Today is Valentine's day. For me, it's not really about getting a crappy overpriced card or a box of sweets for the sweetie. It's about taking a moment and thanking her for everything she does for me. I was very surprised when she found this little thing for me.
Imagine my surprise when you press the button and it starts to shake and rumble and plays "Born to be Wild." Which I suppose anyone who has ever wandered the highways and byways of America has belted out at least once at the top of their lungs.
For a few reasons I won't go into here the lovely Sue will not go 2-up with me. Which is fine, I don't feel ready for her to ride behind me.
But we do try to keep the romance alive. William-Sonoma blog has a couple of ideas about creating your own Roman Holiday. Here the intrepid couple jumps aboard an iconic Vespa to explore the city of San Francisco spending the whole day eating, riding and enjoying each other's company. I'm sure other's have done something similar as well. That's one of the things I love about Susan...we explore. Bok Tower Gardens, Solomon's castle, a rebuilt piece of local history. All these things we have explored as a couple.
So on this Valentine's day I am going to be thankful for all the woman in my life, past and present, who have made me into the man that I am today. I do love and appreciate ALL the woman in my life each and everyday. Well V-day may be more about selling sappy cards and overpriced flowers, it's still a good day to remember to not take those special to you for granted. :)
Now hopefully your loved one just might slide up behind you and whisper in your ear "OK Baby, let's go." I am looking forward to that day when Sue and I both feel ready to ride together
There is an old saying about you never get second chance to make a first impression. In some ways the Kymco has impressed me. For example I like the sporty look of the scooter, it feels more like a sport bike in some ways. Whereas my old Burgman felt like a Cruiser, or to quote some wit: "A barcalounger on wheels
I like the clicking noise the turn signals make because I'm horrible at remembering to turn them off. The little cricket buzzing in my ear is a nice reminder to do so. I also like the corning in the Kymco, it seems to take a curve at a better angle then the Burgie ever did. Of course, I might have just gotten better at cornering.
Two things really surprised me, one was the windshield. While certainly on the replacement list, it seems to direct the air up and over me much better than the stock Burgie shield ever did and there is a definite reduction in buffeting because of it. At higher speeds the Burgie's stock windshield seemed to "quake" a little. No such issue with the Xciting's windscreen.
One of the other things that surprised me is how well it handles cross winds. Maybe I've gotten better at driving in them, but the Xciting seems to cut through a cross wind easily. I remember having to feel like I was practically leaning on one side of the Burgie to keep it upright one day during some punishing Easterly winds. While I've not had the experience of taking the Xciting out during a day like that, I've been impressed with it's ability to handle the winds so far.
The fuel tank is the Silver Circle on the right.
The convenience of the fuel tank is nice as well. I an pop the lid open, fill up the tank, replace the nozzle and put my wallet away all without having to dismount the bike. The only issue I have with it is the very small tank, it only takes a little over 2 gallons to fill it completely. Frankly I've not down the MPG calculations yet but a rough guess puts my MPG around 65? Certainly not a shabby number.
Finally the seat is very comfortable, surprisingly so. No matter what I did, including adding a beaded seat, to the Burgie I suffered from the dreaded "Monkey Butt." Some days were better than others of course, but the seat on the Kymco is firmer I guess? So far all I have done is commute on the bike, so this impression might change but for now I've no complaints.
I can't help but wonder if the performance I've experienced out of this bike is because I'm used to the much larger Burgman, where the Xciting seems "heavier" is some respects it's also a much more compact scooter. The storage is horrid, I have room for a full face helmet and gloves under the seat and not much else. Where in the Burgman I was unable to place my full face helmet, my jacket, gloves and a sweater under the seat when I was work.
Another positive is there is a hook to attach a grocery bag to in the pass through. A thermos on a carabiner might work as well on those hot days.
Unless something changes drastically in the next year or two I think I'll be on the Kymco for at least three years. Lots of time to let it grow on me I suppose. Plenty of time to...oh go ahead and sing it you two:
But like the man said...sometimes you get what you need. I simply wasn't planning on buying a used 2009 Kymco Xciting 500. I originally had my eye on a slightly used 2012 Burgie with a Givi Windshield and top box on it. Somehow the dealer let me walk out the door because he was an pimple in the lower and back side of the human body (OK maybe not but I didn't care for him). His loss.
In fact, the link to the dealership that I was dealing with used to be on my website. I had bought my original Burgman there as well, however after my incident with a bolt and a few other minor things my satisfaction with them was low. Plus I thought they were trying to take advantage of me. They are designed for a high turnover of bikes, and I am not the unknowing boob that I was over a year ago when I bought my first Burgman. Don't treat me like I was. I also spent most of my adult life in sales, you work with the customer to make a deal, you don't let your ego get in the way (considering we were only $500 away in price). I thought I had a legit and fair offer. They would not work with me. Oh well, their loss. This is the end of my ranting and raving.
