Bike Shopping take 2

Oh gosh I'm feeling salty already.  Remember that word "salty" to mean embarrassed?  Haha I'm old.  Okay moving on to bikes.  Besides hittin' up friends, the only, and I would say best, way to find affordable used motorcycles is through Craigslist.  In general, I think that Craigslist can be a breeding ground for creepers, scammers, and cheaters.  It's sorta scary to email folks who post ads about selling their bike and to meet them in an unfamiliar place.  Well I suppose I posted an ad needing a roommate on Craigslist and I'm no pervert.  But what I'm trying to say is that you gotta be cautious!  A guy in San Francisco was selling his 250 Ninja.  Damn in SF??  That seemed far.  But from what I understand, sometimes you have to travel "far" when hunting for bikes.  Just part of the game.  I might miss out on something good if I just stuck to the southbay.  This is what the bike looked like:

It was okay looking.  The more I look at 250 Ninjas, the more I realize how "meh" they are.  I want a shiny bike!  I want a bike that says "Damn. I am sexy."  But I know that should be lower on my list of priorities.  Right now I just need something to learn on.  The sexy bike will come later...I guess...

I responded to the ad and spoke to the seller over the phone and he seemed really cool!  He told me he wanted to meet in a public place because of his safety and mine.  He encouraged a friend to come with me for a second opinion because buying a bike can be a big deal.  Best of all, he was okay with moving to an empty parking after so that I could test ride it.  I was really liking this guy!  Or was I being scammed?  I can be such a gullible fool.

Brought my BF with me to San Francisco to check out the bike.  We all met at a Borders parking lot.  I noticed that he brought a car with 4 dudes in it...for protection??  I liked that it was silver, but not digging the orange.  Scratches here and there, but no major dents.  Physically it was in better shape than the last bike, but my BF said he wasn't sure if it was maintained well. The exhaust pipe was damn rusty!   Also when he rode it, it puttered a lot. Sounded like, "putt, putt, putt, putt" instead of "putt-putt-putt-putt."  Know what I mean?  It's like the poor thing was struggling!  Eh, decided that I wanted to test ride it anyway.  We went to a deserted parking lot, I put on my gear, sat on the Ninja, let out the clutch, aaaaand I stall the bike of course.  I forgot that these lower powered bike need some throttle when you start!  The last time I rode a 250 was in the MSF course back in December.  I try again and off I go smoothly!  The first thing I noticed is how weak this bike feels!  Going from a 600cc bike to this is like "BOOOO!!!  GIMME MORE POWER!!!"  However, I did love how light and maneuverable it felt.  It really is a great beginner bike.  I rode around a couple of times and tested out the brakes.  I took the bike back and had my BF test it out.  When he came back, we all noticed that the back tire looked flat.  The seller rolled the wheel and found a nail in it!  Someone ran over it!  I'm actually pretty sure it was me since I noticed the flat-ish tire before my BF got on the bike.  Whoops.  You could actually hear the "hissssss" from air escaping.  Man I felt salty!  The guy said he was going to fix it and we agreed to meet in an hour.  During that hour, we got Thai food at Chaba, which has one of the best Pad Kee Mao's I've ever had, and I've had a TON.  I took this opportunity to really think about the bike.  Here are some thoughts that were going through my head:

Do I want a 250 at all?  They seem underpowered and so far I can handle a 600cc motorcycle.
Are bike tires really that weak?  I didn't hear a pop and a tiny nail busted it!
The look of Kawasaki Ninjas are not impressive to me.  Should I go with something else?
I have no strong feelings about the bike.  Is this normal?  Or am I supposed to gasp when I see "the one"?  Or am I waiting for a feeling for a bike that doesn't exist with beginner bikes?
This guy seems to be trustworthy.  I'd rather buy a bike from him than some cheater.

Gaaahhh!  I was really conflicted.  What really helped me make a decision was when my boyfriend said:
There will be more bikes.  It's better to wait than to rush into buying one.  He was right.  I had no strong happy feelings about it, so I texted the dude, apologized for the busted tire and passed on the bike.  Sure I felt like a total a--hole for the accident, but that's the risk you take when selling...right?  I'm just glad that I didn't buy it, then notice the flat.

