Motorcycles have always interested me, although I never quite got around to riding one until fairly recently. Some of my uncles rode when I was a kid, and when I was twelve one of them told me that he would give me his old Honda CB350 when I turned fourteen and was eligible to get a learner's permit. Well, that didn't end up working out for a variety of reasons, although it's probably a good thing that it didn't. When I think of some of the stupid things I did in my car as a teenager, I'm actually glad that I didn't start riding when I was so young.

My interest was piqued again in college when I needed a way to get from off-campus housing to class and work, but couldn't afford a car. One day I was walking home down a busy street when I heard a loud scraping noise coming from behind me. A motorcyclist had clipped the curb taking a left turn onto the street I was on, and by the time I looked over the bike was thrashing back and forth out of control. It landed on its side, crushing the rider's leg, and then it bounced towards me. I had to run to get out of its way, and once I got my wits about me, I ran over to help the rider in the street. I think that he ended up being OK outside of a badly broken leg, but at the time it seemed like it might be a sign that I should probably hold off on getting a bike myself.

For the next several years, riding a motorcycle was just one of those things that I figured I would do someday, but I somehow never got around to it. It wasn't until 2008 when I started dating my wife, a seasoned and enthusiastic rider, that I knew I would be riding soon. I began by taking the California MSF Basic Rider Course which I luckily passed the first time through. Then I took the written test at the DMV to get my M1 license, and shortly thereafter, I bought my first bike.

2003 KAWASAKI NINJA 500R

Buying your first motorcycle can be a bit tricky. You don't want to get something too powerful that will kill you in the first week, but you do want something that you won't outgrow too quickly. All I knew at first was that I wanted a sports bike. I soon ruled out all of the 250cc bikes because I weigh about 185 pounds and I figured they would be too slow. And I ruled out most of the 600cc bikes because they're just too fast for beginners. The Suzuki SV650 was one of the early contenders, but it was hard to find a used one for less than $3000, an arbitrary limit I set for my first bike. And for some reason I just didn't like the look of the SV's front fairing. This didn't leave many bikes to choose from except for the Suzuki GS500 and the Kawasaki Ninja 500R. The Suzuki is air-cooled, and I didn't want a bike that was hard to start on cold mornings, so I eventually settled on the 500R. I managed to find a used and cheap 2003 model with only 1800 miles on Craig's List, and its dark blue color was slightly less "jet-ski" looking than a lot of the other sport bikes being advertised. I've put about 1500 miles on it so far, and it's been a lot of fun, although I find I'm already wanting something a little faster. Once you get used to riding and know your limitations, it's sometimes nice to have the extra power to get out of dangerous situations. For the time being, though, the 500R is still more than adequate for my skill level.

TRIUMPH DAYTONA 675

I'm probably not going to get a new bike until I've put at least a couple thousand more miles on my Ninja, but when I do eventually upgrade, the Triumph Daytona 675 will be near the top of my wish list. It's an extremely good-looking bike, and its inline three cylinder engine gives it a very thin profile. It's also very fast. The main drawback with this bike is that it might be hard to find mechanics to work on it, and the nearest Triumph dealership isn't all that close. Other contenders would be either a used Yamaha R6S like the one my wife has or a Honda CBR600. These are also very nice-looking and fast bikes, and it might be a bit easier to go to Berkeley Honda Yamaha for maintenance. We'll see how I feel in a couple of thousand miles. :-)