Reunited!

Today I rescued this beauty from the icy slumber of winter storage:

This is my 2000 Suzuki SV650S. I bought it in 2008 and I've put at least 15000 miles on it during our time together. We've had wonderful riding experiences in five states and two countries. It has a 649cc 90° v-twin engine and Dunlop Sportmax Roadsmart tires. Since we've been together, I've upgraded it with Galfer Wave brake rotors, Napoleon Bar End Mirrors, a Gorilla security alarm, Trail Tech Vapor gauges, and a 2005 Kawasaki ZX-10R rear shock absorber. And the work hasn't ended. This season I plan to convert it over to more upright and back-friendly handlebars and remove the slightly more aggressively positioned clip-on bars.

For the last four months, my SV had been in storage in a facility on the outskirts of Philadelphia. This morning my cousin Nina and I loaded up into my Nissan Xterra and drove out to the storage unit. When I lifted the door and saw my bike sitting there covered and undisturbed, I felt like Marty McFly opening the cave where Doc Brown had hidden the DeLorean. It was like finding a lost treasure.

I rolled it out into the sunlight to install the battery and see if I could get it started. It took a little while, about five or six minutes, but I finally choked and gassed it to life. It sounded better than I remembered. When I first got into motorcycles I was initially drawn to the sound of an inline four. But now the sound of a high performance v-twin engine does it for me every single time.

After we let it warm up for 10 minutes or so, I put on my riding gear and hit the road towards home. And even though the temperature must not have been much over 40° it was a magnificent feeling to be back on my bike again. I can't get away from the pleasure I feel when I am a part of the environment through which I'm traveling rather than passively observing it from the confinement of an automobile. When I got home, my fingers were stinging with pain and my nose was running faster than Usain Bolt. And I had loved every minute of it.

Get ready. You can be sure more motorcycling blogs will be coming soon. C'mon spring!

peace.