At the end of the day, I did make the right decision.  So my important learned lessons for the day:
1.  Take someone with you when shopping to help you process.  I didn't want my excitement to cloud my judgment.
2.  Yes there will be more bikes, especially during this time of year.  No need to hurry.

My bike is out there somewhere!  I hope when I meet her, I'll feel tingles.

Written on 4/5/11

Moto boots!

Something else I've been researching is moto boots.  Never thought that these would be an important piece of gear.  As usual, went to my go-to site Motorcycle Superstore.  After looking at all of the selections (which is surprisingly large) I came across these:

Icon Bombshell boots

What the hell are these??  The purpose of boots is to protect your feet/ankles and have traction.  The bottom of these barely have grooves in them and can you imagine how much it would hurt in a fall with all those buckles???  And what's up with the high heeled wedges?  I love high heels, but this is ridiculous for riding.  What I'm most disappointed in is that it received 4.4/5 rating from reviewers on Motorcycle Superstore.  My favorite review site is now tainted!!!  I actually did think they lost some credibility...but what can they do?  They can't control what reviewers say.  Okay I'm done hating now.  Weeks after seeing this online, I saw it in person at my local Cycle Gear.  My reaction was, "Oh my god there it is!!!  Just like online!"  Then I chuckled to myself and had to take a picture.  Okay I'm really done hating now.

After the usual hours of research, I picked these:

Black Rose Boots by Gaerne

It had high reviews and seemed like it had what I was looking for:  no chunkiness, good in many weather conditions (cool, hot, dry, wet), and comfy-ish to walk around in after getting off the bike.  I spent more than I wanted to on them, but it's hard to find boots that fit all requirements of mine and still look good.  Other boots I've seen look so clunky and huge!  I have size 8.5 feet, I don't want them to look bigger than they already are. Tidbit:  Motorcycle Superstore has a "lowest price guarantee" deal.  I saw these cheaper on another site and they did a price match!  Very happy about it since I trust these guys more than other sites.   I'm expecting these to arrive in 4 days.  Hope they work out!

Becoming Obsessed!

Not with riding.  That'll come later.  I'm becoming obsessed with researching!  My newest hobby is sitting at a coffeeshop, my record is 6 hours in one day (!), and browse the internet for motorcycle-related stuff.  This has led to my horrible coffee addiction too.  I spent hours looking for the "perfect" helmet.  I didn't mind spending lots of time researching that since it's the most important piece of gear I'll own.  Next on my list of things to buy:  jacket.  Also spent hours looking for the "perfect" jacket...and so on...So why so many damn hours looking for stuff?  Well many reasons actually.  I heart lists so here we go!

1.  I'm indecisive.  You never want to ask where I want to go eat.  I've gotten anxiety attacks from Yelping restaurants.  When I get a consensus from the internet, I'll deeply consider it, whatever that "it" is.  If you've ever researched gear on the web, you know that everyone has their own (and usually strong) opinion on this stuff which can contradict another opinionated person's point of view on an item.  I know that it's supposed to be the more options the better, but it can stress me out.  Tidbit:  I've had actual nightmares where I'm in the candy store and I can't figure out what the hell I want and I panic.  Yes I called it a nightmare.  Haha I sound like a fun person...

2.  Gear can be expensive.  Is it worth the extra money for the expensive stuff???  I don't know!  That's why I read countless articles about price versus quality.  As a person who is money saver and not much of a money earner, I gotta watch all my pennies!

This is one of the first jackets that caught my eye.  A sexy white leather jacket from Shift Racing.  Only costs $350.00...

3.  Not many personal reviews on female gear.  This leads me to search the hell out of Google for the particular item I am eyeing.  I newly found a love for YouTube reviews by Sportbiketrackgear and motosuperstore.  Thanks for your help!  What's your go-to place for reviews?

I'm actually diggin' this new hobby of mine.  I get to spend time with my friends when they have grown up things to do in the coffeeshop like work or study for the GMATs.  It gets me out of the house so I don't do things I regret like take accidental naps or watch endless hours of reruns on tv.  It's also nice to be able to speak somewhat intelligently about motorcycles and gear.  Next thing to research:  My first bike!!!  Exciting.

