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Hello all.
This is going to be long, and a lot of people may consider it pointless. Consider yourself warned.
There are a number of things I've been wanting to post about, and since I can't really find a decent subject for each of them and make them individual posts, I've decided to post one long one to cover all my bases.
I first got on a motorcycle at the age of 4 years, a Suzuki JR50. A year later, my dad saw fit to move me up to the RM50 and I started racing at the local moto-x track.
I raced the RM50, moved up to the RM80, and raced/stunted/trail rode until I was 12, when we moved to a rural area with no moto-x venue. Somewhere about that time frame, my mom decided that the bikes were too dangerous, and my bike as well as my dad's got sold.
In high school, I had several friends who had motorcycles (street bikes) and I rode them quite a bit. One friend had a 1985 V30 Magna (500CC) that I fell in love with. I think it was my moto-x riding and the love affair with the 500CC Magna that gave me my fondness of small displacement bikes.
When I graduated high school, I joined the U.S. Air Force, and as soon as I arrived at my first permanent duty station, I went down to the local Suzuki dealership and purchased myself a beater bike. A used but low miles (2000 miles) GS500E. I have to say that in terms of straight line performance, the GS500 didn't hold a candle to the 500CC Magna. But I liked the way it rode, the way it handled, and I found I was far more comfortable in a sportbike-ish riding posture. I say sportbike-ish because the GS500E is as close to a standard as one could get in 1990, it just had looks that were reminiscent of sport bikes. What it wasn't was a leaned-back, arms out like some sort of monkey god, cruiser. And I liked it.
(On a side note, the GS500 still has my vote for the ultimate learner's bike for anyone not interested in being squidly: it's decently powerful, fairly low maintenance (shim/bucket in line twin), and before Suzuki saw fit to glue on what I consider to be a mistmatched fairing, it had great looks and style; it handles like a dream and it's comfortable enough for all day riding, with phenomenal gas mileage. But I digress, if such a thing is possible in this post.)
(Oh, one other thing about the GS500. I new it was time for a new chain, and I decided to perform an experiment. I had heard all my life that the chain shouldn't be adjusted too tight. Well, I wanted to see what would happen. So, I clamped her down. Virtually no play at all left when I was done. I mean tight like a guitar string. Then I went for a ride. To my surprise, it felt like someone had pulled a spark plug out of my bike. The effect on the performance of the bike was incredible. After I rode a bit, the effect seemed to decrease and I had some power back. Then I parked it after about a two hour ride and checked my chain. It was as loose as it had been when I went to tighten it earlier that day. I checked and my chain adjusters were right where I had left them. It just stretched it that much, that quickly. I can't say if it would have done the same thing with a new chain, but from that point on, I knew I didn't want to try that experiment on a new chain/sprocket set. Long story short, DON'T over-tighten your chain.)
Anyway, let's try and get this thing wrapped up, shall we?
This spring, 2006, I decided that it was time to get back on a bike. Now, when I had my GS500, I had a riding partner who had a 1991 Katana 600. I rode that Katana a few times, and really, really liked it. So I started researching the Katana, since I knew that whatever I bought had to be a Suzuki, and I didn't figure I was really the GSX-R 600 type. Well, when I read the post here that Suzuki was discontinuing the Katana, that made up my mind. Had to grab one while I could. So I bought my 2006 Katana 600. MAN do I love this bike. It took me a while to work out certain comfort related things, but now that I have, I can cruise all day with little to no discomfort. Longest so far was 9 hours in the saddle with about a five minute break every hour or so. I've read some posts here that gave differnt straight line performance specs that I'm about to give, so I think that maybe I got a good one? (It has long been my theory that in any assembly-line vehicle, once in a while all the right parts/tolerances get put together and some are faster than others.) Anyway, I posted an 11.1 @ 113. My top speed is an indicated 142. (142ish, I suppose, it's about where I figure 142 would be if it was graduated in 1mph increments, anyway, it's just past 140.)
I love motorcycles, I love Suzuki, and I love my Katana.
If you've read this far, I appologize for the pointless post and ask your forgiveness. I also extends my thanks for sticking it out to the end. Just had some things I needed to air, to some people (fellow bikers) who might understand where I'm coming from.
Thanks, and stay safe out there.
