Ninja Bob
April 9th, 2014, 01:28 PM
Hey all!
My name is Shawn and have been called Bob by my circle of friends for quite some time. They also throw in the Ninja part when I do something along the lines of scaling a tree. The names came way before the riding.
Riding started out by chance for me. About 3-4 years ago, a friend was going to take the written test and I decided to tag along and take it with him. Never been on a motorcycle prior and hadn't put much thought into it. Somehow he failed and I passed by one question. I walked into a booked up MSF class and got my name drawn from a hat to replace no-shows. Passed the class, and next thing I knew I had my endorsement within a week of motorcycles not even being on my mind.
The class was enough to get me hooked on riding and I was eyeing every bike I saw for sale. I happened to pass by this 1982 Suzuki GS 750 in a front yard asking 800 and talked him into giving it to me for 600.
https://www.ninjette.org/forums/picture.php?albumid=1450&pictureid=11448
When I got the GS, it needed to be push started, it didn't have a muffler, it had a strange handlebar, and had several electrical issues. Boy did I learn way more about motorized vehicles than I ever wanted when I owned this thing. But, after fixing the above problems on my own, and dropping it a few times, and fixing it again, I decided to save up the money to buy a gently used '09 Ninja.
https://www.ninjette.org/forums/picture.php?albumid=1450&pictureid=11449
https://www.ninjette.org/forums/picture.php?albumid=1450&pictureid=11450
I loved that one. It was my only means of transportation. Low sided once, but the damage wasn't extensive and I was wearing all my gear. Took it to Jersey with me when I moved for a job. Ended up in an extremely suburban area and needed a car to get around in the winter. Silly me, I sold the bike for cash for a down-payment on a brand new cage. In hind sight, I should have kept the bike and bought a beater for the winter. But, what's done is done.
I have since returned to my homeland of Cleveland. I still have my cage, but between the visceral reaction I was getting every time a bike went by and the fact that my current partner is also buying a bike, I decided exactly where to dump my tax return.
https://www.ninjette.org/forums/picture.php?albumid=1450&pictureid=11451
This is the first one we bought (2010 SE) and we're buying a black one. I'm going to let her pick a color and I'll take the other. I'm 95% sure she's gonna go for the black and I'm gonna end up with this one. (I'm happy to ride either, tbh.)
She's a new rider and I anticipate we're going to have a lot of questions in regards to gear, maintenance, and mods.
I'll be (and have been) trolling the forum and wiki, but any input on this stuff would be great. We're both young professionals and don't have a huge budget, so we're not gonna buy the cheapest trash out there, but we are looking for the most bang for our buck.
That wall-o-text being said, I've greatly enjoyed browsing the forum and look forward to contributing. Can't wait to post pictures of both bikes side by side. Can't wait to ride my Ninja everywhere I go.
My name is Shawn and have been called Bob by my circle of friends for quite some time. They also throw in the Ninja part when I do something along the lines of scaling a tree. The names came way before the riding.
Riding started out by chance for me. About 3-4 years ago, a friend was going to take the written test and I decided to tag along and take it with him. Never been on a motorcycle prior and hadn't put much thought into it. Somehow he failed and I passed by one question. I walked into a booked up MSF class and got my name drawn from a hat to replace no-shows. Passed the class, and next thing I knew I had my endorsement within a week of motorcycles not even being on my mind.
The class was enough to get me hooked on riding and I was eyeing every bike I saw for sale. I happened to pass by this 1982 Suzuki GS 750 in a front yard asking 800 and talked him into giving it to me for 600.
https://www.ninjette.org/forums/picture.php?albumid=1450&pictureid=11448
When I got the GS, it needed to be push started, it didn't have a muffler, it had a strange handlebar, and had several electrical issues. Boy did I learn way more about motorized vehicles than I ever wanted when I owned this thing. But, after fixing the above problems on my own, and dropping it a few times, and fixing it again, I decided to save up the money to buy a gently used '09 Ninja.
https://www.ninjette.org/forums/picture.php?albumid=1450&pictureid=11449
https://www.ninjette.org/forums/picture.php?albumid=1450&pictureid=11450
I loved that one. It was my only means of transportation. Low sided once, but the damage wasn't extensive and I was wearing all my gear. Took it to Jersey with me when I moved for a job. Ended up in an extremely suburban area and needed a car to get around in the winter. Silly me, I sold the bike for cash for a down-payment on a brand new cage. In hind sight, I should have kept the bike and bought a beater for the winter. But, what's done is done.
I have since returned to my homeland of Cleveland. I still have my cage, but between the visceral reaction I was getting every time a bike went by and the fact that my current partner is also buying a bike, I decided exactly where to dump my tax return.
https://www.ninjette.org/forums/picture.php?albumid=1450&pictureid=11451
This is the first one we bought (2010 SE) and we're buying a black one. I'm going to let her pick a color and I'll take the other. I'm 95% sure she's gonna go for the black and I'm gonna end up with this one. (I'm happy to ride either, tbh.)
She's a new rider and I anticipate we're going to have a lot of questions in regards to gear, maintenance, and mods.
I'll be (and have been) trolling the forum and wiki, but any input on this stuff would be great. We're both young professionals and don't have a huge budget, so we're not gonna buy the cheapest trash out there, but we are looking for the most bang for our buck.
That wall-o-text being said, I've greatly enjoyed browsing the forum and look forward to contributing. Can't wait to post pictures of both bikes side by side. Can't wait to ride my Ninja everywhere I go.