Curse You Red Light!!!

A really common theme I read in articles about newbies riding is that you can learn something new with every ride.  I can't agree more.  Here is what I learned today:  red lights suck.  Need more info?  Well, this is how my ride went...

Last night, I set my alarm to 6:55am for my Saturday morning ride.  Dreamt about riding, didn't feel scary nor exciting.  Woke up and looked at my clock.  6:30am.  Say whaaattt??  After a night of drinking and playing at the internet cafe until midnight, I still woke up before my alarm went off.  I guess I'm really anxious, in a good and nervous way, to ride today.  Don't worry friends.  I didn't drink enough to feel anything in the morning.  This is about the 4th time I'm doing an early morning ride and I'm noticing a pattern.  This is what it looks like:

1.  Wake up and feel nervous.  "You better freakin' get out of bed!" (my self-talk)
2.  Put on comfy riding clothes.  Go to the kitchen and drink a glass of water.  I never drink water in the morning.  Maybe I think it gives me special riding powers.
3.  Debate whether or not I should eat breakfast.  Food in the morning helps me focus, so I quickly eat cereal.  Or am I just delaying the whole process so I can possibly back out??
4.  "Hurry up!!!  The longer you wait, the later it gets, and the more traffic there will be!!"  I say this a few times in my head.
5.  Put on my gear slowly.  Why slowly?  Again, I think I'm just delaying that uncomfortable feeling of riding that is inevitable in my current learning stage.
6.  "Oh shit my all my gear is on.  Now I can't back out."
7.  Mouthing the acronym FINE-C, I start the bike.
8.  Off I go on another learning adventure!

Okay sorry got distracted.  Back to the red light.  I'm practicing around downtown Mountain View and luckily there are barely any cars around.  That is one less thing to worry about.  Heading towards Evelyn Street so I can zoom down a straight road going 35mph, woot!  I approached a red light to get to Evelyn.  Waiting.  One minute later, light still red.  "Hmm.  It normally doesn't take this long."  Two minutes later, still red.  "What the heck??"  I walk the bike back and forth, then creep up past the white line.  "Dude it's been 5 minutes!!"  I remembered how my MSF instructor told us that sometimes stop lights can't sense motorcycles because the amount of metal to magnetize is a lot less than a car.  "Ahh screw this!"  I make a right turn instead, go around the block, and return back to the same stop light.  "Maybe it'll be better this time!!"  I'm laughing at myself as I blog about that thought I had.  I don't know why I thought it'd be different the second time.  So yeah I wait another 5 minutes (literally that long) with no change of that damn red light and take an alternate route.  Any of you have ideas of what to do if a red light doesn't sense you?  The thought of going an alternate route each time sounds ridiculous.

Another thing I learned today is about the importance of being in first gear when at a 4-way intersection.  It was nearing 8am at this point in the day and more cars were in downtown.  I limit my practice to under an hour to avoid physical and emotional fatigue, so I head back to park the bike.  I approach a 4-way stop, downshift to 1st gear, and 3 other cars fill up the intersection.  My usual reaction, "Holy crap other cars!!!" makes me immediately tense.  My turn to go comes, so I let out the clutch slooowly like I've been practicing, and my bike stalls.  NOOOOO!!!!  It's okay, try again.  Re-start the bike, let out the clutch even more slowly, bike stalls again for the second time.  At this point, the other cars are waiting for me to go, drivers are motioning their hands to me to say, "Hey go!  It's your turn!"  I'm really panicking this time.  Start the bike for a third time and it finally moves forward, but in a crazy and jerking way!  OH SHIT WHAT'S HAPPENING?? I pull over to the side to recollect myself.  I downshift and realize that I was trying to go from 0 to 15mph on 2nd gear.  Although I heard you can do that, you need really good clutch control, which I don't have.  So from now on, I will make sure make sure (yes I put that in there twice on purpose) that I am in 1st gear when I have to stop completely.  I also debriefed with my BF about that jerking feeling and weird sound I heard with the bike and became at ease with the explanation.

A new thing I'd like to do with my blog is document more often about my practices and talk about what I learned so I don't forget.  Here's to another learned lesson!  Cheers!

Written on 3/13/10