YZ250F

Awhile back I decided the YZ450F is just too hard to kick start so we made a trek to Phoenix to Apache Motorcycles to purchase a YZ250F. This bike is much more my speed, I can actually climb up on it and kick start it myself. Kind of an important skill when you're standing in the middle of no where and need to start your bike. So, yahoo, I am now a happier dirt bike rider. Not completely happy because I still prefer the street.

Check out Apache Motorcycles, their prices are excellent and the service is even better. It's worth the drive to Phoenix to not have to deal with the Las Vegas motorcycle dealers. Not mentioning any names, Ride Now Power Sports, is not for me.

Anyway, I'll be out trying to make friends with dirt bike riding and trying to win over the bumpy roads. Otherwise I will have to stick to the street or better yet the track.

Motorcycle Comparison

I have used my Google Docs spreadsheet to make a comparison chart for motorcycle engines. Please visit and test it out. If you don't know the engine size and horsepower just fill in the motorcycle manufacturer and type and I will add the other information.

Back to the Track

We went to another Fastrack Riders trackday at LVMS on 3/14/2010. It was fun but for some reason I felt nervous and would get off the track before my session was over. I felt unsure of my riding technique so for the next trackday on 4/11/2010 I signed up for the Novice school. You have to attend the Novice school if it is your first trackday or you can take it again as a refresher course. It was great! I had forgotten the correct lines around the track and this can slow you down quite a bit. You want the shortest, most efficient path around the track. I also learned the correct body positioning on the turns. This is me practicing my turns by getting my but off the seat and keep the bike as vertical as possible.

While I was refreshing my track skills my husband was getting bumped up to the next level. Go figure, I've been to more track days than he has and he's kickin' my but like crazy. That's because he has ridden all of his life so it's to be expected. I'm going to practice until I catch him.

How to do an Oil Change

I have created a screencast for your entertainment on How to do an Oil Change on a Yamaha YZ450F. Why do I call it entertaining? Because it is probably more entertaining than educational. Not really, I learned alot from this assignment, not only how to create a screencast but also how to change the oil. Both could prove to be beneficial knowledge in my future.

Motorcycle Wiki

CycleChaos.com is a community of motorcycle enthusiasts that have started a motorycle wiki to share ideas and information. I found this wiki while searching the internet for a wiki that is related to my blog. I thought having a motorcycle wiki on my blog could be a useful resource. You can find this wiki at http://www.cyclechaos.com/wiki/Motorcycle_Wiki. You can search this wiki by motorcycle manufacturer wherein a list of the different models is shown. Each list of models is quite extensive. Some models of motorcycles only have pictures; others have a range of information from minimal to extensive, while some are still blank pages in need of input. I found this motorcycle wiki to be very interesting and easy to use. You can spend hours just looking at the pictures. Some have pictures that range from the 1980’s to present. I found that there is not a picture of the 2008 Yamaha YZ85 which I just happen to have in my garage. There are sections for featured articles, other articles of interest and recently updated pages. There is also a section with a list of motorcycle manufacturer pages that need to have additional information contributed so if anyone has motorcycle knowledge that they would like to share this wiki is ready for input. This wiki has useful motorcycle information and is entertaining. I would recommend this wiki to any motorcycle enthusiast.

Fastrack Riders

Since October, 2008 I've been to several track days with Fastrack Riders. We have been to Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Auto Club Speedway in California with Fastrack Riders. As a matter of fact, this Sunday, March 14, we will be at LVMS riding on the Classic Course. It's riding and not racing, especially at the speeds I ride. There are three levels with one being the slowest (my level). I have a 2008 CBR600 for the track which is a faster, smoother bike than the F4. It's also lighter which makes it easier to handle. I'm going to try and not be one of the slowest five riders. It might be raining so that might slow me down. I don't have the need for speed that the young ones have but we will see.

Taken it to the Track

It's time to go to the track. I was quite nervous about riding with a lot of other riders in a small area. Small compared to the real streets with real cars. On Friday, October 4, 2008 I attended my first track day at the LV Motor Speedway on the Classic Road Course. This track day was sponsored by Sportbike Track Time. The novice group was split up into groups of 3-4 and had female racers as instructors. This was the Femmoto 2008 but men also participated on this day. People came from all across the country to attend this event; it was great. Like I said, I was pretty nervous and wasn't sure I was up to the task but it was too late for that. My husband had put new race tires on my F4 so the bike would slide on the corners and it didn't. Partially due to the tires and partially because I didn't go fast enough to slide. I felt like I was flying around the track but it was not so. It didn't make much sense to me to fly up the straights just to slam on the brakes at the turn so I didn't. My husband kept nagging me I could go faster so on the last lap of the day I managed to pick up the speed a look slightly more respectable.