Up the street from him was a Honda/Suzuki dealership. I was looking at a 2008 Kymco Xciting 500 as well as a Piaggio MP3 500. Frankly they were not my first, second or third choices and I really wasn't impressed with the Kymco at all. There were several "traditional" bikes I was looking at too, but in the end I decided to stay on a scooter. A Honda Silver Wing was also in the running but was sold late on Friday (after I was told it was still available).
I was not even looking at the possibility of buying a 2013 Burgman, I could not really afford it...but I let myself get talked into with some gentle arm twisting. They were willing to work with me. In fact, I was told I had it with the exception of crossing the "T's" and dotting the "I's." As the pictures show, I am not riding a new Burgman. That deal fell through, much to my regret.
Pic by West Coast Powersports
What I ended up with was a 09 Kymco. Yep, the bike that really didn't excite me in the first place. She's got slightly over 4,000 KM (or about 2400 miles) on her, is dark metallic silver and had a displacement of 498 cc. So she's slightly more powerful than my previous 07 Burgman 400. I was able to pay cash for her and walk away with a new helmet out of deal, that's about it. It's not what I wanted and frankly I am not sure how long I'll keep her, but at this stage in my life...sometimes you get what you need. Life is to complex for me not to have another ride.
The mirrors are crappy and to short for me.
It's a little strange driving a new bike. This one is a little heavier and a little more powerful than the bikes I've ridden before, I need to go off into a parking lot somewhere and do some emergency stops and such...just to get used to the handling. In about two weeks (Feb 16) I plan on taking a 100 plus mile ride up to Crystal Springs with the Suncoast Scooter group. Another first for me.
Can you think of a better way to break in a new (well, new to me) bike? To get used to her? I just hope of capable of doing 100 to 200 miles in one day. In any case it should be an exciting adventure and should serve as a good shake down for the bike. First impression: 1) I rode it home from the dealership at night and on the freeway. All told about 60 miles. One of the reasons I decided to buy the scooter in the end was the "Malossi" stickers on the side. Malossi makes parts for racing bikes, and it seemed strange to me that the previous owner would put Malossi stickers on the bike without actually putting in Malossi parts. That meant the previous owner probably knew what they were doing and took good care of the bike. I hope so anyway. When I opened her up on the highway, the tachometer stayed low. A good sign that I might be right. 2) I already need to replace the crappy stock mirrors. Way to short. 3) The low beam light is fine, but the high beam bleeds to much off into the sides of the road. I already have a solution (maybe) based on something I read in the Burgman Forums. LED's might solve that issue.
Thanks to Daboo from the Burgman forums for the idea.
4) The Kymco has no storage. A top box is not a luxury. It's a necessary. 5) This is weird. The speedometer is in Kilometers. The miles per hour gauge is small and hard to read. GPS might be in order here.
It's been over a month since the proverbial excrement entered the rotary air moving device. The timing could not have been worse, being so close to Christmas and the New Year's Holidays. My insurance agent went on vacation then I went on vacation It doesn't give you much time to work on the things that have to be done regarding titles, repairs and all the other crap that you have to slog through to replace/repair your bike.
So when my vacation, a 7 day cruise to several places in the Caribbean came around, I quickly let go of the stress of being self employed. The headaches of investing in a rental property (which is new territory for me). I let go of my concerns about my future with 3M. I threw overboard the stresses of everyday life and just simply...enjoyed it. I loved relaxing, I loved seeing places I may never see again. I loved eating goat meat on a pure white beach in Costa Maya, Mexico. Swimming at a private beach in Belize. I even picked up a bottle of Cashew wine, which peaked my interest the second I heard about it.
Roatan by sea.
Roatan, Honduras was our first port of call and sadly I did not get any pictures of the roads. As the picture shows however it's a rather "mountainous" island. As we took a little tour about the island with a great driver all I could think was. I want to ride here.The roads were not the best, being only two lanes and there not seeming to be any "rules of the road."
Still though, nice and twisty and at times steep and crazy. Scooters and motorcycles of various sorts zipped about us quickly in town, spilling lanes and making me yearn even more to join them.
The island itself is not very large. Only about 37 miles (60 KM) long by 5 miles (8 KM) wide. This gives some wonderful panoramic views as you climb to the top of the island, only to plummet down some twisting wonderfully scary roads towards the white sandy beaches.
Roatan is located near one of the largest barrier reefs in the world which creates some wonderful diving and snorkeling opportunities as well as some shipwrecks. This blog entry however is not about my vacation It's more to let my few readers know that I am alive and well and will be returning to my planned once a week entries soon. I enjoy blogging.
Another view one can see from the back of a scooter.
