Man & Machine

Well GOOD MORNING SEATTLE! Another Monday filled with liquid sunshine and taking some time to look for work. I found that Amazon is starting a "recreational toys" lineup. Sounds intriguing. Of course they're looking for experience in business, merchandising and other, which by technical standards I do not have. What I do have is a passion and genuine love for motorcycles and the industry. So I'm pretty sure that if I applied they'd laugh at my resume as they ran it through the shredder. All of my "work" experience is in things other than motorcycles. Bummer aye.
Now I ask any of you readers, what is it that makes this particular avenue of transportation, recreation, possible occupation so enjoyable to you? I've already gave my 10 cents on the subject. What can I say, I'm trying to employ and improve any journalistic ability here.
Is it the fact that something as youths triggered this longing to be able to get from point A to point B with the exhilaration of wind in our face? Maybe it's the feeling of (don't delve into any innuendo's here)a large power plant between you and the ground propelling you forward. Maybe it's the feeling of freedom that comes from not being encased in the seeming luxury of an automobile. Hey! It could seem luxurious if you live an a state other than California that doesn't have sun and relatively warm weather a majority of the year. Or at least it used to. It could also be the sense of being more of what could be "part of the machine". With a motorcycle your senses have to be heightened. It's a fact that your much more prone on a motorcycle than a car. If it's worst-case scenario, being struck by a car or running into one, the risk of damage and injury is greater. Even hitting a pedestrian to a smaller animal that runs into your path unexpectedly can have volatile effects. Whereas in a car you have a little more protection. The end result is still negative, but the ability to escape injury is in your favour when in a car. So it's clear that if your riding a motorcycle it requires greater attention a good measure of the time as opposed to being behind the wheel. With this in mind having to always be aware of what's going on around you allows you to feel that you and the machine are one. When you swerve to avoid something, a well trained motorcyclists uses his body either in opposition (counter-steering) or in unison with the "roll" of his motorcycle to execute the desired maneuver to avoid being tagged or going down.
Whatever it is... Motorcycles will likely be around for a long time, especially with the constant rise in fuel costs and the pioneering of producing electric motorcycles than seem practical and look good. Time to ride! If you have a running bike.

Whirlwind Riding

Wow! To me it seems like time has flown by before getting the chance to type another column, blog, article, or whatever. As of yet still an unemployed writer, it seems that though not working, I'm currently working harder than previously. How I miss the days of hopping on a motorcycle and riding those blues away.
Now that may be a bit of an "eye-opener" to some who might read this. I don't recall if I had stated that currently I'm without a running motorcycle. I was "given" an old Suzuki GN400 that just needed to have the carb installed and throttle cable replaced. Well picked up an OEM throttle cable and BLIAM (pronounced "blam". The I is inserted in my acronym for my feeling of "Being the Loser that I AM")the throttle body that was in this bike was not the original! This was given to me as well with a box of other parts that had been removed. After installing the original carb along with the original air box, filter & misc. lines and hose that were in this box o' parts, SURPRISE! Well, let's just say I'm still working on getting it up and running.
It's interesting that even though anxiety and even maybe a lil depression due to my current situation being jobless, family member dying of prostate cancer, concern for my alcoholic brothers well-being and add the fact that my sixteen year old daughter just got her drivers license, no pressure here huh? It evokes good feelings to think back on working on that suzook last summer, as frustrating as it was/will be when I resume. Being an 1981 model it has the old compression relief & kickstart. How I so miss my beautiful and trusty ole VFR800! I bought a new battery for the GN and hopefully it'll still crank when I get back to it shortly. Still, going back to the positive emotions it brings to think about motorcycles, even if it's working on them, let alone riding them, brings me back to the reason why they can be so therapeutic. I'm sure that anything that someone loves and has a passion for, be it cars, planes, trains and even pets has the same effect on an individual. If you have those qualities for all of the above, even better!
So if anyone knows of any outfits looking for a motorcycle enthusiast/maintenance worker/driver/machine operator/warehouse man, feel free to contact me. Or if you just want to give some words of wisdom, advice, constructive criticism or rant. You can email me at sNobored99@gmail.com
Well gotta be a off to a job interview in Mukilteo. I'll think only positive, "I will be offered this job"! Now if only I had a sunny day and a running motorcycle to get me there to top of the whole positive thinking deal. Next time! (without the whole having to look for a job thing)

