When and where did I start motorcycling?

My First Ride

My first ride with 2 wheeled motor vehicle wasn't a motorcycle actually, it was a little 50cc scooter called a Honda Ruckus. Industrial design, light - you could pick it up as a single person - and super efficient on fuel. It had napoeleon syndrome on any road faster than 60kmph (35mph for you Americans) though, seeing as that was it's top speed.

It was cute and it sounded like a hornet buzzing away trying to keep up with traffic. What a fun, cheap little city bike. Perfect for Vancouver/Richmond or any urban sprawl - as long as you plan on staying within that urban sprawl.

I first learned by going round and round in a parking lot from my father's instruction. I wasn't doing bad, but I was far from being confident and skilled with turning the little scooter.

Before my first real Motorcycle

I had a Yamaha BWS 125cc when I moved to Calgary. I never got to ride it though, but, it was quite a deal. Nothing to really say since I never ever got any experience with it.

When I was a little Kid, I did my best to stay away from motorcycles

Yea, I was terrified of anything on 2 wheels. Even bicycles, to a certain extent. My father was a big motorcycle enthusiast. From what I remember, he rode a Harley Davidson, then switched to a Vespa when we moved back to the Philippines. We had a 125 or 250cc little motorcycle that stayed in the garage too. Before this though, my father was on the race track with large displacement sport bikes, hit the province with different sized scooters, and a dual sport motorcycle too. To which, I think he tried to take me on the beach once, and I responded by running away and crying. My, oh my, how my fear of motorcycles was so wrong.

Honda CBR250r

A lightweight, fun, flickable, efficient, and small 250cc motorcycle that looks like it's sportier big brothers. My first bike with a clutch and gears too.

My first taste of this motorcycle was at the school I learned at. Too Cool Motorcycle School here in Calgary, with the instructors: Trevor, Jorden, Renee. I was supposed to take this course, then ride the BWS; however, after learning how to use a clutch and sequential gearbox, there was no going back. I not just wanted, I needed a motorcycle, not a scooter.

355lbs - fully fueled | 23.7 BHP, 21 at the wheel | 14.65 ft/lbs of torque | 75mpg

It wasn't the fastest motorcycle, but it was zippy enough. I got pretty good with low speed maneuvering, I put about 5,600km in just under 2 years. It wasn't much, but I was going out more and more often as time went by.

Practice makes perfect, I had a chance to see how well I practiced emergency braking. On the entry ramp onto the highway, 4 cars and a truck ahead. I see the truck start to slow down, so I let go of the gas, slowly squeezing the brakes from 80kmph. Suddenly the truck starts shuddering as its ABS kicks in. The cars ahead all do the same, and I go from a light squeeze to stomping on my rear brake and squeezing my front brake too. Unlike the cars ahead of me, I only had 2 wheels, not 4. I also had no ABS. I felt my rear brake lock and the rear start to fish tail lightly, when I realize I'm not going to stop in time, I let go of the rear brake. I feel the bike surge, trying to kick me off as traction suddenly comes back to the wheel. I look where I want to go, get onto the shoulder and continue braking. I ended up at the rear bumper of the 2nd car ahead of me. Glad I practiced braking. 

While ABS would have been nice, I'm happy I got the chance to learn what it feels like to lock up a tire in an emergency situation. I do believe joining Trever in Taste the Dirt, a dirt class from Too Cool Motorcycle School helped a lot since that dirt experience was directly applicable to this situation.

Honda CBR500r

A new, to me, bike that arrived recently. Nearly brand new, less than a year old, and still pristine and asking to get taken out to some nice twisting mountain backroads. 

A bigger brother to the 250r, and another Honda? Got to be said, Honda makes some darn nice motorcycles. While on paper, they aren't that hot, they are better motorcycles in person and finish.

Honda CBR 500 r - (Not my picture)

425 lbs - fuelly fueled | 47 BHP, 44 at the wheel | 32 ft/lbs of torque | 70mpg

So nearly double the horsepower and torque, weighs 50 or so lbs more, and still gets nearly the same fuel mileage? (According to fuelly figures). That's pretty darn good. Not to mention it feels like a big bike. Similarly proportioned to the CBR600rr and CBR1000rr street legal racing bikes, although the slim fuel tank on the 500 makes it feel rather smaller and lighter. 

This bike came with a lot of aftermarket accessories. 

Yoshimura R77 Slipon Exhaust - my gosh, I was planning on upgrading to an aftermarket exhaust at some point, it was a bonus it came with it - but my GOSH! That sound! The motorcycle doesn't sound like a sewing machine like most Parallel Twin engines do. It sounds like a V-twin, and while it's not super loud, it makes the bike sound much bigger than it really is. Love it.

Hope to learn more on this motorcycle, and this will be, for the foreseeable future, my sole ride for quite some time. It's heavy enough not to get pushed around in the wind, especially with bigger tires. Front/rear: 120/70 & 160/60 for the 500r and 110/70 & 140/70 for the 250r. My only complaint with the 250r was that it felt sluggish once at highway speeds, but other than that, I was completely fine with it. I loved how it turned, how light and maneuverable it was at slow speeds; so with all that answered by the 500r, I think I found a bike I'll keep for much -much- longer.