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i am turning to the dark side.
It's true. I am one step closer to being a squid -- or, at least as close as one can get while one wears full leathers and more or less respects the more obvious laws of physics. I am, however, that one step closer, because I now have.....an aftermarket exhaust.

And not just any aftermarket exhaust. A Yoshimura RS-3 oval full exhaust system. With, erm, a race baffle. But wait! Carolyn! Didn't you say that you were going to get the street legal Zyclone baffle? Why yes, yes I did. But somehow -- and I'm serious here -- when I ordered the exhaust, someone somewhere said or wrote down the wrong thing, and they ended up sending the race can. I didn't notice this -- again, true story -- until they'd already installed it and started it up. And, well, once I heard it...I just didn't really have the heart to say anything. And thus, I am one step closer to squidliness.

But, damn, it sounds good. By which I mean, damn. It sounds good. It also, unfortunately, sounds loud. At some point, nearly all of my riding friends and co-workers have been subjected to the "OK, here, listen, do you honestly think this is loud to the point of annoying?" demonstration, and thus far, no one is of the opinion that the can will make cats howl and neighbors call the police. But I'm still self-conscious. Last night, I was whining about it until finally Cat walked over and stood directly behind the bike while it was running and said, "no, seriously, this is quiet. My Ducati is louder than this stock." But I'm still self-conscious. I'm firmly on the Loud Pipes Lose Rights side of the debate (yes, yes, go ahead and unsubscribe now), and I really don't want to be one of those assholes who make grannies fall down in the street and respectable citizens shake their fists up in the sky. It's a moral dilemma, people. "I don't want to be an asshole" versus "damn, that sounds nice". In the interest of scientific experiment, I've decided to keep the exhaust for a while and see if anyone starts throwing fruit or old shoes. If so, I can switch down to the Zyclone baffle.

maybe i didn't really get 10k miles out of them.
While the bike was at Hare Racing getting its new, illegal, exhaust, I had them mount some new tires. The SVS now has a shiny pair of new shoes: Bridgestone Battlax BT010 on the front and BT020 on the rear. Apparently, this is the combo du jour.

OK, I'm going to be Captain Obvious for a second here. Ha ha! Wow! New tires make the bike turn better! I'd been riding on my stock Metzelers for over 10,000 miles, merrily thinking, "well, sure they're squared from commuting, but they're not at the tread wear indicators, so I must still be OK!". No. All that effort I was using to hold a line in a turn and to even really make some turns in the first place? Y'know, the effort I'd attributed to "maybe I'm tired today" (er, no pun intended) or "maybe I haven't improved as much as I thought I had?" No. This was the bike's way of telling me, "hey, dumbass, perhaps you'd like to put some new tires on sometime this year? Maybe?". There is no non-cheesy way of saying this. With those new tires, the bike rides like butter. Like butter.. I am riding along on a little cloud of butter. Amazing.

butter. right.
This weekend, the new parts will go on. I dragged co-worker Chris to the Suzuki dealer yesterday, to pick up my fairing, chain guard, and footpeg ("don't make me go in, carolyn. I'll sit on a bike if I go in. I can't afford a bike. Don't make me sit on a bike."). I got the Woodcraft brake pedal in the mail earlier this week. This means that Sunday will be....drum roll....parts installation day (...I can hear Peter making sudden Very Important Other Plans from here)! Once all the new bits are on, I shall take photographs for posterity. My baby is going to be gorgeous. Gorgeous, I tell you. Gorgeous and buttery and grumbly and rumbly and shiny. happysigh