Saturday, March 26, 2011

back on the bike (with a few surprises)

finally! a new post! you could also read that to say: finally! decent weather!

i know, i know, i try not to be a fair weather rider, and i’ve actually been ridiculously busy recently, but i haven’t really gotten out since…well…my last post. so that’s been a while.

anyway, my little bro was in town this past weekend, and not only does he always like to ride when he’s in town, but it was a gorgeous day and he needed to check out his bike before he rode it back to walla walla. what better way to do that then to take a ride down to RMC motorsports in renton to see if they have a march clearance going on (last time we hit this sale, pat got his $350 icon racing jacket at 75% off)? so we gathered our gear and headed out, with a quick stop to check our tire pressure. as we pull into the gas station, however, pat signals me over and shows me his throttle. he twists it, it stays put. no spring back. neat trick, but not the best way to start a ride, much less take a bike across the state in (potentially) inclement weather.

instead of hopping on the freeway, we hop onto google to see if we can diagnose the problem. we figured it was one of three things: a sticky throttle cable, friction between the grip and the bar end or a problem with his throttlemeister. for those that don’t know, the throttlemeister is a little gizmo that lets you twist a knob of the end of the throttle that locks it in place, kind of like a manual cruise control. kind of like the problem he was experiencing now, when the throttlemeister was supposed to be off. after a quick call to ride west BMW (pat rides a ’98 funduro), they claim whatever the problem is, it’s a quick fix if we can bring it in soon. we decide it’s just as well to go to ride west as opposed to RMC, and we can get his bike looked at in the process. After a small hesitation about which bike I should ride (if, for some reason, he needed to leave his at the dealer, vixen would not have had the most comfortable ride home with a 6’2” rider and 6’5” passenger), we take off.

for some reason, everyone that was merging on or off the freeway that day was in perfect synch with me, meaning they tried to merge directly into me. yee haw. vixen accelerated admirably, though and, no damage done, we reach ride west with no incident. pat gets his bike looked at, which they say will only take a few minutes, and we go up to browse some far-too-expensive bikes and accessories. pat finds some long underwear on sale for approximately $70 a pair, and i find what could be my new obsession.

while strolling through the showroom i catch a glimpse at the new (to the states) f800r. what’s this? a BMW naked bike? i’m intrigued. i investigate. it looks rather sleek (not as much as a monster or speed triple, and I’m not crazy about the headlights), and is quite comfortable to sit on, a tad more upright than vixen. i ask the salesman, where did this come from? from canada and europe, he replies. they just brought it to the states. it’s a hell of a lot of fun, do you want to take one for a demo ride? hmm…let me think on this one. yes. yes i do. a quick flourish of paperwork later and i’m sitting on a beautiful red, white and blue f800r ready to turn onto lake city way for my “demo.” just head down toward sandpoint, he says. if you feel like going longer, just keep going till you hit 520 and take I-5 back up to lake city. if i feel like riding longer. always a nice thing to hear from a dealer. it shows they care (about my enjoyment). here's what i was sitting on when he said this:



let me say, for the record, that the salesman was right. it was a hell of a lot of fun. the 800 gave me just that little extra zip from my 650, and i could definitely feel it. a nice bit of torque to it and some excellent acceleration. i took it down lake city, over on 95th to sandpoint way (where i was able to open her up a bit), around sandpoint and up over 65th. for those of you who know that road, it’s a good twisty, steep climb with some 15mph recommended turns. highly recommended for testing new bikes. especially the 2011 BMW f800r. she handled the hill like a champ, and if you'd asked me right there to take it to namibia for some dunes, i wouldn't have hesitated. the throttle control, once i got used to it (and figured out how to turn off the heated grips), was not as sensitive as vixen, but not in a bad way. it was a lot smoother, especially when rolling off and using the clutch, and i didn’t have to be as careful to avoid those little jolts. overall, not much bad to say, honestly. although i won’t be trading vixen in any time soon (especially not for a new bike with a $10k price tag), it was a blast to try.

anyway, to conclude, pat’s bike got fixed up in a jiffy, and he found one to drool over (an ’07 g650xc, kitted out for travel), though he decided against a demo ride (probably smart, as now i want a new bike and he doesn’t). we returned home with the continued gorgeous weather, and i am now lamenting even more the return of the rain. oh well.

until next time, which hopefully won’t be nearly as long,

rftc,

scott