Motorcycle stuff

I worked on the motorcycle loading ramp today, that's the aluminum channel on the right side of the carry rack . It originally only had one strip of nonskid down the middle, just like the aluminum channel on the other side. But that seemed a bit slippery to me so I put 2 more strips of nonskid on it. Putting the nonskid tape on it was easy but wire brushing and cleaning the aluminum so the tape would stick took the longest.

I rode the Yamaha WR450 around some more today. I'm still trying to get used to the thing because it still feels very tall to me. Now that I've riddin it some there's a few things that stand out that annoy me.

 One is that it's very hard to find neutral when I stop. In fact after the bike gets hot finding neutral when stopped is almost impossible so I've been shutting it off and then putting in a neutral. I think maybe that can be adjusted out but I'm not sure.

Another thing is the throttle feels too sensitive and the bike seems to lunge forward with the slightest turn of the throttle. This is particularly annoying riding on rough ground because with me and the bike bouncing it's hard to hold the throttle steady. Maybe it needs a stiffer throttle spring.

The last thing is I'm not very comfortable standing up on the motorcycle like you're supposed to do when going over rough ground. It feels like the foot pegs are too high and it doesn't look like there's a way to lower them enough to help. The handlebars are kind of okay but I wish they were about an inch higher, which is not that hard to do inless all of your cables won't reach any higher and you have to buy all new longer cables. Then raising the handlebars becomes more difficult and expensive.

All in all the more I ride it the less stressful it is so I figure by the time I leave here I should be pretty comfortable with it. But I sure wish I could get on it more gracefully, the back of the seat and the rear fender that I have to throw my leg over to get on the bike is still almost as high as my waist. which means I have to kind of throw my leg up on the seat and then wiggle it around until it falls over the other side. I managed to get up there but I definitely don't look cool doing it.

    theboondork

In the motorcycle carry rack