Damn - I switch off the ADD for a day so I can get some work done, come back here and you guys are still at it. And I'm the one with the ADD. Riiiiiiight. Or maybe its the OCD - it's hard to tell the difference sometimes.
Funny thing for me is that the rest of the family wants to start riding two. The little girls have a pocket bike on the way. We'll start out playing in the parking lot while they learn how to keep things under control and I see if they can actually follow directions. If it works out this spring I'll let them go out for the Texas MiniGP and some of the other racing events we have available.
My wife on the other hand is a different storey. she wants to ride on the track. She isn't too interested in riding on the street. I'm actually really happy about that. I find street riding a million times more dangerous that street riding and a billion times more boring. I get next to nothing out of it anymore. I hate other drivers and I'd like to shoot people who talk on their cellphones while driving. no - seriously - right in the face. preferably low caliber so it won't be fatal, just deforming and painful.
anyway - My wife will probably start on a 250. Not because it's oh so much safer than the other choices available. Simply because out of the box it will fit her stubbly little legs better without having to make a bunch of suspension adjustments. We'll look at the Ninja 650 and SV 650 too, but I think they are going to be too tall again. And no - the whole one leg thing is BS. I've not dropped a bike because I can flat foot a giraffe so I can keep control of my bike and muscle it around where I want it. You can't do that on one leg.
The big thing to me is gear. So many people wanting their first bike **** and moan about buying gear and wearing gear. I've spent more than I care to remember on gear. To me that is more important than the choice of bike. Get a Ninja 5000 if you insist, but at least put a Fing helmet on your dumb@ss skull. Maybe throw on a jacket and gloves too. Boots and pants are also pretty nice. See too many squids flying by on their GIXER 750 (very popular choice around here) with nothing on but a t-shirt and sunglasses. Maybe they have pants on - I'm not looking.
Anyway - this board is still populated by a school bus of kids high on too much sugar.
I'm going to try and get some real work done.
Oh - and the only way to break in a new engine is to take it to the track and do a bunch of hot laps at full throttle (after a proper warm up of course). That whole keep it under 4K RPM is soooooo much bs.
my work is done here.
