A New Rider for the Good Roads

Last summer I made this post about daughter Jenny wanting to learn to ride; http://thegoodroads.blogspot.com/2013/08/another-potential-rider.html.  She was serious.  She took the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) Basic Rider Course and got her license.  Then a friend loaned her a motorcycle, and a neighbor with a bike went with her on some rides from her house in San Francisco.  She asked me if I would help her find a bike of her own. 

I spent a lot of time looking on Craigslist and then one weekend Carolyn and I went to look at a couple of Kawasaki Ninja 250s, which I thought would be the perfect bike for her.  I used to own one before my current street bike, so I knew quite a bit about the bike.  It was hard to find one for sale that did not have a salvage title due to minor drops which broke the very expensive fairing.  I also had to find one with more than 7500 miles, so it could be registered in California without meeting CA smog requirements.  After a few false leads, we finally found this one at a car dealer, of all places:

It is a 2006 model, the next-to-last year they made these.  The bike was very clean, but had a somewhat clattery motor, which I thought was probably due to needing a valve adjustment.  It also needed a new front rotor and chain and sprockets.  We bought the bike and I proceeded to do a complete refurbishment on it.  Since I would not be able to work on it after we got it to Jenny, I needed to make sure everything was good to go. 

First order of business was a valve adjustment and spark plug replacement:

My motorcycle lift sure came in handy for this project.  Next, I replaced the fork oil and the front brake rotor and pads:

By this time I got the new chain and sprockets I ordered and installed those.  Here is a comparison of the old and new rear sprockets:

I also lubed and adjusted the clutch and throttle cables and put in new rear brake pads and new brake fluid front and rear.  I also changed the oil and filter, cleaned the oil screen in the engine sump, and balanced the carbs. 

After all this the engine was still too noisy.  I decided to check the cam chain tensioner and found these wear marks on the plunger:

 

I ordered a new cam chain tensioner and that solved the clatter problem.  The engine purred like a kitten. 

The next step was to get the bike down to Jenny in San Francisco.  I knew from experience with my Ninja 250 that it would fit in our Honda Odssey mini van if the fairings were removed and the van seats taken out.  I got it loaded and tied down:

 

We drove down to San Francisco last Thursday, and on Friday morning I put the fairings back on and then followed Jenny to the DMV to get it registered.  I did not look forward to this for a couple of reasons.  First, I knew dealing with the California DMV was usually an unpleasant experience, but mainly I was worried about the title transfer.  When we bought the bike from the dealer, we did not transfer the title but just got a bill of sale, because I didn't want to pay sales tax and license fees in Washington if I was not going to own the bike.  So my name was not on the Oregon title anywhere, but I did have the bill of sale. 

We got to the dreaded place:

 

And found the typical waiting line:

 

However, Jenny had made an appointment, so after we got the bike inspected, I parked it and went back inside to find Jen already waiting with a number to see a DMV agent and being chatted up by this guy.

 

Then we got to the agent, who turned out to be really friendly (she had only been working there for a month, so there is still some time for her to conform):

 

SUCCESS!  The title transfer and registration went really well and we even got the new license plate.  Much relief on both our parts. 

Up to this point, Jen had not ridden the bike, so we went back home and I rode it to a nearby parking lot for her to get acquainted:

 

 

 

Oh good! She liked it.  It has a much lower seat height than the dual sport bike she had been loaned, which is just what a newby needs  (Old guys too, it turns out).  The bike seems very proportionate to her size and she looks good on it.  I just needed to convince her the twin liked a lot more revs than she was used to with the single cylinder loaner and MSF bikes. 

The next day we went for a long ride.  She had never had to deal with a manual choke before (both the loaner and MSF bikes were fuel injected), so we went over choke operation on a cold start:

I brought along Carolyn's helmet so that we could use the intercom to chat while riding:

 

My ride was her loaner Yamaha XT 250.  It was a surprisingly nice bike and would easily keep up with traffic, even on the freeway.  (Granddaughter Adena in the background)

 

We ended up riding 230 miles on Saturday, including a stop at the famous Alice's Restaurant:

 

Note that volunteer maintenance sign on the left:

 

Alice's is a big biker hangout, like the Rock Store in Southern California.  Here is the scene across the street where we stopped:

 

We rode some really Good Roads and Jen did great.......not a threat to Valinteno Rossi in the curves yet, but she goes plenty fast on the highway and seems more used to traffic than I am.  After we got back to her house it was time to celebrate the ride with PBR and pretzels:

 

The next day we went for a shorter ride of about 100 miles up highway 1 to Point Reyes and then over to 101 to return to San Francisco.  I got this shot of Jen at the Golden Gate overlook:

 

That afternoon (Sunday), I rode the XT over to Oakland to return it to her friends.  She is going with them to Death Valley next weekend where she will ride the XT on some of the unpaved roads there.......another new motorcycling experience for her.  Should be fun. 

All the time Jen and I were riding, Carolyn was entertaining the grandkids.  They went to birthday parties, soccer games, and of course, shopping. 

Monday we drove the empty van home and had good weather all the way, as we had all weekend.  It was a great weekend and I loved the chance to ride with my daughter and help a new rider get started.