I have to be honest: when they told me this was the model of the motorcycle they wanted to loan me I immediately looked it up on Kawasaki.com. My initial reaction to this bike was kinda eh. I didn’t like how the bike seemed to be mash-up of a sport bike and a cruiser with the rear fender so high off of the wheel. I also didn’t really like shape of the seat or the front wheel.

But I will say that I was pleasantly surprised when I laid my own eyes on it. It is much better looking in person. Perhaps I was dazzled by the gorgeous red paint…(just kidding!) Sometimes just looking at photos of a bike (especially online) don’t do it justice.

Right now I’m going to take the time to post some of the specs here (pulled from Kawasaki’s website) and highlight, in my opinion, what I believe to be some of the nicer features of this motorcycle.

Engine:

• 903cc V-twin SOHC
• Gear-driven balancer allows use of single pin crankshaft without heavy vibration

-This is very true. There is minimal vibration and that contributes to a nice, smooth ride. It’s smooth like “buttah!”

Electronic Fuel Injection:

• Dual throttle bodies with sub throttles provide optimum performance and rideability

-what this means to me is: no choke! It’s great to be able to start the bike up cold and not have to worry about warming it up to go.

Dual Slash-Cut Mufflers:

• The mufflers are angled so that they look good when the bike is on it’s side stand
• Include honeycomb catalyzers to help reduce emissions

-They do look good, but they are very quiet. Almost too quiet. But if you’re a “green” person and care about things like emissions, then this is definitely a benefit!

Belt Drive:

• Lower unsprung weight than shaft drive to improve ride quality and suspension action
• More efficient so more power reaches the rear wheel
• Low maintenance and low noise

-All three of these features appeal to me. The less maintenance and the more power, the better.

Custom Cast 21 in. Front Wheel:

• Arranged in pairs, the wheel’s 18 “spokes” were designed by hand
• Tapered and flanged in two directions, every line and surface of each 3-D spoke is exquisitely curved

-Basically, it looks nice. It’s also easier to clean than spoked wheels, which some people would appreciate. I know from experience that it’s a bitch to clean spoked wheels.

Cooling: Liquid

Rear Tire Size: 180/70-15

Wheelbase: 64.8 in.

Front Brake/Rear Brake: 300mm hydraulic disc/270mm hydraulic disc

Fuel Tank Capacity: 5.3 gal.

Low Stepped Seat:

• Ultra-low 27 in. seat height allows riders to easily plant both feet on the ground at stops

-Seat height is a huge deal for some women riders. I’m 5′7″ tall and I am lucky to say that I have no problem putting my feet flat on the ground when I’m on this motorcycle. I don’t know if I could say the same for a woman who is 5′5″ or under. I’m also not so sure how easily (if at all) this bike could be lowered-if so desired. I’ll have to do a little research.

Dry Weight: 549 lbs.- I was surprised to learn that this motorcycle is this heavy. It feels, and handles like it’s much lighter.

As promised, here’s a few pictures from yesterday when the Vulcan got dropped off to me!

This is Harold, who made a special trip fro NJ to MA to drop off this pretty machine.

And to give me paperwork to fill out and sign. There it is. The 2007 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Custom. Ain’t it purdy?

Before I took it out for a spin…

And here’s the video shot shortly thereafter:
I also want to thank Mr. Forrest Frazier for all of the support, photo and video work that he has done for this site!

When I started this blog back in April, I didn’t know what it had in store for me. I wasn’t sure if I could get traffic to this site. Didn’t know if anyone would be interested in what I had to say as a female biker. In the early months I even considered throwing in the towel because I wasn’t getting the amount of visitors I was hoping for. Everyone told me to stick with it and I agreed to do so for a year.

But recently there’s been a big difference in the performance of Rippin-Kitten.com. More and more people are coming to this site, linking to it and actually liking it. Hmm, maybe I don’t suck after all!

Earlier this month I received an email from someone I’ll call “Mr. White”, because that’s his name (hee hee). He said he worked for Kawasaki’s PR firm. He said he had read my blog and was wondering if I might be interested in riding and writing about the 2007 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Custom. He said he had a red one. He said it was in NYC and that they would have it shipped to me. He said I could have it for a couple of weeks. All I would have to do is ride it and write about it-no strings attached.

Wanna know what I said?

[insert sarcasm]

ARE YOU SERIOUS?

[end sarcasm]

I was absolutely positive that it was a big, fat joke. That Mr. White was some kind a scam artist looking for a sucker, and that sucker was ME. But I did a little research and it turned out that Mr. White was actually Greg White (you may know him from Speed TV) and the company that Mr. White worked for was legitimate and down with the blogging community.

And they were going to give me a motorcycle to ride and write about.

A week went by and I hadn’t heard from Mr. White. I figured that perhaps he was having some trouble convincing Kawasaki to give a shiny, new motorcycle to some chick with a blog. And I wasn’t surprised. I was just flattered to even be asked.