This is going to be long, and a lot of people may consider it pointless. Consider yourself warned.
There are a number of things I've been wanting to post about, and since I can't really find a decent subject for each of them and make them individual posts, I've decided to post one long one to cover all my bases.
I first got on a motorcycle at the age of 4 years, a Suzuki JR50. A year later, my dad saw fit to move me up to the RM50 and I started racing at the local moto-x track.
I raced the RM50, moved up to the RM80, and raced/stunted/trail rode until I was 12, when we moved to a rural area with no moto-x venue. Somewhere about that time frame, my mom decided that the bikes were too dangerous, and my bike as well as my dad's got sold.
In high school, I had several friends who had motorcycles (street bikes) and I rode them quite a bit. One friend had a 1985 V30 Magna (500CC) that I fell in love with. I think it was my moto-x riding and the love affair with the 500CC Magna that gave me my fondness of small displacement bikes.
When I graduated high school, I joined the U.S. Air Force, and as soon as I arrived at my first permanent duty station, I went down to the local Suzuki dealership and purchased myself a beater bike. A used but low miles (2000 miles) GS500E. I have to say that in terms of straight line performance, the GS500 didn't hold a candle to the 500CC Magna. But I liked the way it rode, the way it handled, and I found I was far more comfortable in a sportbike-ish riding posture. I say sportbike-ish because the GS500E is as close to a standard as one could get in 1990, it just had looks that were reminiscent of sport bikes. What it wasn't was a leaned-back, arms out like some sort of monkey god, cruiser. And I liked it.
(On a side note, the GS500 still has my vote for the ultimate learner's bike for anyone not interested in being squidly: it's decently powerful, fairly low maintenance (shim/bucket in line twin), and before Suzuki saw fit to glue on what I consider to be a mistmatched fairing, it had great looks and style; it handles like a dream and it's comfortable enough for all day riding, with phenomenal gas mileage. But I digress, if such a thing is possible in this post.)
(Oh, one other thing about the GS500. I new it was time for a new chain, and I decided to perform an experiment. I had heard all my life that the chain shouldn't be adjusted too tight. Well, I wanted to see what would happen. So, I clamped her down. Virtually no play at all left when I was done. I mean tight like a guitar string. Then I went for a ride. To my surprise, it felt like someone had pulled a spark plug out of my bike. The effect on the performance of the bike was incredible. After I rode a bit, the effect seemed to decrease and I had some power back. Then I parked it after about a two hour ride and checked my chain. It was as loose as it had been when I went to tighten it earlier that day. I checked and my chain adjusters were right where I had left them. It just stretched it that much, that quickly. I can't say if it would have done the same thing with a new chain, but from that point on, I knew I didn't want to try that experiment on a new chain/sprocket set. Long story short, DON'T over-tighten your chain.)
Anyway, let's try and get this thing wrapped up, shall we?
This spring, 2006, I decided that it was time to get back on a bike. Now, when I had my GS500, I had a riding partner who had a 1991 Katana 600. I rode that Katana a few times, and really, really liked it. So I started researching the Katana, since I knew that whatever I bought had to be a Suzuki, and I didn't figure I was really the GSX-R 600 type. Well, when I read the post here that Suzuki was discontinuing the Katana, that made up my mind. Had to grab one while I could. So I bought my 2006 Katana 600. MAN do I love this bike. It took me a while to work out certain comfort related things, but now that I have, I can cruise all day with little to no discomfort. Longest so far was 9 hours in the saddle with about a five minute break every hour or so. I've read some posts here that gave differnt straight line performance specs that I'm about to give, so I think that maybe I got a good one? (It has long been my theory that in any assembly-line vehicle, once in a while all the right parts/tolerances get put together and some are faster than others.) Anyway, I posted an 11.1 @ 113. My top speed is an indicated 142. (142ish, I suppose, it's about where I figure 142 would be if it was graduated in 1mph increments, anyway, it's just past 140.)
I love motorcycles, I love Suzuki, and I love my Katana.
If you've read this far, I appologize for the pointless post and ask your forgiveness. I also extends my thanks for sticking it out to the end. Just had some things I needed to air, to some people (fellow bikers) who might understand where I'm coming from.
Thanks, and stay safe out there.
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