rage42
August 4th, 2009, 08:18 AM
This past weekend I rode a bit over 100 miles with my parents to a Goldwing rally. They have a wing, so I'm just tagging along. Registration eye'd the ninja and asked me a couple extra times if I was really there for the wing rally. :)
The vendors were cool, I could get poor quick buying little things here and there for my bike. The top gun event was neet, basically a mini MSF checkout, see who does the best on their big bikes. They started with a quick stop test, then some 90 degree turns, double S turns, the U turn box, and one that I never saw before, tight circles. When a couple of the bigger bikes were doing tight circles, they set their bikes down...not all the way down...just so they were sitting on their frame sliders or w/e you want to call them on wings. They looked very heavy to pick back up. I was tempted to take the Ninja, especially for the laugh when entering the pit behind big bikes. But I didn't want to embarrass myself, I haven't practiced tight maneuvers since my MSF course, maybe I'll grab Scorpion and/or Sugarbear and set up a course.
I really didnt get any pictures of the rally, a small video of top gun, but not good shots, not worth posting. Maybe next time, the parents want to go to another one coming up.
Stayed up there for 2 days, I used to live in the area when I was a kid, so it was fun seeing everything that changed.
So Sunday morning rolls around, My parents take off back home, I was going to go visit a friend before heading back home...I go to take off out of a parking lot, and I notice that my clutch didn't spring back out...coming to a stop sign, purposely stall the bike, (next time kill switch!), and figure out that my clutch cable broke. :(
http://www.ninjette.org/forums/picture.php?albumid=183&pictureid=2074
So I wondered what the cable would've looked like if I did a safety check that morning...Would I have seen some fraying? And I never looked close enough to see what the end of the cable looked like. But it looks like while part of the end piece is there...there should have been a round part that is no longer there.
So I'm going through my options...state farm roadside assistance...sound good. Apparently its not added to my bike, just my jeep. bummer, will have that fixed soon. I assumed since I had it on the jeep...I just had it.
Started calling around, found an auto zone, they of course had no parts. But gave me names of dealerships. (google 411 is awesome btw) Found an open powersports dealer about half an hour away, but they don't deal with Kawasaki because the requirements are too strict or something.
and the next kawi dealer was over an hour away and closed on Sunday. Lovely.
I could've ragged on the transmission to get home, its all freeway, but I didn't want to risk slow traffic, or hurting the trans. Since the parents were well on their way by now, my dad kept going back. He grabbed the trailer when he got home and came back to pick up the bike. I called the friends, and hung out with them. So props to my dad for taking an extra trip for me.
I didn't think about checking for an open U-Haul or something, but I'm sure they were closed too.
http://www.ninjette.org/forums/picture.php?albumid=183&pictureid=2075
About 40 miles back, that Orange front strap came loose. Looks like there was a ton of slack on it, I thought I tied all the extra down, but it wrapped around the axle, caught the wheel or something and made my heart jump. The ratchet part was all bent out of shape. Bike stayed up, replaced it...no other problems getting it home.
Checked with the dealer monday to see if warranty would cover it, they said yes, so I dropped it off. If it didn't, I would've changed it myself. Parts gonna take 3-4 days to ship, ugh...I thought about shopping around for my own...but I guess I can wait a few days to get it fixed for free.
The vendors were cool, I could get poor quick buying little things here and there for my bike. The top gun event was neet, basically a mini MSF checkout, see who does the best on their big bikes. They started with a quick stop test, then some 90 degree turns, double S turns, the U turn box, and one that I never saw before, tight circles. When a couple of the bigger bikes were doing tight circles, they set their bikes down...not all the way down...just so they were sitting on their frame sliders or w/e you want to call them on wings. They looked very heavy to pick back up. I was tempted to take the Ninja, especially for the laugh when entering the pit behind big bikes. But I didn't want to embarrass myself, I haven't practiced tight maneuvers since my MSF course, maybe I'll grab Scorpion and/or Sugarbear and set up a course.
I really didnt get any pictures of the rally, a small video of top gun, but not good shots, not worth posting. Maybe next time, the parents want to go to another one coming up.
Stayed up there for 2 days, I used to live in the area when I was a kid, so it was fun seeing everything that changed.
So Sunday morning rolls around, My parents take off back home, I was going to go visit a friend before heading back home...I go to take off out of a parking lot, and I notice that my clutch didn't spring back out...coming to a stop sign, purposely stall the bike, (next time kill switch!), and figure out that my clutch cable broke. :(
http://www.ninjette.org/forums/picture.php?albumid=183&pictureid=2074
So I wondered what the cable would've looked like if I did a safety check that morning...Would I have seen some fraying? And I never looked close enough to see what the end of the cable looked like. But it looks like while part of the end piece is there...there should have been a round part that is no longer there.
So I'm going through my options...state farm roadside assistance...sound good. Apparently its not added to my bike, just my jeep. bummer, will have that fixed soon. I assumed since I had it on the jeep...I just had it.
Started calling around, found an auto zone, they of course had no parts. But gave me names of dealerships. (google 411 is awesome btw) Found an open powersports dealer about half an hour away, but they don't deal with Kawasaki because the requirements are too strict or something.
and the next kawi dealer was over an hour away and closed on Sunday. Lovely.
I could've ragged on the transmission to get home, its all freeway, but I didn't want to risk slow traffic, or hurting the trans. Since the parents were well on their way by now, my dad kept going back. He grabbed the trailer when he got home and came back to pick up the bike. I called the friends, and hung out with them. So props to my dad for taking an extra trip for me.
I didn't think about checking for an open U-Haul or something, but I'm sure they were closed too.
http://www.ninjette.org/forums/picture.php?albumid=183&pictureid=2075
About 40 miles back, that Orange front strap came loose. Looks like there was a ton of slack on it, I thought I tied all the extra down, but it wrapped around the axle, caught the wheel or something and made my heart jump. The ratchet part was all bent out of shape. Bike stayed up, replaced it...no other problems getting it home.
Checked with the dealer monday to see if warranty would cover it, they said yes, so I dropped it off. If it didn't, I would've changed it myself. Parts gonna take 3-4 days to ship, ugh...I thought about shopping around for my own...but I guess I can wait a few days to get it fixed for free.