{"id":213,"date":"2003-07-07T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2003-07-08T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/esmithy.net\/sparks\/2003\/07\/06\/biker-boy\/"},"modified":"2003-07-07T23:00:00","modified_gmt":"2003-07-08T06:00:00","slug":"biker-boy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esmithy.net\/sparks\/2003\/07\/07\/biker-boy\/","title":{"rendered":"Biker Boy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maybe it’s the life insurance. As regular readers may recall, I took a beginning motorcycle class<\/a> last summer after Shannon signed me up as an anniversary present. This year for Fathers Day, Shannon bought me a very nice Joe Rocket riding jacket. So I have to wonder why, when I’m surrounded by men saying, “Yeah, I’d love to have a motorcycle, but my wife won’t let me,” my own wife is largely responsible for me becoming a motorcycle owner.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I’d been considering buying a bike ever since that class, divided by my desires for bodily wellness but seeing lots of other cheerful, unscathed riders. One of the things that tipped the balance was a guy at work named David who just took the Motorcycle Safety Foundation class as well, and picked up a used 600cc sport bike. He said he was having a great time.<\/p>\n

It all struck a chord. Here was a novice, like me, who just went out and bought the exact class of motorcycle I had been thinking about. In fact, I had narrowed it down to a Yamaha YZF600R based on reviews I had read. Not that I was really sure, though — I mean what do I know anyway? But seeing someone go out and do it was inspiring. And I already had the jacket after all.<\/p>\n

I lost a couple of hours of productivity at work one day when I saw a sweet looking Honda CBR600 F4 on eBay. The seller was from American Fork, and I agonized over whether to throw in a bid. I decided to check out a dealer down in Provo to see what was obtainable there. They had exactly three used sport bikes, all bigger, newer and (therefore) more expensive than I wanted.<\/p>\n

\"Honda
\nHonda CBR600 F4<\/span>
\nJune 10, 2003<\/p>\n

When I got home to resume my agonizing about whether to bid on the Honda with the auction ending in a couple of hours, another bike came up on eBay in the Salt Lake region: a 2000 Yamaha YZF600R. So I let the Honda go.<\/p>\n

I decided to try another dealer, the one where David had gotten his bike. The salesman was very nice, and they even had a few used 600cc sport bikes. One was the exact Honda that had sold on eBay, but selling for about $1800 more there at the dealer. OK, they’ve got to pay to “recondition” the bike, cover advertising, rent etc. But it still seemed steep. After a while the salesman also mentioned that there isn’t any warranty and that in addition to the listed price, there would be a $90 reconditioning fee. I wanted to say, “Gee, I thought that was covered by the fact that you’re selling at retail blue book instead of trade-in blue book,” but I just kept quiet and decided that a dealer wasn’t the way to go.<\/p>\n

I sent an e-mail to the Yamaha seller, expressing interest and she let me know her reserve price. So I waited until the last day of the auction, threw in my bid, and ignored eBay for the rest of the day. The bike was delivered late that very night.<\/p>\n

I didn’t sleep much. “Helmet, registration, and insurance” kept going through my head, I guess, and I lost a little more working productivity checking those items off the next day. I was so tired when I got home from work that I wasn’t even up for a ride. Shannon insisted, so I rode around the neighborhood a little. Ethan and Gerrit thought I was the coolest dad around.<\/p>\n

\"Yamaha
\nYamaha YZF600R<\/span>
\nJuly 7, 2003<\/p>\n

I’ve been trying to take it slow since then, practicing tight turns, shifting and quick stops, and even rode to work on back roads a couple of times. Part of what drew me to motorcycling is the chance to learn something new that would stretch my comfort zone a little. My goal is to become proficient enough to trust my own skills and focus on evading the crazies on the road:<\/p>\n

Worse yet, someone with a serious mental problem such as schizophrenia might initiate aggression for no apparent reason. Maybe that extraterrestrial voice in her brain said Get the motorcyclist.<\/em> — David L. Hough, Proficient Motorcycling.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The other day, Shannon persuaded me to give her a ride, even though I felt like I needed more solo time first. She had a great time, and the truth of her encouragement emerged: she has previously hidden desire to be a biker chick and to buy black leather halter tops. Works for me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maybe it’s the life insurance. As regular readers may recall, I took a beginning motorcycle class last summer after Shannon signed me up as an anniversary present. This year for Fathers Day, Shannon bought me a very nice Joe Rocket riding jacket. So I have to wonder why, when I’m surrounded by men saying, “Yeah, … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Biker Boy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-familynews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esmithy.net\/sparks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esmithy.net\/sparks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esmithy.net\/sparks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esmithy.net\/sparks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esmithy.net\/sparks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/esmithy.net\/sparks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1849,"href":"https:\/\/esmithy.net\/sparks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213\/revisions\/1849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esmithy.net\/sparks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esmithy.net\/sparks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esmithy.net\/sparks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}