(click any of the pics to see a larger version)
(click any of the pics to see a larger version)
Yesterday I went by the Kawasaki dealership to try to learn how long the wait would be on the Ninja 250R and how much it would cost. They wrote that all up for me, and said it would be 3 weeks or so. The offer from the dealer was MSRP, plus the typical boatload of fees. I wished I could sit on one. The dealer said the 650 was similar, since the 250 was based on the 650 [which actually isn't true, but they are at least of similar size], so I sat on that. The salesman mentioned that everyone wanted a 250 since it was known as a "beginner" bike, and as a result they had three 650s sitting there, one of every color made! The 650s were on sale to try to move them; so much so that the out the door price was below the MSRP! I left with prices for both bikes written down.
Woke up at 5:30 this morning, knowing that I was going to buy a bike! and I had decided on the 650. Just the bigger brakes alone I felt justified the price difference, not to mention the better suspension and bigger engine.
I jumped up, got some stuff done for work, and timed things right so that at 8:30 I was in the car on the way to my credit union, and on the phone with my insurance agent! Got to the bank, secured the loan, went to the bike shop, and when they said "Can I help you?" I responded with, "Yes, I'd like to buy that bike." They wrote me up a purchase order, explained that the bike had never been started, and they were going to prep it (check oil, battery, put in gas, give it a short drive to check the clutch, brakes, transmission, etc).
Next I was off to the insurance agent to give them the VIN and a check, got insurance papers, then back to the credit union armed with the purchase order and insurance info, got a check for the dealer, then back to the dealer to get the keys! just as I walked in the showroom they said the salesman was bringing a bike around front. Sure enough, it was mine. The trip odometer showed 0.3 miles, the main odometer still showed 0. He gave me a tour of the bike.
Then I had to drive the rx-8 to the office for work, promising I would pick up the bike tonight before the dealer closed.
while at work I unexpectedly found out I needed to pick up aiden from school. I got him from school and had to gas up the rx-8. It was certainly an interesting moment putting just a few pennies shy of FIFTY DOLLARS in the tank while thinking about the 60-70 mpg I can probably get on the ninja!
then we went home, grabbed my riding gear, my neighbor James drove Aiden and I to the dealership, they rolled my bike back out onto the parking lot for me, and I rode it home with James and Aiden following.
It's nice to have good riding gear; even at only 25 MPH, I was getting pleasant breezes through my helmet, jacket, and even my riding shoes! It actually felt pretty good considering my car had been telling me it was 109 degrees on the way home.
Also, I was reminded that my rider training course was 6 months ago; I found myself taking all the turns rrreeealllyyy WWWWIIIIIDDDDEEEE. I'll be definitely be doing some practice around the neighborhood before venturing into real traffic.
I kept thinking this bike felt really light; it's only 393 lbs dry
You may be thinking "but wait, I thought you wanted a BMW motorcycle?" well I do, but I also decided I wanted to not stretch my budget yet also get a bike NOW so I can get some riding experience in. This bike was less than half the cost; it meets the goal of being a comfortable, cool bike to get some seat time on. And I think I won't be bored of it in a few months.
turns out the trip home was 1.2 miles. The main odometer shows 1 now
The bike fits in the garage, with room to open both passenger doors on the RX-8! This is despite all the stuff in there I'm trying to get "the ex" to haul off for me
this morning I was able to get in about 6 miles of practice, riding around the neighborhood. I was practicing keeping my head up, looking where I wanted to go, and proper turns (slow down, look, lean, roll on throttle through the turn). I expect to get in some more miles tonight.
Well I haven't gotten to ride the bike any more, it's been raining. Since the tires aren't even broken in no way am I going to ride on wet streets. I sat in the garage tonight playing with the controls and took the seat off to stash the necessary paperwork.
