Your Rider Resume

[zoomman]

Hey, if you guys want to pick on us 40 years old, quite a few on this thread I noticed, pick in HavBlue, he's like older than Moses!

1966 here: Similar story as others. Born to ride, from banana seat chopper bikes with a clothes pin and a playing card to get that sound effect, to skateboards to BMX, to mopeds, dirt, and street, hell, we use to nail wheels to 2x4's and glide down hills just to catch air.

First bike was a 550 yamaha vision did most of my teenage years on that. Also posted a pic here of my Buell Blast, that was the bike I used after a long break from riding. 42 years young now and loving every minute of the FZ 2006.

There's one good thing about this forum is that you have a multitude of information, which also makes it the one bad thing. It's fun to see what others will say sometimes. You just have to be careful how you use that information.

 

[ViperZ]

I am 42 years old and have been riding street bikes since 1982, although I got my first dirt bike in 1975. I have owned about 12 street bikes and my favorite, by far, is the 2005 FZ6 I am currently riding.

In the million plus miles I have ridden on the street, I have been quite lucky in that I have only gone down one time! I hope to keep that record, but only time will tell.

I always wear gear and though I enjoy "spirited" riding, I would not consider myself obnmoxious or squidly.

 

[Cali rider]

...been riding street bikes since 1982....In the million plus miles I have ridden on the street...

You live in Montana and have ridden an average of 105 miles/day, every single day for 26 consecutive years? Very impressive.

 

[sideshow_downs]

Being one of the youngest people on the forum i dont have as much experence as most of the other people on here.

I grew up around motorcycles. My dad and grandfather own a automotive repair shop and have been riding motorcycles for longer than ive been alive. So im not afraid to turn wrenches and get grease under my nails.

Ive been riding motorcycles for about 4 years. I got my liscence and was riding my moms Suzuki GS500 for a while an i rode my friends Yami 250 Enduro on and off for about a year while i was in Texas. Now im just waiting to get back from deployment to ride my 0 mile '08 FZ6

 

[Wavex]

You live in Montana and have ridden an average of 105 miles/day, every single day for 26 consecutive years? Very impressive.

I was gonna say, that like 100k miles on each bike he owned!! that guy is not kidding around :cheer:

 

[08fz6]

ok my turn:
I have been around motorcycle's since I was 3. Have learned hands on from my father and many other mechanics that worked for my father since I was 6. That goes for anything from bobcat's to scooters, to firetrucks, etc just about everything on wheels.

Worked for my father at his Yamaha Dealership from 1997-Present. The past year is when I am home about 6 months out of the year.

Raced Motocross from 2000-2002, ATV Flat Track 2006 3rd overall for the season.

Took they MSF begginer Course when I was 16. If I can find a location am going to take their advanced course

most two wheel experience is off road hence I am only 22.

bikes in order by year, I dont remember the correct order of when I had them:

1986 Yamaha Big Wheel 80 (80cc 2-stroke)
1998 Yamaha RT100 (100cc 2-stroke)
1998 Honda Shadow Aero 1100 (1100cc Carb)
2000 Yamaha TTR225 (225cc 4-stroke)
(2) 2000 YZ125's (125cc 2-stroke)
2000 Yamaha V-Star 650 Custom (650cc V-Twin
2001 YZ125 (125cc 2-stroke)
2004 YFZ450 Flat Track ATV (450cc 4-stroke)
2005 Yamaha Warrior (1700cc FI)
2006 Yamaha Roadliner (1854cc FI)
2006 Yamaha Stratoliner (1854cc FI)


These were all mine except for the last three they were demos, however logged at least 500 miles on each.

And of course the newest addition to the list:
2008 Yamaha FZ6

Motor head for life!

If I listed every bike I have ridden we would be here for awhile!

 

[Mart Man FZ6]

Started riding dirt bikes in 1968. My Dad gave me my first bike which was a 1965 Yamaha 250 scrambler. I got my motorcycle license in 1976. I'm sure that I've ridden over 100 K miles. The most miles in one year was 20K. I worked as a Sales Manager for a Kawasaki dealership in San Jose in 1980. Worked as a saleman for a Honda Harley Kawasaki dealership in Fremont in 1989. I took a motorcycle school to avoid a ticket in 1979 and it was one of the best things I've done. Class was three or four weekends that had classroom time and then parking lot exercises run by two CHP motor officers. They ran us throught the same kind of drills they had to go through.