Hi Uncle Steve

Well, I hope you have your sunglasses on. As the Sun decided to shine for most of the day in my area for the better part of the day. Plus the unique picture I've included this time. This was some years back while living in Yucca Valley, California. (REALLY! That's the name of the town/city) This is the photo of my uncle who was so patient in teaching his fairly new nephews how to ride a dirt bike. We had a pretty good idea how to take off on a bike without popping the clutch and stalling the beast by this time.
My uncle Steve, like my brother and I started on bicycles. Then it would seem the passion grew to dirtbikes. Speaking of which; Friday, May 21st has been promoted to "Bike to Work Day". You know, I think I initially learned the basic mechanics of and handling of a motorcycle aboard my bicycle. And vice-versa. After starting on the mountain bikes and hitting some pretty awesome trails, (Devils Gulch, Cashmere; Japanese Gulch, Mukilteo; Saint Edwards, Kenmore/Kirkland & the Colonnade, Seattle)the skills of learning to grab more of which brake, front or back, sometimes both. The counter steering in certain turns and body mechanics have come in handy when riding these "man/gravity powered" bikes. True using ones weight or balance will be alot more useful on the lighter and alot less bulky bicycle. I recognise* though that the benefits of riding both a bicycle and a motorcycle can develop skills that increase awareness of how much a rider can affect the "actions" on either of these machines.
Balance comes into play in alot of the things we do. Most on a daily basis so that we forget or take for granted just how wonderfully are bodies were made. I know that I roller skated in my youth.(Especially growing up in the era of disco, roller derby and mixing them with poor fashion. I moved on to bicycles and would then progress to dirtbikes, then street bikes. (forgive me I'm searching for the segue-way of my post along with the reason for the pix.) So is my point balance, bicycles, "Bike To Work Day or motorcycles? To be honest I think it's none of those. I just found a funny picture of my uncle balancing in this pose, and their happened to be a "bike" in the picture. So I used it.
Either way having and using a set of wheels can be very enjoyable. And sometimes if you look silly doing it, as long as your being safe and having fun..."Ride those funky wheels white boy!"
Love ya Uncle Steve!

This is Spring?

Wow! Can you believe that it's been a month since the last post? Actually it was just back in late April. And you know the old saying, "April showers bring May flowers." You hear that and reach the next logical conclusion. RIDING WEATHER!!! Yeah right. This first weekend of May and now first weekday (Monday)... Rain! Cold rain at that.
Well what can you say, it's Seattle anyway. It was great to see that there were still some riders out there on Sunday. In the cold weather. Don't get the wrong perception. I'm as willing to ride in poor weather as the real moto-journalist, Peter Egan, except I don't have the luxury of owning a bevy a bikes to suit my whim or the current riding conditions. Along with the fact that I gave away my rain jacket to a green-horn rider who bought a FZR 600 that had been converted to strictly track and back again. He had no endorsement, little experience and the reattached custom head-light was big enough to read a book in the dark with. Along with that his idea of protective riding gear was "work-out gloves" and a fleece hoody. So I gave him my "spare" riding jacket. That was the contrast to my leather one. That happened to be water-proof. And my leather one isn't. So thus I've not done much riding in the rain.

So by the way if anyone of my thousands of readers want's to pass along their large, used rain jacket for motorcycles to this wanna-be moto-jouranlist, feel free to contact me. Even better, if you want to donate your BMW uber-bike or spare super-motard cause your upgrading to this years model (are you reading this Peter? Or anyone for that matter), this unemployed blog-head will take it. Either way keep the shiny side up and enjoy, kinda spring riding.

Get Out & Ride!

