Honda 599 New to Now

[Sev]

Well that's pisspoor plannin', innit? I thought I had.... no matter you'll have it next time.

Send over your phone number in a private message, I doubt I'll make it out there again this year, but my friends and I are planning a trip out to Winnepeg next year. I can arrange to have stop off near you. And you're always welcome to ride with us.

I blame you by the way, you should have been sitting on the highway waiting for us to pass. What's wrong with you??? Jeepers, you ARE getting old.

I rolled over 7000 km on this trip, which puts me at a sum total of 11000 km on two abbreviated seasons. I ended up starting late in both, heh, not having a bike makes it tough to ride. Every km is a good km, and the more the bike has the better. I feel soooo awful about having to garage this one. But I'm trying to look at it as a chance to make some modifications to my bike. Gotta cut down or replace that ugly back fender, get a freaking windshield. I've had one on order since early July. I really like the way the one I have on order looks, but it's getting to the point that I'll buy anything that fits.

I'm thinking about picking up a new jacket, textile with armor. After fracturing my elbow in that fall I've decided that I could use something to keep my fragile joints in one piece... just in case. Plus leather doesn't seem all that good at keeping below freezing air out. I get a lot of little drafts, especially around the shoulders through the seams.

I've been looking at the Icon Timax jacket preferably in yellow, though I'd take black as well. I haven't REALLY been looking at them, but I need to finda couple to try on. I'm not sure if I'd be better suited to an extra small or a small, but it's something I gotta find out. I have... a slender build, so there isn't a lot that'll fit me in the first place.

Icon Timax

It's gotten good reviews and it meets or exceeds any requirements for safety, 1000 denier , and good armor. Though I'm not REALLY sure I like how flashy it is. Then again, considering the bike I'm riding now flashy might not be a bad thing. I DO like the idea of being more visible.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to the possibility of riding with you again. And with any luck if Russel is along for the ride he'll have a new bike by then. And we'll be able to REALLY ride. Of course he's still stuck in that "cruiser" phase, I've been trying to get him to reconsider, but he just won't. Sigh.

[BuzZz]

........And with any luck if Russel is along for the ride he'll have a new bike by then. And we'll be able to REALLY ride. Of course he's still stuck in that "cruiser" phase, I've been trying to get him to reconsider, but he just won't. Sigh.

Bwaahaahaahaa.... that's funny. We'll take him to the bike show this winter. I remember last Jan. pionting at a yellow 599 and saying to you...."That's the bike you should be on. It's everything you need and better yet, everything you want." He'll see the light.

Or I could just browbeat him into line.

If my tires come in (fraking backordered the rear and didn't bother to tell me.... I got them hunting one down pronto) I want to run into town this weekend and break them in.

You got a PM.

[Sev]

You know you wouldn't need a new rear if you weren't blowing them on burnouts all the time. There's a fine line between showing off and stupidity, and there's so much smoke and burnt rubber in the air I cannot see the line anymore!

[BuzZz]

Line? What line? I don't see no stinkin' line!!!

[Sev]

Nope me either, lots of smoke though, everythings white.

[BuzZz]

The difference is that I never see a line, no matter what the conditions. I swear, it's almost like you got a lifewish or something.....

[Sev]

Life, while highly over-rated is a limited time offer, and I'm only guaranteed one. So I figure I might as well enjoy as much of it as humanly possible. Which basically means I'm planning on ending it around 30, when things start to go downhill. Okay, I'm joking 40...well 50. At that point it stops being fun anyways. Can't drink till you pass out, cannot ride like hell, okay well that's still possible.

In other news, I'm still riding. It freezes every night and and there's a nice thin layer of ice on the road. But by the time I get home from school it's warmed up to 6 or 7 degrees, and with enough layers a nice ride can be almost enjoyable. I'm debating the purchase of a set of heated grips, cause I'm a wuss, and I don't have a fairing to hide behind like some people. That coupled with a remarkably skinny build and poor bloodflow to the hands means a longer ride renders my fingers inoperable. Ahhh the joys of October.

Can anyone who reads this recomend a decent pair of heated grips that are reasonably priced. Everything I see out there is something like $100 American. Shudder. I like my fingers, but I'm not sure I like them that much.

Canadian Biker did a review of Suzuki's new bandit 650 which turned out very favourably, a nice looking bike and apparently it has some real nice kick. A viable alternative if you're not willing to invest in the more expensive fairingless 599. V-twin means more torque and it was called a pleasure to ride. Two up was not tested because the normal pillion rider was unwilling to hop on the back.

In the same issue was a review of Kawi's kz750, their inline 4 answer to the middleweight nakeds. It was... a ballbuster literally. Slightly aggressive seating coupled with a forward sloping seat means that you're sliding into the tank and whatever balls you have... you might not at the end of a long ride. Vibration is pervasive and annoying at highway speeds. Addmitedly others may find this is not an issue.

