[eternal05]

Can’t go wrong! She’ll get a lot out of that bike.

[eternal05]

Ok, scratch what I said earlier. At these prices, I absolutely WOULD buy a Shift product! $200 for the Octane?!

[eternal05]

Just remembered: it’s Snatch (made in 2000).

[eternal05]

Oh man, watching the front wheels of your MP3 from that angle is hysterical. That is one cool bit of engineering!

Looks like a great ride, and glad to see you too made use of this last sunny day in the Seattle area. I had my own little ride on the Eastside and around Mercer island (fun until you hit another car) on Sunday. Hopefully we get another one soon…

Oh, also, what’s the song, and what movie recent-ish movie had this song on the soundtrack? It’s driving me nuts.

[eternal05]

If you haven’t discovered earplugs already, get yourself a big-ol bag of them and put some in every time you ride. You’ll notice a) really strong wind doesn’t bother you anymore, b) you don’t get hearing fatigue after a long ride, c) you feel much calmer while riding, and therefore will tend to ride better.

Don’t worry, you’ll still be able to hear everything you need to hear, including sirens, other cars, horns, and of course, your engine. This is standard practice among motorcyclists, so don’t think I’m giving you some weird voodoo magic tips here

[eternal05]

Yeah this is the one spot where the Ninja doesn’t really shine. I, personally, think it’s still fine, especially if you’re going to have the bike for a year or so and then look elsewhere, and especially since she shouldn’t get on the highway first thing. The 250 will get blown around a bit more (again, this is not nearly so dramatic as people paint it out to be) due to its light weight, and it will accelerate on the highway more like your basic sports car than a sport bike (that is to say, fast for a car, not fast for a bike). It does mean you have to be a bit more careful about always being in the powerband, and always being alert and ready to go if you need to get out of a tricky situation.

Ultimately, I think it’s perfectly manageable. If you want to go into sportbiking, I advocate one of three “beginner” bikes: the Ninja 250R, the 650R, and the Suzuki SV650SF. The latter two are really borderline, as they both have tremendous power (same 0-60mph –almost– as their supersport ZX-R and GSX-R cousins). They’re also heavier, torquey-er, have severe engine braking, and more aggressive riding positions. If your sister is a mere 5’5″ I would REALLY suggest starting on the 250R, or she will struggle with it at low speeds and likely drop it a few times. Again, not because she’s a girl, but because she’s small and inexperienced. Drops are very common among new riders, and when you have a hard time getting your feet on the ground or holding the bike up, you’re even more likely to succumb to a drop.

At some point when I get around to it (and before I sell my Ninja), I’ll make a vid that addresses all of these concerns. I’m really busy at the moment, however, so you shouldn’t expect that until winter vacation. If we get bad weather again this winter, then maybe not until Jan/Feb, so this won’t be too useful to you.

[eternal05]

YouTube will optimize the quality after it’s already been published, just so they can get a version of your video out there asap. To answer your other implicit question:

http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?answer=132460&topic=16612&hl=en-US

[eternal05]

If she’s short, especially if she’s short for a woman, that will factor into her decision. As you know, sportbikes can have high seat heights, which unlike supermoto/dual-sport bikes don’t hunker down much once your weight is in them. I’d hate to learn on my 600, and I’m 6’4″. You just don’t have much leverage over your bike.

If she’s into sportbikes, I’d say Ninja 250R if she’s ok with carbs or 650R if she wants FI. I’m personally not a big fan of the GS500, but that’s just my bias. If she wants to follow in your footsteps as quickly (and as cheaply) as possible, I’d recommend she get real good on a 250R and then bump up to an I-4 supersport, or something like the Yamaha FZ6R. Then again, that’s my bias (that’s exactly what I did).

Oh, and DEFINITELY don’t let her ride your ZX. Period. Not because she’s a girl. Not because she’s your sister. The liability is just way too high. Just watch the squid video posted in this thread to see what happens when somebody’s not ready for the big leagues. If anything goes wrong, and it probably will (again, not because she’s incompetent, but because she’s inexperienced), the bike will exacerbate all of the consequences.

[eternal05]

Some people are into that. I’m not…it irks me out. It’s especially weird to me that people post and seek out death videos on YouTube, for instance. Yech.

But with these crashes, for the most part they’re harmless. Yeah, they might have gotten really bad road rash, a broken nose, a broken leg, broken ribs, whatever, but they’re not going to die, lose a limb, or hit vegetative state as a result of their [altogether deserved] accidents. That makes me feel better about laughing my ass off at them.

[eternal05]

Isn’t it?

[eternal05]

That was one helluva race! Last turn of the last lap? You’re one ballsy mo-fo Rossi… The last five laps or so I was completely riveted. I’m glad I’d forgotten the results and decided not to look them up beforehand, as it was way more exciting that way.

Damn. Now I just want to go out to the track!

[eternal05]

So good, in fact, that I’m going to put down this boring systems paper and go pull that up and watch it

[eternal05]

Too many things holding me to this area:

1) I’m in a 2-year lease with four of my closest friends, can’t up and bail (nor do I want to).
2) My Dad’s 79 and needs some company.
3) My girlfriend’s still finishing up grad school here. We did the long-distance thing in undergrad for a bit (she was at NYU for a year), and I have NO inclination to do it again.

But I am jealous of all the tracks you have…man….

[eternal05]

I always watch the 125/250 races as well as the big boys. I watch the latter cause I like some of the guys (Rossi, Stoner, Capirossi, Edwards, …Spies?), but the former for more entertaining racing. The closer competition is much more interesting to watch, although every once in a while you get a good race in MotoGP (like the 2008 Stoner-Rossi face off at Laguna).

[eternal05]

Unfortunately not. Is that where you can just get on the track any time you want? How do they make sure that complete doofballs don’t go out there and ride a slow-ass pace? Lap time limit?

That’s a sweet vid. I really, really, really want to get out to those tracks you ride. They look so awesome. There’re a few points in your video in which it looks so surreal, almost like a video game: there’s nothing around you, just track, and slowly-rejuvenating grass.

Hey speaking of which, now that my master’s program is drawing to a close, I’m looking to maybe go back to Google (about to finish up last round of interviews), though I’d still have to work up here. I’m getting waaaaay ahead of myself now, but if I was thinking that I could maybe drive down to MTV for the first week orientation (I have to do it again, right?) with my bike, maybe come a bit early and catch a track day before and after. Again, counting chickens before they hatch, but my fantasies seem to survive pessimism somehow. Anyway, in this absurd fantastical world, you should probably show me the ropes of your local tracks

[Author]

Posts