I didn’t end up getting my dream scooter, but I still needed *some* transportation so I hunted and hunted and finally found a good used 1991 Honda VFR750F which is…. about 140 pounds heavier than my Scarabeo 150 scooter, notably taller in the seat, and about 4000x times more powerful. Combine that with the fact that I’ve never ridden a standard transmission motorcycle before and it’s left me feeling a bit “chibi”.

Being the typically newbish new motorcycle owner I dropped it within 5 minutes while trying to walk it through a couple 3 point turns and park it next to the scooter. Broke the brake lever, and scratched up the fairing on the concrete. The former is cheap and easy to fix. There’s not much I can do about the latter. As the old owner said, “This is why you don’t start with a new bike.” And I couldn’t agree more. Fortunately he was there to help pick it up. I’ve read the instructions on how to pick up a fallen bike but damn if i couldn’t budge it. My legs were all “hrrrrrrrg. wibble wibble.” I have absolutely no clue what people do when they drop those giant boat-like touring bikes.

Unfortunately my confidence is a bit shot. I think I can ride it, but I’m concerned about walking it around. From now on, unless I’m walking in a straight line, I’m sitting on it and doing the stupid duck waddling. It’s got a kick-stand and a center stand but I’m a little concerned I may not have the strength to get it up onto the center stand and I’m afraid that if I try too hard I’ll drop it again. I don’t care what anyone says about a simple rocking motion and a little push. I’ve never gotten the scooter’s to work without a good deal of force and this things notable larger, heavier, and has a much higher center of gravity.

All-in-all I’m happy that I can stop worrying about what I’m going to do about transportation, but this is a lot of bike and it’s going to take a lot of riding around in the nearby parking-lot at night before I’m totally comfortable attempting to take it on the road again. Oh, and I’m now totally freaking broke, which sucks.

Tags: motorcycle

This entry was posted on Monday, April 21st, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Comic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.