Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
Sat, 01 Dec 2007
I just got back from the Seattle Motorcycle Show, and figured I'd write up the interesting stuff.
 It's huge! |
 I don't know what he's looking at |
 2008 Ninja 250 instrument panel |
Jesse and I rode down together. There was a forecast for snow, but it didn't look like it'd really happen, and we got down to the exhibition center without incident. We went in, and almost immediately met some of Jesse's friends near the front door. I went to drop off my riding gear at the gear check, and caught up with them a few minutes later.
 My old (2001) Ninja 250 |
 Me on the new (2008) Ninja 250 |
My primary goal for this show was to see the new Ninja 250. If you're not familiar with it, the Ninja 250 is a bike that was originally designed in the late eighties, and had literally not been touched since then, except for paint. That changed this year, when they finally announced a newer version for 2008. It was a really big deal in the Ninja 250 community, since some people figured they'd never change it, just removing it from the lineup if they made any change, and others excitedly whispered rumors every year, "I hear they're going to change the 250 this year! Should I hold off for the new model year?"
So, they finally did it. The bike now looks like any other modern sport bike, although if you look closely, it's got little differences. There's only one front brake (most bigger bikes have two); the rear tire's awfully skinny; the forks look kind of spindly. Little stuff like that. But the overall effect of the new styling is that it's very modern looking.
I had brought my camera, to take pictures of it, only I couldn't really get a clear shot. There was always a little crowd around the bike -- it was surprisingly popular. Lots of people were sitting on it, and making comments like, "Oh, it's actually comfortable, my hands aren't down by my knees!" or "Hey, you can flat-foot it!" With the new styling (and it's really only styling, with the frame and most major components remaining very nearly the same as the older model), it's newly attractive, but hasn't lost a lot of the good stuff from the older version.
 Crowd |
 Crowd |
 Crowd |
I did eventually get some pictures. I focused on the "Kawasaki Green" model because I figured it was the only one they brought. I found Jesse a moment later, and asked him to take a picture of me with my new bike (although I won't be getting one -- I like the 2006 model I already have too much). Then I realized he was standing in front of a red Ninja 250. And hey, there was a black one over there! When I finally moved on, I even saw that they'd put a blue Ninja 250 in their elevated podium, an honor only shared by their ZX-6R, one of the 600cc supersport bikes that's redesigned every two years. Kawasaki are taking this Ninja 250 thing much more seriously than I had expected them to.
I wandered on, but I wasn't much interested in any of the other big displays. Happening idly past the Honda display, my eye was caught by a strangely familiar bike. After a moment, I realized it was a Nighthawk 250, and went over to take some pictures. The Nighthawk 250 is, at least in theory, a contender with the Ninja 250, but you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who's actually ridden both who'd agree with that sentiment. They're vastly different bikes, with the Nighthawk losing on almost every important point.
 2008 Nighthawk 250 |
 1972 CL175 |
So, why was it strangely familiar? It looked a lot like the CL175 I've been working on. That is to say, the 1972 Honda CL175 I have, and the 2008 Honda Nighthawk 250 (aka CB250) share a striking resemblance in some important details. Put another way, Honda is still hawking the same technology in 2008 that they were in 1972. That's 36 years, and none too flattering on Honda. Drum brakes: the 72 bike has better drum brakes in front than the 08 bike does, with a larger drum and double leading shoes vs. what appears to be a single leading shoe. Frame: I actually suspect I could pull the engine out of the CL175 and it would fit into the CB250 frame. They're that similar. The engine looked nearly identical. The major improvement I spotted was that the clutch engagement lever on the engine is now mounted out where it's easy to get to. To be fair, the CL175 has an excellent engine, pulling strongly even in a 35 year old example, so that wasn't necessarily a bad choice on Honda's part.
 2008 front brake |
 1972 front brake |
 2008 rear brake |
 1972 rear brake |
Still, there was an air of surreality as I took close-up pictures of this new-production bike that shared so many elements with a motorcycle that's older than I am.
I wandered away, shaking my head at Honda's insistence on selling this bike, still for more money than the refreshed and newly more expensive Ninja 250.
I wandered the aisles of glitz and glamor for a while, and was considering leaving when I noticed the "Extra exhibits" banner hanging near the back. I headed back, and discovered what I'd been looking for: all the small booths. I wanted to check in with Seattle Cycle Center to see if they had any swingarm spools, since I want to add them to the CL175 for racing.
I got to the SCC booth, and looked around. Didn't look likely, they really only had bigger stuff there, clothing and luggage and helmets. I was about to wander on when my eye was caught by a stand supporting a variety of leather racing suits. Hmm! I'd be needing a racing suit, and had already determined that they carried one I'd like. I examined their selection.
 Racing suits! |
 $100 off racing suits! |
One of the sales vultures swooped down on me as soon as I'd rested my eyes on the suits for more than 5 seconds. "Can I help you with anything?"
"Yes," I said, my eye still on the Power Rangers looking thing in front of me, "I'd like to try on one of these suits."
"No problem, just give me your license, and I'll hold that while you try it on."
"Even though I have to get down to my skivvies?"
"Yep, there's a bathroom just over there. Don't forget to collect your license when you get back, I've had more than one person accidentally leave theirs with me."
