Archilibra Journal

November 9, 2004 - Motorcycle Part 2

I am tangibly close to having a Japanese motorcycle license. I passed the written portion of the "US to Japanese" license conversion this morning (left). It was in English and was funny. One question was something along the lines of; "Should you stop for someone in a crosswalk? TRUE FALSE." It had a drawing of an old lady halfway across the street.

Next week I am scheduled to do a riding skills test. It should be interesting given that I won't be able to understand what it is that they are asking me to do. The test area (above) looks like a park, check out those trees.

I currently own no, gasp NO motorcycles and am developing a weird tic every time I hear one go by. I'm also developing a strange habit of lingering around bike parking lots in the evenings. I miss having personal transportation at my disposal. Although the public transportation system is exceptional, there is something to be said for piloting your own craft. I am looking forward to touring the countryside on a little rice burner.

I had been shopping for a used cbr250rr (10.14.04 motorcycle) thinking that I would ship it back to the states when we leave. Initially the process of shipping and registering seemed as though it would be straight forward and relatively inexpensive. However, following some research and two horror stories from people who tried to the do the exact same thing, I'm not so sure that I want to throw the dice. They painted a grim picture... In one case the process took 17.5 months and cost $5,500 (this does not include the cost of the bike). The other case is now in for 12 (+?) months, $4,000, and still no US registration.

If I don't ship the bike to the states, my other option is to sell the bike just before I leave. There is little or no man to man selling here so you are all but stuck selling it back to the dealer when you leave. I gather you will get only 20%-30% of the purchase price back. I'm pretty sure that I will go this route, so the cheaper the better - which rules out a cbr250rr. At this point my expectations are low and my main goal is to find something that looks like it will hold together for the 18 months that we are here.

All this shopping for bikes, and reining in my desires for the time being, has got me to thinking about what my ideal stable might look like.

Bike #1) A highly modified xr400 (maybe an XR600 or a klr600) for multi-day trips on Washington's plethora back roads. You can just about ride from Canada to Oregon without touching pavement. This bike might also serve as my daily commuter.

Bike #2) A 600cc track bike. Although a cbr600rr is my wet dream, and totally unnecessary for a man of my skills, I will continue to ride an f2 until my lottery winnings come through.

Bike #3) Last but not least, a Ducati 900ss for my road trip bike. It has to be between a '93 and '98 before they "updated" it. I used to own a '93. I always start to choke up when I think of the day I dropped her off with her new owner.