I hadn't been near a bike in 8 years......Intro Post

[dragonsfyr]

Hi My Name is Dragonsfyr and I am a motorcycle/wheelin' addict

Here is the back story to the title of this intro post. I learned to ride on a 1981 Kawasaki 440LDT that was too tall, and had really messed up forks, this had been the only bike I had ever ridden (Other than a friends Suzuki Madura that he let me try out and it was a bit tall for me). I was told that if I could ride that bike (the Kawi) I could ride anything. I sold that bike almost 6 years ago after I had to park it for over 2 years. I hadn't even thought about riding in quite a while [I was busy building my wheelin' rig (1989 Jeep Cherokee with a 4 1/2 inch lift, 31" tires, Y-links, and a messed up front end {can we say "Bump-Steer?"})]. Keman (my mate) bought a 1980 Suzuki GS850G in July and started restoring it. I became jealous and wanted one too (not to restore but to ride). The Suzuki is too tall for me. Keman and I went to RMC (a dealer in Renton, WA) on October 8, 2011, we were going to look and see if he could find some decently priced leather/jacket that has armor (HE says I can't ride his bike because it is too tall for me and I REFUSE to ride "*itch"). I always look at the bikes. Long story......one of the salespeople (Luke) found me wandering about sitting on bikes looking "meuwpy" (this is a word we use to describe the look we get from our dogs when they want something) because it is really difficult for me to find a bike that I can sit on without major lowering/other mods and that I don't feel like a hippo on a tricycle. I weigh a bit more then the "average" female american. Luke (sales dude) says "we just got this Honda in on trade" (I'm a Suzuki Gal), I said "I don't like Honda's", he said try it ......... It took about a half hour to find the darn thing........."Love at first straddle?"...My feet hit the ground flat in tennis shoes (this is unheard of for me) and the previous owner had changed the seat to a Mustang single (no p-pad and real cushy)......So on 10/12/2011 I rode my new-to-me 2007 Honda Shadow Spirit VT750 home on teh freeway in "rush hour traffic and had a heck of a time keeping it under 70....the bike just wanted to go (about 20 miles or so) after not even touching a running motorcycle in over 8 years.

I love my bike (I still want a Suzuki Intruder 1400 though)

I have a question.....My bike has no center stand (yes we just discovered this today) is this normal? The owners manual says to check the oil I need to put it on the center stand..........I held it up and he checked the oil for me.

[Canyon]

Welcome... and yeah you're not going t want a Zuki after you ride that Honda

[broughy84]

Welcome.

Negatory on the center stand there partner, these bikes don't have em. I just straddle mine and stand it up and check the oil.

[Jay Tee]

Yep, for us women riders one of the great thing about almost any bike in the Honda cruiser line is built to sit "in" rather than on... low seat heights allowing you to flat foot it at stops. That's a real confidence builder.

I don't know where you live, but if they offer a rider course it might be a really good refresher for you. At a minimum, have someone show you how to properly pick the bike up. It's a stubborn pride thing for me, I guess, but I pride myself on being able to pick up my bike (a VTX 1300) without help.

Great that your bike already has an upgraded seat. That's an expensive, but pretty necessary, improvement. What else had the previous owner done? Engine guards/highway bars? Saddle bags? Windshield? Those are the three biggies in my book.

[dragonsfyr]

The only mod we can find is that seat. Oh yeah he told the salesman that the bike had NEVER been dropped (He Lied). There is evidence the bike has at least laid down on it's side once while moving. But I like her and we just came back from a nice ride while it was sunny. I live in western Washington out south of Seattle. We have fun curvy roads and some nice places to go and just ride. I keep trying to get Keman to go on "the big loop" (I call it that because it takes about 2 hours to do) and he keeps saying I would get too cold (he's a wuss). He won't ride in the rain, I will ride in anything but snow and ice (if I had cold weather gear I might ride when it's snowy but not snowing). If it is not raining tomorrow I'm going for a longer ride.

[dragonsfyr]

Keman and I will be taking an intermediate (this is the one between beginner and advanced in our area) riding course before the end of December.

[-AJ]

welcome

[Eldorado]

Welcome and glad to hear you found a nice fitting ride, you know the old saying "You meet the nicest people on a Honda"...............

[dragonsfyr]

Pics will be up in the next few days.. It's FINALS week and I have some finals to take. Riding is going to get me through........