I tought my wife to ride three years ago, and still made her attend a motorcycle safety course. She's a great rider for her limited experience.

I've managed to do a fair amount of my own maintenance, but am by no means a mechanic. Pretty much limited myself to oil changes, plug changes, tire replacements, valve adjustments, header installation and the such.

As for my bikes it's going to take a while:
1965 Yamaha 250, 1976 Kawi KZ 400, 1978 Kawi KZ 650, 1980 Kawi KZ 1000, 1983 Honda 650 Nighthawk, 1984 Honda VFR750 Interceptor, 1982 Kawi KZ 1000 J2, 1975 Yamah 175, 1984 Honda Goldwing, 1986 VFR700 Interceptor, 1983 Honda V65 Magna, 1993 Suzuki Katana 750, 1994 Honda 750 Magna, 1990 Harley Low Rider, 1996 Harley Wide Glide, 1997 BMW K1200RS, 1983 Honda 650 Nighthawk, 2001 Harley T-Sport, 2002 Kawi Vulcan Mean Streak 1500, 2003 Kawi ZRX1200R, 2004 Kawi Vulcan Mean Streak 1600, 2005 Harley Wide Glide, 2005 Honda 750 Shadow Spirit, and last but not least my two 2007 FZ6's. I think that's all of them.

 

[4fun]

Nice thread Wavex:thumbup:

Well, I'm not so impressive but at 47 I have a lot of life experience, a little more then Hellgate and a little less then Havblue.

I been riding the street for only about a year. Most of my riding has been in the dirt.

I have obtained all of my mechanical experience from working on my cars all my life and then working on the dirt bikes. I have been the official pit mechanic for my son during his motocross racing years. I have done engine rebuilds, fork rebuilds, tire changes, bearings, clutches and whatever else that needed to be done.

I usually only comment when I feel I know I can give sound advice.

Here is our list of toys that we had.

Honda CR125
2 Yamaha Big Bears (ATV's)
Yamaha YZ250F
Yamaha YZ450F
Yamaha FZ6

 

[Wavex]

It's awesome to read about everyone and to be able to associate nicknames with actual humans and lives

How about we sticky this thread?

I am also going to put a link to my post in my signature, so ppl can see my rider resume if necessary when I post about stuff. If you want to do it too, it`s easy, just find your post, and click on the little number on top right... this will open a new window with just your post.



Ok more ppl plz!!! :rockon:

 

[FZ1inNH]

It's awesome to read about everyone and to be able to associate nicknames with actual humans and lives

How about we sticky this thread?

I am also going to put a link to my post in my signature, so ppl can see my rider resume if necessary when I post about stuff. If you want to do it too, it`s easy, just find your post, and click on the little number on top right... this will open a new window with just your post.



Ok more ppl plz!!! :rockon:

Great idea! Thanks David! Done deal!

 

[VEGASRIDER]

In the million plus miles I have ridden on the street, I have been quite lucky in that I have only gone down one time! I hope to keep that record, but only time will tell.

You live in Montana and have ridden an average of 105 miles/day, every single day for 26 consecutive years? Very impressive.

You would think there would be at least one day out of those 26 years that you would be snowed in due to bad weather living in Montana. Yes, very impressive.

I have a lot of catching up to do, I have ridden for 430 straight days and still climbing.

 

[sportrider]

I started riding when I was 6 years old, on a Honda Z50 back in 1980 (living in Darby, Montana). After that, I rode a Yamaha 80cc quad, I think it was called a badger, but I don't really remember. From there, I decided I liked bikes better, and started riding a Suzuki DR 80, moving on to a Honda XR 80 then a CR80. I had a friend that had a lot of bikes and I used to ride his Kawasaki KE 175 alot in the summer. This brings me up to about 10 or 11 years old. I went bikeless for a while til I was 12 (moved from Montana to California), then I met a friend who's family was into the desert scene. I used to help him and his dad work on the bikes, prepping them for the season and in return they used to let us take them out and "play ride" in the hills. I ended up scoring a Honda ATC110 off them and rode that thing daily til I was 14.

