A lot has happened since I decided to hang up my tools, change careers and get into social work. It’s been 18 years since then. It wasn't by choice, but you just simply learn to deal with the cards that you are dealt. The last time I worked in the motorcycle industry my niece was a little over a year old, ( she is 18 years old now, first year in college ) .
Attending the Motorcycle Show in New York City this past weekend, I realized how easy is to pick up where I left off. For those of you who may not know, I grew up riding, dragracing and servicing bikes. Up until 1994, I ate, slept, breath, lived and loved motorcycles.
My love for motorcycles and my desire to expand my knowledge and become the best technician I could be is the reason I moved to the United States in 1983. My goal was to attend Motorcycle Mechanics Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, the premier motorcycle school in the nation. ( I graduated from MMI in 1986 ). Even though, in the last 18 years I haven’t been involved with anything related to bikes, I always had the itch to jump on a bike, pop a wheelie and do a few burn-outs. Motorcycle racing is addictive.
You can imagine the tons of flashback memories after spending time in Puerto Rico with most of my motorcycle friends on this last trip. It was only a matter of time before I caught the “motorcycle bug”. This time is official, I fell off the wagon.
Upon my return from Puerto Rico I decided to call my former employer in New York, to find out if they were attending the International Motorcycle Show. In the past, we'd always attended the three day show representing our dealership to introduce the new models. After the initial greetings and inquiries about family were exchanged, he asked, “when are you coming back?” I said, I like to visit... but will never live in New York again. Then he said, "I meant back to work for us again". I told him I have not fooled, ridden or serviced a bike since I left New York in 1994, he didn’t believe it. It is the same reaction I still get from friends in Puerto Rico when I tell them I don’t work on bikes anymore.
My former boss graciously included me on the list to represent the dealership at the motorcycle show and said, “well see you there, we have a lot of catching up to do".I thought that was a nice gesture (I was planning to attend anyway), but I am not surprised, we always had a great working relationship.
Motorcycles and motorcycling in general has changed, a lot. Today’s motorcycles are arguably faster and more comfortable machines compared to 1994, the last year I rode or wrenched on a bike.
How much have things changed? In the 70’s, my very first superbike, a Kawasaki H2 750 two stroke triple ( earned the most infamous nickname in motorcycle history, the widowmaker ) was a lot of bike. The original air cooled engine put out 72 bhp horsepower, which was enough to send you flying to 120 miles per hour while spewing clouds of oily blue smoke from its exhausts. It was the fastest production bike of its time, 12 seconds in the quarter mile at 120 miles per hour.
In dragracing, everyone wants to go faster. The new 2012 Kawasaki ZX-14r cranks out a remarkable 195 bhp horsepower at over 200 miles per hour. This is the fastest production motorcycle on the planet. And it runs 9.31 seconds in the quarter mile, ....without wheelie bars. This is the new undisputed quarter mile king, bar none.
I fell off the wagon, and it feels good. In fact, it feels so good that after all these years of being away from it, I am now shopping for a motorcycle.
Publicado por: Kofla Olivieri | 01/23/2012 en 07:00 p.m.