Unexpected Addition to the Garage

Since the weather has been soggy lately I have been dreaming of riding next summer. In my daydreams I am on a large cruiser motorcycle going on overnight trips and riding up and down the Pacific Coast. The sound of the rumbling rhythm in my head is from a Harley.

Since Harleys are overpriced and have a certain 'status' associated with them, I started looking online to see what other motorcycles there might be, so that I might start dreaming of a closer reality. I really need a bigger bike. Yesterday, to pass the dreary day, I talked my husband into going to this huge motorcycle dealership that is pretty far away from our home, but has the largest variety of Japanese bikes in the area. My intention was to 'look' and narrow down what type of motorcycle I wanted and could afford in the near future.

We drove down there and happily started jumping on bikes in the showroom. This place had every make, model, and color of every 2007 Japanese motorcycle on the American market. I was immediately drawn to a Honda Sabre with a flame paint job. I love flames! It just didn’t feel good to me once I sat on it. I also tried all the larger Suzuki Boulevard series, Yamaha cruiser V-Stars, many Honda cruisers, and some Kawasaki cruisers. Finally I sat on the Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Classic. That was it!

After leaving to go eat lunch, think about it, and discuss it with my husband……..I went back and bought the bike. We decided the sale they were having was really a good deal, the bike fit well, and it had all the features that I needed in my next motorcycle. I had followed the chain of events when a fellow blogger, Rippin-Kitten had been fortunate enough to be loaned a Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Custom for a while. She rode it and reviewed it. It generally sounded like a fine motorcycle, looked good, and was reasonably priced. I also knew a girl in my riding group who had a new Aqua colored one. It’s a beautiful bike. The dealer had a Candy Cardinal Red one. I nabbed it.

I don’t pick the bike up until Tuesday, which is supposed to be the start of a couple of partly sunny, dry days. I got a large windshield, and engine guards added to the already cool motorcycle. It has floorboards, a real gas gauge, and a huge headlight. It also has a 5.3 gallon gas tank, fuel injection, low maintenance belt drive, and spoked wheels with disc brakes on front and back.

I am sure this motorcycle will serve me well for several years of riding pleasure. I will be looking for large leather saddlebags and eventually a small sissy bar with luggage rack behind it, for those overnight trips with lots of gear. It was an unexpected purchase, but one that I had been leading up to for a while. Now I just have to keep my husband off of it……

Meeting other women motorcyclists

I’ve been riding my motorcycle for more than two years now. Mostly I ride alongside my husband or I ride alone. At first, as a new rider, I had to build up my confidence to ride farther and farther out of my neighborhood. We go for short day trips on weekends that may last three or four hours. My gas tank is two gallons, so I need to stop every hundred miles or so to fill up.

Some of the other women motorcyclist blogs have inspired me to go farther and faster and take more chances on my bike. I’ve been riding safe and conservatively, which is fine. But I’ve limited myself by trying to avoid the freeway speeds when possible, and not going a great distance from home.

My solution to this was to join a local Cycle Barn Women’s Motorcycle Club. If I can meet some other female riders, I might have the opportunity to go farther and faster on the organized rides. We live in Western Washington so there is no lack of beautiful day or weekend destinations to ride.

Tonight I went to a dinner meeting of the CBWMC and met the members. There were two other new members and a total of six of us altogether. They have a few others who usually come, but the group was small. The three newest members were the only ones who rode our motorcycles. The older members all drove cars. I found that curious. Those of us who were new felt a kinship right away with the other women. They were all nice, all ages, and all confidence levels. I felt right at home as they talked about being nervous on gravel, not riding in the winter (I do), and tipping over their bikes. These were just women who like to ride their motorcycles, and like to do long weekend and even 4 day rides. It was encouraging to us new members to think of being able to do such long rides.

We parted with a plan to meet next month, aside from a weekend ride over the Cascade Mountains to Winthrop next week. Next month they have two rides which I will plan to go on and that will be all the organized rides for this year. They meet once a month through the winter and discuss and plan next years ride schedule. I can hardly wait to start riding with other women in a group. We found out we all live within 15 miles of each other, so some of us will probably meet and ride on nice weekends anyway. I can see a lot of good times down the road……..

It’s raining outside…….

I am a fair weather biker in most respects. I don’t mind if it starts raining on me when I am on my way home from anywhere. If I am going to work or elsewhere, I am really not equipped with rain-gear so usually my pants will be soaked by the time I arrive – wet crotch is no fun. I also don’t like to get my motorcycle splattered with road grime in the rain, at least not on a regular basis.

Here are a few suggestions of things to do when you can’t get out and ride:

• Watch some old classic biker movies such as “Easy Rider” with Jack Nicholson and Peter Fonda, “The Wild Ones” with Marlon Brando, “Hells’ Angels on Wheels” with Jack Nicholson, and “The Wild Angels” with Peter Fonda. “The Big Book of Biker Flicks: 40 of the best Motorcycle movies of all time” by Jack Wooley has these movies and more for your amusement and pleasure. These are fun to watch, very stereotypical, and you’ll recognize other actors who went on to do greater things.

• Read a good book on motorcycling. One that I read which encouraged me to ride was “The Perfect Vehicle: What it is about Motorcycles” by Melissa Holbrook Pierson. She describes the riding experience wonderfully. Other fun books are “Biker Billy Cooks with Fire: Robust recipes from Americas’ most outrageous television chef”, “Biker Billy’s Freeway-A-Fire Cookbook: Life’s too short to Eat Dull Food”, and “Biker Billy’s Hog Wild on a Harley Cookbook: 200 fiercely flavorful recipes to kick-start your cooking from Harley riders across the USA” all by Bill Hufnagle. Lastly, “Harley and Davidson Family Recipes: Celebrating 100 years of Home Cooking” by Margo Manning.

• I also enjoy the Motorcycle magazine, “Rider”. Each month there is an article about a ride somewhere in the US. There are lots of pictures, and good articles, and it is mostly just about riding any motorcycle.

• Surf the web for other biker websites and blogs. There are many out there such as: Rippin-kitten.com, BikerBetty.blogspot.com, and uncagedlibrarian.blogspot.com to name a few. A website called Ready2ride.com has a female rider tab with lots of other female biker websites and blogs. Just do a search and you will spend many hours checking out what other bikers are doing.

• Research your next dream bike. If you are like me you will always be thinking of the motorcycle you want but can’t yet afford. Read up on the one you think you want. Go down to the motorcycle dealer and check it out. Sit on it, and ask questions about it. If it’s raining you probably won’t take it for a test ride, but you can go back when it is sunny!

So these are just a few suggestions to kill time when you can’t get on your bike and ride. In those situations you can still enjoy the riding spirit, keep riding foremost in your mind, and have a few laughs – while watching those old biker movies.