of.

In that vein, I recently purchased my first motorcycle.

Originally, my thought was to take a ride on some sort of touring bike up the coast, visit Karen in Buellton, and maybe sleep under the stars at one of the State Parks she patrols. When I discovered a Gold Wing weighs slightly more than an adult elephant and can easily crush human bone into a fine powder, I realized that there were a few bugs in my plan. The things also cost more than I paid for my last car, so I was a bit concerned about depreciation should I find it less than fun.

So I scaled back and shopped around for a little "starter" bike to get my feet wet (hopefully, not with the blood spurting out of my severed femoral artery.)

As it turns out, what with the gas thing going on (have you heard? It's like almost five bucks now!) practically every male inhabitant of Southern California was looking for the same bike, albeit for different reasons.

I visited some local dealers. "We don't have any 250's, and we won't get any more until the 2009 models come out and we don't know when we'll be getting those. Why don't you buy a "real" bike instead?"

Well, sir, because I'm a major pussy for starters.

I expanded my search radius out to fifty miles and eventually found a Suzuki GZ250 at a dealer in San Juan Capistrano. An hour drive, two hours of crapping around with paperwork, half hearted negotiations (hard to negotiate when there is a guy standing behind you saying, "Uh, I'll take it if he don't want it.") followed by the usual plethora of signing one's name, and I had overpaid for something I didn't really need and everyone I had talked to about had assured me I would kill myself on. Woo-hoo!

I had to have them deliver it to my house - I wasn't about to hop on it, and hit the freeway for forty miles on day one. In the meantime, I picked up a helmet, some gloves and a ten pound leather jacket with body armor sewn into the shoulders and forearms.

The guy dropped the bike off on Sunday and I rolled it into the garage. I found I could buy insurance online, and later in the day went off to Boot Barn to find some suitable footwear. (Warning, if you haven't been, do NOT park your Prius at Boot Barn with your Obama '08 bumper sticker. And try not to make fun of the cowboy hats they're all wearing indoors. They will not hesitate to kick your ass. And they all wear special boots designed just for that purpose.) I ended up with some metal-reinforced, non-slip, above-the-ankles certified as appropriate for clamoring over heavy machinery.

If you ask anyone involved in motorcycling how to go about learning how to drive one, 9 out of 10 people will tell you to go to a Motorcycle Safety Foundation Class first. (The tenth guy will tell you it's for pussies, which, in my case, pretty much makes it unanimous.) Unfortunately, given the surge in motorcycle popularity, and the ridiculously low cost of the course (it's only $150 for fifteen hours, and that includes the motorcycle and the helmet) the classes are sold out for months. (I'm signed up for September 19th.)

So here I sit, with the jeans, and the gloves, and the jacket, and the helmet, and the steel toed boots, and the motorcycle permit, and the temporary registration and the shiny new motorcycle, but I've never ridden one and I won't be learning how for seven more weeks.

I took a picture of it and posted it on my MySpace.

After about a half day of frustration, I figure, "I'm legally entitled to ride the damn thing on the street, so by dammit, that's what I'm going to do."

I did some research online first. Okay, a lot of research. I can't say it helped build my confidence. Pretty much every other sentence about learning to ride a motorcycle ends with something to the effect of, "...and you will probably kill yourself." The sentences in between regale you with fun anecdotes about perfectly preserved heads in helmets no longer attached to their owners and interesting facts enumerating how many feet of sliding it takes to scrape off your lower torso (not much, actually.) Not exactly the sort of information to put your mind at ease for that first taste of sweet freedom.

Eventually I was able to gather enough data to put together the theory of riding. It's actually pretty complicated. You have balancing issues, turning, defensive driving, mirror scans, dealing with the helmet, road hazards, pre-ride mechanical inspections - and that's before you even get to the clutch, gear shift, brakes and throttle. I limited my first day to locating all the controls and switches, turning it on in my driveway, and slowly easing it, in first gear, back into the garage. Mission Accomplished!

After twelve hours of resisting the urge, I threw caution to the wind. Or at least put it temporarily aside, neatly folded, in the back of my sock drawer. I put on all my riding shit (takes about ten minutes, lots of straps, snaps and zippers), pointed the thing towards the street, started it up, let out the clutch and off I went.

I stalled out once or twice on my first trip around the block, but I got it into second gear about halfway down the street. Some of my stops were a bit ugly and my clutch work was not winning any prizes, but I was doing what was required to make it go, and it was, in fact, going. In a few minutes, I was roughly circumnavigating my block and the one behind it. Did about five or six laps, even encountered a little traffic in front and behind, and drove it back into the garage.

After dark, I got up my nerve and drove it about a mile uphill on the main road to an elementary school parking lot. You're supposed to get in 10-15 hours of parking lot practice before you venture out on the public streets. The parking lot was mostly empty and I did about 20-30 studious laps around it, practicing taking off, shifting into second and third and back down to a stop. Sounds pretty simple, but you get bored with it before you get good at it. Plus the shifter on the Suzuki is a little balky and sometimes isn't in the gear you think it's in (or any gear at all!) I gave it about 30-40 minutes before I headed home. On the way back down the hill I got all the way up to 4th gear (doing nearly 30 miles an hour!) before I put it away. The odometer was just clicking over from 8.9 miles.

