My first 1200 miles: the story

Good evening everyone and welcome to a new issue of the motorcycling saga I have started this summer :-)

 

As 2009 is almost over now and over the past few months I have experienced many facets of motorcycling, both good and bad, I though I would share them all with you such that anyone reading this may get the wisdom and information they may crave regarding the subject at hand.

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I'll start with some dry statistics first: I have been a licensed motorcyclist for the past three months and one week. In that amount of time I have ridden my motorcycle for almost 1200 miles (~1900 km) around the country and around my city of residence. I have found out it makes about 55 MPG (~4 l/100 km) when riding cross-country (moderate front wind or strong lateral wind, 60 mph (100 km/h) cruise speed) and about 30 MPG (~8 l/100 km) when riding in the city (cold starts, using only the first three gears and a top speed of 30 mph (50 km/h)).

Overall, the blue-and-white Yamaha Virago XV535 I proudly own and ride handles very well, both at speed and while negotiating tight turns in the parking lot. Power control is also very smooth and pleasant, with enough kick available for screaming take offs if need be (stray dogs in the road is a very good example of a circumstance mandating such a maneuver).

Vibrations and noise are both within reasonable limits, at least up to 115 km/h (as tested). Driving in both warm and cold weather is comfortable and, finally, even if the XV535 is regarded as the junior in the Chopper/Cruiser genre, it still makes you feel good because you are riding a chrome beast puffing around in the neighborhood at midnight :-)

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Moving on, the equipment stood up to my expectations, despite the bad critique received from the audience. The jacket and pants do not let any (and I mean absolutely any) wind go through them which makes things very comfortable, even for long distances. I had a couple opportunities to test their waterproofing and it proved to be exemplar: not a single drop of rain reached me even though I had been riding through light rain for the past hour. Finally, it is easy to add extra layers of insulating clothing underneath it to make it warmer in colder days.

Speaking of cold days, stubborn as I am, I kept riding my motorcycle way up into mid December until it started snowing -- I had no trouble whatsoever starting her up in the cold mornings (it would seem Yuasa makes good batteries ;) ), getting her warm and then riding the ~2 mile distance to work. Its air-cooled engine is a pleasure to straddle in a chilly morning as it gets hot very quickly and keeps your knees and legs warm, despite the weather (I even remember one rainy morning when I actually managed to keep myself dry on the inside of my legs, while the rain only got a bite on me on the outside).

Moving on to the helmet, it stood up to its reputation: no problems with it whatsoever, even if it was probably the cheapest thing I could get at that time -- it is the only piece of equipment I plan to change for the next season and that solely because of its looks and flaky mechanics (it's a flip-up design with integrated sun screen).

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I made a couple of longer trips this fall, one to the Chopper Academy (Calaraşi Chapter) 2009 meeting and the other to the city of Tulcea -- the motorcycle proved comfortable and a smooth ride in both, combining more power than I could handle (read: ample headroom) with a steady and calm ride: so much so that I could safely admire the landscape while riding, even on rough ground.

If I were to change anything on my Virago in an attempt to make it better for long rides, I would either choose to always wear a large backpack or replace/modify the saddle to something resembling the one on the Kawasaki EN500 -- a backrest is a blessing after some ~200 miles of non-stop riding.

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Unfortunately, winter came over and forced me to stop riding until it had passed ... leaving me alone with the craving for another day in the saddle, riding a country road somewhere in the middle of a green field.

It has also left me with enough time to make plans for the next season :-) So, for the spring (read: as soon as the roads become usable again), I'm planning to have the following done on my motorcycle:

• basic technical check (the compulsory one is scheduled for May, so it's a good idea to prepare in advance ;-) ) -- that means an oil change (filter included), brake liquid change and bleeding, carb synching and valve freeplay adjustment; if need be, cable oiling and adjustment will be added
  
• extended technical check (depending on my mechanic's recommendations) -- that would mean a fork oil change, final gear oil change and the greasing/repacking of various bearings
  
• tire change (they are both worn out: the back one probably beyond the safety limit and the front one probably just touching the "accident waiting to happen" limit)
• helmet change -- either a ProBiker KX4 (metallic blue) or a Shark Evoline
• turn signal auto-canceling circuit fix -- it presently does not work, I'm suspecting the reed switch in the odometer is broken or there is a faulty contact somewhere along the wires
  
• front light change -- either switch to the original optical design of the twin lights (one for the dipped beam and the other for the high beam) or replace it altogether with a single headlamp (following the original Virago design). Finding a second hand headlamp from an European Virago would help a lot here (hint! hint!)
• front light enhancement (budget permitting) -- install a headlight bar with two identical lamps (on the outside), the right one configured as a second dipped beam for foggy conditions, sporting a selective yellow lamp (yes, I'll have to find a way to get yellow out of an H7 -- stay tuned :D ) while the left one will be configured as a second high beam for pitch dark conditions (or special ops/patrol/escort missions), fitted with either a high-efficiency, cold-white H4 or with a fancy D4R HID lamp. Of course, this will pull in a new switch and extra wiring.
  
• cockpit instrumentation enhancement (budget permitting) -- add a real time clock, an air temperature gauge, a voltmeter and an oil temperature gauge
• power consumption enhancement (budget permitting) -- replace all four blinker bulbs and the two tail/brake light bulbs with LED counterparts. I only want to replace the bulb, not the entire lighting enclosure as I want to conserve the looks and only improve the engineering behind ;-) Of course, this may require some fiddling with the original Virago blinker relay should it throw a fit when it'll feel some 90% of its load vanished :D
  

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Finally, coming back to philosophy (i.e. regarding motorcycling as a way of life), David L. Hough was right in every word he wrote in his books. I had the chance to test that first hand in a couple of nice and ... not so nice situations, the latter of which brought about the wreckage of my windshield and original Virago headlamp :( and the former of which taught me the importance of keeping it rubber-side down :)

I'll be back soon with more stories, I just can't wait for the snow to melt and to be in the saddle again :-)

Good night,
@Dexter