Saturday! It's finally arrived. Though to be honest, without a job to enjoy the time off, it's not as anticipated. Yet, when working a busy schedule and Friday rolls around, the weatherman says that it's supposed to be nice. What are motorcyclists thinking? Time to pull out the pride and joy! The majority here in my neck of the woods will not ride back and forth to work on their motorcycles. I'm not saying that NO ONE does - because a few do! I applaud them and would like to join them, especially as "Ride to Work Day" approaches on the June 21st. I just happen to know a few friends who could use the option to commute to work, or at times just ride on a great day ... and don't.
It's a little frustrating to know some who have the opportunity to jump on their "ride" and go but don't. Now the gist of this blog... ~blog~. b/l/o/g. B-L-O-G. (sorry, just noticed how much the word blog makes no sense and actually sounds like BLAH! You know, like when people keep talking and go "blah, blah, blah"?)
The gist of this blog is how nice it would be to be someone who could ride to work from the perspective of one who currently is looking for a job to be able to ride to. It also brings to mind the current price of gas! Why is it that once spring hits, WHAM! The price of gas ALWAYS goes up? Demand. Ok, I get that, the gas & oil business is, well, a business. What I have difficulty comprehending is the whole tale given about 'so-and-so is scaling back production so we have to raise the price'. Or the current exchange rate. Whatever. I'll readily admit that I don't understand it, but I do know when I'm being given a "story". Example? Heading to the mountains in Bellingham. Smaller city/ town gas station. Price of gas? $3.25 a gallon! There's an oil refinery just down the highway. Drive down the road, 'cause we ain't paying that! We come to another filling station. Same yellow logo featuring a thing you can find on the beach. Price of gas? $3.16! What happened during the 6-mile or so drive east that the price drops 9 cents? And why after filling up for this better price did we have to see another gas station about two blocks up with the price of regular gas for sale at $3.09!!! We should have been more patient. The farther the delivery truck has to drive the bigger the discount?
Back to my whole theme. Motorcycles can sip gas at up to some 60 miles per gallon. If that's not a reason to ride in itself, I'll also take the joy it brings on the way to work and back.
"Will Work for a Ride". I think I'll see if someone will give me a motorcycle as payment if I work for them? That would be cool! I guess the family couldn't really eat that though. And the creditors would want it when I could give them their due.
Oh well, back to the old job search come Monday.

Motorcycle Interview. I Think I'm Ready!

Well. Now I've gone and done it. It was something I told myself I wouldn't do, which shouldn't come to much as a surprise to myself, as I also told myself "I'll never ride a scooter."
This was applying for a position as a salesman. Of course this was at a motorcycle dealership here in the backyard of the Northwest. Monroe, Washington. I've been looking for work since November and have been unsuccessful as of yet in getting hired in the maintenance or skilled labour* field. I'll admit it becomes discouraging and even causes anxiety to wonder when I, like so many will start working again. So a couple of weeks ago, maybe a month, I asked myself if I would enter the job market as a SALESMAN, what would I sell? On more occasions than I care to recount, someone has opined how well I could be at selling something.
When I bought my first motorcycle here in the Seattle area, it was an Awesome 91 Honda CBR600. It had the forks and swingarm swapped out from stock, to, 94 Honda VFR750 components. I got it for a great deal from a friend who works in the motorcycle industry. The point is that along with this friend who worked with motorcycles and the moto-journalists that I enjoyed reading in the various "rags" (magazines) I was into at the time, all seemed to have what I would consider a dream job. Think about it. As if so many haven't already. They get to work around motorcycles. Some design aspects about the motorcycles that we get to enjoy! They get to RIDE the motorcycles.
They get assignments that give them the task to take a motorcycle on a long a ride then tell us in so many number of words their opinions. I'm sure that they're urged to be objective and reasonable. But they get to ride a number of different bikes. On dirt, on the street and at the track. I'm not jaded enough to realize that they also have to deal with coming up with the right sentiments to jot down. Not damage the "goods" as they "CAREFULLY" run these machines within the range and specs of their design. Deadlines to meet. Meeting to prepare and the hate mail that will be directed to some because someone felt that "THEIR" motorcycle (sometimes I've read the published letters that make you think that their wife, mother or family name had been maligned)was written about poorly and that the writer had no idea what a great bike they'd had the honour (*Brit spell again. I'm Caucasian of course, according to the recent 2010 gov't census. Parents were both from Mexcico)) of setting their legs over and having haul their sorry rears down the highway!
Well enough of that tangent. The point I started with was... Yes. I applied as a motorcycle salesman. It took sometime before I pushed myself to do something I hated as well as loved. So I printed my resume that had nothing to do with sales and wrote up a cover letter to explain how my experience and history relates to the field. I drove about twenty minutes to a dealership that sells Suzuki, Yamaha's and other brands. There I was introduced to Scott who was kind enough to take some time out of his busy schedule and interview me on the spot. He started by asking me how I thought I might fit in such a different career than past work history, basically. I related my passion for motorcycles and what I knew about them including my personal experience. I also included experience in some aspects of previous "sales" jobs not listed on my resume. Then he did it! He asked those questions that most interviewees fear. NO, not like "Where do you see yourself in 5 years" or "What kind of fruit would you be?" Although I hate those questions too. What Scott started asking is: "What is a (TRX400)?" He was trying to gauge my knowledge of the industry. I don't remember what the exact models were he asked about and how many, but he was quick. I wasn't. I think I did pretty good, but I don't think, good enough. I did smile inside when he started to ask about a "Royal Star". When Yamaha started making some big waves in the cruiser market, they started with this model name. After a few years it segregated it's cruisers into the "Star" name brand. Like me, Scott was also recalling that time, I believe, till he quickly corrected himself.
Sales? So I tried it. If i'm going to sell something I wanna be knowledgeable, I wanna enjoy it and foremost I want to be honest. I've known to many, many salesman personally that can sell you their honest. ("sell you". Not tell you, they just tell you what you want to hear.) I want people to enjoy anything I would recommend to them for years. I do want them to feel and KNOW they can trust me. I want them bring in their friends, family, coworkers and even enemies. Why? How better to make friends than by helping someone to enjoy a motorcycle.
In essence I told Scott this when he asked if I thought I could sell motorcycles. "Yes" I answered. I did have to think about it. Me a salesman. The testimonials on their website was what prompted me to actually submit my nonsense resume for the position. People should enjoy what their hard earned money buys. All people should ride a motorcycle and if they've the ability to purchase one, maybe even from this particular dealership. Even if they don't carry Triumphs as one commenter wrote, or Honda's in my small opinion. And even If I'm not working there. You should ride/own a motorcycle