Another week went by when I discovered that I had a voice mail…from Mr White. I promptly called him back and much to my surprise he got approval to have that shiny, new red 2007 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Custom shipped to me.

Guess what I got today? That’s right…..

More pics, vids and my first impressions tomorrow.

I barely go to the movies anymore. I have a Netflix subscription and movies come to dvd so quickly these days that I don’t mind the wait. When I saw trailers for Wild Hogs on tv back in March, I knew deep down in my soul that it wasn’t going to be a good movie.

I just knew it.

But on every motorcycle site or forum I went to everyone kept saying that they saw it and liked it. And it was one of the top movies when it came out. So, I added it to my Netflix queue and watched it this past weekend. Now, clearly I am not the demographic for this movie. I’m not a middle-aged man with a mid-life crisis. But 10 minutes into the movie I was already groaning, loudly, at how bad it was. And I couldn’t believe all of the actors that were in this piece of crap, who had shown promise back in their hey-day: Ray Liotta, Marisa Tomei, Jill Hennessy and…Peter Fonda?

I somehow stuck it out until the end, and I’m glad I did because the bits playing with the end credits were the best part of this crappy flick. Usually the bloopers are funnier than the movie, so here they are for your viewing pleasure. Unfortunately, they’re only mildly funny.

Friday’s ride to Maine was nothing short of perfect. We left Salem in the morning, around 10:30-ish. The weather was perfect for riding. It was a little bit warm, but when the bike was moving it was very comfortable.

The left photo is the story of my poor husband’s life: forever waiting for me while I get ready. Right: getting ready to take off. Behind me you can see the historical actors setting up for their witch trial re-enactments.

Like I mentioned before, we planned on avoiding highways and took a leisurely ride north up Rte. 1A. That took us all along the eastern coast and it was really gorgeous.

We got stuck at a bridge somewhere in Newburyport and took a moment to take photos of the boats. About a mile after that, one of my tail lights decided it wanted to fall off. So, I took the opportunity to take some goofy pics of myself while it was being put back on.

It was difficult to take pictures along the way because we got so caught up in the ride. We’d go past a picture-perfect farm with a tractor parked on a hill and horsies outside grazing and I’d think: wow, that’s awesome. I really should take a picture of that…oh, I’ll get it on the way back.

From left to right: stopping in front of “Kittens” gentlemen’s club in Salisbury. (Get it, “kittens/Rippin-Kitten”…yeah, it’s a stretch.) A quick shot while riding down the strip. And lastly, stopping off on the boardwalk at Salisbury Beach.

It took us about an hour to hit the New Hampshire border, where we promptly ditched our helmets (don’t tell my mom!). I know it’s not safe to ride without a helmet, but it’s so completely liberating to ride without one. We made a pit stop on the Hampton Beach boardwalk to grab a bottle of water and I jealously eyed everyone that was playing on the beach, wishing that I could lounge there among them.

Onward, we pushed up the coast through Rye where the beach wind coming off of the water was refreshing, to say the least. Two hours into the ride we hit Portsmouth center, which is one of my favorite little towns, and shortly after that entered Kittery, Maine-home of many retail outlets (a shopper’s dream!).

Once in Maine, we rode through York and Cape Neddick (home of Nubble Light). One of the most distinctive things about riding through any NE beach community in the summer is the smell of fried clams in the air. It’s probably one of the most artery clogging things any person can eat, but they’re so unbelievably good! I haven’t treated myself to them yet this summer, but I will soon.

The rest of the road up to Ogunquit was through wooded, hilly and twisty roads with little pieces of settled areas sprinkled through out. We finally hit Ogunquit center, which was buzzing with tourists, about three hours after we left. We were hot, thirsty and well ready for some lunch. And we were almost at our destination.

So, why the day trip to Ogunquit?

To visit these two little munchkins who were vacationing there!

These little heartbreakers are my niece, Gianna and my nephew, Domenic (who was making motorcycle noises when we took this picture). We drove all the way to Maine just to have some lunch with them. And of course, all they wanted to do was climb all over our motorcycles! And in my opinion, definitely worth the trip.

 

 

 

Can’t spend a lot of time blogging today. I finally have a day off and I’m taking a break from working on the new house to ride up to Ogunquit, Maine for the day. According to Google maps it’s only 59.3 miles and would take an an hour and thirteen minutes.

But that’s if we take the highway. And when you’re on a motorcycle we all know it’s about the ride, not the destination.

Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything.

Charles Kuralt

Today’s plan is to ride back roads from here, up through New Hampshire and into Maine. We’ll be taking pictures along the way and hopefully can take some time to hit the beach for a bit.

The weather has been unseasonably chilly here in New England the past few days, but today promises to be nice and steamy! OK, I’d love to chat more but I’ve got to get ready!

