Riding Season is Around the Corner

Riding season is around the corner, hell, it’s begun, which means one thing. I’m super excited to be able to wake up, gear up, and take my bike out instead of my car, not that I hate my car or anything. It’s just that four grueling months of waiting and waiting for warmer temperatures is enough, and although I’ve gotten a few rides in here and there within that time, they’ve been forgettable and borderline dreary due to the cold.
So, what is it that I’m looking forward to the most? A lot of riders look forward to that man and machine bond, or the solidarity and isolation riding provides by disconnecting the rider from their phones and social media, simply because it’s hilariously stupid to attempt using a phone when riding. These are all things that I enjoy and value deeply about riding, but at the time of writing, the one thing I’m anticipating the most is the ability to haul ass past the 99% of cars I come across on a daily basis with a flick of the wrist, and watch as they become increasingly smaller in my rear view mirrors. My BRZ has cost me too much time and frustration trundling alongside or behind inept drivers, simply because I was not able to exploit overtaking opportunities because of its lack of power. With my Fireblade, I think of overtaking, and the ease with which that thought becomes a reality is unbelievable and intoxicating. Cars and traffic (read “danger to me”) are dispatched instantly. Is it a feeling of dominance which I desire and my bike fulfills? Eh, not to my knowledge, and besides, what dominance is there to speak of? My bike and I are a fraction of the size and weight of cars and if anything, us riders live in fear of the four-wheeled vehicles. I love the image, the noise, and the excitement which pumps through me every time I wind open the throttle and surge off into the horizon. Even more simply put, it fills a large void my BRZ leaves me with. The need for speed.

Comments

What I Love About My Subaru BRZ

E verything. The End. No, but really. I love everything about the car. But that’s not the end of it. It doesn’t mean there aren’t certain things which I like more than others. For example, the steering. I love the steering. Everything from the tactual feel of the wheel itself to the feedback I get when I turn it. To me, it feels just right. It doesn’t feel artificially weighted, nor is it one-finger twirlable (yes, that’s a word starting now). I love it more than I love the engine, but it doesn’t mean the engine is bad. It took a bit of time to accept the fact that it has no low-end torque. I’ll never be able to rip through the gears like I used to in my Z28, but use the FA20 boxer engine right, and in the BRZ’s lightweight body, it’s just about acceptable. The fact that it makes all of its power right before redline is exciting. Get it above 5k rpm’s and the car pulls harder and harder until the shift ...

The Pontiac Solstice GXP - Underrated and Gone Forever

T he Pontiac Solstice GXP, right…where do I start? Well, it’s a small, two-seater sports car, and it looks a lot worse than its face transplanted sister, the Saturn Sky Redline. Both cars are essentially the same, though, because the only difference between the two is in the looks department, so reviewing the Solstice GXP indirectly reviews the Sky Redline. The basic shapes of the two, though, are identical. Short stubby rear, short wheelbase, and a long nose. In a way, these two sports cars were GM’s final effort in increasing sales for its two long-time declining branches, Pontiac and Saturn. Obviously - as neither of the two companies exists any longer - GM’s attempt came up short, but it was a valiant effort. As my friend and I approach the car for the first time, we are very skeptical. I have seen many of these cars on the roads, and yes, obviously, they look sporty, but never have I seen one being driven with much gusto. In fact, the majority are owned by mid-agers. So, it...

Why a Car Enthusiast Should Like Motorcycles

C ars and motorcycles, they really couldn't be any more different from one another. Apples and oranges, cats and dogs, men and women, are all things which are similarly dissimilar. So why bother and ask the question why a car enthusiast should, or would, like a motorcycle? The obvious answer for many of you would be that there are no reasons since the two are so contrasting. However, being a huge car enthusiast and also an avid motorcycle rider myself, I've come to a realization as to why I love bikes. We’re in a time where all classes of cars have been injected with steroids. A time where a grandmother’s sedan can have more power than a Ferrari of yesteryear. This has made it more and more difficult for enthusiasts to exploit the limits of their cars to have fun. If they were to, they’d either be sentenced to death for excessive speeding, or they’d instantaneously crash their cars, because the majority of drivers aren’t Ken Block. So, to tame all of those steroid-enhance...

C4Rworld

Search This Blog