Rolling

Despite my many posts on motorcycles and scooters, I remain a huge fan of bicycles. The trouble with bicycles is they tire you out, which is a bad thing if you're on the way to work. To cars, a bicycle is a pedestrian only existing to be passed contemptuously, and probably not very safely, on the side of the street.

I live in a hilly place. Technically, this is the Mountains. Bicycles are great fun on the flatlands where moving forward is a matter of pedaling and coasting. In the mountains? Not so much. Also, there tends to be an absence of bike lanes, the roads are often potholed and spills of gravel spread 100 feet down or across every rural driveway. Its a serious danger to motorcyclists but annoying enough to bicycles too. Those long hills are often in narrow treelined streets sometimes with lots of parked cars. Climbing that, slowly, on a bicycle after working all day? Not safe. If there were no cars, it would be a different deal, but there ARE cars and there will be until the fuel stops being delivered here.

For pure exercise, bicycles are great. You shift your body weight as you pedal, which is why a real bicycle is far better exercise than a stationary one in front of a TV. The pauses, the hard breathing, the motivation of it is a big part of why bicycling is good exercise.

Bicycles are mature technology. You can buy a 40 year old bike and restore it and it rides just as well as a modern one. I scoff at poor cyclist wannabes, like a friend of mine, who insist they MUST have a $3000 carbon fiber race bike to keep up with their friends on carbon fiber race bikes on the Sunday rides they do hither and yon in their $250 jerseys and $120 riding shoes. Uh...no. Buy a used 1970's race bike, restore it, and your old race bike is both cooler and often has better components. Vintage has Gravitas. Trouble is that guy didn't actually like RIDING a bicycle, or being with his church friends. He wanted them to envy the bicycle he couldn't afford but they already had. He wanted to keep up with the Jones's. His envy left him in a permanent state of failure, a particularly UnChristian state for a churchgoer, don't you think? No alternative solution would do.We're not friends anymore.

Yesterday, while walking back and forth to the post office carrying packages, I witnessed one of the locals arrive on a very practical Suzuki DR650 with a milk crate strapped to the back. He put gas in at the local station on the corner. I have to say it was used but well maintained and the rider clearly knew what they were doing, sitting perfectly balanced in standard upright position and the long travel suspension took the bumps through the intersection as smooth as you like. I will think much harder, having seen that, about a used 400-650cc because the engine was very quiet. In the neighborhood I live in, and the hours I'll be keeping soon, that would be a positive. Especially with these hills. The supermoto makes good sense up here. Then again, depending on where you ride, so do vintage, rice rockets, and cruisers.

This is a good place for motorcycling, provided you're careful in the traffic and watch out for gravel spills from driveways near corners. Those are very dangerous. From what a friend with a long history riding said, torque is king when it comes to hill climbing and you shift a lot less with a 600cc so its more about throttle control and leaning properly, with the suspension, if properly setup, making it a safer choice for a beginner.

Rear Axel? About 4 inches behind the seat, which is a 12 degree hill.

As much as I like the MadAss, I worry it will pop a wheelie in front of traffic going up the hills here because so much of the riders weight is nearly on top of the rear wheel. Looking at that, and already wishing for a longer trailing arm suspension would fit it in the bad things category. I wasn't able to find a manufacturer that made them either, since that would require moving or replacing the rear fender. Maybe the DR is a better answer? Used they're cheaper too. Or would be if it wasn't Spring, when people go insane. Spring motorcycle prices resemble those of new bikes. You're better off not bothering.

Its been a dry Spring here too, and other than the rain coming tonight, its often a couple weeks between storms, thus tons of motorcyclists and scooters out and about.

If I had a garage I could be restoring an original series 1 Miata, though considering the person I'd likely be riding in it with has a 12 yo daughter, I suppose the money is better spent fixing up my Honda with its 5 seats. The tires and shocks, the windshield, and the ugly spots of bad paint and chips might be a good idea for repairs and replacement. Sigh. Its a nice car, at least. Once everything works right I can more confidently take it for long drives up and over the mountains and back. Maybe something will turn up that works, for a price I'm willing to pay.

Also: I've had a cold since I slept with my window open last Thursday. Sigh.