I still preferred bikes so I ended up trading my ATC and a .22 rifle to a guy for a Suzuki TS 250, this was an oil injected two-stroke enduro. Despite not having a license, I rode this bike as if I did. I ended up having to replace the top end on the TS after the oil injection unit quit working and I seized it up. After that, I always premixed my gas to make sure that didn't happen again. I rode the TS til I was 16, then acquired a Yamaha XT550 from a friend who had dumped it and was afraid to ride it again. From that point, I stripped my TS down to "dirt only" status, and rode the XT as my daily ride (still no endorsement). My buddy ended up moving to Arkansas when I turned 17 and took his XT with him, so I was now stuck doing stealth runs on the TS until I threw the rod and locking the rear on the street (thank God for a clutch). The damage done sealed the fate of the TS, so once again, I was bikeless. I didn't own a bike again til I was 21. Not saying here I didn't ride.

I joined the navy at 18 and served until I injured my knee that Uncle Sam wanted to perform a total knee replacement on, and I wouldn't allow them. While in the Nav, I used a shipmate's Suzuki GS500E when he was on duty, or if he wanted to borrow my truck. After I got out, I used to borrow my Dad's Intruder700 until I traded a shotgun for another TS 250 that I discovered in the back of a shop I was working at. (must've been a nostalgia moment), the first thing I did was rebuild the carb and bypass the oil injection unit and stripped it down for the dirt.

After meeting some guys out in the dirt, I saw the differences in 20+ years of technology and suddenly the TS wasn't cutting it, I gave the TS to my younger brother and picked up a second hand XR500. After trying to clear doubles and coming up short, I broke the swing arm and went to a bone yard and picked up another one and swapped it out. After that, I bought a 1988 CR250 and started stepping up my game off road, but I started to miss street riding, so I came up on a 91 Katana that had been layed down, it was mostly cosmetic, the story I got was he lowsided at around 35 MPH. The evidence on the bike matched the story so I bought the bike. It had been sitting for a few years so it needed some TLC and some parts. I had it running and registered in a few weeks and took it out for the "maiden flight" with my Dad, flying wingman, just incase. I ran it up to about 60MPH and rolled off the throttle to cruise it. I took my hands off the bars and the bike instantly went into a full on tank slapper. I managed to ride it out without losing it, but I never took both hands off the bars again, as long as I owned the bike...(it turns out the tank slapper was caused by a missing bar end weight. Who knew there was actually a function for those things). I rode the Katana for a season, then traded it for a jet ski, that I almost instantly regretted, so I bought a used Kawasaki Ninja 900 (GPZ900 motor) about a week later. I rode the ninja for a while, still free riding and progressively jumping bigger things in the dirt.

I ended up selling my 88 CR250 to a guy while out riding one day, and the same day I went to Chaparral and bought a brand new 99 CR250. I rode both regularly until my Daughter was two months old. That's the day, while out riding, I decided to try and clear a pro level step down on my CR (I'm not, nor then, was pro level), it ended with a shattered femur, mild concussion and a battered CR. I was in the hospital for 8 days and unable to walk normally for almost 1 year, but even while I was stuck using a walker, I tore down and rebuilt my CR for the next ride. The incident cost us three months of lost work and I ended up losing a pick up and our house that we were renting because of not having the money to pay the bills. The Ninja got sold during this time and the CR was hidden from the repo man (he never did get it Hee hee he). 6 months from the day of my crash, I was out for the first ride since it happened. Against my own rules, I had my brother start my bike for me, seeing how my leg didn't yet have the strength to kick it over, and after a little jitters I clicked it into 1st and rode off. While out riding that day, I had an epiphany and realized my heart wasn't into it anymore. The crash had done more to me, than my hospital stay had treating me for. I had lost my nerve. That is a dangerous place to be, it will make you panic when you shouldn't, and end up causing more carnage than good.

I traded the bike for a car and was once again bikeless. That brings us up to 25 years old. I went three years with out a bike. Not to say I didn't ride. I had bought a Kawasaki Tecate 250 ATC back in the offroading years, that had been stored at my step brother's house, that one day I got the itch and went and picked up. I had to rebuild the carb and replace the reed block, if I remember correctly. Riding that, got the motorcycle blood flowing again, and not too much after, my brother pulled up on a brand new 2003 R6...and after riding that, I knew the clock was ticking before I owned another bike.

