behind door number one: the sportsbike.
Go look at this bike. Go ahead, I'll wait here for you.
OK, you're back? Well? Need I say more? Didn't think so. This bike is pure Good. Let me explain. I grew up in Milwaukee, home of Harley-Davidson. I think I was in my teens before it even occured to me that there were other companies in the world that made motorcycles; if you live in Milwaukee and buy anything other than a Harley, they chase you out of town. End of story. So my aesthetic taste for bikes was formed early and formed strongly: Metal Is A Good Thing. You Want To See Chrome. Plastic Is For Wimps. Hence, I have a deep-seeded aversion to too much fairing; if I can't see the parts, it ain't purdy 'nuff for me. So that's the first thing that drew me in with the SV650S -- no side fairing. So good. Now, you might be thinking, "but look at that front fairing! Look at that headlight!" Yes. And I will say to you, "look at the SV650 without that fairing." It looks like someone took a sportsbike frame and welded on a standard or cruiser headlight. I'll take the front fairing, thankyouverymuch.
So previously, the SVS wasn't available in the US, the pinko commie bastards. That combined with living in the glorious state of "No Importing Of New Vehicles" California, god bless it, was enough to make me temporarily curb the insatiable desire to spend all the money I have in the world on this bike. However, the evil capitalists at Suzuki have announced that their 2001 model *will* be available in the US. Huzzah!
All this said, I've never actually seen the bike. I've seen numerous 650s, but never the 650*S*. Yesterday, Peter and I were at Road Rider (more on that later), and we took a moment to ogle a 650 parked outside. While looking at it, imagining that front fairing, both of us came to a rather unfortunate realization at about the same time: there is a very real possibility that the length between the seat and the handlebars is too big for me. :0 See, that's my problem on Peter's VF750 -- I can reach the ground from the seat with no problems, but I can't reach the handlebars without really stretching, and there's no way on god's green earth that I can reach the handlebars *and* the ground at the same time. I'm totally serious. Go see. So, hrm. I'll have to find a nearby Suzuki dealer and sit on one and see.
Do you have a SV650? Email me and let me know about that reach to the handlebars.
behind door number two: the touring bike.
The September 2000 issue of "Motorcycle Tour and Cruiser" magazine (which
I am supposedly subscribed to but have yet to receive an issue in the mail)
had a glowing review of the Triumph Trophy touring bike. I read the
article and came away with the thought that, "damn, that's a great bike,
too bad about the ugly fairing." And then yesterday, at Road Rider,
we came out to Peter's bike to find, parked next to us, a cherry red
Triumph Sprint ST.
And so, because I have another extra $13k just sitting around, burning a hole in my checkbook *cough*, I decided to add the Sprint to my list of Bikes Absolutely Necessary For Living. I have rationalized this decision by saying, "well, you've already established that you want to go touring. You even wrote an entry about it. So, I guess you need a touring bike!" This is very convenient, but unfortunately, not very practical. So, I guess I'll be putting it on my Xmas wish list, right up there with the SV650S and an end to war and world hunger. *sigh*
as if i needed more reasons.
Did you notice that both those bikes were blue? [Note: yes, I know the
Triumph isn't blue. That's because at some point in the recent past,
Triumph switched their website around and I had to fix the links. Their bad.
-- 11/27/00]
i tried to be a good consumerist, really, i did.
So, like I mentioned, Peter and I went to Road Rider Accessories in San Jose
yesterday. Like Kim before him, Peter was invited along as an attempt
to curb my spending. I really shouldn't have worried -- he bought more than
I did. It was sort of annoying; I wanted to look at pants. And look I did.
And try on I did. And realize that no one makes pants for short people I did.
I tried on these pants. They were on sale. They looked wonderful. The
armored knee was A FULL INCH BELOW MY KNEE. Like, there's nothing I can do
about that. I can't hem the thigh of pants. "You should try the next size
down," the salesperson suggested, which would have been a helpful suggestion,
had it not been for the fact that I was already trying on the smallest size
that Hein Gericke makes for women. Besides which, since everything else fit on the pants but the knee, I
have a suspicion that the negative-one size might have been too small in
the hips. :P My life sucks. I'm going to try to get to
Mota Gear in Berkeley
sometime soon, in the hopes that since they sell women's gear, they might
actually carry small sizes. We shall see.
just in case you were wondering by this point.
Yes, I do actually still ride my motorcycle. Rode it all weekend, as a matter
of fact. Well, that's not entirely true; Peter and I rode two-up on his
VF750 to Road Rider. It was my decision -- I was in the mood to ride without
having to pay attention to the road, and I feel that it's my perogative
as a superstellar hot biker babe mama to get to ride pillion once in a
while. ;)
I rode on the freeway for the first time on Friday night. It's sort of funny; for months I avoided the freeway because I was scared of it, and then I just sorta stopped being scared of it but then never really needed to go anywhere that required taking the freeway. But Friday night, we took Hwy 85 to 280 to Peter's house, and two things about it really struck me: first, it was a lot easier than I'd expected. Probably since I used to riding on Central Expressway, home of all that is evil; it was so easy to just ride along knowing there wouldn't be a stoplight or a huge backup of cars that I didn't even realize I was going 75mph. I even passed a pickup truck who was putzing along at 70. ;) The second thing that surprised me was how damned *bumpy* it was. My teeth were chattering the whole time. I'm sure that's one of those things that you just get used to, since when I was riding pillion on Saturday afternoon, that freeway ride seemed extra bumpy too. I guess I just noticed since the part of Central I ride to get to work is 50mph on a good day, and the part of Central between my apartment and Peter's house (which, inexplicably, has no traffic lights and no morons) was recently re-paved. So even when I go 65mph to Peter's house (did I say 65mph? I meant 50mph, which is the legal and safe speed limit. Eat Snacky Smores), it's on a brand-new surface.
So, yeah, that's my motorcycle life. Kim is supposed to call me to go look at a Suzuki Bandit 600 with her tonight (well, she didn't specify a Bandit, but I'll be damned impressed if she gets a Katana as her first bike), but I'm starting to get skeptical as it gets later. I guess I'll go give her a call now.