Moto

Every year, usually more than once, I set out on one of my favorite day rides.  The route scenery is a mix of dry desert plateau’s and mountain forests wandering through south-central Washington and from where I come from to get here, starts just outside of Mabton.

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Surfing I found a review of the Zero S electric motorcycle over on engadget.com.  Here’s a pic:

(photo via engadget.com)

Hmm…. looks fun huh?  Does it wheelie?  Probably since from the description it’s a torquey little bastard.  But what struck me from the review was this:

Like most great bikes the motor is fully exposed for you to gaze at appreciatively, but unlike most great bikes this one is so small it sits down between the pivot points for the rear swingarm, with a sprocket directly attached that turns the drive chain.

I can relate.  I’m a bit partial to naked bikes.  But if electric motorcycles - or some variation - someday become more common than what we have today, I gotta wonder what the tire kicking conversations will be like then.  ‘That’s some motor their Jim… how many volts?’.  And will we look back at our gas powered bikes whimsically remembering the joy and hours of maintenance?

I dunno, but if these ever become practical enough (to afford) I might be in.

Ive been riding motorcycles a long time but it’s only in the last four years that I’ve had a bike I would consider something worthy of riding an actual race course.  In fact, most of the motorcycles I’ve owned would scare the crap out of me to ride through any seriously sharp corner at a high rate of speed.  My old Honda 750 Four’s frame would have been wobbling around and the monstrosities of it’s cartoonish exhaust system would have been flinging sparks around every bend (if I even had the nerve to lean it that far).

But it’s not that my Yamaha FZ-1 is exactly a track bike.  In fact, I’m pretty sure that the FZ-1 is most happy canyon carving than on the crazy assed corners of the Northwest’s newest track; Oregon Raceway Park (ORP).  But it was no slouch either.

And while the bike probably would have a much harsher critique for this rider’s ability at ORP, this rider thinks he probably picked the wrong track for his first track day.  Full of elevation changes, blind corners and even more blinding dust (the track is still somewhat a construction zone), combined with a whole f-ing lot of riders, ORP proved to be, at least for me… chaos!

It’s a bit humbling being in a pack of bikes and their maniac riders.  Unlike the backroads where when riding in groups, nobody is jockying for position and the buffer zone between you and the next rider is respected.  Despite the relative safety rules on the track, respect is something you don’t really get.  Fortunately, this newbee to the track world took his time, picked his battles carefully and safely brought him and his bike home without any uneccesary extra “experience”.

All in all it was a great experience.  ORP has a way to go but the track has much potential once facilities are available and improvments are made (and they are being made).  But my next track day will definitely be on a weekday with less crowds and more room to get comfortable in that riding environment.