The new bike

Whenever I get a new bike I'm afraid to mess with it. Suspension settings, oil, coolant, whatever. I want to ride the damn thing a little to get a base feel before I dig into it. I know its irrational, maybe even dangerous. Lets just call it a quirk.

My new (to me) CBR was no different. The oil in the viewing window looked good, so I didn't change it for about a thousand miles. The suspension settings I didn't touch either for a while. They were "set" (and I use the term loosely) for someone much heavier. I returned them to factory settings and it felt better-ish. The tires were Pilot Power monocompound tires. From the date code I think they might have been the originals (scary huh?). I wore them out and replaced them with new Q2s.
Seen here with the new tires, on the way to get mounted:

After my first trackday on the bike I rode it 250 miles south to have the suspension set by Dave Moss (http://feelthetrack.com/). I learned a few important things that weekend:
-The factory settings are way off
-Riding 250 miles of slab at once on a sportbike with a stock seat isn't pleasant
-Riding 700 miles in a weekend with a backpack (Ogio No-Drag Mach 1. Highly recommend) as your only luggage makes you rethink what you need for a weekend
-Getting your suspension tuned by a professional makes a world of difference. Before you upgrade, maybe you should do maintenance and set the OEM stuff. According to Dave most street riders don't ride fast enough or well enough to warrant the high end suspension their shop wants to sell them.

Family

In 2010 when I caught the bug I was living with my brother. The disease caught him at the same time and we both signed up for the basic motorcycle class together. I should note: neither of us had ever ridden a motorcycle before this, it was completely out of the blue.
He bought an old Honda Shadow 750 and I bought a Ninja 250r.
My first street ride (the day after finishing the class)

Seen here with a Harley Davidson and a Honda Battlecruiser at work

Erik was the more responsible older brother, I was the budding Crotch Rocketeer.

Eventually I sold the baby ninja and bought a beater R6 (I regret not having a 250 sometimes). Questionable as to whether this was an upgrade, but I learned real sport riding, and maintenance on that bike. My brother continued riding (and wrenching on) his old Honda.

Meanwhile my father wanted a new hobby, since SCUBA diving is such a logistically intense hobby/mental illness, and saw how much fun we were having. He took the class and got endorsed. For a while during the winter he rode my brothers Shadow, before buying a Shadow 600 (girl's bike) from a friend of my brother.

Through the winter he racked up a thousand miles on that tiny underpowered bike with only 4 gears. The upgrade bug hit him in the form of a brand new BMW F700gs. A beautiful and much coveted adventure bike.

Below pictured when dad and Erik rode up to visit me in Corvallis.

My brother decided on that 12 hours on the road that he needed something newer and sold his Shadow a few days later. Once again he opted for a cruiser and bought another girl's bike, a Harley Davidson Sporster 883, low rider. See below with my lovely sister in law:

His wife will actually ride on this one, so I suppose I shouldn't poke too much fun.

My dad and I just a few weeks ago:

Playing Catchup

Since graduating from college I've starting describing my lifestyle as "making up for lost time". It used to be I was indulging in all the things I thought I'd missed out on in high school and college while under the thumb. That mentality broke free to making up for time lost during a 40 hour plus a week job, or time lost when the weather sucked too much to enjoy my usual hobbies.

The excesses in partying and attempted immorality got boring and I bought a project car. It was supposed to be awesome and fast. It turned out I suck as a mechanic, and the car needed a new engine. Eventually I said screw it and sold it at a great loss, wrote off the whole experience as a learning expense, and signed up for a motorcycle class.

Three years in I'm still stuck on that. Every free moment when the weather doesn't suck too much I'm out there on two wheels making up for time lost.

Earlier this year I decided to write off my tired old 1999 Yamaha YZF-R6. It needed more work than was worth it. I sold it to a beginner and saved for another bike. Things were hampered somewhat since I'd totaled my daily driver on the way back from a trackday and needed a new vehicle. I picked up an el-cheapo beat up Chevy S-10 to get me around during the winter and started looking for a bike.

In February I found a 2006 Honda CBR600RR with 10.5k miles on it down in Rogue River. I contacted the owner and arranged to go see it. The usual sales meeting occurred. He said "no test rides". I pulled out an envelope full of cash and said "I'm quite serious about this", his eyes widened like a cartoon character and he let me take it for a test ride. Of course I bought it (it was in great shape) and went home with it strapped down in the back of my S10. Its beautiful when the bike in the back is worth more than the truck.

The adventure continues...