Motorcycles
All the motorcycles I've owned and what I've done with them
As a mechanical engineer that loves cars and has an underdeveloped pre-frontal cortex, it was only a matter of time before I got a motorcycle (or a few of them). Motorcycles are great for me because they’re everything I love about cars, just better and more attainable. They’re cheaper, much faster, sound better (for the same $), and are even more fun to throw around corners. I keep both of my bikes in Boston during the riding season, and I’m convinced it is the fastest way to get around the city, period.My favorite kind of bikes are sportbikes, mostly because they essentially come with race engines from the factory. I took my 600 to the track last year, and I’m hooked. As soon as I have some funds and the weather gets better, I’ll be at the track.
2003 Honda CBR600RR
AKA Zuko
BUY: 2900
I bought this bike when I got back from California, as I thought it was about time I moved up from the 250 and I wanted a bike I could take to the track. The 250 would’ve been great for the track, but it had 16” wheels which have extremely limited tire selection. I could’ve done some mods to adapt the later gen Ninja 250 17” wheels to the bike, but I could also just buy another bike, so that’s what I did! The bike came into my posession in fair condition for its age. The speedo didn’t work, and it had clearly been dropped by a previous owner. I just replaced the speed sensor (kind of hard to get to) and got to riding. Suddenly, I had 120hp between my legs instead of 25hp, and it took some getting used to. It’s been 3 seasons and I haven’t died yet!
I took Zuko to Palmer Motorsports Part last year for my first track day, and had a blast. I rode my bike to the track and my mom brought the support minivan (RIP Baby). She also took tons of pictures, thanks mom! I definitely pushed myself too hard that day, and I got lucky a few times (dragged knee though). Thankfully, I didn’t crash out. Next time I’ll take it easy, but hey, I was excited. A few track veterans took me under their wing and gave me lots of valuable advice (and lunch!). I learned about body positioning, where to put my weight on the bike, and a lot about the track. I’m super excited to come back to Palmer.
Right now, Zuko is in my friend Philip’s basement for the winter. I’m doing some much needed maintenance in the off season, as it was running quite rough at the end of the season. The bike wouldn’t maintain idle when it got past its warm-up period, and would die and not start unless I kept the throttle cracked open. It was also spitting a ton of fuel out of the exhaust and had extremely poor MPG (even worse than normal). It was fine at higher RPM, but something was definitely wrong. I replaced the spark plugs, no dice. Before the track day, I put some fuel injector cleaner in the tank, and it ran even worse. Once that tank was done, I filled it up with a new tank, and it ran like new! A few days after the track day, the problem came back. I think a primary injector (post throttle body) got clogged, which is causing misfires and making the secondary injectors work to make up for the non functioning primary. I recently checked the valve clearances, and those are all just barely in spec, so that shouldn’t be the problem. I’m replacing the injectors, so we’ll see how that goes.
Maintenance and Mods
- Front rotors and pads
- Tires (Rosso IV)
- Removed mirrors (I don’t recommend this, it’s for track and city use)
- Valve clearance check
- Injectors
- Spark plugs
- Speed sensor
- Chain and sprocket (-1 +3)
- Rebuilt forks
- Rebuilt forks again cause I messed it up. I might even have to do it again cause I keep treating speed bumps like jumps
- New kill switch & starter switch assembly
- Oil & filter
- Safety wire on oil filter, oil fill cap
1986 Kawasaki Concours 1000
AKA Toph
BUY: 1200
I bought this kind of on a whim. Old sport touring bikes are so cheap, and I just couldn’t pass this one up. It has less than 20k and was in great condition. I’ve taken it up north to ride a few times, but wasn’t able to as much as I wanted last semester. The seating position on this bike is much more comfortable, especially for a passenger. It also happens to weigh 300lbs more than my 600, but it’s not too unwieldy. I think I’ll end up selling this one soon. I think I only like riding it because it’s a motorcycle, not because it’s anything special. I have my eyes on the Honda VFR800 as a replacement, which is much more sporty but can still eat up the miles.
2004 Ninja 250R
AKA Azula
BUY: 800 SELL: Traded for a pile of grom parts
Although the title says 2004, don’t be fooled. I cobbled together 2 Ninja 250s and parts from many more in order to get one complete bike. This was my first bike, and I wanted to start cheap and easy. I bought 1.5 bikes and a big bag of parts from a guy named Rick for 800 bones and figured I should be able to make a bike out of it. Turns out, the more complete bike had a bad title, and the parts bike’s title was perfect! I moved everything over to the parts bike chassis, cleaned the carbs, and got it running in about a month. Some new tires, brakes, and levers later and Azula was roadworthy! This was my first motorcycle, and I took training seriously. I’d often go to an empty lot and just practice figure 8s, circles, braking, and swerving for hours. The training paid off! I have not dropped my bike once, and I’m already 3 seasons in.
While I was parking the bike in Boston, it got towed, then I got it back, then it got stolen and then towed again, all in the same week. Thankfully, The thief just took it for a joyride and dumped it half a mile away. I put a new battery in, stuck a screwdriver in the ignition to turn it on, paid the tow company, and brought her back to Worcester to wait out the winter. In the spring, all I had to do was replace the ignition (the same key worked on the parts bike ignition for some reason), replace the battery, and she was back. Unfortunately, I then made the extremely regretful decision of trading this bike for a pile of grom parts. This is my single biggest regret of my Facebook Marketplace career, and I will never forgive myself for it. If you see this bike out in the wild, I will pay you a finders fee even for the chance to buy it back.
Maintenance
- Tires
- Brake pads
- Tires
- Chain and sprockets
- Wiring harness (only a 2 hour job to replace the harness on a bike, blew my mind)
- Air filters
- Carburetor rebuild
- Stitches on the plastics
- Ignition
- Battery
- Brake and clutch levers