Sportbikes
When I was growing up, (I'm done now?) the bad people always told me that I could NEVER have a motorcycle of any kind (while under their roof). I didn't like that, so when I turned 18, and left home for a brief four year stint in the Marines, I bought the first one, which was one of Suzuki's new models for 1992.
Some call it a Suzuki Bandit. I call it slow. Okay, so it looked really cool through my 18 year old eyes, and it was all I could afford at the time due to the fact that the Marine Corps was my first job, and I had absolutely NO credit at the time. Well, the bike wasn't THAT slow. The four cylinder 400cc motor pulled fairly fast to the 14,000 rpm redline. This bandit was the first bike I ever rode a wheelie on.
Sorry I couldn't offer you a picture of me riding a wheelie on the bandit. Ya see, there just wasn't enough skill in my bones, or power in the bike to do those nifty wheelstands. Really, the bike had enough power....I didn't have the skill. Eventually, I had to get a more expensive, faster, cooler bike. The first 600 I rode was my friend's CBR. Damn, it was so much faster than the bandit, so when I was stationed in Hawaii, I traded the lil 400 in for a 1995 Yamaha YZF 600R. As you can see below, my skill level had increased.
Below, lies a very good picture of my bike (sans fairings). The first thing I did to this bike was to get some good rubber underneath. The worn out stockies were just too...um.....worn out. Besides, who likes Bridgestone Battleaxes? The new tires were recommended to me by my friend Andy. He's the owner of Andy's Performance Service, on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Oh yeah, the tires. Dunlop D203s. I put a slightly wider (170mm vs. 160mm stock width) street tire on the back, but wanted something more sticky up front. I got a race compound tire. I only had one problem with these Dunlop tires. Ya see, the second Dunlop front tire I purchased caused a very bad vibration at 125-130 mph. That tire was replaced. I went through three sets of tires in 20,000 miles. As you can see from the picture, I had an aftermarket exhaust system on the YZF. Again, I bought the very lightweight, Vance & Hines carbon fiber pipe from my pal Andy. The headers came with the deal, and since they were so darned shiny, I had to show them off for a while, hence the picture, taken in downtown Waikiki.
Okay, I lied. I did have another problem with the Dunlop tires. They don't perform too well in gravel. As you can see below, skin and concrete don't mix. Pay attention while racing through residential areas...especially if lines of gravel magically appear in your path. Right before this crash, I was following a friend up a windy hill in his old neighborhood. He missed the gravel. I knew the road well, but um...well....you get the picture. This crash happened in December of 1996. Short sleeves?, you ask. It was in Hawaii!! One more word of advice. Don't ride around with nuts and bolts and keys in your pocket. If you crash, it hurts more.
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THIS SITE WAS LAST UPDATED ON December 10, 1999.
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