I ended up buying a third party Yamaha XS 850 special from a guy in town, and after doing some work on it, I rode the bike for a year before really itching for a sportbike again. I sold the XS for twice what I paid, and the next day, drove 60 miles to see a guy about a VFR750. Common sense would have told me to walk away, but my moto mind screamed, "buy it." So I rode it home, and for a few weeks, before it had a total fuel system shutdown and ended up leaving my garage in the back of a pick up and, in a few boxes, to the next dreamer who lost faith in it and sold it off also. So I'm off to the dealer, the year is 2004, there is this new model that Yamaha has out, it's called the FZ6. I instantly fell in love with it only to have my credit put the breaks on the deal. I ended up leaving with a brand new Harley Davidson Sportster XL883. This is the first time I have ever been legal, endorsement, insurance and all. I rode the sporty for two years until I had corrected my credit and then went down to buy a sportbike and ended up leaving with my FZ6. I had both bikes for a year before selling the sportster and leaving me with my FZ6. after 17,800 miles on my FZ6, I traded it in on my current bike, a 2007 R1.
In my riding history, the best I can figure is, I've logged over 50,000 miles on the street and unknown hours in the dirt. I have no specialized motorcycle training in riding or repair, I've learned by doing, and if I state something I'm 99% sure it is fact. I have rebuilt carbs, adjusted valves, trued spoked wheels replaced forks, swingarms and electrical. I've re-skinned seats and done bodywork and paint. I consider myself a good rider. I'm not the fastest guy on the hill, but I know my limits and have occasionally been known to exceed them. I've never gone down on the street. I've saved two lowsides, had to panic stop from over 100 MPH and had a rear blow out at 110 MPH and managed to keep the bike upright. I've dodged more cages than I can count, and I'm not afraid to ride in the wind or rain. I've ridden in 20 degree weather and I ride when it's over 120 degrees in the summer. I might get schooled on the track, but thats Good...thats how you learn stuff.

I guess I would say I'm a well rounded rider. I don't say this stuff to brag, but to clarify my experience and learned skills required to operate a motorcycle safely. I'm sure there is more stuff I'm missing, but you get the jest of my credentials, and if you actually read my whole post thank you for the time, it took my over two hours to do this!

:Sport:

 

[cashcrzzy]

My name is Greg ,40 years old ,married 15 years ,I have 3 boys one is 6 & twin 4 year olds .I live in Delaware U.S.A.
I have always been interested in anything with a motor .My first time I got bugs in my teeth was when I was 5 riding with my uncle ever since I did anything I could to ride something and to have the wind in my face .
My first street bike was a 1990 Yamaha Radian yx600 and just sold the bike in December due to the trans breaking for the second time ,It was just getting too hard to find trans parts for it .A few weeks before my 40th birthday I went and bought my leftover 2007 Red Yamaha FZ6.
I have been an auto technician for a long time. I have been with Ford Motor Company for 20+ years ,I am master certified in engine performance & repair,
Body and chassis & Electrical , I have also worked for the General ,VW,and private garages . I do not have any formal training on bikes but in my mind any mechanical object is no match for me sooner or later I will repair it or modify it .
My oldest son has been riding before he turned 6 He Has a 2007Honda Crf50f I have a 1997 Cr80r and we try to ride every weekend we are fortunate to have 3 1/4 acres and on either side of us is the same and both family's also ride so we have almost 10 acres to have fun .The tradition starts all over again.
Greg A.

 

[PrayHarder]

Rider Resume

Hello all,
I am 28, Married with a 13 month-old son, and one more on the way! I have been riding motorcycles since I was 10, with my full endorsement at 16 (Yes I went trough the MSF.) I grew up in the country on a orchard so there was always a time and place to ride.
As far as trade, I have been a VW mechanic, Body and Fender man, and computer geek, which is what I do now. I am Electronic Technician at a Public Utility District in Washington State.
My first bike was a Suzuki Shuttle 50cc, then I graduated to a Honda trail 90, then a trail 110. I then bought some piece of junk kawi that never did run right. Then I found the asphalt and haven't looked back at the dirt. I had a Yamaha 250 (80's forgot the model.) Then bought a 1987 Honda Rebal 450, very nice bike I loved it. I then bought a 1988 Ninja EX500. Man did that bike go for a 500, it was jeted and had vance and hines on it. I did wreck it when I was 20, had 7 stiches, but nothing broken (God was watching over me on that one!) Sold that wrecked Kawi, and stayed off of bikes for 2 years. Then I bought a brand new hold over 2001 Suzuki Katana 600, nice bike, but it needed more power. I sold that to buy my wife's rings . Again didn't have a bike for a year. Then I bought a 1980 Honda CB750F, I had it for a couple of months, and found a great deal on a 1986 Yamaha Venture Royal 1300. My wife and I drove that around for the rest of the summer (of '07) untill we had our son, then I just drove it back and forth to work. I sold both of those bikes at the end of '07. With gas going up so much, I deceided it was time to get another bike. So, in April of this year, I bought a slightly early birthday present in my 2005 Yamaha FZ6. And have put a little over 2K on it in a month. I ride it almost everyday to work, and any other place/time I can!