Got to ride for 2.3 miles, then the crews descended to re-pave the street. total of 8.6 miles now.
finally got back on the bike. I was a bit nervous at first because it had been so long. but by the end of this session I had gained some confidence in turning and stopping. rode for about 20 minutes (5 miles). now up to 13.6 miles
19.4 miles now, got to go riding again this morning (5.8 miles). getting hot out
also, received the license plate in the mail
brian came over and took it for a 7.1 mile ride
the odometer is up to 34.9 miles now. This morning I went for a 8.4 mile ride. I started venturing out onto other side streets, onto san marcos a lot more, and even onto 16th avenue. got into 5th gear and hit 45 mph!!
up to 41.9; got in 7 miles in only about 20 minutes. went out onto Southern, Apache trail, and got to lean the bike for real on phelps (in front of fry's)
oops. got gas at 43 miles, set my helmet on the bike seat while fueling. so of course I managed to knock the helmet off, onto the ground. as soon as it fell off, I remembered reading that if you set the helmet on the ground while refueling you can't knock it off.
I finished fueling (it took 1.755 gallons) and got back on the road.
Today I rode up 88 highway as far as hackamore road. This was the first time I got to go highway speeds. There is a lot of wind at 55mph!
When I got home and took my helmet off I realized one of the quick release connectors for the face plate was gone! it must have fallen off when I knocked the helmet off the seat. I got right back on the bike and went straight to the gas station. it was still there! so when I got back home I put it back together, and there seems to be no damage. the bike is up to a total of 60.1 miles now. today I rode for 18.2 miles, and between the helmet mishap and the high-speeds on 88 highway, there was certainly a lot of excitement today
got back on highway 88 and was relaxed this time. got up to 60mph. rode as far as Lost Dutchman state park, took some pictures, and then rode back and rode around in AJ a bit. 23 miles today! the odometer has 83 miles on it now.
too bad the camera decided to focus on the parking lot instead of on me
Short ride today, only 18.6 miles (bike is up to 101). I rode down 88 all the way to needle vista, got up to 70mph. Then rode back and went down broadway to the vet's office on apache trail and back.
Installed the license plate today too, and put the official registration under the seat.
rode 19.3 miles today (bike is at 121). down 88 to needle vista and back again.
I was out on the bike by 5:45 am.
I rode up to the overlook over canyon lake this morning.
on the way up, I was taking those turns at about 25--30 and that of course was utterly easy, even at my 2 degree lean angles.
On the way back down I increased a bit to 30--35mph, and one time I even leaned it over too far. I was taking a right hand turn and I think I was making the turn about half the radius it should have been, so that was fun. I remembered not to snap off the throttle, I was able to get it to stand back up a bit. I'm also practicing relaxing my arms
once I got back to the straight part of the road, I hit 85 mph briefly.
148 miles on the bike, 27.4 miles today.
Today I rode around a neighborhood, practicing turning from a stop sign and things like that. just trying to get more traffic/road experience. Then at the end I jumped on US60 and cruised with the traffic for about 5 miles. Rode 16.7 miles today, and the bike is up to 165 miles now.
Today I mainly focused on practicing slow speed, parking lot-type maneuvers. That went pretty well. I only ended up going 9.8 miles. bike is up to 175 miles now.
Then later I stashed the bike in my house since a crew was coming to empty out the garage.
Now it's happily back in the much-roomier garage. the rest of the stuff in the garage will be going soon.
I have the before and after garage pics too.
I did some night riding today! put on my clear face shield, and was rolling out of the garage at 8:02 pm. This was the sky just before I started:
first I rode up Ironwood to McKellips, then decided to do some highway driving, to go get a smoothie.
After the break, I continued west to greenfield. Just as I was exiting onto Greenfield, my low fuel light flashed; it's too bright at night. I headed back and filled up. I finally have my first mileage measurement: I rode 167 miles on 2.971 gallons. At today's gas prices, that's $12.06. [aside: I remember filling up my CAR in high school for 12 bucks] Average mpg of 56.21! pretty good considering at least 3/4 of that tank was spent on surface streets, and a good portion of it in neighborhoods even. After gassing up I headed in. 36.2 miles were covered on tonight's joy ride, and the bike has 211 miles on it now.
