A couple weeks ago I bought my first motorcycle, a 1999 Kawasaki Vulcan 1500. Big thing, just big. I got my first lesson on it today and I did pretty good I think. I got the hang of the clutch and gas a lot quicker than I did with my first manual car. I stayed in first gear (we were in a school parking lot) but that was plenty for me, it will go 92 mph in first gear apparently.

Anybody else have any motorcycle stories, good or bad, to share?

Motorbikes aren't my thing, but have fun with your first lesson!

I have my first ever (car) driving lesson on Wednesday, heh.

I'm MUCH MUCH more of a car person, but I figure I'll give it a try and see if I fall in love with them like I have cars.

I went to the same place I learned to drive a manual car too. That parking lot is like a road course. I'll have to take some pics next time I go up there, it's FUN to fly around those curves at ~40 mph with your tires squealing!

Good luck with your car!

Motorcycles > Cars
my dad has 4 BMW's, and 4 small Trail 90 Honda's
Ride Defensive

Well, now I get to add a little to my story. I was out washing the bike a little bit ago and decided to fill the tank up at the gas station right at the front of my neighborhood, about 40 yards from my house. I gave it a little bit of gas and started letting out the clutch and as soon as it grabbed the bike took off like a shot. It's like the gas stuck open all the way or something, I was only giving it just enough gas to keep running. I didn't yet have my foot up on the brake because I wasn't SUPPOSED to be moving very fast at all. The only thing I could do was hit the front brake as hard as I could which is of course a bad thing. The bike got into the middle of the street and flopped over on it's side and slid with my leg caught underneath it. LOVELY. My neighbors helped me pick the bike up and we noticed that some coolant was leaking out. After looking it over we decided that it was coming from the overflow since I had just filled it. So my neighbor suggests that I take it down the street and back to make sure it's ok. Stupidly, I agree. Get on it, start it up, give it some gas and the same damn thing happens again. I give it the slightest amount of gas and it takes off all crazy-like. So, front brake once again. This time though, the bike's not stopping. So I jump off and throw it over in the middle of the road. I let it slide on itself this time. Well, because I wasn't acting as a cushion the side mirror and both turn signals on the right side are ripped off. That was all the damage I saw, I hope that's it. I decided that was enough for one day and the bike didn't REALLY need gas after all.

So now my left leg is hurting like hell from being twisted around about 90 degress and then having 700 pounds of motorcycle sliding on top of it for about 3 feet.

eep, look into Ebay for some parts

Yeah, I may have to do that. I'm going to have it looked at before I ride it again. I don't want the gas sticking open anymore.