First Bike

This year I finally accomplished one thing on my to-do list. Get a motorcycle-license!! I was in the city of angels with all the Hollywood stars. One of the perks of working as a contractor at a client-site is that weekends are free. I signed up for a weekend crash-course at Motorcycle Safety Foundation, where many of the intructors are ex-cops. (http://www.msf-usa.org/)

Friday evening classroom session. Yawn!! Saturday morning road practise and I got a Suzuki 250cc. Wooo-hooo!! I never realised that a bike could be this heavy. I was used to 100cc or 125cc bikes in Bombay and those bikes do not over-welhm you. My Dad's first bike was a 250cc Jawa and it looked like a huge heavy machinery. But I did well and started liking the bike. Saturday evening another classroom session. Zzzzz.. Sunday morning last road practise session before the driving test in the afternoon. Guess what happened? I got a different bike and it was a honda 250cc. It had the same power but totally different sitting and gear position. I was comfortable with Suzuki and was confident about the test. But there I was sweating and trying to adjust to the new bike in a hurry. Didn't have much time to complain. The time of reckoning had arrived and despite all the struggle I did quite well. The exam inspector was quite impressed and I got my license finally. Phew!!

A few months later I was packing up and moving from Los Angles to San Jose in a u-haul with my car on a trailer being towed behind. After settling down in my new apartment I started my research for my first bike. Everywhere I looked one name came out, NINJA 250cc. A couple of phone calls later I went to look at a black beauty. The owner gave me the keys for a test ride. I was sooo excited that I missed the right turn and ended up in a residential area trying to make a three point u-turn. Hey, I was just trying to be careful. The bike wasn't mine then.

Next morning I was a proud owner of a no-decal all black fairing Kawasaki Ninja 250cc.
Here is my new girl-friend!!