I am sorely tempted to ride the bike to work tomorrow!
the ninja has landed at work.
It wasn't bad riding in. I just took it carefully. the HOV lane was nice. traffic was slow and thick on 101 which was annoying.
The ride in was 28.0 miles, and the bike is up to 239 miles now.
Ride home was hot, but not as bad as I expected. 27.9 miles, total of 267 miles. this was a good day to ride to work; it was only around 100 degrees when I left work to go home. I could feel the heat on my legs from the highway!
lots of rain today, took a picture in the garage.
rode in to work again. went after rush hour, so traffic was good. 28.0 miles, 295 miles total
The street cleaners were out and cleaning the parking lot at work today; I had to drive through the wet parking lot. the black parts of the bike were full of spots
On the way home I decided to go ahead and get gas. I pulled into the gas station, and held too much speed; when I turned left to pull in front of a pump, I had to turn the front wheel too far and when I stopped it fell right over on its side. I was trying to hold it up but it was too far over, so onto the pavement it went. I was still standing. the engine was still running even. so I hit the kill switch and tried to lift it but couldn't really, I didn't take the time to get situated to use my legs to do the work. Three other guys who were individually getting gas came over and helped me lift it, that was nice. so now it has a small scuff.
bike is up to 325 miles total, the trip home with gas stop was 29.5 miles, and this tank of gas got around 52.242 mpg
Then later in the evening I rode to downtown Phoenix and back. the trip out was 36.9 miles, and the trip back was 37.0 miles. the bike is up to 399 miles now. This was the first time I got to ride down 202; I was extra careful on the curves. also I hit a cloud of bugs somewhere in Mesa, made it hard to see out the visor after that.
Drove the bike to work and back again today. I've been riding it so much I've actually gotten some sore muscles. I found myself on the way home today making a conscious effort to relax more. I typically have my arms relaxed, but my shoulders and neck tend to tense up.
The trip in was 28.1 miles, and the trip home was 27.9 miles. the bike is up to a total of 455 miles now.
I hope to go get some soft luggage for the bike this weekend; I need to start hauling extra clothes to work so I can take a shower when I get there. I just have to figure out how to reserve the shower room
I have my eye on the cortech sport bags, since they work well and are not very expensive. they are available in red, which matches my bike
Installed the mirror extenders tonight. At first I was having trouble, but then I realized the trick was to first attach the extender to the bike, then attach the mirror to the extender. I tried it the other way around first, but that didn't work out.
got some straps and a backpack so I have some makeshift luggage. the cortech luggage I really want is on backorder, but I needed something for now, so I followed a suggestion I found online.
rode to downtown phoenix, then to work. low fuel light came on, on the way to Phoenix, got gas around the corner from work. I had to drive around a while trying to find a gas station, ended up at a Valero. It was 37.5 miles to Phoenix, then it was 16.3 miles to the gas station and to the office. the bike is up to 509 miles now. this tank of gas was 54.374 mpg, and I rode 184 miles on it
on the ride home, I took the new 202, which is now open all the way from 101 to 60. It was much nicer than that few miles on 101 which is really slow. no car pool lane though. This way was 31.6 miles instead of the usual 28. I think it was worth the extra three miles to avoid the stop and go traffic. bike is up to 540 miles now.
Just made my first grocery run on the bike; I stuffed a pint of strawberries, a huge bottle of conditioner, a block of cheese, a full-size box of kleenex and two rolls of paper towels into the backpack. somehow I managed to ride 7.9 miles, just going to Wal-Mart and back. total of 548 miles now.
This was quite a ride; there was a clump of rain off to the northwest on my way there, and the setting sun was shining through it. on the way home, there appeared to be a thunderstorm building up, I was a bit nervous about getting rained on while packing up the groceries. made it home completely dry, though, and the radar is confirming that the rain is staying just to the northwest of me.
