Testing, Testing

Last Thursday I took myself down to the DMV and got my M1 (motorcycle) license. Because I had already taken and passed the rider safety course, this involved handing over $28, taking an eye test, getting my photo taken, taking an abbreviated form of the standard (class c) written test and a separate written test focusing on motorcycle riding. I wish they had let me keep a copy of the motorcycle test so I could share more precisely, because some of the questions were quite bizarre. For example, one question asked about the penalty for speeding away when instructed to pull over by a police officer and killing a pedestrian during the chase scene.

The next step is actually getting a motorcycle and getting some riding experience -- initially in parking lots and low traffic areas like the Presidio -- so I can answer people's questions about where/when/how I'm planning to ride it. My hope is that I will eventually feel confident enough to ride it to work one or two days a week -- taking the long way (highway 1 along Ocean Beach, through the forest along skyline and back to civilization down Page Mill road). Another goal would be to cross the Golden Gate Bridge, where the speed limit is a sensible 45 mph, for drives to Pt. Reyes.

I found a wonderful site for beginning riders and after researching bike reviews on that and other sites I find that I am leaning (note how biking lingo is creeping into my everday speech) toward the bikes in the Dual Purpose category. I made a list of the leading contenders -- Suzuki DR200SE, Kawasaki 250SF, Yamaha TW200 and Honda CRF 230 -- and highlighted phrases that appealed to me, like "pretty forgiving, don't worry about dropping this motorcycle, nearly indestructible, perfect for a new rider, phenomenal gas mileage." Then Adrienne and I went to Golden Gate Cycles to see the bikes in person. Unlike racing bikes that force you to bend over to reach the handlebars or cruiser bikes that encourage a laid back posture, the Dual Purpose bikes, which the sales guy described as "motards," encourage what I would describe as an athletic/alert posture. I was surprised and happy to find that I could reach the ground comfortably on all the models, even the Kawasaki, which listed a seat height of 34.8".

It is hard not to take color into account when choosing a bike. The best looking bike (to me) was the Suzuki (see below) . This one had a sleek black color. The colorful bikes are more visible and therefore likely to be safer. There is a flourescent color known as "Kawasaki green" that is hard to miss. The Honda was red and the Yamaha was blue -- the best match for the helmet I bought for the safety class -- but otherwise not as stylish because of fatter tires (need to research pros and cons of that).

As much as I love the sales experience at Golden Gate Cycles -- after a few minutes in the shop Adrienne was talking about getting a scooter for herself -- I would like to find a used bike on Craigslist. Leading contenders are the Suzuki (most comfortable) and Kawasaki (most exciting and clearly the sales guy's favorite). Shopping saga to be continued...