From bikes to bikes: part 3
Part 2: the Virago years
How bicycles taught me to love motorcycles: the Ninja years
As much as I loved that Virago, it was already 20 years old when I bought it and trouble soon began to appear on the horizon. The starter became extremely recalcitrant. Mechanics repeatedly worked on it to no avail.
Fortunately, I lived at the top of a hill and bump starting was an easy proposition. As long as I did not turn off the bike or stall it at a stoplight everything was fine.
On the other hand, with no guarantee that the bike would start at the end of the day, commuting on the Yamaha became impossible. It was time to upgrade my riding companion.
After one last bittersweet bump start I rode my formerly trusty Virago to the local motorcycle dealership. The Yamaha was traded in on a bright blue 2005 Kawasaki Ninja 500. The Ninja was the first brand new vehicle I had ever owned. Having never owned a car with less than 100k on the clock, it was somewhat surreal to look down and see only three miles on the odometer.
There was a great deal of pride as I rode off the lot on that bike. The Ninja turned out to be the perfect second motorcycle for me. The Yamaha had confirmed for me that I used a motorcycle just like I used bicycles. Commuting and touring require both load carrying ability and long distance comfort. Although it looked like a sport bike, the upright standard position of the Kawasaki was far more comfortable than the crouched chopper seating of the Virago.
Even with the same 500cc displacement, the Ninja accelerated faster and was more exciting to ride. Better brakes and superior wind protection helped as well. Yet, at the same time, the engine was still small enough that I was unlikely to get myself into too much trouble.
Over the next few years I rode that bike all over the Midwest. Every weekend it took me two hundred miles between seminary and the church I served as a student pastor. After upgrading my saddlebags it became a reliable sport tourer for spring break and summer time jaunts. An electric vest and gloves meant that I was able to ride deep into the cold of an Iowa winter.
The only limitation I found came when my significant other and I tried two up touring. Although the little Ninja was comfortable around town and kept up with highway traffic just fine, there was simply not enough room for two people to be comfortable on it all day long. Many more stretch breaks were necessary than when I was riding solo. My significant other was a good sport, but all our future shared journeys were taken by automobile.
The Kawasaki Ninja 500 was the perfect machine for me at that time in my riding career. It had enough get up and go that I was able to have a lot of fun, but not so much power that I would easily get myself in trouble. I loved that bike.
In the end, however, my first stint as a motorcycle owner was cut short by an incident that had nothing to do with life on two wheels.
