Got the Suzuki its first maintenance - seems like the most appropriate farewell gift to the bike. I've had a few offers on it, but I not going to sell it to just anyone, I want it to fit the next owner as well as it fit me, and I want to have a sense that the next owner will take care of the bike. Yes, I know it is "just a machine", but that machine has been good to me.

I picked up the CS' seat from Sal's on Monday - Hugo did a great job slimming it down where my thighs touch the seat, and, I'm assuming he took some fill off the top. I dropped the seat off at Cal BMW this morning, along with one Lady Star boot so that they could use it to figure out where to move the shifter.

I arrived at the dealership at 4:30pm, the bike was ready. Carolyn gave me a thorough tour of the bike. Carolyn later introduced me to two of the guys in Service. They didn't remember me but they remembered the Suzuki that came in for a flat tire repair.

Carolyn rode the bike to my house, and I took her back in my car.

Several people asked me today if I was excited about getting the bike today. "Excited" - hmm, well, no. Anticipatious of disaster and therefore deadly calm, yes. What disaster? Oh, how about "wimping out" and not being able to ride it?

I put on all my gear despite the heat. The pant liner is sticking to my legs and I'm not even in the garage yet. I thought for a brief moment about going out without the leather pants, but I remembered my sister's friend, Deneen, who recently went out on a hot day wearing only her helmet and gloves and received a severe case of road rash.

I move the bike into the street where it is level, mount the bike, and press the starter button. The engine roars to life and I wonder about mine. The bike is humming, waiting patiently for me to make a decision. Do I trust what I have learned in the past five months or not? Do I trust my ability to adapt or not? Am I going to ride it or not? The bike kicks into first gear. S-l-o-w-l-y I let the clutch out, the engine idle pulls the bike forward. I let it happen. We are moving. It feels so smooth.

I tour around the neighborhood, my legs find that the riding position feels more "natural" than on the Suzuki. My knees are hugging the tank and my feet find the brake and shift lever. After about twenty minutes I decide I'm taking the bike to the other side of 101 to the roads around Shoreline Park. Business traffic will have cleared out, and I'll be able to open it up. I can't believe how easily this bike corners and how comfortable I am on it. Good god can this bike accelerate. Interesting braking behaviour.

I'll be good - I'll ride around locally for a few days and take a test ride on the freeway on the weekend early Sunday morning. I hope to ride it to work next week.

Between the scooped seat and the Lady Star boots, my toes touch the ground when I stabilize the bike after a quick brake. If I slide as far forward as possible, then I can comfortably get the balls of my feet on the ground - looks like I won't have to make any further mods to the bike, except I am going to have Cal BMW bend the shift and brake levers - I can manage, but it could be better.

My car is parked in the street, and the two bikes are on my side of the garage. The car is pissed.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's ride. It is too soon to be excited, but I suspect I will be by Sunday afternoon.

Took the CS up Page Mill Road west of 280 where it becomes a nice twisty two lane road. Rounded the first curve to find a car coming directly at me in my lane. The driver was passing slower traffic in his/her lane. I'm not traveling much over 40mph. The car appears to be accelerating. Taking in the whole situation, time seems to be moving very slowly. Okay, there's room on the right for me to slip by, I shift my weight and lean the bike over a bit. The car zips back into its own lane, just in front of the car it was trying to pass. I don't see any brake lights in my mirror because I'm looking through the curve ahead of me. I didn't hear any brake squeal so I guess everyone was okay.

The rest of the ride was uneventful other than a couple stalls. I'll get the levers bent on Saturday. Having all four fingers on the levers would be ideal, three fingers would be tolerable. Two fingers is sufficient to do the job, but not acceptable. I'm adapting to this bike must faster than I expected.

Now the bike and the car are in the garage. The car is still pissed at being put out yesterday, but a nice bath and wax job will make it happy.

Ken at Cal BMW bent the shift and brake levers just a bit. I can now get three fingers on the levers reliably, my little finger actually touches the levers but doesn't participate in the squeeze on a regular basis. Ken and Carolyn showed me how to use the service stand. A normal sized person can put their left hand on the left grip, and their right hand on the rear seat rack, and step on the lever that shifts the center of the bike onto the stand. Being a small person, I can't reach the the rear seat rack. Learning to do this by myself will be another evening in my own garage.

Went for a short ride on around Foothill College. I had planned on stopping at the bamboo garden but I was in a groove with the bike, and kept going. Found myself on Elena, a long twisty residential street that winds around Los Altos Hills. It was windy enough that stuff was getting into my helmet, past my sunglasses, and into my eyes. I wear hard contacts, dust in the eyes is not good. I guess I should look for a pair of wraparound sunglasses. I don't like the looks of them on other people, but function may override style.

Speaking of function, Carolyn had me try on the new "Airflow" jacket and pants. BMW has gear sized for women. That sound you just heard was a flock of birds with dollar signs in their beaks flying out the window. The black leather may look good, and it is good protection, but when you stop moving, it is hot. Vented cordura is clearly the way to go. The jacket fits okay - Helimot has a better back protector. The pants fit pretty well (darn well) without the hip protection which used to be moldable dense foam, but now it is more like a plastic. I'm sure some materials engineer saw the foam, and thought "we can do better than that" and came back with these stiff inserts. No one made the engineer try on the pants with the inserts, or, the engineer was so skinny that s/he didn't feel the inserts cutting into their flesh. Carolyn's recommendation was to try on one size larger. Too practical - it might work and then I'd have to buy them. I'm going to hold out as long as I can.

