2004 HONDA CBR600RR
I picked the wrong week to buy a new motorcycle. For three weeks after I bought the bike, it was nothing but rain and thunderstorms. I was lucky to be able to put the 600 initial miles on the bike during that time (less than a week) to get her back to the dealer for her first service.
Bah. Thunderstorms. Rain is one thing, but when the sky looks like this:
That old DOORS song "Riders on the Storm" comes to mind. The picture doesn't do the clouds justice, what you are looking at is basically a tunnel of clear weather right down the middle. This is Highway 98, which I commute every day on over 70 miles round trip. The tunnel in the middle is the only good weather. Thunder and lightning are on each side of me and that patch of clear sky is rapidly closing up. The highway curves ahead to the left, and by the time I got within 5 miles of my home, I was in the real dark stuff there on the left. The sun basically vanished from sight, it went from the equivalent of 4:30pm in the afternoon to 8:00pm at night.
The brand new 2004 CBR600RR, about to get its first bath the hard way. That's my HJC-14 "Smoke" helmet, one of the most beautiful designs I have ever seen in a helmet and a pattern which complements the colors of the bike.
A quick pick taken by my coworker. The size of the bike is deceptive. Here it looks very small but the fact is that if it was one inch taller, my feet wouldn't be flat on the ground. Stretching over the tank to the clip-ons is like a medieval rack. The bike looks very small in this picture, but it isn't small in real life. It's a trick of the viewing angle.
Gear profile. I don't know why the bike looks so small. I'm 5' 12" and if the saddle was one inch taller, I wouldn't be able to put my feet flat on the pavement. It does look small in this picture but when I ride it, the bike sure doesn't feel small.
Another gear profile. The facial hair shown peeking out through the helmet confuses many a gap toothed hillbilly who wrongly assumes that it is a mustache. It is, in fact, the top arch of a full face beard, trimmed neat and close then shaped. I can understand the confusion... Most Harley owners and riders are creatures of rather low intellectual capacity and put a high value on physical appearance (not to mention style and comfort) since they have nothing else to put their value in (like technology, performance, engineering, etc.). You also have to realize that most Harley owners consider their selves to be part of an exclusive group of very beautiful people (which they somehow magically joined the instant they bought their ridiculous excuses for a motorcycle) and as such, style and fashion must override common sense and safety, to the point that riding a Harley with a full face helmet on (thus keeping your beautiful appearance covered up while you are actively advertising for Willie G. and his pagan religion) is considered a major sin in the Milwaukee Orthodoxy and could very well lead to your excommunication from the Church of Milwaukee.
Since style and appearance play such an important part in the make-believe fantasy that Harley sells to The Faithful, you can understand where the confusion comes from now, can't you? Looks can be deceiving but when you're a Harley rider, it's a way of life.
Here is a better
picture of me without the full face helmet.
(and in dire need of a haircut, I don't like to let my hair
get this long but it was vacation and I was bumming)
Just an average joe from the grand design ...
"Some girls don't like guys like me ... but, oh, some girls do!"
Currently, as of August, 2005, the beard has been shaved into a goatee and my mop has been close cropped as tight to my skull as I can get it without shaving my head (which is a viable option that I am thinking of doing, especially when having to work in 100 plus degree humid Mississippi afternoons). When I cropped my mop down tight, I looked in the mirror and jokingly said "Well, tomorrow at work they're either going to think that I'm going through chemo or that I just became president of the local Sinead O'Connor fan club."
You can keep your black painted Tupperware bowl with a chin strap and let the world see your rent to own face. Me? My mug certainly isn't the prettiest in the world therefore I have to protect what little I have. Full face helmet, no question about it, not only to protect what little God accidentally gave me to begin with but to also keep from frightening small children and animals when I go riding. Yep, if I get any uglier, I'll probably have to start sneaking up on a glass of water just to get a cool drink.