to answer the above, it was $3400 and some change out the door because of stupid high taxes, and i paid with a credit card and that cost more (i think 2%) i know soem will say i could have argured it down, but im happy, i feel like i gt a good deal. i love the bike. and the dealer was nice. i would pay $2 for a $1 item if i want it bad enough. my lady on the other hand will pay $1 for a $2 item just because its on sale.


so on to the pics!


yea, the number plate does say 666, i didnt photoshop that, it really expires 6/6/06.
look at that firm shapely rear end.



here is the left side.



and the other side (looks the same) but without a kickstand.



Me with both my rides! a truck with a 5500rpm redline and a bike with a 13,000 redline!



That big sexy "i look like im from the 80's" headlight



Me on the bike



me, still on the bike but from a slightly different angle



This is a pic of me next to the mailbox i almost hit (riding the other way)



various other pics of me with a nasty colored background. yay for MS paint brush!



my sweet rim. talk about dub edition.



yea, i think my eyes were closed, i was bliking or looking down? oh well.


so those are the pics i promised.

i got a charger installed too. its a battery tender jr http://www.cyclegear.com/spgm.cfm?L1=&L ... UC_21-2102 . i was told by the dealer to only pulg it in for 20-30 minutes a day, but the people at the shop said i can leave it plugged in all the time when i am not riding. i meant to get a pic to show you all how i routed the "pluggy thing" that hangs out to charge it. its tied to the bracket that holds the passenger peg on, it is clear of the tire/chain/engine/exaust. i haventstarted charging it yet, is that just if i dont ride for a few days? or do i need to be doing it all the time. also is it ok to leave it on or shouldi get a timer and turn it off after 20-30 minutes? oh well.

so i also put 35 miles on the bike today just inside the neigghborhood. i have not stalled it yet, but i almost did going up a steep hill. i kept upshifting and it got to abotu 500rpm before i just hooked a U turn and went back down. the second time i go over the hill. i also made a new freind! there was a guy out landscaping in front of a house. he flagged me down and wanted to tlak bikes. he races a zx-14 (i think) but he has a gixxer 600 too. his wife does photography at the dragon and is linked to "the dragons official webpage" so i had accually seen some of her work before. we talked bikes for a minute. he made fun of the MSF and said i should go do a "racing school" if i really want ot learn to ride. i just agreed with him and after a little more chatter he invited me to look him up and we could go ridign sometime. VERY nice guy. so its true, motorcycling really is a brotherhood. and everyon, even non-bikers has a story about bikes- My brother had one, my dad had one, my ex wife ran off with a guy who fixes them... always some story. But it felt really good to be accepted by a complete stranger just because there was 300lbs of metal and plastic between my knees. lots of kids out playing today too, i tried to wave at all of them. fun times!

well, im off to raise my postcount in the other forums. but enjoy the pics. and incase anyone didnt read all the way through this blog from the beginning, comments, questions, and sugestions, even good nature ribbing are always welcome so feel free to post here.

Ride safe eveyone!

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Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms should be a convenience store, not a government agency!

Sweeeeeeeeet. I suppose haggling isnt for everyone, but heck, you have anice ride there!

and the 80's headlight, damn straight, looks like mine *L square!

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2006 Kawasaki Vulcan 500 LTD
CMC 049

Nice looking bike. It looks like an 80's sport bike, and those have a certain charm about them.

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Member of DWPOMD and RATUBBAW

'80 Suzuki GS 450
'00 Kawasaki ZR7 ( Sold 09/08 )
'82 Honda Nighthawk 450 ( Sold 02/07 )

My bloggy thingy

Looking good Ryan! Motorcycling is definately a brotherhood and im sure you'll enjoy it. Sounds like you're off to a good start. I don't know how may time I stalled my bike the first day, I wanted to bang my head on the gas tank I felt so stupid!, but I finaly GOT IT... I'm glad MFS paid off for you, it's paid off for me a couple of times already. I can still hear my instructors voice yelling "KEEP YOUR HEAD UP"...'TURN THAT HEAD"..lol it works dude!

Finally got around to looking at your blog Ryan. Belated congrats on passing the course, the new bike...everything! You sound so happy it's contagious. Have fun, heads up and be safe. I saw those yellow ninjas in the 06 250R models on a Kawi site and quite liked the color but they only make/send the ZZR black ones and blue ones here so I settled on a blue one (wasn't up to polishing off every single dust and rain spots of a black one all the time). Yeah, that ninja site you mentioned is kool but I prefer this for reading and info. Lotsa neat riders and lotsa info here. Happy riding!

