And I think the whole "My mom is a vampire" thing is hot!
Last week, I was riding home through some heavy rush hour traffic. Three of us motorcyclists ended up riding together in the HOV lane. The guy ahead of me was wearing a black leather jacket with "YAMAHA" written in red on the back. He was riding an older model from the late '70s or early '80s, and since I ride a '79 XS11, I wanted to let him see he had a fellow old Yamaha rider behind him. Riding behind him, I couldn't make out what model he was riding. I pulled alongside him when traffic let up, but he never looked my way. At least I could see he was riding a Seca 650. I fell in behind him again, and when my exit came up, I pulled alongside him once more. This time he saw me, saw what I was riding, and we both started pointing at each others bikes and giving the thumbs up. It was a moment for us both to kind of spazz out in shared Universal Japanese Motorcycle geekdom.
Yesterday I pulled in to work at the airport. There is free parking in the parking garage for motorcycle riders which is incredibly convenient. In the summer there are about 30 or 40 bikes parked in the three designated places. As I pulled in, an older guy was there checking out a Can-Am Spyder, a very sporty trike with two wheels up front. He looked at my bike and said "You know why it was called the XS Eleven?" I thought he was trying to make a pun on "excess" so I said "Because it's so heavy?" "Nope. Because it ran elevens in the quarter mile." "So the fact that it's an 1100cc motorcycle has nothing to do with the eleven in it's name?" "Nope. It runs elevens." It was at that moment that I realized I was talking to famed motorcycle historian Olden Indaway.
It's been rather hot here lately. Last night I was riding home at midnight and it was still very warm. I don't particularly like riding at night. Not that it's unpleasant or anything. Last night was beautiful with comfortable weather and a nearly full moon. But if motorcycles are invisible to most motorists in broad daylight, imagine how impossible they are to see in the dark. In fact, I think motorcycles become black holes at night. If a car comes anywhere a motorcycle at night, it immediately dives into it, unable to escape it's gravitational field. So, no, I don't particularly like riding at night.
I've come to the conclusion that my handlebars are too low. It looks good, but they hit the gas tank (in fact I've got a big dent on the right side when the bike fell over while parked), and I'm carrying too much weight on my arms and hands while I'm riding it. A few inches up and an inch or two back would allow me to sit up a bit more. Comfort in very important to me. That's why I'm sure my next bike will be a cruiser. stochasticjack's Vulcan took me a few miles to get used to the feet-forward riding position, but experience (and a new Corbin seat) showed me just how comfortable a cruiser can be. I'm still looking at the Star (Yamaha) V-Star 950. It looks like the right combination of engine size, price, and most importantly, comfort.
I've been posting articles to Staxbros.com. My latest is an article on Fred Eaglesmith's Lipstick, Lies & Gasoline. I've also written articles about J.P. Patches, the Allstate Garage, Shigeo Koike, Peter Wheeler, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou and a lot of others. Go check them out, and buy a t-shirt while you're there. Stochasticjack has written plenty of articles, too, and he's a better writer, so there's even more reason to go and check it out. Go on, you know you want to.
Yesterday I pulled in to work at the airport. There is free parking in the parking garage for motorcycle riders which is incredibly convenient. In the summer there are about 30 or 40 bikes parked in the three designated places. As I pulled in, an older guy was there checking out a Can-Am Spyder, a very sporty trike with two wheels up front. He looked at my bike and said "You know why it was called the XS Eleven?" I thought he was trying to make a pun on "excess" so I said "Because it's so heavy?" "Nope. Because it ran elevens in the quarter mile." "So the fact that it's an 1100cc motorcycle has nothing to do with the eleven in it's name?" "Nope. It runs elevens." It was at that moment that I realized I was talking to famed motorcycle historian Olden Indaway.
It's been rather hot here lately. Last night I was riding home at midnight and it was still very warm. I don't particularly like riding at night. Not that it's unpleasant or anything. Last night was beautiful with comfortable weather and a nearly full moon. But if motorcycles are invisible to most motorists in broad daylight, imagine how impossible they are to see in the dark. In fact, I think motorcycles become black holes at night. If a car comes anywhere a motorcycle at night, it immediately dives into it, unable to escape it's gravitational field. So, no, I don't particularly like riding at night.
I've come to the conclusion that my handlebars are too low. It looks good, but they hit the gas tank (in fact I've got a big dent on the right side when the bike fell over while parked), and I'm carrying too much weight on my arms and hands while I'm riding it. A few inches up and an inch or two back would allow me to sit up a bit more. Comfort in very important to me. That's why I'm sure my next bike will be a cruiser. stochasticjack's Vulcan took me a few miles to get used to the feet-forward riding position, but experience (and a new Corbin seat) showed me just how comfortable a cruiser can be. I'm still looking at the Star (Yamaha) V-Star 950. It looks like the right combination of engine size, price, and most importantly, comfort.
I've been posting articles to Staxbros.com. My latest is an article on Fred Eaglesmith's Lipstick, Lies & Gasoline. I've also written articles about J.P. Patches, the Allstate Garage, Shigeo Koike, Peter Wheeler, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou and a lot of others. Go check them out, and buy a t-shirt while you're there. Stochasticjack has written plenty of articles, too, and he's a better writer, so there's even more reason to go and check it out. Go on, you know you want to.