My cruise also visited Belize, a poor and frankly not very nice place to visit. My family and I went to a private beach that was recommended to us by the crew of the ship (and not on the official embarkation list), which was nice...but for a "resort" seemed to be lacking. The resort seemed broken down and dirty to me, much like the county itself.
The next two ports were in Mexico. Costa Maya is a strip of restaurants and cafes on a long strip of long unbroken white sandy beaches. It's a day full of exploring funky little shops and haggling with savy small business men and woman. The one thing I didn't like was being approached ever 15 meters or so to stop and eat or drink at "the best restaurant in Mexico."
I want to retire here.
The last port of call was Cozumel. I've been there twice now and each trip I fall more in love with this place. I know that by the time I'm ready to retire, it will be beach resort after beach resort built up on each other. The weather was overcast and cool which made lounging on the beach uncomfortable, but with camera in hand Sue and I rented a jeep and explored the island. Scooters and motorcycles where the preferred way to get around and it was not uncommon to find mothers and fathers carrying young kids with them as they zipped about.
Well it is a blog about life on 2 wheels.
I don't know what it is about this island, it just feels like home to me. It's main port and most of the population is on one side of the island, it's crowded and crazy and exciting like any big city. Then you jump on your bike, or jeep in our case, and drive a few kilometers in any direction and your in the back country. Flat and unbroken jungle fills the interior. The main road, hell the only road, runs along the beaches...many of which are unbroken white strands. Others are rocky beaches that reminded my of New England and in one spot the tide rolled in so strong that it carved channels in the rock, creating little geysers that reached six feet into the air.
Sadly you don't see the geysers but it reminds me of Maine
What this trip put into my mind was a desire to retire to the islands (only 20 - 25 years to go!) and to scoot around the islands if I get the chance. I know in September a scooter club is planning a possible ride in the Bahama's. I've never been there, and the seed is planted.
In the end my bike mileage was 24,811 miles. It had 6,600 on it to begin with so I placed 18,211 miles on my bike. Not to shabby. I hope to finally replace my bike this weekend. Finally, some additional pictures are available on my Facebook Page if your interested.
Avoid the snow my Canadian friends and enjoy a longer riding season! Available 3/01/13 I have a 1040 square foot 2 Bedroom/2 Bath modular home available in a 55+ park in Zephryhills, FL. It's fully furnished in a very active gated community with clubhouse and all amenities. Contact Rob at 724-992-2567 or Sue at 724-992-1409 for details. Rent is $1000/mn + deposit. Background and credit check required.
Pics to follow once I get back from my trip. I'm on vacation starting today till next week. I should return on the 21st and own a new bike at that time.
Hey, it's my blog and I'll post what I want. LOL :)
Over the last few days I've been thinking about several things. One of which is of course the bike, assuming that the insurance company totals the darn thing then I'm going to need a new ride. For a variety of reasons I would rather stay with a scooter then have a "real motorcycle." So far I have found three possible replacements. One is a 2009 Suzuki Burgman 650 model that was converted into a trike. Susan wants me to buy a trike eventually, so now may be the time. I also found a similar Burgi to the one I currently own. The other possibility is a 2008 Kymco Xciting 500. Some may say I'm putting the cart before the horse but I want to make sure I understand what is out there before I buy. I don't want to put myself into any debt than is needed.
I'm finding a few different motorcycles out there. I have only limited funds that I can work with. We are thinking of buying a small 2 bedroom/2 bath house as a rental property. So I'm trying, with only limited success, to find a bike for under 4K
I seem to be back in the same place I was when I started this blog.
I miss riding, I've not been on a bike since the 21st and I'm looking at passing riders with envy.
So lets put riding aside for a moment and concentrate on anther project of mine. I was reviewing my income from my independent delivery work that I do (it is tax season after all) and I expect to make about $12,000 working just an extra 3 days a week on average next year. That is about a third of my regular job. I am also playing with the idea of buying a rental property as well, which may bring in another 2-3K a year. Slowly but surely I am becoming my own boss.
My girlfriend tends to a small garden in the back of our house where we have tomatoes, peppers and strawberries all in a small effort to have fresh food on the table. Every winter we enjoyed oranges from two beautiful trees in our backyard. We hope to be expanding our small potted garden with something like the following photo:
We are trying to save money, trying to take steps to break the endless cycle of consumerism and debt that plagues most Americans. I don't have a credit card for example, if the financial crisis a few years taught us anything...is we don't need much.
No, I'm not an aging hippie. I just sound like one.
Everything I am doing, from getting the scooter to the urban gardening to changing my diet is about simplification. So why does looking for a new bike have to be so hard? Ebay and Craigslist are helpful, but again the bikes are either a lot more powerful than I want, or are customized in such a way I don't like. I wish you could hear the frustration in my voice.
So the search continues. At least until I go on vacation in 2 weeks.