I have a special place in my garage for 80's bikes.. hehe. I like the ninja 250, excellent bike for tooling around and tossing around in the twisties. I wouldn't mind having one, but I can barely find time to ride my current bikes!

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2008 BMW K1200S
2003 Z1000 - For Sale
1979 KZ650B - Work in progress
2005 Ducati SS 1000DS - sold :'(
1994 VFR750 Interceptor - sold
1984 VF700F Interceptor - sold
2004 Hyosung GV250 - sold

First trip-

Ok so I got insurance on the bike. So I’m now 100% legal to ride. So I go to my grandmothers house after I get off work and put all my gear on, unlock the bike, and try to fire it up. Its having a little trouble and stalls once. Oh yea, you got to choke these things! So I open the choke all the way and it spools up to like 5000rpms so I back off on the choke a little bit and pop it in fist, it struggles a little to get me up the driveway but as soon as I hit the flat road, we are good to go. Shift up to third and make a nice low-rpm cruise through the neighborhood. I go the long way to the back of the neighborhood and im mentally preparing myself for riding out onto “real” roads for the first time. I go out through the back of the neighborhood to a nice little 2 lane road that runs beside a lake. This road scared the "crumb" out of me when I was learning to drive because it is narrow with drop offs on either side but it is pleasant on a bike, I feel like I have plenty of room. So I drive up this road and come to a slightly busy (read as: there were 2 other cars in sight) T intersection so I have to turn. I decide to go right because the turn is slightly down a hill and I’m still not great at pulling out quickly. But I did fine. I quickly upshift a few gears and I actually caught up to a big SUV driving in front of me. So I chill and enjoy the feeling of the wind pulling at me and I ride, also a HUGE bug splattered on my visor and that made me feel like a “real” biker (bug guts are a core part of biker culture). Then something I hadn’t planned on! Stop-and-go traffic! Another T intersection only this one much busier and the cars stopped in line are inching forward. Panic! I’m great at stopping and starting but inching along? Do I just feather the clutch in 1st gear? Do I put my feet down? They didn’t talk about this in MSF?! But I think I did okay. I initially put my feet down but then the cars moved fast enough as they inched up to let me feather 1st gear to stay upright with my feet on the pegs. I did a California stop when I was first at the intersection and took another right. I rode down this road for about 3 miles until I came to a little park. I turned in and parked the bike with no problems. I turned some heads as I came in. I could see some high school-aged guys trying to catch a glimpse of me and the bike but not wanting to be too obvious about it. I just stood there with the bike, not knowing what to do at a park by myself. I made a cell phone call to my girl to tell her I was having fun. Then I started to get hungry so I decided I should go home. So I remounted the bike and basically retraced my steps home. I make it back to that little road that runs by the lake and something doesn’t feel right. Im having ot really push to get power… um I think I’m almost out of gas but i cant stop in the middle of the road and I am not wanting to fumble with the (very small) petcock to turn it to reserve. So finally I se a church, the engine is sputtering at this point. So I pull in the clutch and coast into the church parking lot as the bike dies. I get it back to neutral and switch to reserve. I had to reapply the choke for a minute to get it going but it ran fine once I got it going again. I pulled out and drove back to my grandmothers house. Im such a lamer. I wanted to practice gassing the thing up before I look like an idiot at the gas station so I pour the 2 gallons of gas into the tank, then I remember I never turned the gas petcock off, so I do that. I wheel it into the garage and lock it up. Now I know that it shouldn’t be too hard to fill up if I ever make it through these two gallons of gas.

Overall the ride was fun. I was surprised how much the wind pulled at me, i have ridden bicycles for a long time, sometimes very fast, but I guess there is a difference between 35mph coasting down a big hill, and 50 in 4th gear on a little back road. I did have to stop once before I could turn across traffic and I wobbled it a little as I almost went wide on the turn but I recovered, I felt stupid because everyone saw me do it more than scared because it wasn’t much of a “close call”

I hope it will stay nice tonight and I will go ride again. And this weekend I want to go out early and tear up some bigger roads that I’m still nervous about riding on with lots of traffic.
Maybe today I’ll make up something I need form a store so I can see what it feels like to walk around in a store with the helmet and gloves and stuff. I might even go to cycle gear and look at some new gloves (with tighter thumbs so I can use my damn turn signals)

There is one road that I found that would rival the dragon if it were longer, it is only about 2 miles but has about 10 nice turns to it. I ave smoked my brakes on the truck there many times and I want ot try it on the bike. Maybe I’ll go on Saturday or Sunday. I want to go show my ride coaches my new ride, and this road is about 3/4mile form the place they teach at (local community college). I might try the “Sunday morning interstate” too.

