Flying time and life getting the better of you...

Wow! Seven months has passed since I last updated the blog. A good amount of motorbike related things have happened since then. Most of them have come in the last couple of months. I guess it is high time to pen up an update to get you fine readers up to speed. It may also help me make sense of where all my time went this year. Enjoy!

Since my last post was from sometime in April, I guess we should start the story from back in the spring. In February and March, I was taking the Cub out to pretend it was a dirt bike. I managed to get out a few times to the off-road riding area. I even met a bunch of other Cub enthusiasts just like me. Starting in April, the pandemic situation opened up a bit causing the roads to be more crowded. I was not enjoying the hour long drive to the off road site that was getting longer as people started to get out more. I started messing about with my bicycle to get in shape for dirt riding and to keep myself closer to home for a bit. In May this lead me to start skateboarding again. For about four months, while the summer heat and Olympics were happening, I was reliving me childhood skating days until I hurt my knee. While I was nursing my knee, the pandemic closed my local skatepark in September. This lead me to start playing with motorbikes again as a way to pass the time.

Yep, that is my XJR400R on the back of a truck. No isn't broken. In fact it was working and looking the best it ever had been. This is a truck from a local bike resale company that I sold the bike to back in Mid-September for right around $1,500 USD. I bought it back in November of 2019 for about $2,500. Over the course of our time together, I put it back to stock and spent around $900 on parts and pieces getting it ready for a bunch of fun that never happened. Some of that is down to the pandemic. Some is down to my work schedule. At first I thought about taking it back to the states with me. It is a 1996 and meets the 25 year rule for importing non-US homologated vehicles. In reality the bike does the same thing as my Yamaha FZ1 and I would be faced with keeping an aging bike on the road with no parts support available from my local dealer. In the end I haven't been riding it due to its high strung nature and the ridiculous low speed limits here in Japan. I decided to move it on and let someone else enjoy it.

The rep from the bike company had this nifty tool in his bag of tricks. My street is a one way street with one inlet and one outlet. It is very active an affords little room for a big truck to take my bike away. In the pic above you can see my bike parked with two others sideways on the back of the truck. The rep used this tool to move the back end of the bike around so that the XJR was parallel to the others on the truck. From experience I can tell you that the XJR is a heavy beast. Moving the bike into this position on the truck wouldn't have been possible without this little tool. I took a photo for possible use when I finally get a shop/garage back in my life and can play with my big boy tools to make one of my own.

All has not been rosy during this time. Unfortunately I have had my second motorcycle accident since getting back up on two wheels. Like my previous accident I was pretty lucky. I walked away with a bruise and about $20 worth of damage to my bike. The other driver has much more to repair on his car and the body work alone will probably cost a couple of times the value of my little Cub. I was coming home from work and going through an intersection. Since I was doing the Japanese version of lane sharing I entered the intersection on the left of the mini-van when he decided to turn left to avoid the traffic ahead of us. For a brief moment I thought I'd bounce off his door and keep it upright and then I found myself on my ass. After an hour of dealing with the Japanese police and the base security office liaison to file the appropriate reports I had to walk the bike home. The police officer said that since the turn signal was broken he couldn't let me drive. I only had about 500 m to get home, but it was a bit frustrating to have to push my bike home after greeting knocked over. The only real damage is the broken turn signal and some scratches on my top box. I fixed the signal and am riding again. I started this post a month ago and that was a couple of weeks past the accident and I am still waiting for my insurance company to work out an agreement with the driver's insurance company. Maybe in my next post I'll get into the details of dealing with a Japanese vehicle accident. Surprisingly it isn't much different from dealing with one in the States with some subtle differences that make it 'interesting'.

Right before the accident, I switched the off road tires back to street tread since I wasn't going off roading. One annoying side effect of the off road tires was the need to remove my front fender. During the rainy season they made for a fine spray of water right into my face shield. The dirt tires were also significantly heavier than these street tires which affected the Cub's acceleration and fuel economy. I kept the high pipe because I like the chrome trim. I went back to the junk yard and found this Cub specific wind screen for the princely sum of $7 US. I call this the Sport Touring Cub look. The pandemic situation has improved much here in Japan and the country is open to travel. I have silly ideas of circumnavigating the country via Cub and ferry. Unfortunately I am saving my vacation days for my upcoming military retirement. Weekend jaunts to explore the local area will have to do for now. Of course now that I've sold the XJR, I've been searching the auction sites for something else to buy. I have a soft spot for classic 80's and 90's Japanese sports bikes. They are very plentiful in Japan (who would have thought...?!) and getting one old enough to take back to the States is very tempting.

I can't promise I'll get back into a regular posting schedule. It took me a month to write this post after all. I am hoping some events will start up again. If I can I'll get out and document them. I have also been searching American Craigslist to see what treasures await my return. After I retire, I plan to completely revamp that way I earn money. Serving the country has been equal parts rewarding as it has been stressful and frustrating. Getting the chance to take a chance at something new is an opportunity others don't get and I plan to make the most of it. Hopefully you riders are getting out to ride. If so, ride safe and see you next time!

Mat