A few lessons learned from my first 6 weeks or so on a motorcycle:
- 60 mph on a motorcycle feels _so_ much faster on a bike than in a car.
- Bumps in the road have a bigger impact on a motorcycle.
- A windshield is an amazing thing, in terms of changing your driving experience. My motorcycle doesn’t have one, and it can feel like I’m going to be blown off my bike.
- Turn signals don’t automatically turn off on my motorcycle. I have to explicitly check to make sure I’m not THAT annoying driver.
- 35 degrees (temperature this morning) is remarkably cold when driving 60 mph.
- Motorcycles don’t have glove boxes or other such handy places for leaving things at your vehicle.
- That rock that might put a ding in your windshield leaves a pretty nice contusion when it hits your unprotected shin instead.
- There are no windshield wipers on motorcycle helmets.
- Similarly, no defoggers on motorcycle helmets
- Or glare shields.
Biggest lesson: still a whole lotta fun. I’m not looking forward to tucking it mostly away for the winter. Thinking maybe I’ll try doing some skills practicing at the local high school over the winter – low speed controlled turn maneuvers and such…. I’m also looking forward to kitting it out with some sort of carrying bag and doing an overall general tuneup and chrome detailing.