Rode in to work, on the new 202. 31.3 miles. traffic was good, right up until a mile before my exit, where it turned into full-blown stop and go. I have difficulty transitioning from high-speed control to low speed control; it's kind of a shock to slow way down and then try to maneuver at low speeds. the bike is up to 580 miles now.
I'm feeling really good on the bike in general; I think I've gotten some toning in whatever new muscles I'm using to ride the bike, plus I'm more and more relaxed on it. Now if it just weren't so hot out, it would be great!
After work, I rode to my pool league which tonight was at Tom Ryan's. highlights of the evening included getting beer spilled on me and the resulting beer puddle making it to where I had set my helmet, so I washed the liners tonight and they are sitting under a fan, hopefully they will be dry in the morning. Bike is up to a total of 615 miles now. The trip from the office to the bar and then home was 35.2 miles.
The helmet was dried out this morning.
Rode in to work, and stopped off at Berge Mazda to buy some RX-8 parts. it was 17.3 miles to Berge Mazda. From there I went to work with a brief stop to feed some cats. 14.2 miles. the bike is up to 646 miles now.
The ride home was 32.9 miles (took 202). traffic was great. I got gas on the way home, mileage was around 51mpg. I've been driving at an indicated 83 mph most of the time, which is actually around 75mph. Bike is at 679 miles now.
Rode in a bit later today, so I took 60 and 101. 28.0 miles, bike is up to 707 miles now.
I thought sure I was going to get rained on tonight! There was a huge thunderstorm over the Superstition Mountains. Lots of lightening bolts. But I made it home dry, and it started raining about 30 minutes after I got home. I stopped off at the bank. The trip home was 32.9 miles, and the bike is up to 740 miles now. I made an appointment for the first service for next Saturday.
took 60 to work again, I was at the 101 interchange right at 9:00, so 101 traffic was fine, just a little bit slow. up to 768 miles, and the trip in was 28.0 miles
after work I fed the cats, then took McDowell to Alma School, then got on 202 from there. interesting driving through the fringe of the reservation. up to 802 miles now, and the trip home was 33.2 miles.
Tonight I washed the bike. it's a lot quicker than washing a car!
Rode to the pool store, to feed the cats, then on to downtown phoenix. got the low fuel light on the way back, so I got gas in AJ on the way home. I rode home a little slower with the low fuel light in my eye, even though I knew I had enough gas to get there.
48.7 miles there, 38.1 miles home. Bike is up to 888 miles now. This fill up was 3.795 gallons, $14.72, 209 miles, for an average mpg of 55.072
I rode to Fry's to get some groceries (2.2 miles round trip). That was fun because I parked on the sidewalk, out of the way.
Then later I realized I needed another part for the pool pump---I found yet another worn out gasket, and had to run to the pool store before they closed. The pool store run was 17.1 miles.
Around sunset time I decided to ride up 88 highway again. I took most of the curves around 35mph with a few at 40mph. I didn't want to try them any faster than that. I had some mental barrier or something where I wouldn't let myself go any faster than that. probably for the best!
There was no traffic at all going up the hill, but there were some trucks and boats coming down.
Also, I crossed that one lane bridge up there just before the campground and marinas and that was pretty unnerving; instead of being paved, the floor of the bridge is just a metal grating. So after getting past that, I turned around in the campground and headed back down.
By the time I was coming back down, traffic had died down quite a bit. I only caught up to one truck, and he moved over to let me pass immediately! That was nice. Even at my slow pace he never caught back up to me.
Since I was driving back down in the dark, I ran into a fair amount of bugs; I had to clean off my helmet and the front of the motorcycle when I got home.
The run up 88 and back was 31 miles. I'm up to 939 miles now.
I got up WAY late today, so I was able to take 60, 101, 202 to work today since rush hour was over. the trip in was 28.1 miles, and the main odometer shows 967 miles now.