Ok, thanks for reading. More to come soon…

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Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms should be a convenience store, not a government agency!

Dude, don't worry so much about "looking stupid". Remember...CAGERS CAN'T EVEN SEE YOU! It works both ways.

Just ride safe.

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Ride it like you think owning it matters.

the wind noise is something else isnt it? *chuckles*

Good one Ryan!

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2006 Kawasaki Vulcan 500 LTD
CMC 049

2nd ride-

Ok so even though it already wrote once today, you are all in luck, you get 2 blog entries today.

So my friend had a church softball game tonight and wanted me to come and watch. “Cool, I’ll bring the bike” so I get off work at 5pm, hop in the truck and go to the apartment to let Doggins out and get my gear. So I let the dog out and she got mad cause she had to go right back into the crate till Tabatha gets home. I drive to my grandmother’s house where the bike is in storage until I move in 2 weeks (to a house with my own motorcycle storage unit with auto-retractable door. (Garage to some). So I got the bike started with no problems, using the choke.

Pull in the clutch… pop it into gear… roll on some throttle… ease out the clutch…. And were off!

Today motorcycling felt more natural than ever before. I was confident in my stopping, my pulling out, up-shifting, down-shifting… I was really riding. Not holding on for dear life.

I rode the shortest distance to my parent’s house (next neighborhood over from my grandmothers). I felt great. I took the turn into the driveway a little wide and caught a little grass next to the driveway. No harm done, just got to watch that next time. So I see my little brothers new car (a 99 olds alero) then I had to be over that the church. So I pull out of the neighborhood the back way. I pull out about 200 yards in front of a Honda accord but manage to get it easily up to speed even on the hill I was driving up (who says 250’s are too small?) But then I panic, I have to slow/stop for a left turn just over a blind hill. Luckily the accord turned into a driveway and I managed to make the turn before any other cars flew over that hill. I turn onto the curviest road I have yet ridden on. It was pretty mild as motorcycle roads go, but I felt good, making lines and following them. I also got to ride down another road I never take my truck down because it’s so narrow. I was about to turn right onto another road when 2 guys on sport bike (didn’t see what kind, I think a yamaha [from the headlights] and a gixxer). Both guys waved so I waved back. Then I caught up to them at a light but I was turning left so I was in the turn lane. I nodded at them but had to keep riding. I passed another biker on the way home (this one a buell or whatever has the 2 round lights side by side). We exchanged waves as well. So I get to the road that the church is supposed to be on, I turn right, just like my friend told me in the instructions. I end up at a main road. Keep in mind, I have never pulled out into real traffic before. I think I did okay for my first time, I revved it too hard between each gear, but I was fine. I’ll do better next time. The softball game was okay. Think they ran out of time and forfeited. Then the ride home was great. I got into some light traffic and really felt good. It was aware of traffic but not afraid of it and I moved fluidly through the gears and was easy on the brakes. It was really fun. I’m getting used to the feeling of engine braking, it scared the "pee" out of me the first few times I felt it. I can’t wait to go riding again. On Saturday morning… it’s on! My neighbor who has a small cruiser he just bought when he got back from Iraq. I told him I got a bike and wanted to go riding sometime, he said as soon as these waves of thunderstorms pass we will go. Yay for motorcycles!

One last plug for the ninja 250R. If you have never ridden one, you should go take one for a spin. So much fun and I can accelerate my fat "O Ring" up a pretty steep hill. And this bike brand new is a lot less than most used motorcycles and you get a warranty and everything.

Ok and that brings us to my question-

The dealer wants to sell me a warranty for $500 for 5 years. Is it worth it (it would be years 2 through 6). I think theres a 2/3/and 4 years also for less money. I just have to decide before my 1 year warranty runs out.

Thanks for all your help and reading my blog. (especially you Northern Pete, I know you read it)

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Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms should be a convenience store, not a government agency!