Grumpy, bitchy, but finally happy :) my first ride

I got my SR on Thursday evening and today I took the first ride. My friend was teaching me how to ride and explaining all the little things about a SR. (He used to ride a couple of SRs.)

Starting the engine.... Hmmm... This kick start thing that I wrote about before is.... difficult! But actually, it wasn't as difficult as I thought. It took me a while to start up, but I thought after I understand a little trick, I would be able to start it up a bit more smoothly.
Anyway, my first half part of the day was just starting up the bike many many times.
When I finally successfully started up and start the bike, the engine stalled. And I had to start up again. Well, this was because I'm not used to using a clutch and either I let it go too fast or there wasn't enough gas to keep it going. Well, I guess I just have to learn it. Each bike is little bit different and after the engine stalls for another 100 times, I will be an expert ;P

After doing my kick start practice (well by that time, I was already becoming quite grumpy... I get grumpy when I can't do things. .. And the worse thing is I get bitchy when I'm grumpy. Sorry my kind teacher ;D), I drove near my house for a while. And after I got little bit used to driving, we took off a little drive to Ueno. From Meguro, we passed YGP (my office ;) and got to Roppongi dori and circled around the imperial palace where my friend took some pictures of me and got to Ueno. I bought a couple of things for my bike and we drove back.
On that drive, hmm... not sure how many times the engine stalled.. :P probably about 5 times. Driving is easy but when I have to drive slowly and stop and start, it gets more difficult. The engine stalled a couple of times at the places I really hoped it wouldn't stall ;P like when I was about to take a right turn! And at that time I was quite tired, grumpy and bitchy! (you all should stay away from me :P)

After the hard right turn, we dropped by a key store as it seemed like my bike key wasn't perfect. I have to jiggle the key little bit to lock/unlock the handle bar. The owner of the shop came out and checked my key and bike and told us that it's not the key which is a problem but the cylinder side has a little problem. But it's not a big problem and with pushing the key little further makes it work and it won't hurt the bike even if I use the key that way. He said it is a little character of the bike. He used to have a SR and he liked it because it has some character -- like a human. And he was telling me about how he liked the vibration the SR's engine makes. I've read about people talking about similar things and I think the people who ride SRs are a bit similar to Mac users. If you see somebody using a Mac, you feel like that person is a part of your group. (obviously, I'm a Mac user ;) And I felt a similar feeling from the shop owner being very friendly and telling me about how great SRs are.

Anyway, overall, it was a happy drive :D
Well, when I first drove my Cub, it was similar. I thought I never ever be able to drive. Now I can drive my Cub with high heels on no problem. Maybe after a while, I will be able to drive my SR with pin heels on :-? (which I probably never wear anyway .. ;P)


I haven't come up with the name for my bike. Right now, he is called "Urushi" temporarily.