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I am a somewhat new 850GS owner and have been devouring these pages since last November when the Suzy came home with me, but this is my first post. It was in need of some minor work that I have completed and it's ready to ride; hopefully I am also ready. I am a longtime rider but have not done any riding for several years. In a fit of brain fog I allowed my wife to convince me to sell my Honda CX500 Custom and until recently I have been bikeless.
Years ago I worked with a couple of guys who were private pilots. They subscribed to a flying magazine that had a monthly section called "I learned about flying from that". They used to bring in their older magazines rather than throwing them away and while I'm not a pilot I really enjoyed reading that monthly column. It seems to me that the same subject could be used for riding bikes; hence the title of this post.
I'll start off and hope that others will join in. My first motorized two wheel machine was a Vespa motor scooter. I lived in Florida as a teen and put lots of miles on that guy. Most of my friends had either scooters or small motorcycles and most of us also had afternoon paper routes and we used the scooters and bikes to deliver. My route was 16 miles long, and I also rode to school every day. Well the two most frustrating details of the Vespa were that it was a two cycle and you had to mix the oil with the gas manually. Of course I always guessed at the mixture which led to serveral occassions with a lot of blue smoke. The other detail was that the kick starter was held on by two bolts that would constantly break. When the bolts were broken you had to push start the scooter. I had done this many times and one time I learned a real lesson. I usually put the scooter in first gear and ran along side. When I got up some speed I would pop the clutch. The motor would start and I would hop on; worked every time but once. On one occassion I mistakenly put the scooter in second gear instead of first. When I released the clutch the engine started an off went the scooter with me hanging on. Must have looked like a Keystone Kop movie. Since I was not able to keep up with the speed of the scooter my arms were pulled straight out which in turn pulled the throttle on more; hence even more speed. At a near panic I grabbed the front brake instead of the clutch and the scooter took a nose dive. Actually it stopped and I went over the handlebars; a few scrapes and bruises and part of my shin left on the front cowling, but otherwise unhurt. This happened right in front of my house. A neighbor lady saw it happen and came running out to check on me. I was too embarrassed to be scared, and just wanted to be on my way before the entire neighborhood had a chance to get a good belly laugh at my expense. Youth is a wonderful thing when it comes to absorbing bumps and bruises. I was more careful about my gear selection after that.
I learned about riding from that.
JR
Years ago I worked with a couple of guys who were private pilots. They subscribed to a flying magazine that had a monthly section called "I learned about flying from that". They used to bring in their older magazines rather than throwing them away and while I'm not a pilot I really enjoyed reading that monthly column. It seems to me that the same subject could be used for riding bikes; hence the title of this post.
I'll start off and hope that others will join in. My first motorized two wheel machine was a Vespa motor scooter. I lived in Florida as a teen and put lots of miles on that guy. Most of my friends had either scooters or small motorcycles and most of us also had afternoon paper routes and we used the scooters and bikes to deliver. My route was 16 miles long, and I also rode to school every day. Well the two most frustrating details of the Vespa were that it was a two cycle and you had to mix the oil with the gas manually. Of course I always guessed at the mixture which led to serveral occassions with a lot of blue smoke. The other detail was that the kick starter was held on by two bolts that would constantly break. When the bolts were broken you had to push start the scooter. I had done this many times and one time I learned a real lesson. I usually put the scooter in first gear and ran along side. When I got up some speed I would pop the clutch. The motor would start and I would hop on; worked every time but once. On one occassion I mistakenly put the scooter in second gear instead of first. When I released the clutch the engine started an off went the scooter with me hanging on. Must have looked like a Keystone Kop movie. Since I was not able to keep up with the speed of the scooter my arms were pulled straight out which in turn pulled the throttle on more; hence even more speed. At a near panic I grabbed the front brake instead of the clutch and the scooter took a nose dive. Actually it stopped and I went over the handlebars; a few scrapes and bruises and part of my shin left on the front cowling, but otherwise unhurt. This happened right in front of my house. A neighbor lady saw it happen and came running out to check on me. I was too embarrassed to be scared, and just wanted to be on my way before the entire neighborhood had a chance to get a good belly laugh at my expense. Youth is a wonderful thing when it comes to absorbing bumps and bruises. I was more careful about my gear selection after that.
I learned about riding from that.
JR
Mind you, i only have this 80 something seca 750 for a couple days and it needed alot of work, so i was "teaching" myself to ride on a buddies beat to hell cb750k. i ran into a guy who lived in the same complex as me, almost litterally.
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