Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

This post actually has nothing to do with the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - it just seemed like a good way to bring up the subject of my motorbike. But that's okay, because the book actually had nothing to do with either Zen or Motorcycle Maintenance, so I'm just keeping up the tradition.

I love my motorbike. I've been riding for about 6 years now, half of that on a 100cc Adley scooter, and almost all the other half on a 125cc Kazuma scooter. And while I definitely enjoyed riding, I have to admit to feeling a little bit too old for a scooter. But because they were both automatic, I was a bit nervous about getting a bike that actually required changing gears. I bought one recently, though, and while it took a bit of getting used (see one of my earlier blogs), it really does become second nature really quickly, and after riding it a couple of times it was really difficult to go back to riding the scooter - I kept wanting to change up to get more power! Now I've been riding the new bike - a Kymco Hipster 125; cruiser style, black and chrome, very nice - and I'm really enjoying it. It's got a lot more power than the scooter, you don't feel a bit silly riding it, and it's got a lot more power. And it's cool. It's still only a 125, but I'm happy with that - at least, I was until now.

Now I'm thinking more upmarket. Unfortunately, my licence only allows me to ride up to 125cc, so if I want to ride a bigger bike I need to get a new licence :-( And seeing as I've been putting off getting my car licence for the last year or so, I really should do that first. And I really hate going for tests. But I'm thinking that it may be worth it - the Hipster can get up to a decent speed, but the acceleration is a bit slow. It's not so noticeable in heavy traffic, but I rode home with a friend from work today, who just got a Honda VFR400 - now that thing's fast. Now I'm jealous ;-)

Even just with the Kymco, though, I'd like to join a bike club. It's really fun riding with other people, as opposed to just yourself - even if it's just a short ride - and I could do with meeting new people too. But I don't really know any of the clubs in Cape Town, and I'm not exactly your stereotypical biker. I'm sure most people aren't, actually, but you should have something in common with the club members apart from the bikes, and I don't think there're any clubs oriented to software-developers-in-their-late-twenties-who-don't-drink-much-and-only-have-a-125cc :-) I didn't do the Toy Run this year, although I did go down to Maynardville afterwards to walk around, look at the bikes, etc. But it's really something that's more fun to do with a group of people - or even just one other person - rather than by yourself. But next year I'm definitely going to the actual run; I should have done it this year, but I wasn't confident enough to ride with 6000 other bikes. Now I feel confident enough - never mind that it's only a week later ;-)

I'll probably end up blogging about my bike a lot, but while I'm on the subject (and because it's currently playing on winamp), for some reason "Build me up Buttercup" by ... actually I don't know (but definitely not the version by Mean Mr Mustard) is, to me, the quintessential motorbike song. Don't ask me, because it doesn't actually have anything to do with motorbikes, but it just seems like a such a cool song to sing along to while riding. Probably because they used it in an advert on tv that also had a motorbike in it, so they've become linked in my mind. If I had to make a bike-rdiing playlist, that'd be on it - along with a lot of Guns n Roses and Alice Cooper, and probably some Def Leppard, and, without a doubt, Maroon 5. I'd love to listen to mp3s while riding, but then I'd want it really loud (so that I can sing with, but not hear myself, because I'm really no good at singing) and I wouldn't be able to hear any of those essential traffic noises. Oh well.