Motorcycle Diary

I've always had a bias for the two-wheeled variety of transportation. I love the feeling of being in the wind while riding, the response of the throttle, the quick acceleration. Not only is it great fun, but very economical. Bikes get GREAT gas milage and parking is usually quite good. As soon as I had some money to spend, I bought myself a Kawasaki Ninja and sped around the bay area for a year. It's unfortunate that I don't have a picture of the Ninja because it was so spectacularly ugly. It was painted with pink highlights on a purple base coat. I sold that right before I got married. Then, once I had some money to spend again, I bought myself this FZR and sped around San Diego for the summer of 1999.

I took this beauty for a ride up the California coast and over to Redding and then back down to San Diego. It was great. I spent some time riding around the Big Sur area as seen here:

One day I rode over 500 miles. It was pretty harsh, but I survived. When we moved back up to the San Francisco Bay Area, I got rid of this beast and started looking for a Honda VFR.

The VFR was a huge upgrade.

This bike was very nice. Not a single scratch (which was quite an improvement over my previous two bikes). It was quick too, with a stock horsepower rating of 98. My favorite thing about the VFR was the gear driven cam shaft. The smoothness that technology affords the bike is unmistakable. I rode the VFR to work in the summer quite a bit and occasionally took it up 9 and Skyline. Unfortunately, my carefree bike-riding days are on hold now that my wife and I bought a house.

Update: I'm getting eager for a bike again. I've been looking at the Buell Firebolt XB9R- something a little bit different.