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While I was in SF I rented a sweet BMW from a place called Dubbelju. Don't really know why it's named that, but they have a nice stable of bikes for reasonable prices and even rented me an armored jacket and pants, since I didn't travel with mine. I did however bring my helmet. For someone who has his own bowling shoes because of the general creepiness of donning shoes countless others have sweat in, I will never put a rental helmet on my cranium.
I got the bike the night before I planned to ride since I needed to be at my work conference early on the day following my ride and the shop didn't open til 9. Took a quick shakedown ride to the Golden Gate bridge to familiarize myself with the bike. While it was an 1150, the VIN tag said it weighed less than 400 lbs. Felt good, though having each turn signal on it's respective side, along with a cancel switch on the Right, above the signal served to confuse my pea brain to no end. Many a blinker was left flashing.
The clutch was a little hard to get used to. I think it's a dry clutch, but am not sure. Very little slip/forgiveness. Seemed like I'd either stall from too little gas, or take off like a bat out of hell. Maybe my 850's clutch slips a bit, making for more smooth takeoffs. Anyway, the acceleration was smooth and powerful. There seemed to be a bit of shaft torquing, but it wasn't severe and I didn't have it happen through any curves, which was comforting.
And man, were there curves. I think I equaled all of the twisty turns in 6 years of riding history in one day. I was starting to hope for some straight-aways...
I headed down the PCH from San Fran to Santa Cruz. The plan was to swim, but it was still to foggy and cool. It is quite a thrill to be learning how a bike turns and handles whille barreling down a 2 lane, twisty road with a sheer drop-off on your right. I never had been so nervous on a bike before. that went away, or at least was suppressed most of the rest of the ride. After the PCH I made my way back up inland on Rt 9 to rt 236 which goes through a redwood forest state park. At points it was about a 1 1/2 lane road with no lines, winding through the forest. All was well until I saw a sign that said Watch For Logging Trucks. A Hummer passed me and I barely had enough road to sneak by. I kept fearing I'd be taking a shard right hander and be face to face with a Mack truck. Luckily the only ones I saw were parked.
I continued up though the mountains to Skyline drive. I had to rip out all of the linings of my gear as it got much, much hotter.
I was out for about 10 or 11 hours and covered about 250 miles of beautiful, curvy roads.
I got the bike the night before I planned to ride since I needed to be at my work conference early on the day following my ride and the shop didn't open til 9. Took a quick shakedown ride to the Golden Gate bridge to familiarize myself with the bike. While it was an 1150, the VIN tag said it weighed less than 400 lbs. Felt good, though having each turn signal on it's respective side, along with a cancel switch on the Right, above the signal served to confuse my pea brain to no end. Many a blinker was left flashing.
The clutch was a little hard to get used to. I think it's a dry clutch, but am not sure. Very little slip/forgiveness. Seemed like I'd either stall from too little gas, or take off like a bat out of hell. Maybe my 850's clutch slips a bit, making for more smooth takeoffs. Anyway, the acceleration was smooth and powerful. There seemed to be a bit of shaft torquing, but it wasn't severe and I didn't have it happen through any curves, which was comforting.
And man, were there curves. I think I equaled all of the twisty turns in 6 years of riding history in one day. I was starting to hope for some straight-aways...
I headed down the PCH from San Fran to Santa Cruz. The plan was to swim, but it was still to foggy and cool. It is quite a thrill to be learning how a bike turns and handles whille barreling down a 2 lane, twisty road with a sheer drop-off on your right. I never had been so nervous on a bike before. that went away, or at least was suppressed most of the rest of the ride. After the PCH I made my way back up inland on Rt 9 to rt 236 which goes through a redwood forest state park. At points it was about a 1 1/2 lane road with no lines, winding through the forest. All was well until I saw a sign that said Watch For Logging Trucks. A Hummer passed me and I barely had enough road to sneak by. I kept fearing I'd be taking a shard right hander and be face to face with a Mack truck. Luckily the only ones I saw were parked.
I continued up though the mountains to Skyline drive. I had to rip out all of the linings of my gear as it got much, much hotter.
I was out for about 10 or 11 hours and covered about 250 miles of beautiful, curvy roads.
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