A Better Look

New Bike

I picked up my bike today.
It was a great ride. 80km total from shop to door. Cliff was with me the whole way, making sure that no cages (cars) rammed me from behind or did anything else ridiculous.

The sun set before I thought to get any pictures. But as I'm taking the bike out tomorrow, I'll snap a few before departure.

Oh, and you should hear the thing. It's awesome!

Dum dee dum

Not much going on today. Showed up to school and didn't have a single class. The second grade JHS kids (from all three schools) are taking part in the "Career Challenge" this week. It's a program that gives each of the kids a chance to work for a local company, with assignments varying greatly from office work at the local bank branch, a presumably more involved placement at the zoo in Nago, to a few of the girls spending at week at A&W, a fast food joint that serves "American food."

Since I had only one responsibility today, I took care of that around 9:30 this morning - it involved turning in a request form to my boss for certain seminars that will be taking place at this year's Okinawa JET midyear conference. I also stopped by the town office to get the paperwork that I need to register my motorcycle. I sent that off to the dealership and they should receive it tomorrow. This means they'll be able to complete the registration and inspection work by Friday, and come Saturday, all I have to do is show up and pay.

Well, then I have to drive the bike 77km back to my place. My buddy Cliff is going to pick me up and take me to the shop, then we're going to caravan back. It'll be nice to have him driving with me, for the moral support and knowing that the guy behind me isn't just some random jackass probably not paying attention. If there's one thing I've learned from all the bike classes I took, it's that people do not give enough attention to the task of driving. And sadly, that does nobody any good.

I Found It

Ok, maybe I should say "we found it." My bike-to-be that is.

I went out this Saturday with my good friend Ollie, the one who's taking (and proceeding well through) motorcycle courses down on the south-side of Okinawa. We had been talking about this day for a while and it only took a few phone calls and such to agree on the day.

We met up at our first shop around 11:00. Also in company was an ALT named Chris, who has ridden bikes for around 10 years. Not only that, but his hobby is auto mechanics, as in, he'll do work on someone's car simply for the experience...no cost. Having him along was invaluable.

So our first stop, a place in Naha, was very helpful and very uninteresting. Three of the four bikes from that shop I was interested in had been sold (so much for "updated" internet listings). The fourth bike wasn't even street worthy and wouldn't be until I bought it. So much for test rides. Given that the bike was in pretty poor condition according to Chris (this was the helpful part - he pointed out all the problems), we moved on.

Second shop of the day, a place called Goya Motors. Ollie said it had to be good, because the location I had on my phone matched up with an "x" on his atlas. Much like finding treasure, right? It turns out to be true.

The bike I had on my list, a Yamaha SRX 400, was sitting pretty when we got there. We gave it a brief look, talked to one of the employees (whose first question was, "Marines?"), and the owner of the shop came over and fired it up. It's got an aftermarket exhaust and it sounds burly. Chris looked it over and said, "It's good." So I gave it a test ride.

The front shocks are soft (and are in the midst of being reworked). Everything else was solid. Minor adjustments, to things like the clutch lever, headlight, rear-brake lever, and mirrors, are being taken care of. Should the work they're doing on the front fork suspension not completely solve the problem, the shop offered to obtain new forks and install them for around 4man, $400 US, which would still put the total cost within budget.

So I'm going to pick it up next Saturday with the help of Cliff. And after getting it back to Higashi and riding it arond a bit, I'll have a very nimble and light bike on my hands. One I hope to enjoy, won't mourn over if I happen to lean it at a stoplight, and plan to ride every chance I get.

*cough*

Second day off from school, as predicted. The coughing is starting to really kick in and the lozenges aren't doing anything. Think about it. The coughing comes from the bronchial tube, not the esophagus. How is eating a piece of candy going to help me stop coughing? Whatever. I'm taking it easy again, hoping to get some study in, too.