Tuesday Afternoon, looking for my "Dream Job"

Spent this morning getting a little exercise walking around the nieghbourhood. I'm guessing like many who are not working right now have noticed that their pants or outfits might not be as comfortable as they were while they were working.
How does riding a motorcycle help with this problem some may ask? Well, before moving North to Seattle, while still living in the California desert a friend told me that riding his motorcycle kept him a little better in shape. Wait! Like you, I was skeptical. Like what did he wear one of those funny "as seen on TV tummy belts" or something?
When I scoffed at his statement, he defended himself by stating these facts. First, his, wasn't casual rides or road trip. He was a motorcycle courier in the greater Los Angeles area. This meant that for over 6 hours for sure, he was on his motorcycle. Not to mention the "Sight-seeing" or "Road-Mapping" (these terms I use to mean that when you're on a motorcycle and you see a good set of twisties or sign that says "Scenic Route", you almost always have to take it.)diversions he might have called a BREAK.
Second, he pointed to the fact that on his particular motorcycle, the posture that the body has to be held at, means that likely your abdominal muscles will be getting some type of regular use outside the normal straight seated position. To add to this, when riding a motorcycle daily for hours at a time, inadvertently, through the turns, stops, starting in motion when completely stopped and possibly stunts... you will be working your stomach muscles.
Third, and remember this was his defense to my skepticism. Finally while riding a motorcycle, you generally enjoy it so much that stopping to eat often was a waste of time. If you think about it, wearing a full faced helmet, having to pull it off, stuff your face (while working), put it back on then ride. Yeah, totally inconvenient. So he claimed that motorcycling helps you keep the gut in.
He made some good reasoning points. If you're a regular Joe just riding for pleasure, maybe commuting back and forth to school, work, etc. I didn't think this would do what he claimed.
OK now. When I finally bought a motorcycle, which was after this conversation, I started riding it 45 mins one way back and forth from the High Desert of Yucca Valley to Palm Springs. On the motorcycle the commute was entirely enjoyable! Except maybe when you recognize on those really windy days (more often than not) you're wearing out the sides of you tyres ( figured I stick with the British/Canadian spelling ) because you ride at an angle opposed to the wind. Sometimes pretty far!
Along with the joys of riding to work, guess what happened after about 3 months of this routine. Those pants that had got a little, OK! Maybe alot tight after marriage, seemed to fit like they used too.
So, up until now, I didn't spread this around because, well hey, I didn't believe it. Yet maybe Favian was right. After all, in his younger days he was pretty thin.