[owlie]

“You don’t have to shield your child or feel intimidated. We have family, wives, husbands, children and loved ones too, just like you. We smile; we laugh and enjoy the moments we have. We are approachable, and would befriend you, if given the opportunity.”

Last spring, I was with some friends at the park celebrating a birthday, and there was a group of bikers sharing the shelter doing the same. Four or five guys, some ladies, and a gaggle of kids hanging out and having a good time. They had this cute little boy, couldn’t have been more than three years old, who was absolutely covered in frosting. Good people, nice day.

[owlie]

Once I pulled out the long john’s, the biggest thing for me is fingers and toes.

I’m thinking that there is no shame in the title of weekend warrior. Once the first snow hits the ground at my house, the bike is going to be parked for the winter. I don’t have good luck on ice with 4 wheels. I’m not even going to try 2.

[owlie]

Wow.

You don’t see that everyday.

I wonder how much target fixation had to do with this? I would imagine it was a big factor.

ummm… I think I’ll go practice my quick stops and swerves now.

[owlie]

Sounds like you had a great time. A little sunburn builds character.

Interesting note on the gas mileage. I haven’t ridden my bike enough to know, but there is a definite difference with my car.

[owlie]

Not sure how short you are. I’m 5’2″, and the S40 is plenty low for me. I think it would probably be fine for someone who is another 4-5″ shorter than me, but you just have to sit on them to figure it out.

[owlie]

That has been pretty much my husband’s comment each time I come back to the house after one of my misadventures. Having his support has made a huge difference in dealing with it.

Don’t spend your time beating yourself up about it. After you let it go, maybe you’ll figure out what really happened. I call it the shower effect… You always figure out things out in the shower when your mind isn’t focused on it.

[owlie]

You might also look at Suzuki’s line up of cruisers. You’re suggestions run the gamut on power, so you might try their GZ250, TU250X and the S40 (which is a 650). All of them have comparable seat heights to the Rebel. The S40 has more of the cruiser styling with a slightly longer rake, while the other two are standards.

[owlie]

Honestly, if you are looking for something used, you are limited by what is available. That is going to net you primarily blasts, ninjas, and rebels.

My suggestion would be to go to all of the local dealerships and sit on their bikes to see what you like and then start watching the ads. That way when you see something you are already familiar with you can snap it up.

Also, the word on the street is that the best time to get a good deal on a used bike is around the holidays, into January.

[owlie]

Glad to hear you both are okay. Bummer on the bike damage.

[owlie]

Every now and then I get grief for my white belt. For some reason people don’t understand that a white belt that gets dirty because you have sweated in it, bled in it and rolled around on the mats and in the dirt with it, isn’t supposed to be white any more. Are they actually suggesting that I should put it in a washing machine and wash it? *shudder*

[owlie]

Oh, they have a convenient little calculator on their website for that. I was going to put together a table going from about 55deg on down and up to speeds of 75 or so, but I liked the one they had since it showed the frost bite information.

I put this up because I didn’t realize just how cold you can get when you’re out riding for a few hours. I think it was in the mid 50’s where I was yesterday, and at 50mph for a couple of hours, I ended up more chilled than I had realized, even bundled up…

[owlie]

I think that this is a hard question to answer. From my experience with a cage, I’ll say this:

– I had my license for roughly two years before I began driving regularly. So even though I occasionally drove during that time, when I got my first vehicle, I was definitely still a beginner.

– I had been driving for more than four years before the first time I experienced my brakes locking up. Had I ever practiced what to do in this situation? No. Was I still a beginner? I dunno.

– I have put more than 100,000 miles on my car driving back and forth between Anchorage and my home on the highway during non-rush hour traffic. Does that mean that I have the skill to deal with Los Angles, NYC, Denver, or Dallas? Definitely not.

It is all a matter of perspective. Even in my car, I still encounter new situations and am learning new things. I don’t think it makes me a beginner, just a life-long learner.

[owlie]

It really doesn’t seem to bad to me. Yes, the mirrors do look like some sort of impressionist art, but I can still identify things in them. The only other bike I’ve ridden was for the MSF class, so I can’t really compare them. I will say that reading through various forums, I tend to see more complaints about backfiring for the S40 than vibration and vice versa for the Blast.

Really the only time I notice that it is a thumper is when I am underrevving the engine because I shifted too soon or didn’t make it into first and so am taking off in second. But I think that any bike would probably protest in either case.

[owlie]

Welcome to the group!

We’d love to see some pics of your ride so we can oohh and aahh over it.

As for the scratches on the new ride, I can understand, but I got over them pretty quickly. It was the $100 bucks that I had to shell out to replace the tail light that really galled…

[owlie]

+1 Eon.

Those are some totally weird things to say to new riders. There is no reason that you shouldn’t practice and become proficient with slow race, cone weaves and U-turns. The rear brake is essential to all of these. Your tires are made for moving across the pavement at 10-15 miles per hour with 400+lbs of load. Your boot soles were not. Yes, I still drag my feet some (using Eon’s example- doing U-turns at gas stations), but if I am a year from now, I haven’t learned how to ride my bike properly and I’m doing something wrong.

Check out the video. You might also check out Capt. Crash’s videos too.

Good luck!
Owlie

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