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I grew up in Durham, and I definitely identify more with NC than with Massachusetts where I live now. I hope to move back down there sometime, hopefully sooner rather than later. Best of luck with the MSF and the Blue Ridge ride. Just don’t rush into a ride like that. Make sure you have a decent amount of shorter, calmer learning rides under your belt before you tackle a long curvy ride.

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Definitely in a parking garage, I feel the motorcycles are entitled to park in any nook or cranny as long as we’re not blocking anyone in, and won’t get blocked in ourselves. I’ve been meaning to ask some metermaids if we can put multiple bikes in one metered spot (and only pay the amount that one car would pay). I’ve seen it done, and I’ve never seen anyone get a ticket for it.

As for sidewalks, if it’s wide enough that the bike isn’t inconveniencing anyone then I would do it. I think that my definition of wide enough is that maybe three people can walk shoulder to shoulder past the bike without having to go single file. I’m also much more willing to do it if I’ll only be off the bike for a few minutes. For an all day thing, I’d try to find a space.

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I think I’ll definitely look into getting one when it gets cooler, or perhaps before.

I wonder though – do your photochromic glasses change color when your visor is down? My understanding is that they change color in response to UV light, and most of the visors block upwards of 95% of UV lights. This is just the curious scientist in me speaking, but I wonder how that works.

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It’s more for a preventative measure. If I see someone about to pull out, a blast on the horn could keep them in place. It’s honestly also more to express my disapproval when I’ve successfully avoided the situation. Someone pulls out in front of me and I have plenty of time to stop, but it was still an inappropriate thing for them to do – that’s when I would honk the most.

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Pros:
Metropolitan Boston is pretty small, so it’s easy to stay out of “the city.”
Easy to get to some better riding (western MA, NH, and further north).
Some of the benefits of a bike are exaggerated (parking, easier to maneuver heavy traffic).

Cons:
Taxis might as well not have mirrors, and they seem to think that their wheels are meant to straddle the dashed white lines.
The general driving strategy is that if you want to be somewhere on the road, just go there and other people will accommodate .
The road get pretty bad with potholes over the winter and it takes them a little while to fix it (they’re not so bad at this point in the year).
Riding in the winter can’t happen unless you’re comfortable on snow and ice.

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That sounds pretty awesome. I have a friend who is living just across the water from you (and quite a bit north). She’s in Cairo for a while, I’m not really sure what she’s doing. Best of luck learning.

One additional question. How comfortable are you on a bicycle? A lot of the techniques of motorcycling are unnecessary on a bicycle because of the weight, but I suspect that being comfortable on a bicycle helps.

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I had seen that product on the shoei website, but I couldn’t figure out exactly what it did. We’ll see how much of a problem with fogging I have when I actually get the helmet out on the road. I’d imagine that I might find myself looking into it again come fall when the temperatures drop.

With the color thing, I’m guessing you can get a dark visor and use a clear insert to avoid the issue that you had with brightness around the edges?

I have a gift certificate to a shop, so I might use it for this system.

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Just curious, where do you live where you have a Harley dealership available but not an MSF course? The MSF seems to have pretty good coverage of the US. I started with the MSF course, and I’d say that it’s worth a drive if you can find one anywhere around you (especially if you’re having trouble learning with the way that the dealership does it).

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I grew up in Durham, and I have some buddies at Western, UNCA, and App. I’m currently living up in Massachusetts, but I make it down to NC whenever I can. I long for the drivers of the south instead of these crazy Boston drivers.

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