Yesterday afternoon, after delivering my previous bike to my friend, Old Bopper, Mr. H and I decided to take the Fizzer for a spin.
I'm used to riding with him on the back of his Honda ST1300. Big seat for me and a sissy bar (back rest). Do you see anything like that in the above picture? I haven't held on to him that tightly in quite a while.
We went up to Lucedale to the old WalMart parking lot and I actually rode my bike for the first time. The height of the bike is really only an issue when getting it up from the side stand. One really does need 2 feet on the ground for that. Being very careful, I managed to stand it up. I took off under my own power!
The first thing I noticed was that I couldn't find the foot pegs!! My Rebel was rather cruiser-ish, with the pegs out front (think of a straight-line down from elbows with arms in riding position). This bike is more sporty, with the pegs much farther back (almost straight down from my hips.) Once I located the pegs, and correspondingly, the shifter, I was off to the races (so to speak).
The next thing I noticed was how easy it was to change gears. I struggled with changing gears on the Rebel. I thought maybe my foot just wasn't strong enough to raise that shifter lever. Not so with the Fizzer! It just took a slight flick of the toes and there you are in 2nd and then 3rd. I could feel the large smile on my face spreading!
I made several trips around the empty part of the lot, avoiding the gravely bits and the occasional pothole. When I came back up to Mr. H and stopped, I didn't even realize that I had just put my left foot down flat and kept the right on the peg with the brake. I thought that was something I was going to have to work at!
When he saw that I wasn't having much difficulty, Mr. H offered to head back to the house and get his Honda, so we could ride the roads a bit. My next pass around the parking lot led us to re-think that idea! I came around in a wide circle and decided to do a quick stop in front of Mr. H. I made the stop, but apparently didn't have something under control and the bike went slowly over. The only thing you can do is let it go. I rolled out of the way and picked myself up laughing.
I do need to work on being able to pick it back up when it happens again. It may not happen soon, but it will happen. And if that lady in the link can pick up a Harley, I should be able to manage the lighter Fizzer.
Well, that's about it for the first day's adventures. I'll keep you posted.
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