The search is OVER

Kojiiro said:

Congrats! Was it from the SD lead? How much was it? First impressions on the road? Probably sucks if you only road it home on the freeway. If you take it through some backroads/Palomar/Julian/94, should be different impressions on the first ride

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Thanks! Yeah, I got it in SD. Price was $5k OTD. And yeah, I only rode it home on the freeway, but it was still fun!

I went through Alpine/Julian.
It was an adventure. More like a harrowing escape from the clutches of death, really. I got a late start, so I was late getting out of town with the bike. It was dark when I hit the mountain pass. At the higher section of the journey, FOG. Fog... and COLD. Ridiculous cold. And FOG. I was hugging that bike like a monkey on a football. As I was coming down the other side, I smelled burning plastic or rubber. I was cold, tired, and now WORRIED. I kept looking down at the bike, hoping the smell wasn't coming from it. A few miles ahead, a truck was pulling a trailer with a locked-up axle. Smoke coming off the tire. That was the source of the smell. Imagine my relief. As I was coming down the other side of the mountain pass, I traded FOG for wind. I'm talking VIOLENT wind. The kind of wind that creates visions in your mind of slamming into the guardrail and going off a cliff. It was a blessing it was dark outside. I couldn't see the cliffs. I focused on the lines in the road directly in front of me, as the bike was violently shoved sideways around every curve. I thought I wanted a light and nimble bike. This bike was supposed to be for bombing around town on! Here we are together for the first time, going 60mph down a winding mountain pass with crosswinds. It is a true testimony to the design of the little R3 that I am able to tell you this story now. She cut the wind like a missile, and tried her best to stay stuck to the road. Once I made it down to the valley... the wind was gone, and the weather was about 15deg warmer. I survived. The long stretch across the valley was actually quite pleasant. The little R3 hummed along at 65mph and 7k rpm's. I varied the rpm's by going up to 70, and back down to 60 all the way home. While this little bike can handle the freeway just fine, I know it will really shine on twisty roads and in town. I rode one of these bikes awhile back, but I had forgotten how solid the engine-braking is on decel. It doesn't bother me, I will save money on brake pads. I have to take her to the DMV next week to get her registered. In the meanwhile, I spent a couple hours this afternoon adjusting everything to my ergonomic standards. Excessive throttle-play adjustment being the priority. I hate throttle slack.
FIRST MOD: Tail tidy kit!
:laugh:

Go take the 30 minutes to bed the pads in. Do lots of hard braking. EBC and Galfer both have pretty good how-to's. If you still dont like them, then do the pads. That was the first thing I didnt like about it, the braking. This is coming off a ZX6R though so yeah.

I miss Julian road. Alpine has really high winds in certain areas. Last year around Nov/Dec, San Diego had higher than usual winds. I commute on the Coronado bridge and I would be in full race tuck trying to make myself/bike as small as possible while the wind just hit the bike full broadside. Very scary. Wind on a bridge is pretty scary. Rain doesnt bother me at all, but rain/high winds/limited visibility on the Coronado bridge had me praying more than once in my life, and I dont really believe in the whole god business lol. Cant imagine what the guy in a car behind me was thinking seeing me, full tucked, hanging off just to minimize my profile, and getting pushed into the next lane lol.

Thats pretty bad when you are glad you cant see, so that your mind is not thinking of your impending doom over the rails lol.