So I grabbed the suit in the most likely size, and headed for the bathroom. I ended up having to wait about 10 minutes before the one large stall was free. I ducked in, and was quickly kitted out in the finest superhero suit money can buy, but it was too tight. A problem I never thought I'd have cropped up: I'm too muscular. The thighs of that particular size suit were too small for my bikey legs. Weird. It happened that it was also too short in the arms, and a little too small in the torso, so I peeled it off, and went back.
I was able to get the special deal ($100 off) on an ordered suit as well as what they had in stock, so I ordered the next size up (having already tried on the size beyond that and finding it too large) in silver, which looks like the color scheme least likely to absolutely bake me in the summer sun. It was expensive, but nowhere near what I'd feared: I figured a quality suit would run me $800-1200 dollars, but this was only $460 after tax. What a deal.
I tried to think if there was anything else I had to have, and decided there wasn't, so I kept up my circuit of the small booths. Lots of cruiser stuff, lots of "custom bike" stuff, with showy paint jobs and massively wide rear tires, but nothing that particularly appealed to me.
I made my way upstairs, past the rows of show bikes. There were some interesting ones, but one of the most interesting was a 125cc city bike with an ornate sidecar attached, apparently a common sight in the Phillipenes. I also spotted a motorcycle simulator that actually looked pretty cool at a Motorcycle Safety Foundation booth. I didn't stop long enough to try it out, though, since my feet were getting tired, and I was thinking about leaving.
 Suzuki 125cc with hand-built stainless steel sidecar |
 Sidecar view |
 MSF motorcycle simulator |
I went back downstairs, on my way to retrieve my riding gear, when my phone rang. It was Jesse, who'd found some exciting news about a helmet he mentioned a while ago: it used to be a Japan-only model, but they're actually going to start importing them next year. He'd been considering buying one from a Japanese Ebay seller, but hadn't quite made the decision a while ago. We agreed to meet up, and I found him a few minutes later.
I showed him the suit I'll be getting, and he was suitably (ahem) impressed. He wanted to find a jacket they'd had previously, to see if it was on sale. Following him, I spotted the back protectors (basically a fancy pad and system of interlocking plates to protect your spine in a fall -- also required by racing rules), and ended up getting the fanciest one they had.
My downfall, if it can be called that, when buying safety gear is that I only have to imagine the moment after I spring up from a fall, saying to myself, "Man, I'm glad I didn't get the el-cheapo [whatever]" and I find myself buying the best I can find. I guess, for the difference of $40, I'd rather get the best one. I'm sure the one I got (a Knox) isn't the best there is, but I also won't be riding at 180 MPH, so I don't need the super-duper racing version.
Business essentially concluded, I found Jesse, and we walked back to the gear check. I commented that I'd certainly spent my money -- I'd expected to maybe blow $20 on some swingarm spools, and ended up walking out with my wallet nearly $600 lighter between the suit, back protector, and subscription to the one motorcycle magazine I actually like (Motorcycle Consumer News). Still, it's all stuff I knew I was going to buy sooner or later, and it's usually cheaper at the show, so I ended up saving money on all of it. He was disappointed he hadn't spent any money -- all of the things he'd been looking for were either not there, or so close to the normal price as to be worth buying elsewhere.
We got to the gear check, and I retrieved my helmet and suit. Jesse tapped my shoulder, and pointed outside. It was snowing, hard.
 Snow! |
 Lots of snow! |
I'm sure you can imagine that on a motorcycle (or a bicycle, or even on two feet), any lack of traction can put you on the ground in a hurry. We'd both been concerned about the snow forecast, and it certainly came to pass. I bid Jesse farewell, and we headed to our bikes. Although it was snowing pretty hard, it wasn't sticking to the ground, so that was at least positive.
I clambered aboard my little mount (having ridden the Ninja 250 in to the show), and made my way out into the wide, white world.
The ride home was thankfully uneventful, but I spent a lot of time wiping the snow off my visor. As I passed the Seattle Cycle Center building on Aurora, I heard my name. I looked over, and spotted Ryan, one of the people who works there, and who must have been manning the store while most of its contents were down in South Seattle. I waved at him, and he held his arms out at me in a, "Whatta you doin'?!" gesture. I shrugged, then shouted back, "I had to go to the show!" He replied, "Be careful!" and I waved as I pulled away with traffic.
 That's the bike slipping sideways |
 Poor, snow-covered Ninja 250 |
 Poor, snow-covered Ian, making a weird face |
The final half block to my house was the only part of the road where I actually saw any snow sticking, so I clicked on my hazard blinkers (I'm really glad I made that modification) and rode very slowly down the darker tire track through the snow. I pulled in front of my garage very carefully, as the bike slid an inch sideways coming down off the asphalt and onto the gravel at the side of the road. When I got into the garage, I realized that there was snow caked onto my riding suit, and spent a minute or two shaking, jumping around, and generally spazzing, trying to get it all off. I ended up leaving the suit in the tub, as the only place in the house that was sufficiently waterproof to let it dry off.
As I write this, there's a good solid two inches of snow on the deck, and my tracks from coming in are almost gone. The weather's supposed to warm up by 20 degrees or something tomorrow, so as usual, the Seattle Snow will be gone within 24 hours. At least it's very pretty right now.
If you'd like to see the other pictures I took, hit up the gallery.
Posted at 16:21 permanent link category: /motorcycle
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater