ed29
Well-known member
Earlier this week I marked one year of street riding after a long layoff. I had ridden a couple of years when I was in my early 20s, but gave it up to preserve life, limbs, and freedom. I was in no uncertain terms a squid. I am sure I would have ended up in a bad wreck, or in jail, so I swore off street riding and went to the track instead. After a couple of seasons of float track racing the bikes got set aside completely to focus on house, kids, etc. Needless to say I missed the bike, so when my boys were old enough dirt bikes filled the garage. We did trails and some MX stuff, not the high paced riding of my youth though.
Fast forward to last March.... I was shopping for a faster machine for my oldest to ride, and I came across an old VFR-750, a 91 model with 50K on the clock. Italian Red! It was a sweet re-introduction to street riding, fast enough to be fun, tame enough to re-learn street techniques. After a few months and 8,000 miles added to the odo I was tired of fixing the beast. Two batteries, two regulators, and a stator in 4 months was too much so it was sold cheap. My little XR-250 replaced it for street duty using a Baja designs conversion kit. Now the FJR has front and center position in the garage.
My riding slowed down over the winter, and I figure my first year back on the streets netted about 17,000 miles. Now that the weather is nice a day does not go by without a ride, I figure to need tires in another month, and probably another rear at least by August. My time spent sliding (and crashing occasionally) on the track along with dirt riding in general ingrained valuable skills that have saved my butt and my FJR's Tupperware a couple of times.
It is good to be back on the streets, I just have to keep my throttle hand iin check, so I don't get tickets galore.
Ooops, I thought maybe I was old enough now ride in a mature manner.... B)
Fast forward to last March.... I was shopping for a faster machine for my oldest to ride, and I came across an old VFR-750, a 91 model with 50K on the clock. Italian Red! It was a sweet re-introduction to street riding, fast enough to be fun, tame enough to re-learn street techniques. After a few months and 8,000 miles added to the odo I was tired of fixing the beast. Two batteries, two regulators, and a stator in 4 months was too much so it was sold cheap. My little XR-250 replaced it for street duty using a Baja designs conversion kit. Now the FJR has front and center position in the garage.
My riding slowed down over the winter, and I figure my first year back on the streets netted about 17,000 miles. Now that the weather is nice a day does not go by without a ride, I figure to need tires in another month, and probably another rear at least by August. My time spent sliding (and crashing occasionally) on the track along with dirt riding in general ingrained valuable skills that have saved my butt and my FJR's Tupperware a couple of times.
It is good to be back on the streets, I just have to keep my throttle hand iin check, so I don't get tickets galore.
Ooops, I thought maybe I was old enough now ride in a mature manner.... B)