First off, I’d like to say that I’m a very good driver. And I don’t mean in the Rainman sense either. I really know how to handle both my bike and my car. With that being said, let’s talk about motorcycle insurance and the scam that it is in relationship to automobile insurance (another uber-scam).

A few years back I was caught going through a stop sign in a Dukes of Hazzard-type scheme. I was on one of those hills where you have to pull a few feet past the stop sign to see the oncoming traffic. Even though I was going 2 mph, I still got a ticket. Fast forward 6 years and the ticket finally falls off my record. Since I just moved I figured I go and change my insurance agent (because my current agency is too far away and their customer service blows).

There is a company right by my house. I went in and met with some of the people, who seemed to be nice and on the level. They walked me through the options of what I need for insurance and how much, you know, all that fun stuff.

Now let me tell you how bad my state of Massachusetts is when it comes to insurance:

• there is no competition here so you pay the same no matter what insurance company you go with
• unlike auto insurance, when you insure a motorcycle you have to pay into “personal injury protection” but if you ever get injured you can’t collect anything
• no multiple vehicle discounts - if you have a car and a motorcycle you don’t save anything
• no seasonal discounts - I ride from about March/April to November-ish (depending on snow) but pay the same to insure the motorcycle for 6 months or a year
• no discount for alarms - not that I have an alarm on my bike, but I do on my car and get a discount for that

So what’s the deal?

In Massachusetts we pay more for insurance that any other state and from the looks of it, I get less if an incident ever were to happen. I talked to some people in Laconia this year who pay about $400 to insure a Heritage Softail for the year, which is about 1/2 of what I pay. As of now I am getting a safe driver discount and have no points on my license.

So why am I getting screwed?

I’m guessing that it’s part of the Mass state theory of knowing what’s best for me. But come on people I am subjected to ads for Progressive, Esurance and those cavemen guys, why not let me buy that insurance? AND….to go to one of those sites and try to get a quote, if you enter MA as the state you’re from, they boot you right out of the page.

I know this is a bit soap-boxy, but lets be real. My bike costs 1/4 what my car does and I ride it 3 months less than my car. Why should my insurance be almost the same?

I found this video of Brigitte Bardot a few months ago when I was looking for motorcycle videos to post on Tuesdays. I thought it was cute and campy, and let’s face it, who wouldn’t mind watching beautiful Brigitte singing in French around a shiny motorcycle?

Well, apparently I wasn’t the only one: Cyril Huze beat me to it and posted the same video on his blog a few days ago! Oh well, those are the hazards of blogging in a niche. I guess great minds really do think alike…

Enjoy!

In the recent years, I’d be remiss not to mention how important social networking sites have become to the average internet dweller. Sites like: Facebook, Friendster and MySpace are just a few of many and while they have a reputation for being skewed towards a younger demographic, the truth is that these sites are open to everyone of all ages.

When I wondered if there was a “MySpace for bikers” imagine my delight when I found a site called Bikerworlds.

Bikerworlds has been up for less than a year and boasts about 10,000 members. It offers a site chock full ‘o forums, groups to join, classifieds, polls, videos, galleries and ridelogs. One of the things they’ve really focused on is to make the community friendly and open to female motorcyclists.I created my profile back in April and I have to say that there’s barely a day that goes by that one of my BW pals doesn’t send me a friendly message.While the basic functionality of Bikerworlds is very similar to MySpace, it is different enough to set itself apart.

“Larry” is a cuddly, bad-ass of a teddy bear and the public face of the site. He has his own profile and when you join the site he is your first friend (and as I write this Larry is up to 5600 friends, give or take a few!). A sense of community is important to a lot of people, especially online and especially with bikers. They are a group often stereotyped, misinterpreted and undervalued. Their seemingly rough exterior actually houses extreme generosity and kind hearts.When I started this blog my intent was (and still is) to foster a sense of community among young women riders. While I enjoy the social networking sites, nothing beats the freedom of your own site to express your own views. There is such a good feeling when your tooling along some back road and you get that little wave from a fellow biker. This is my wave to my fellow online bikers.

I just read an article about a guy who made a monocycle and it reminded me of a TV show I saw, I think it was a Biker Build-off. Billy Lane, who some of you may be familiar with, is a custom bike builder out of Melborne, Florida. He also has a mechanical engineering degree and a few years back put it to good use by building a hub-less wheel. The hub-less wheel found it’s way on to his bike, the “Psycho Billy Cadillac.”

(photo grabbed from Choppers Inc. and Copyright Choppers Inc.)

I realize that this is not a big deal. I just thought it was funny that technology invented in the latter part of the 1800’s is now cutting edge. The monocycle is nothing more than a larger version of Billy’s hub-less wheel. Billy, by his own admission, had the plans for years and gives credit to the original inventor. It just happened that he was able to take the concept and hammer it out to make a working prototype for a bike.