Ben

 

[Scott64a]

LOL, good thread...

My Life With Bikes began when I was 12. My dad brought home a Briggs and Stratton "Goat Tote"; It was a minibike-ish frame with a huge rear tire, shaft drive and a square transmission, and a 10hp motor. It had front disc brakes, and a drum for the rear. I worked on it for weeks, and fixed the drive shaft connection by modifying the only shaft key I could find and got the old tired motor running but while trying to tune it up, I had a temper tantrum and threw a wrench at the bike, busting a hole into the case. Lesson learned, as JB Weld couldn't patch it, and it was toast. (Hey, I was 12...)

I traded it to a kid plus $50.00 for a 1970-something Kawasaki 80 enduro, and rode that sucker for two years learning how to crash, etc...

I traded that one outright to a kid for another 79's bike: a Suzuki trials looking thing in 125cc. It had both spark plug holes completely ganked up, so I went to a bike bineyard to get a new head. Got one, put in two new NGK plugs, cleaned and polished the cylinder/head marriage and put in a new gasket. I ran that thing fr two more years and had a blast on it... When one plug would get sort of slow to rev, (after about a day or two of hard riding,,) you could just pop off the plug wire and stick it on the other plug.

I traded that bike away for a 1979 Yamaha 500 enduro, single cylinder chuffer that my friend and I stripped of all the defective lights, extra wiring, etc. We put in a coil, rigged the ignition, and threw on a HUGE sprocket and the gnarliest knobbly we could find for the rear.

That bike tried to kill everyone who rode it, and has to it's credit four broken wrists, (wheelies! and noe were mine,) three chipped tibias from kickbak upon starting it, including mine, and threw me many times. You could sit on it in first gear idling around and actually feel the cylinder go up and down. What a sick old bike. I sold it to a guy who was into ice racing, but never did see what he did with it. I think he just wanted the motor.

Fast forward to 1994, and I had a 1969 Harley softtail in front of me and a friend who wanted $4,000 for it. It needed TLC, and they warned me I would crash, so I chickened out.

Fast forward to 1996 when a kid gave me a 1984 CB450 four cylinder that was "siezed". I got some friends and we pushed it up three long flights of stairs to get it into my loft space, wher it was propped onto a milk crate, flushed and filled with Marvel Mystery Oil, and there it sat "soaking" for a few days. I got a battery for it, and kicked it until it came unstuck and could be turned over. I took out the carb assembly, stripped them on a bench and cleaned the gum out of them. I would turn it over for 10 mins every day with no spark for a week, and then I drained it, put new oil and a filter on it, and fresh gas, and it fired right up. Pretty smoky at first, but then it ran clean and surprisingly didn;t burn much oil at all. (Gotta love Hondas...)

I made it street ready, got a permit and rode it for a year before I moved back to my hometown. I neede money, so I sold it to a junkyard, (the one I had gotten the head for the Suzuki,) and got $400.00 for it.


The next time I rode was on my brother's new Harley, (1998) softail 883.
I was underwhelmed with that bike, as it didn't deliver even two thirds of the hp that a 4 cylinder KZ750 could.

Which brings me to the next bike I had: A 1981 KZ1000. I had it for two weeks, but it had igntion problems so I decided rather than put more money into it, I sold it to a firend who let me ride it a lot anyway, so it was all good.

Fast forward to three weeks ago!
I got my first new bike ever, the FZ6.

I am "remembering" some of the tricks and traps found in street riding, but the old hard knocks dirtbike experience is still reliable.
If I hadn't had so much experience countersteering on that 500 in sand, I would have surely crashed the other day when I locked up the rear brake.

(Consequently, I have read up on that phenomena, and have been using the throttle to keep a healthy balance between rear and front shocks in turns. -So much smoother.)


There you have it: my riding resume.

PS: I rode horse for a little while after high school as well, not a bad side-benefit to dating a rich horsey-girl.