After work I went and fed the cats, then took thomas to 101 and then got on 202. I was getting on the highway around 6:30, but I decided not to risk getting stuck on 101. The trip home was 33 miles, and the motorcycle is now at 1001 miles! I have an appointment on saturday for the first service (oil change, valve timing, and chain adjustment)
fed the cats on the way to work and went to the bank. The trip in was 32.1 miles, bike is at 1033 miles now.
trip home (including a gas stop) was 29.2 miles. bike is at 1062 miles now.
This fill-up was 3.091 gallons, $11.80, and 55.969 average mpg. I got gas early since I probably won't ride again until friday. The low fuel light came on just as I exited the highway at the gas station.
first service done at 1063 miles! oil change, valve timing, adjust & lube chain
went to the post office, and then to the grocery store to get some water.
Rode to work today, then on to pool.
I'm going to stop adding "routine" rides on here, or it's going to get really boring.
tonight, it started raining when I was at pool league. it rained for several hours! finally around midnight it seemed to be slowing down, so I finally headed home. once I got out of tempe and more into mesa, the rain was gone, and as I went further east the highway was dry! that was nice.
the only real problem I had was that my helmet and gloves were out on the bike, so my gloves were soaked. the blue dye got on my hands, and so my hands are stained purple.
the fun part was the wind. it kept pushing me to the right. so I leaned forward on the bike and had to lean the bike over to the left quite a bit to get it to stop going to the right. it was gusty wind too, so it was pretty challenging. a lot of fun though.
Went on a little ride with Brian and Kristy.
The trip was 327 miles for me, since I had to ride out to Brian and Kristy's house and back also. I have 1870 miles on the bike now.
During the main part of the trip, I averaged 64.4 mpg!
This is by far the longest I've ridden in one day. By the end, I needed to stop every 30 or 40 miles to rest.
The two BMW motorcycle dealers in town had demo days. Both days I got to ride a BMW f800st. The second time I wanted to try out a R1200R, but it was already taken. That's OK though, because I loved the f800st! I'm going to have to get one as soon as possible. This bike is similar in size and style to my ninja, but is better in every way! much more powerful, more comfortable, more stable on the highway, easier to turn, better brakes (with ABS), plus it has fancy features like heated grips, ambient temperature guage, a trip computer, and even a MPG guage (not to mention a fuel guage!)
I hope to find a used 2008; in 2009 they dropped the blue color and replaced it with a silver color, which is nice, but not as good as the blue color.
We'll see, when the time comes, what I can find.
I've been thinking I need to get more practice on curvy roads. Also, I need to do some longer rides, since my typical rides are all between 30 and 40 miles long.
Today when I left for work, I decided to head down highway 88 toward Canyon Lake first, to work on both those goals.
It seemed colder out today.
I had fun riding up through the curves, got to a nice pull-out.
Then turned around and headed back. I ended up adding 20 miles to my morning commute, so this morning was a 50 mile ride instead of only 30.
When I was almost to work, I exited from 202 onto Scottsdale road as normal. After I turned onto scottsdale road, I started accelerating as normal. When it was time to shift, I turned on the turn signal instead of pulling in the clutch! I'm pretty sure I was experiencing an early symptom of hypothermia! By this point, I had been riding for about an hour. typical ride to work is 35 minutes. it was 65 degrees out and cloudy. I suspect at the beginning of the ride it was probably closer to 60 degrees. I was still wearing summer riding gear, i.e., a mesh jacket!
I plan to put the liners in my jacket and pants tonight, and this weekend I will get some winter riding gloves.
I put the liners in, and it made a huge difference. I still need to get new gloves, my hands pretty much started going numb, and I have a bit of air coming in around my neck, but it's so much better than before.
Some statistics: The bike has 3115 miles now. I've gotten an average of 53.3 mpg (it's so low because my typical highway cruising speed is an indicated 80-85 mph). I've had the bike for 170 days, or 24 weeks, or nearly six months. in that time, it's cost me just under 14 cents per mile (or 6.5 cents per mile for just gas). My RX-8 costs over 19 cents per mile, most of which is gas: the RX-8 costs 14 cents per mile for gas costs alone.