Happy first birthday to my bike

[Ebet]

April will mark the first anniversary of my 1150R. I have put > 16K miles on it during its first year and I must say I have enjoyed almost every mile (except for some ridden in inclement weather, when it would be hard to enjoy being on the road in a car either). In fact, the hours on the bike have probably been some of my happiest hours, especially riding home from work, done for the day, splittin' some lanes on the freeway or in city traffic (ahhh....). Yep, I may be a little strange to enjoy the daily urban commute so much, but I never get over how pleasant it is to leave the cages behind and fly along at my preferred pace, or to split through to the head of the line at intersections. It's also pretty cool to get to do all that for 45 mpg, which here in the US compares favorably to some of the hybrid cars, not to mention all the gas-guzzlers clogging our roads.

One thing I especially love about this bike is its smoothness and balance. It can edge along at 2-3 mph between the lanes and feel very comfortable, since you don't need momentum to balance because the cylinder heads do the trick for you.

The other thing that has increased enjoyment of the bike was learning to put just my left foot down when stopping. That must sound elementary to some on this board, but since I am so small (5'3", inseam 29"), I used to assume I was too short and needed both feet to touch toes down. Once I got comfortable with the one-foot method (sometimes just one toe if the ground is not level), I found it really enhances comfort, security, etc. etc. And it sure makes it easier to stop on an uphill gradient as you can hold the bike with the back brake instead of struggling to take off again.

Yeah, this bike sure is great. There are faster bikes out there, bigger bikes, but the R is so smooth, so torquey, so much fun, and yet as practical as salt. Somehow I bet lots of you folks on this board agree!

[KHaynes]

The problem with owning a great bike is that the years seem to go faster. You'll have to stop enjoying yourself so much.

[Ebet]

Makes me go too fast as well. Got a speeding ticket a few months ago...points on license now...ouch!

[bimrluvr]

Happy first birthday! Same here on the birthday AND the comfort despite being inseam-challenged. I found that a little foam alteration by Sargent made a huge difference, that and pre-load adjustment.
Are you in a state where you can do traffic school to get rid of the ticket?
I just did that by attending the state's only Traffic Violators School for motorcyclists!! Practically painless. I look forward to doing it again in 17 months.

[Ebet]

I am in southern California as well so we are neighbors!

Sadly, this ticket followed my last traffic school by only 15 months, so I got stuck with the points. I had tried to talk my way out of the ticket (nailed by a surprise speed trap while riding down from Ventura, through the gorgeous twisties on PCH heading south into Malibu). There was a momentary hope because it was a motorcycle officer, but he was riding a Kawasaki so I quickly saw there was not going to be any of that Beemer bonding.

The motorcycle traffic school sounds good. I did one of those home workbook courses last time and it was not bad either.

Elizabeth

[bimrluvr]

Bummer.

Oh, I think I remember you...from somewhere around Manhattan or Redondo Beach, right?

I think my next mod is going to be a radar/laser detector. They're not 100% effective, but they can help by occasionally saving your hide. Mostly they remind me to take it easier, even the false alerts are good that way.
I hope you're out riding in this lovely weekend weather. I've got Dad duties keeping me grounded.
Safe Riding.