On Saturday, only women were allowed on the track. Different motorcycle manufacturers, i.e. Kawasaki, Aprilia, and Buell etc. brought their bikes to the track for the women to ride. There were street demo rides for the public, men and women, provided you had a motorcycle license. Riding the different bikes on the track was unbelievably fun. When you go to a dealer to look at bikes you can't take them for test drives like you can cars so this gives you a chance to try different types of bikes. I'm sure the manufactures are hoping you like a bike enough to buy one. I did learn that I no longer wanted to ride a standard motorcycle like my FZ6. I wanted to ride a true sportbike; it just felt right.

Bigger and Faster

I thought I would be ever so happy once I had my license and was free to come and go as I pleased on my new bike. I still needed to get used to street traffic and stopping and taking off at lights because it is embarrassing to kill the engine when you're supposed to be taking off. You know how people are when you don't go when the green light says to go. I stuck to the smaller streets but after awhile that gets boring.

As I got braver, I decided to use this as a mode of transportation to and from work. I drive up Decatur to Rancho, close to UMC and the traffic tends to go faster than the 45 mph that is posted. This is normal for Las Vegas and I'm used to it in my car. I, also like to go faster that the speed limit if I can get away with it. Not to long ago, I didn't get away with it and I was on Rancho on my way to work so I pay more attention now. This is when I began to be dissatisfied with the smaller motorcycle. It didn't have much pick up and go when taking off and you can really feel the pressure of the traffic wanting to get around you. This bike was not up to highway travel either, it felt very small and insignificant compared to the cars and trucks traveling the road next to me.

Time for a bigger, faster bike and it was a 2007 Yamaha FZ6 which made me feel much more competitive as far as speed and size goes.
With a bigger bike I felt more confident that I would not be crushed at any moment by a car or truck.

During this time I heard mention of an all female track day and this was very intriguing. I checked on the internet and found Femmoto.com. Femmoto is sponsored by Sport Bike Track Time and was due to be at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October 2008. This was something I was sure I wanted to do so I made that my goal and we started making longer trips on the bikes so I would be ready to ride when the time came. We also found a 1999 Honda F4 just to use as a track bike. This was it, I was ready to go fast and be cool.

Ninja EX250

The ZR7 seemed a bit big and heavy so I convinced my husband to go to the Kawasaki dealer and check out smaller bikes. He thought the Ninja EX500 is a good choice but I had to disagree and go for the little 2007 Ninja EX250. I thought it was much more size appropriate. Little did I know that I would not think this for very long. More on that later.

It's was now time to attend the Motorcycle Safety Foundation class and I was feeling somewhat confident because I've had been practicing on my little Ninja. At least, I could take off and stop fairly well. Turns out that was about all I could do. This was a tough class. The book part was fairly easy since I had already studied for and gotten my riders permit from DMV. The riding portion was not easy at all, I felt incompetent and thought, for sure, I was going to fail. I'll never forget being yelled at "You just drove off the cliff and you're dead". What can you say to that? Not too much.

I did in fact manage to pass this class but not with a 100%. I like getting good grades in all of my classes but with this one I was satisfied with just passing. The first Monday after the class I was at DMV getting my license. My little Ninja and I had been set free to roam the roads of Las Vegas.

The First Ride

This all starts with my husband wanting to return to riding after many motorcycle free years. Before I knew it he was riding out on the weekends with his friends while I was home with the dogs. He did his best to get me to ride on the back and take part but I like to be the driver of my own destiny. Funny because I don't feel this way about being a passenger in a car. One day I said "If I'm going to ride it will be on my own bike". My husband being an avid Ebay shopper soon found me a 2001 Kawasaki ZR7 and I took my first drive at the CSN Cheyenne parking lot. I looked a little strange driving around with my feet out because I was afraid I would fall over. Needless to say, I finally put my feet on the pegs and had some fun. This was only in the parking lot since I didn't have a motorcycle license or the skill to do anything else. The plan was to practice until I attended the Motorcycle Safety Foundation class through CSN.