 

[PhillyMatt]

I got the bike to get cheaper transportation, don't do many joy rides less then 10% of my miles. I have been riding for a little over a year now. Started with the MSF beginners rider course. I have put somewhere near 12000 miles on it the first year. Learned in the city of philadephia and parts of the suburbs. Ridden around Washington DC some too.
I have fallen twice already, both my fault, riding aggressivly in heavy traffic. Learned a lot from them.

As a profession i am an engineer/nerd, usally sitting at a computer all day, designing aircraft flight control system. Anything mechanical/electrical usally comes easy to me after looking/studing it for a bit. I have been burned by talking out of by ass when i was in school and have learned not to do it.

By the way i like the thread a lot, good idea. It is a lot easier to know who to trust now on the forum now.

 

[pooty]

kinda reluctant to reply to this. when i tell ya how long i have been riding you will say, damn!!how old are you?? i am 53 and been riding 46 years. not the best rider and certainly not a mechanic. started on centrifugal clutch mini-bikes my grandfather made for us. had an allstate 60, yamaha 80,honda cb 160, a kawasaki 750, a chopper, a yamaha warrior and a fz6. i didnt own a bike for a few years in between but have ridden friends and family members bikes the whole time. had to lay my cb160 down once when i came over a hill and two guys were parked talking in the middle of the road, i was hooking tail. only time i have been down, knock on wood. i play golf-10 handicap, like computers, women and crown royal. not in that particular order. i make false teeth for our veterans, i serve my country every day.

 

[bluenova]

I guess I should add myself too, as I like to give my 2 pence worth

I started to ride proper bikes in 2000 after passing a direct access course in the UK. My first bike was an SV650S. Before that I had a moped for several years.

In 2002 the SV was trashed while I was sitting in traffic and was hit from behind at 60 mph. After that due to my financial situation I couldn't get a new bike and it wasn't until I settled in Belgium that I decided to get back in the saddle again. So last summer I bought a new FZ6 (2007 model) and have been commuting to work since then in all weather. I think there were only 2 days when I didn't ride during the winter (due to snow). Since last September I have now clocked 13,000 Km on the FZ. It took me about 5 months to get fully confident on the FZ I now feel I can flick it around with ease and lean into very slow, tight bends without fear of going down.

I'm no mechanic, but I try to do as much as I can myself. Any major services it goes to the garage so I can get the service book stamped.

My mission now is how to remind myself to slow down and enjoy the ride. I find doing the same roads day in day out that I'm powering the bike all the time to get from home to work as quick as possible.

 

[dako81]

Just found this thread so I figured I would post too.

I will be 20 in July. I have been riding on two wheels since I was about 10 or 11. I started on my friends XR100 and XR80. After riding those for a couple of years, when we were around 13 he got a brand new YZ-125 and I got a used RM-125. Shortly thereafter, his dad got a YZ-426. I mention the 426 because after his dad got it, I spent more time on it than anyone. I only took my bike over to his house a couple of times because I would of had to go through town because town had the only bridge that went across the river close by that wasn't a limited access highway. So I just rode the 426. I went through 2 sets of tires on that bike. Well, they replaced 2 sets but I was really the only one who rode the bike to wear them down.

The next summer when I was 14 I completely rebuilt my RM by myself in my dad's garage. I had saved up a bunch of money and gave it to my dad and he ordered everything off a list I made of parts I needed. I did the top end, tires, wheel bearings, re-jet, power reeds, chain, sprockets, etc.

During my dirt years I attended many open rides at Red Bud motocross park which was 15 minutes from my house and have ridden hundreds of hours. I only had the dirtbike down a couple of times just from horseplay. I have also ridden many private tracks in the area in which one track was owned by my barber. He's a cool guy.

We moved when I was 16 and I sold my dirtbike and I bought a 2001 GS500 when I was 17 in spring of '06. I put about 4k miles on it and designed and machined stator covers for it as well as fork braces at my job. My dad runs the machine shop in the building I am in and once I got shop certified I could go in there on my own and make parts. Before I would make them I would design them in SolidWorks which is what I usually do at work. The bike had a cracked stator cover when I got it, and then the second day I rode it on the street, wind blew it over in a parking lot beacuse the side stand held the bike to upright which cracked it more. I bent the stand after that and the bike never fell. My dad continues to make covers and fork braces for people who are interested and goes by Chuck81 over at gstwin(dot)com.

