Bought my first motorcycle....holy crap!

[silver_pilate]

I echo Unit's post. WEAR A HELMET at the very least.

I seen plenty of patients come through the clinic from motorcycle accidents. The smart ones were wearing helmets and just need to learn how to walk again or less, but the dumb (and sometimes the just plain unlucky) ones need to learn how to think, talk, and eat again.

Respect that bike and be aware that there are too many idiots out there to let your guard down. And the vast majority of serious accidents I have seen come from just plain stupidity. For instance, I saw a patient who was traveling down a major city street at night at 150mph. A car pulled out in front of him and he was able to slow down to 85 before laying the bike over. The bike missed the car, but he wasn't so lucky. He hit the drivers door, his right leg came up by his ear and he went under the car in a vertical split position. Seperated the halves of his pelvis completely and broke his femur. On top of that, massive internal injuries. He coded 4 times on the way to the hospital and spent a month in ICU. If he wasn't wearing a helmet, he'd be dead. As it is, he'll live a pretty normal life following his long stay in rehab.

Anyway, I'm preachin to the choir here, but don't get on that bike without a helmet. NOT cool.

--nathan

[84LX89GT]

yeah i hear you guys on the safety thing, i have a proper riding jacket, helmet and boots. I'm going to buy some pants soon, but my budget was already completely busted. I ALWAYS wear a helmet on a bike and ALWAYS wear a seat belt in a car....there's absolutely no reason not too.
Hey Unit thanks for the awesome advice (name is Kell right???), anyway yeah a guy at my work races bikes, i let him ride it and he said he wasn't able to go full throttle until 4th gear and he hit 160......jesus, that's way too fast i had no idea he'd go that fast. Luckily nothing bad happened. I'm too scared to try full throttle on the bike....there's no need to, it's WAY too fast anyway at 1/2 to 3/4 throttle.
I love it so far, it's very predictable, sturdy, and handles bumps very well.
It's actually pretty good for cruising because it has so much torque it just cruises along with very little effort, it's comfortable and handles bumps very well. I want to learn more about riding and i have ZERO interest in doing wheelies, burnouts or hauling butt around corners.
The reason i bought it, not only because i thought it was a work of mechanical/visual art was because i want to learn how to drag race it (track only of course)...but that will take time.
I'm going to take a riding course when i get a chance, i feel a bond with this bike and i want to learn how to respect it, ride it and work on it.