I still have trouble getting into second, I've only used the pedal brake about twice and, on occasion, I will attempt to take off in neutral. But, mentally, I've already outgrown the 250. I know I've gone all of nine miles. But...

...I'm gonna need a bigger bike.

http://www.myspace.com/alanmcorcoran

[Moedad]

Alan! We're neighbors! I live in Stanton. We should start an exclusive North Orange County AARP GZ250 club.

[Sarris]

That's freakin hilarious. I'm now 51 and believe me, life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer to the end you get, the faster it goes.

Keep up the practice brother and watch out for them cages. You've made a great choice in motorcyles and forum. We're glad you're here.

Also, have you ever gotten a pschological profile...........? Just wanted to know, 'cause your gonna kill yourself!!

:neener: :lol: :neener: :lol: :neener: :lol:

[alanmcorcoran]

Yeah, I saw you on the map. I dropped my new toy off at the dealer today to get the f'in left blinker fixed - Service is closed Sun-Mon, so soonest I'll be riding again is Tuesday. Not sure exactly where Stanton is, but I can use all the riding info/experience I can get at this point. Got to find that sweet spot between the "Easy Rider" fantasy and middle aged reality...

FYI, it's a helluva nice ride from Anaheim Hills to San Juan Capistrano - today it was gorgeous out there. Went past Cook's Corner and there had to 150-200 Harleys gleaming in the sun.

http://www.myspace.com/alanmcorcoran

[patrick_777]

That's a good yarn. Pretty much how I ended up with mine, except I had a few people telling me to get a CBR600RR for my first bike. Probably not a good idea. I'd still like one, but I'm smart enough to go about moving up the chain a few years first.

You've probably already dug through it, but everyone should read ALL of the safety tips at http://www.msgroup.org/.

You seem pretty technically savvy, so the dynamics articles are very informative. In fact, his article on Parking Lot practice is printed and stashed under my seat for whenever I feel the need to practice. I reread most of them whenever I feel myself getting sloppy and over-confident, which is about every other day.

It sounds like you prepared for the first ride right. My first ride was to ease my back wheel over a 2x4 without moving the 2x4. It REALLY helps get the feel for the friction zone of your bike, which helps more than you can imagine on your slow-speed riding techniques, which in turn help riding at street speed.

Welcome and good luck.

[alanmcorcoran]

Thx Patrick. No relation to Patrick Henry of Alaska 2005 fame are you?

I'm a small business owner so I have to be a little less than full on reckless with my diversions. I actually wore a helmet skiing for the first time this season! My studies for this latest ill-advised adventure included David Hough's Proficient Motorcycling and Street Strategies, the entire Basic Rider Course classroom book (kind of lightweight if you ask me...) and lots of reading on-line, here, Yahoo forum, and many other places (BCRider has a lot of newb tips.)

The most important thing I've learned so far? When bombing along the backroads keep your eyes down the road! Check mirrors, side roads, etc, of course, but, if you want to navigate the twisties with a minimum of butt clenches, maintain a long view. Looking down at the speedo, or the stripes ten feet ahead is a good way to blow the turn.

One thing I wish I could learn faster: remembering to turn the f'ing blinker off! At first, I forgot 100% of the time. Now I'm down to about 25%. Does one ever master this?

[5th_bike]

Welcome. :2tup:

This is a nice forum. For me, after almost a year I haven't outgrown the GZ250 yet.

In preparation for the MSF course you can also review the materials at

http://www.msf-usa.org/index_new.cfm?sp ... me=Library

Under "Curriculum Materials" is the entire "Basic Rider Course" handbook for you to review.

(edit: oops you beat me by one minute with your post, ah well I'll just leave it)

Also, check out the parking lot where they have their classes, at times when it is empty, you can practice the figure eight turns in "the box", and going around the turns that you will get in the course.

Important things they teach are (amongst others): - to look 'through' the curve (look where you want to go, don't look at the asphalt right in front of your tire) and - use both brakes for the fastest stopping. (edit #2: fix spelling errors)

[patrick_777]

Originally Posted by alanmcorcoran

One thing I wish I could learn faster: remembering to turn the f'ing blinker off! At first, I forgot 100% of the time. Now I'm down to about 25%. Does one ever master this?

That's a trick almost every new rider has trouble with. Only some actually get past it. Others (like me) find other ways around the issue for under $20 and half an hour's work.

http://www.gz250bike.com/viewtopic.php?t=994&start=21
http://www.gz250bike.com/viewtopic.php?t=1060

Good pictures in both of those threads.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by alanmcorcoran

Got to find that sweet spot between the "Easy Rider" fantasy and middle aged reality...

Hey, watch it, I am NOT a fantasy! :neener:

Your prose is priceless.

There's a writer in all of us; just some (much) better than others.

I started out about 45 years ago with a Honda S-90 and spent the next 40 years or so trying to work out the "I'm gonna need a bigger bike" problem. Went through 10 or so "bigger bikes" unitl it finally dawned on my one day that none of my bigger bikes were any more fun than the little Honda. So, here I am, back at the low end of the scale with a GZ and loving every minute of it.

In some respects, I guess you CAN go home again!

[patrick_777]

Originally Posted by Easy Rider

it finally dawned on my one day that none of my bigger bikes were any more fun than the little Honda.

It just goes to show that it's not all about speed and displacement, just ask the Ninja 250 crowd. Most of them have more fun on their 250s than a lot of other bigger sportbike riders.