Here are some examples of what we have made:

One guy wanted a dragon he had drawn laser etched onto a plain cover:

We also made an opposite side insert that got laser etched as well:

Some others:

I only intended on using the GS to get used to street riding with. I had started searching for something to move up to about a year of owning the GS. I was looking at SV650's and FZ-6's. I obviously chose the FZ-6 and I bought it in April of '07 with 0 miles. I had around 800 miles on my FZ when I went and took my endorsement test. I passed the first try and was happy to know I was "legal". I of course had insurance and the motorcycle permit, but couldn't get into the schedule for a riding test. So was I really endangering anyone by not having went and rode around some cones during the miles that I put on before my endorsement? I don't think so. It was a matter of when I was 17 all of the safety classes were booked and you had to take that if you weren't 18. When I was 18 the rider test schedule was backed up for awhile until I could get in. My dad was around sometimes when I was riding so I guess I was kinda legal because he has his endorsement. Oh well.

I sold the GS to my best friend who had never ridden before. So before I let him take the bike home, I made him come over 3 sometimes 4 times a week for a month and ride in a parking lot a block from my house for 3-4 hours at a time. I taught him everything I had learned and it was actually pretty fun teaching him how to ride. He lived in a rural area, so when I felt he was ready for the street, which was a while after he felt he was ready by the way, I delivered the bike to his house so he could start out on country roads with no traffic.

Then I got a new girlfriend whom I met my freshman year, who decided last summer after riding on the back of my bike for a couple of months that she wanted her own. So we ended up driving from SW Michigan to central Ohio out in BFE to buy a Buell Blast. Got it with 1100 miles for $2200. I did the same thing with her I did with my friend teaching them how to ride except the perks were better lol. I also spent a little more time teaching her than I did my friend and replaced 2 turn signals that got smashed in the parking lot.

So fast forward to last week and we had finally all gotten into the MSF basic course. I passed the in class test 100% and they both missed one question. We did the riding on Saturday and Sunday and the three of us were the top of the class. I got a 0 score on the riding eval (like a golf score) and they got a couple of points because they had trouble with the figure 8 in the box.

One thing that was fun about the course was that the rider coaches would mess with me and try to trick me or throw me off on the exercises once they saw that I was proficient in my skills. So my friend and girlfriend got their endorsements out of it and I got a blue piece of paper that if I switch insurance I might be able to get a little discount because Progressive doesn't offer one. But we plan on taking the advaced rider course next spring and that should be fun .I enjoyed teaching my friends how to ride and may look into becoming a rider coach after I graduate.

I'm the kind of guy who likes to keep his equipment in tip top shape and I can do all the maintinence on my vehicles and my friends vehicles myself. That's kinda something they use me for, but that's ok. I'm a person who usually doesn't say things unless I know that they're true from more than one place, and if I am not sure I try to make an effort to say that I am not sure and any correction would be appreciated.

I have never been down on a street bike. I have right about 6000 miles on my bike now and plan on putting at least 8000 more on by the end of the season. I also plan to tinker with it more when I get some money or free time. Hopefully I can make some parts for it. I have scorpion pipes and the FAZR6 FE kit currently and plan on probably upgrading the forks/springs and rear shock in the next couple of years.

I also plan on sometime this summer building and installing some removable baffles in my pipes similar to what scorpion offers across the pond. I just don't want to pay for them if I can make them in some spare time at work. I plan on keeping my FZ-6 until after I am out of school and maybe keep it forever if I don't need the money from it to move up to my next bike, which will probably be an FZ-1 unless by then they redesign the FZ-6 and I can get it with ABS.

If I stay in this area (SW MI), or live in an area with a track close by, I would love to buy a used R6 or R1 to do track days/play around on. Gingerman raceway is close to me and I have been there for a Ferrari/Viper weekend and have been around the track in a Viper GTS. Very fun. I just don't have the money or the time and don't see myself having either of those things for a few years.

That's about all I can think of right now but that's my riding experience/life with riding. Thanks for reading if you have read this far and hopefully I wasn't boring or confusing because it took me an hour to write this.

 

[Cuba]

I have a quick response:

I'm very new with 750 miles experience, learned on an R6 in a parking lot, bought a 2007 FZ6 with 3000 miles from a local dealer, just completed MSF and I've been in for a month. I love it, very addictive. I live in an area with great backroads that don't have traffic so I get to push it whenever the weather is cooperative. I gradually increase my corning speed everyday, staying in my lane and not doing anything crazy. The bike can handle a lot more but I can't yet, track day at the end of the summer I think.