Thursday, August 28, 2008

Things I know/danger zone

I know that motorcycles are generally not a great idea. They are dangerous, impractical, vulnerable to weather and for me, almost useless for any kind of vehicular trip that I might make. I always have some sort of cargo, whether it be shoe samples, parcels to ship, small children or bicycles, I hardly ever go anywhere without taking someone or something somewhere. The problem is that I love them. I love motorcycles. I always have. The truth is that I wanted to race motorcycles--I was into them, but ended up in BMX because it was more practical, much less expensive and less dangerous. Obviously, BMX is my lifesblood and has been for most of my life at this point and I wouldn't trade that for anything, but I've always had that motorcycle thing in my head. I've had my old Honda since 1994. Some of you know that I rode it to California and back, by myself, days after my dad helped me get it running. I rode it quite a bit in the years following, but it has not been on the road for about ten years now. If you check this site frequently, you know I'm always messing with this bike. Last week I decided to put some effort into making it street legal. Front brakes, a horn, working lights, turn-signals and a mirror are all things it didn't have but now does. Kind of. I still have some lighting issues but I'm pretty happy with myself for figuring out how to do a lot of this stuff on my own with just a Clymer manual and a lot of fucking around. I'm constantly thinking of ways to make this bike cleaner looking or better running. It's still far from being legal and it's really, really loud (even after the new baffled exhaust I made), but I had to take a little trip on it. I was hoping that riding it down to the skatepark would confirm that it's not that great. I was hoping that maybe now, after not really riding on the road for a long time, that I would feel differently. That maybe now I would just be over it. It's not as fun as I remember. Wrong. Sorry Mom, sorry Gail. I love it. It had just the opposite effect. It made me want to ride even more. Dammit.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

damn dude, you sound like me. i just bought a honda ruckus and im already looking for a bigger bike

BCM said...

"Revvin' up your engine
Listen to her howlin' roar
Metal under tension
Beggin' you to touch and go

Highway to the Danger Zone
Ride into the Danger Zone

Headin' into twilight
Spreadin' out her wings tonight
She got you jumpin' off the track
And shovin' into overdrive

Highway to the Danger Zone
I'll take you
Right into the Danger Zone

You'll never say hello to you
Until you get it on the red line overload
You'll never know what you can do
Until you get it up as high as you can go

Out along the edges
Always where I burn to be
The further on the edge
The hotter the intensity

Highway to the Danger Zone
Gonna take you
Right into the Danger Zone

Highway to the Danger Zone"