watch your rear When I'm stopped at lights, I usually flash my brake lights when I see a car approaching. Other times, I am at the front in between 2 cars. Today, while stopped at a light, I wasn't paying as much attention. I see a car coming, next thing I realize it's getting pretty close to me and is now braking very hard (hearing some brake squeal too). Lucky for me, the car stopped about a foot behind my rear wheel. I look around, the woman's yapping away on her cell phone. Figures.

I guess I need to be more attentive when I'm not between cars and flash my brake light when cars approach. Maybe I should also consider splitting more even when there are just one or 2 cars in front of me at the light. Hmm....  ¶ 11:16 PM 1 comments  

  Gear When I was first contemplating buying a bike, I was reading a lot of online information and forums. One of the suggestions from the experienced rider about gear selection was that if you are planning on riding a lot, spend a lot of money and get some good gear that's easy to get in and out of (i.e. Aerostich Roadcrafter), you will just save yourself money later on when you want to get more gear (lots of cheaper gear can easily add up to more than a good set of gear).

Recently, especially when it was raining for a while, I have been thinking that perhaps I should have listened to them. I commute a lot on my bike (and maybe much more so in the near future, more on that later), and it's getting to a point where getting in and out of my leathers is quite annoying. Even though it only takes a minute and I can change in my office and store my gear there. (I have a leather jacket and leather pants)

So I've been considering buying an Aerostich Roadcrafter suit. But this is big money ~$750, and I simply can't afford it at the moment. Well, maybe if my plan in the next few months turn out a certain way, I might just end up with one of these suits.  ¶ 11:53 AM 0 comments  

  rear wheel shake Today while commuting to school, I had to do some heavy braking, and the back of the bike stepped out for a bit. I didn't crash or anything, but it was a bit scary. I have had this happen once before, but I think I locked my rear tire up that time. This time however, I didn't hear any tire screeching, so I don't think I locked the rear.

I will have to look into this to see if it could be sign of something else, like mis-aligned rear wheel or something. I don't really know right now.  ¶ 5:35 PM 1 comments  

  2-up on the Ninja 250 About a month ago, my friend came to visit me for a few weeks. It was definately the happiest time I have had for a quite a while. When she was here, I took her to my school a couple of times on my bike. Here are just a few observations I had. Keep in mind that I am not, in anyway, considered knowledgable about 2-up riding.

- The bike handled fine, just felt heavier and a bit more sluggish.

- With a combined rider+passenger weight of about 250 lbs, the stock suspensions were ok. Although the rear suspension was getting close to fully compressed. (the stock suspensions are definately one of the weak points of this bike, but for a rider under 150 lbs, it's perfectly fine).

- Try to accelerate and brake at a more gentle pace is a good idea when there's a passenger, especially if you are not experienced in carrying a passenger. I can notice my passenger moving back a bit due to the acceleration. And this was gentle acceleration on a 250! (you don't want your passenger to be caught off-guard and fall off, do you?)

- Anticipate your braking. I didn't really have much trouble of helmets hitting each other. Maybe just a couple of times. But gentle braking can easily solve this problem (I have heard it a lot from others).

- Having a passenger makes you drive more responsibly. And the ride is much more enjoyable too.  ¶ 3:46 PM 3 comments