These are things to consider in the purchase of one of these bikes. Full reviews can be found in the Novemeber 2005 issue of Canadian Biker, I think it's well worth picking up, especially if you're looking for a bike in this class.

Anyways, class is done, the sun is shining, and I can hear a motorcycle calling. I'm going to take a quick sprint through the river valley and head home.

[Sev]

What is it with trucks, Alberta and bikers? Are us bikers not supposed to be on the road? Or is it just offensive that a vehicle that costs a fraction of what theirs did can outperform it with ease?

On my last ride home from school I was beating it down the road at a good clip. I lucked out and hit the one traffic circle in my way at a totally empty time and blasted through it, entering at 60 and exiting at 75. And this was with someone misjudging the gap and pulling out in front of me at the next entrance when they shouldn't have... back off the gas a little then gun it to hold the lean angle and I dodged them with lots of room. I love a/n (nearly) empty traffic circle

Anyways I guess the guy in the truck behind me took offense to that because over the next couple of km I noticed him sort of working his way up through the traffic behind me in the rear views. Stop and go traffic didn't give him much room to jiggle about, and busy traffic kept him back a ways. But the further we went the closer he got.

Then I'm sitting at the red light where it turns from a residential area into inudstrial and then outlands. I'd managed to work my way up to the front of my lane and booted it when it turned green and ended up way out in front, of course that's to be expected . Anyways, I got into the middle lane and was catching up with the traffic in front of me when I noticed that the truck who was behind me was getting big... and fast. Now, I'll typically ride at 10 over because I like to pass instead of being passed. So he was easily doing 100 in a 70 zone. But I figured, there's 2 empty lanes one on either side of me, he'll just go around.

I figured wrong, he got up behind me close enough that I could see him in both mirrors at the same time, we're talking stop light distance. Needless to say, I was more then a little uncomfortable. So, thinking quickly gun it and pop myself up to 100 then signal to the left get out of his lane slow down and watch him zoom by me. I catch a brief glimpse of a very big cross-section, tinited windows (windshield and drivers), and a lot of chrome. It was a very pretty truck. But he's past me, no harm no foul, thanks for not running me down, and I love you little bike for being able to accelerate like that. Yes, sometimes you actually do need good acceleration.

So, I figured my encounter was over, I mean, he proved he's more of a man then I am, he spent more on his ride, and he's willing to go higher above the speed limit then I am. So obviously he's a better guy then I am... right? But no, as we pull up to the next red light I see him changing out of his empty lane into my empty lane. So he's in front of me now. With a car just behind and to my right (I'm still in the left lane) I'm literally stuck behind him. So I pull to a stop, leave a nice big gap and wait.

At the green he pulls forward... sort of... almost. Very VERY slowly. I know he's messing with me now. Just being a jerk. He gets up to 10km/h under the speed limit and holds steady. The car beside him pulls ahead and I wait to. But intentionally work myself up to a higher gear then I really need. When the car has pulled well ahead, and there's room for me to change lanes, I drop a gear, rev high, and dump the clutch. From 60 to 100 in less then a second and I'm around him, up behind the car into his lane, past the car and back into the cars lane. I'm out of his way, but ahead of him again. I should, I SHOULD have known better. Passing him was just antogonistic, though given the length of the road between Edmonton and Sherwood Park it wasn't that big a deal. We were just pulling into town when he came ooming up behind me again.

Once again I repeated my trick of changing lanes to avoid getting rear ended, though I suspect he wouldn't have intentionally hit me. I got to see him zoom past again. This time I wasn't in the same lane as he was at the traffic light, and my lane happened to be moving faster. First chance I got I was off that road and taking the long, long way home. I live in the North East corner of town, and I entered at the North West. I went ALL the way South, then all the way East, and made my way back North after that. Took me an extra 20 minutes in freezing cold weather, but I figured it was better then a steel enema.

[ZooTech]

Finally, somebody else gets it! There really is something to be said about having surplus power. Now imagine tring those same maneuvers and avoidances with a V-Star 650 or similar anemic bike. it's nice to be able to out accelerate most cars on the road even beyond 0-60. After having my arse handed to me by a Pontiac Grand Prix (yes, just a naturally-aspirated 3.8liter V6) while riding my Nighthawk 700SC one day, I swore it wouldn't happen again. Now it would take a much bigger arsehole in a much faster car to pull that stunt on me again!

[Sev]

My LS650 one thumper could have done the exact same thing in the first case (where he came up behind me) 80-100 in a matter of seconds. And I would have been content to dandy along behind him in the second case. That single piston and light weight could put out a fair bit of grunt when I needed it, up to 100.

With more power comes what can typically be called a more aggressive riding style. The knowledge that I can take on a truck in a situation like that means I'm more likely to try. Well I'm generalising from a single example here, but everyone does that. At least, I do.

I think you misunderstood the point of the post.