Monday and Tuesday, with my heart in my mouth I have ridden the bike from home to work on 101 with the quick jog over to 92, the beginning of the San Mateo bridge. The first time I could taste metal, the second time I did not, so I guess I'm acclimating. I won't ride the rest of the week because I need to go to Berkeley and I'm not ready to ride 880 yet, and Friday, well, in general by Friday I'm way too tired to be on the bike.

Being able to pick a line and ride it gives me a great sense of accomplishment. This doesn't happen every time, but when it does, what a great feeling. On the freeway, I watch the squids and the big cruisers go roaring by in the car pool lane. I've ridden in the car pool lane in the morning when all the other lanes are at a stand still, but I get out of the "fast" lane as soon as traffic starts moving again. The combination of wind impact on my body and extreme discomfort traveling at 70 mph surrounded by other metal-encased moving objects will keep me out of the car pool lane for quite a while. Nevertheless, riding this bike is a joy. I love hearing its growlly purr, I love the balance, the steering, the suspension, and I love the way people look at the bike. The most common sentiment is "weird, but good weird."

Congratulations to Emily, the proud new owner of the Suzuki. I will take care of it for the next couple weeks while Emily makes a place for the bike in her garage. Her friend Michael test rode the bike for her, and provided moral support even though he was supposed to be elsewhere for a Fathers Day celebration. Emily, who is a few years older than me, has the "gotta learn to ride" bug really bad, a condition I know so well. Michael summed up the purchase perfectly, "You have just taken the correct first step, you have bought a bike that fits you."

* * *

I was running late this morning, I was supposed to meet a fellow at work who is interested in my impressions of the CS. I'm thinking about how I ought to leave myself more time when I notice that the fuel light is lit. I could push my luck but that is something I don't often do, I pull into to a gas station. I'm used to the Suzuki's basic gas tank - you watch the gas go in and when the gas is a couple inches from the top of the tank, you stop pumping. The CS's tank tells the hose to shut off when it is full. But did I believe it? No. Gasoline all over me and the bike. I will believe it in the future. It must be in my genes that I learn most everything the hard way.

On the freeway, watching traffic, a motorcyclist pulls up next to me on the right, gives me the "thumbs up" sign, and pulls away to exit the freeway. Must be for the bike. I agree.

When I left work today, a couple of guys walked by just as I was starting up the bike. I got another "thumbs up" sign. No doubt about it, that one was for "girl riding a motorcycle". I couldn't help myself, I smiled.

This morning was actually cold enough to try out the heated grips. Yes, heated grips. Standard equipment. Wonderful.

It is damn windy in Foster City, windy enough that today I chose to ride north a bit and then get on the freeway. Normally I get on the 92 bridge onramp, but the onramp is elevated, and even more windy. A week ago I got blown from one side of my lane to the other, not a good feeling. I am getting used to the wind impact on my chest, but gusting is another story.

Taking the 3rd street onramp to 101 south I got my first taste of a decreasing radius turn, quite unexpected. I don't know how, but I managed not to grab a handful of brake. I think I grabbed a handful of clutch instead. My stomach and shoulders seized as I realized I was quite close to dumping the bike.Once I was headed straight south, I rolled my shoulders back several times to shake out the tension.

Karolyn has asked me to remember this time when 65 - 70 mph seems like a safety barrier I don't want to cross. By the end of the year, I can imagine that I'll feel comfortable going faster, but I suspect this will be a creeping inflation. When I start out in the morning, it takes a few minutes to acclimate to the traffic, and then I'm in an odd state of being hyper-aware and relaxed.

Today's ride was a real mixed bag. I'm riding with Dennis for the first time, just about ruined his day. Once again, I can't thank Motorcycle Touring Service enough for their professional service.

A few weeks ago, I was riding in Los Altos, and the bike surged. I thought I had done something to cause it, but I didn't know what. This time, I'm in the curved off ramp from 101 to 84 West when the bike surges again, then cuts out. There's enough momemtum left to start the engine without getting off the bike. Surging going into a curve is not good.

Halfway through Redwood City, the bike cuts out again and dies. I walk it to the nearest gas station and let it cool down. I can't get the bike started, neither can Dennis. I call Bart, he can't help either. The bike cranks, but won't engage. Okay, fine, MTS to the rescue. My poor bike will spend the weekend in the CalBMW parking lot.

The day is not lost, just delayed by a couple hours. I hop on the back of Dennis's bike and we ride to Alice's, have lunch in the redwoods and the sun, then continue to the beach and Half Moon Bay. Although I would have liked to have been on my own bike, there is an advantage to riding this new route with Dennis - I can l preview the route and listen to his engine. The ride to Alice's and to the beach is a great way to spend the day. Next time, I want to ride it on my own bike.

Over the next few days CalBMW' service staff will spend hours tearing their hair trying to figure out what the problem is. The only good thing about the situation is that the bike's failure profile is consistent; diagnosing an intermittent failure is really the pits. We were all hoping that there was something funky with the fuel delivery system, but no such luck. They tried swapping out the controller of the demo CS with mine, but that doesn't work either. The next step is to talk with the distributor, and maybe put a new wiring harness on it. The other bit of good news is the bike is still under warranty.

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