Back on the (steel) horse
Jul. 16th, 2011 09:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pecuniumI put the BMW back together this week. It wasn't hard to do, in practical terms. It was more a case of being a bit leery of it. It's a heavy bike to move about, "on the ground". I weigh about 120 lbs. It weighs about 600.
sneezesloudly told me, when he rode it from the parking lot I'd left it in on 17 Jan. (the day I broke my ankle) that he thought there was something a bit off in the steering. That too was making me nervous. I didn't want to put the bike back into shape and discover it had a really expensive repair required. The move is not cheap and it's going to be a bit strange to not have the cushion I've been keeping in the bank for the past year. Breaking my ankle kept me from work for about three months, and that was a compounding effect. For a number of reasons I got fewer hours, and less money when I got back. I'd hoped to be able to store up the money for the move. Between one thing, and another, I've manage to stay just ahead of my expenses. I have about 1/3rd of what I'd planned to add to my bank balance actually added. But I digress.
But my big worry was the weight. I didn't want to have too much strain on my ankle.
sneezesloudly and I were talking about just what it was he felt when he rode the bike, and I realised it wasn't abnormal, just very much not what he was used to. The K100 has a shaft, and the shaft has torque, and that torque is sort of noticeable. It's not very noticeable to me, but I have about 12,000 miles (call it 200 hours, if we assume an average speed of 60 mph) of dealing with it.
So, I replaced the mirror, and the turn signal housing, checked the tires and pulled it off the center stand. Backing it out of the garage wasn't too bad. It's a lot massier (and bit higher from seat to ground) than the Seca, but it's familiar. Started her up, and off I went.
She's stable. I'd forgotten how solid she feels on the road. She leans smoothly, and rolls back to straight easily. The footpegs feel a bit closer to my butt than they do on the Seca, which seems odd, given the greater inseam needed on it. It's louder on the BMW than the Yamaha, but there is less wind. I am more confident in the tires.
She has much better brakes.
The ride, was great. I'm not quite where I was, and I'm better. I've not done but a couple of rides that weren't commuting rides since I got back on. That's been a lot of low speed, dealing with traffic, turning corners. The sorts of things 8,000 miles of open road don't really reinforce (well, there were the miles in the UP and Wisconsin, but that was traffic on a two-lane road, not urban).
So, I am, "healed". My ankle still twinges, but it's been six months, and if it's not knit now, it probably never will be. The "big bike" and I are back together, and all is right with the world.
Or something.
sneezesloudly told me, when he rode it from the parking lot I'd left it in on 17 Jan. (the day I broke my ankle) that he thought there was something a bit off in the steering. That too was making me nervous. I didn't want to put the bike back into shape and discover it had a really expensive repair required. The move is not cheap and it's going to be a bit strange to not have the cushion I've been keeping in the bank for the past year. Breaking my ankle kept me from work for about three months, and that was a compounding effect. For a number of reasons I got fewer hours, and less money when I got back. I'd hoped to be able to store up the money for the move. Between one thing, and another, I've manage to stay just ahead of my expenses. I have about 1/3rd of what I'd planned to add to my bank balance actually added. But I digress.But my big worry was the weight. I didn't want to have too much strain on my ankle.
sneezesloudly and I were talking about just what it was he felt when he rode the bike, and I realised it wasn't abnormal, just very much not what he was used to. The K100 has a shaft, and the shaft has torque, and that torque is sort of noticeable. It's not very noticeable to me, but I have about 12,000 miles (call it 200 hours, if we assume an average speed of 60 mph) of dealing with it.So, I replaced the mirror, and the turn signal housing, checked the tires and pulled it off the center stand. Backing it out of the garage wasn't too bad. It's a lot massier (and bit higher from seat to ground) than the Seca, but it's familiar. Started her up, and off I went.
She's stable. I'd forgotten how solid she feels on the road. She leans smoothly, and rolls back to straight easily. The footpegs feel a bit closer to my butt than they do on the Seca, which seems odd, given the greater inseam needed on it. It's louder on the BMW than the Yamaha, but there is less wind. I am more confident in the tires.
She has much better brakes.
The ride, was great. I'm not quite where I was, and I'm better. I've not done but a couple of rides that weren't commuting rides since I got back on. That's been a lot of low speed, dealing with traffic, turning corners. The sorts of things 8,000 miles of open road don't really reinforce (well, there were the miles in the UP and Wisconsin, but that was traffic on a two-lane road, not urban).
So, I am, "healed". My ankle still twinges, but it's been six months, and if it's not knit now, it probably never will be. The "big bike" and I are back together, and all is right with the world.
Or something.
