Holy cow, my very own motorcycle!

I had a long day at work and then went out for dinner with some folks from work. Chad had told me not to be too late, because he had a surprise for me, but he wouldn't even give me a hint what it might be. "Just call when you turn onto our street coming home," he said, "so I can be sure everything's ready when you get here."

Obligingly, I managed to find my cell phone in the dark while waiting at the traffic light, and call just as I turned. Chad met me out in front of the house, smiling. "Your surprise is in the living room," he told me. "Are you ready?" I said I was, and he opened the door. There in the living room it was. I couldn't believe it. I'm not sure I can remember ever being quite so surprised as I was to see a motorcycle in the living room!

The front wheels still lacks shine

I'll admit it, okay? I giggled. I was completely giggly. Chad walked me around the bike, telling me all about it. He had obviously had this up his sleeve for a while. Over the Thanksgiving weekend and whatnot, we had all gone out to motorcycle dealerships and I had sat on dozens of bikes to see what seemed like it was comfortable. I'd rejected a whole lot of bikes, of various kinds, and Chad had rejected some of the ones I thought were okay. But the whole time, I'd been viewing the exercise as something much more abstract than he had. Maybe next spring I'd think seriously about getting a bike, I figured. I've only had my new car for three months. I don't need a motorcycle.

Chad had picked out the exact bike. He'd been to see a dealer who had a newer used one in stock, but felt that they wanted too much for it. So he knew this one was due in as a trade-in, and he was waiting for it to come in and be checked out. I had no idea. But apparently, it had come in the day before and passed its checkout, and Chad knew he was going to bring it home. Of course, that wasn't so easy to do given that he had Edward duty! Thankfully, Michelle helped with the boy-wrangling and shuttling, and Chad rode the bike home and got it into the living room with plenty of time to spare before I returned.

Dig the fat rear tire!

Out with the specs, already!

• Length: 2310mm (91 in.)
• Width: 760mm (30 in.)
• Height: 1125mm (44 in.)
• Wheelbase: 1605mm (63 in.)
• Ground Clearance: 140mm (5.5 in.)
• Engine Displacement: 583cm³ (35.6 in³)
• Bore and Stroke: 75.0 x 66.0mm (2.95 x 2.6 in.)
• Compression Ratio: 9:2:1
• Transmission: 4-speed
• Front Tire: 100/90-19 57S
• Rear Tire: 170/80-15 77S

Most of the differences between this older VLX and newer ones appear to be largely cosmetic: on mine, the frame is painted the same color as the bike, whereas on the newer ones, the frame is matte black. The side covers are different, and so is the rear bumper. And the newer VLX Deluxes feature a lot more chrome.

Hi, I'm the rank newbie!

I have learned there is at least one thing on which every single person who rides seems to agree one hundred percent. And that is: "Take the MSF course!"

Alas, the next one is not for a couple of months. So in the meantime, I am receiving instruction in the basics from Chad, who's drilling me in the nearby school parking lot on weekends when the weather permits.

And, I am keeping something of a journal of my experiences learning to ride. Thrills! Spills! Pictures! Something for me to look back on down the road and remember this time. Here it is if you're interested.

Back to the top

My dad tells a story about one time when I was two or three years old, and I was hanging around outside with him while he worked on the old pickup truck. He says he remembers me picking up a wrench and menacing a bumper with it while muttering under my breath. "Hey," he says, "I figured you had the basics down then and there."

For a chick like me, it's absolutely unthinkable that I not learn to turn a wrench on my own bike. Once upon a time, I'll admit it, I thought that working on my own vehicle was somehow out of my reach. That changed for me the day Chad handed me a new air filter for my car, and said, "Hey, you're a computer geek. If you have to swap out a card in a computer you've never worked on before, how do you do it?"

"Well," I said, "Worst case, I take the new part, look where the thing kinda like it is, pull the old one, put in the new one."

"Same thing," he said. "Now, where do you think that air filter goes?"

All the same, any specific thing you're going to have at with tools does have its uniquenesses and idiosyncracies. So, much like the learning to ride journal, here is my page about getting dirt under my fingernails while cussing at my bike.

10 February 2001

Well, the VLX was a sweetheart of a bike and I can't help getting maudlin for her a bit, but to quote Chad, I have callously thrown the VLX over for a new bike.