To: nedod@linus.mitre.org Subject: International Bike Show Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 13:02:01 -0500 From: gayathri The bikes: Both Honda and Triumph are gonna get nasty letters from me. The new TT600 was at the show, but on a pedestal, and I couldnt find any info to take home on it (or pictures! what's up with that!) so I just looked and lusted. Squidboy pointed out the brakes are the same as my T595, which have three lines, which I hate 'cause it rubs into the paint on the front wheel cover... but other then that, its schweeeet. The RC51 was also on a pedestal, but since I hear you can't get one this year anyway, I'm not so sad. If y'all get the chance, check out the new Aprilia Falco. Whoah. nice NICE bike. http://www.nettuno.it/fiera/powerhouse/fiera/ing/sl1000/home.htm I love it in orange. Spent the day showing some non-riding friends all the different bikes. We sat on a couple of Ducatis (the 748 SP is nice.. I'm on it, thinking, "damn, this wouldnt be comfy for a commute every day," and then realized that I Just wouldnt Care. Give me the monoposto, baby, this bike aint haveing anyone's butt on it but _mine_. ) My friends loved the Ducati Monster Dark, as well as the SV650. One of 'em, who's slightly inseam challenged fit well on the ex250. As a lark, I got her on the Hayabusa. Guess what? She can alsmost flat foot it. (hee!) What else? A bunch of us kept walking around and saying, "look, my next bike!" If only if I had a spare 50grand.. :) the disappointing thing for me was not finding a rainsuit that I liked, not finding the vanson dealer to get the backpad and knee pads for my leathers, and not talking to TBR about handlebars. The ride before hand made up for it. We met for breakfast and did the super secret GMR after taking up Rt 39 into the mountain. Damn. I as doing pretty well, even having to pass a couple of people because their pace was just not what I wanted to do that morning. Frisky! I was feeling frisky. Got stuck behind one rider that was NOT looking in their mirrors, or just wasnt aware I wanted to go by. (I was afraid to toot the horn for fear of watching said biker run off the road.) So in grand Patrick Style, I roared by 'em in a short straight, attempting to loft my front wheel. (okok, I didnt attempt the wheelie, nor succeed in doing on. :/ ) Barely roll off for the corner, doing a good 25 mph faster then before, and just bank it in... GMR is a really tight technical twisty road that has turn after turn linked together in an odd rythmn. Whoever made the road LIKED to drive -- turns are banked and even if they seem tight, if you go into 'em and LOOK thru, suddenly it opens up. I was pretty happy at how I was handling the road and the speed I was taking it. Needed to concentrate but could still take a hand off the bars to wave.. :) One of the women in our crew is an accomplished cruiser rider (she's 4'11 and rides a virago 1100) and has just recently gotten into sportbikes. One fo the few people I know that went to Class and didnt get much out of it other then slowing her down on the street to an almost painful pace on her sportbike and wrecking her confidence in her ability to deal with riding an ex250. I wonder if DP or CSS wouldnt be more useful for her (we'll find out next season!). the thing to note is that she feels that she doesnt have 'enough time' to put into getting better, even tho she rides to work every day, and sport rides at least every other weekend... I finally figured out the trick to learning how to ride better was to keep your head and ride with people who are better then you... Gayathri - -------------------------------------------------------------- gayathri@world.std.com Calamari Club #002, WSMC #701 '88 FZR400 ('gurlzbike') '98 T595 Daytona, "huckleberry" "To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders." - Lieh Tzu