I haven’t been riding for the last three weeks before traveling so my bikes were parked for a month and a half. I called up TriStar to pickup Robo and Pyro to give them a quick check and to charge their batteries overnight. I thought they might be busy since riding season is coming up soon. They called me back up the next morning since I called at night and sent the driver that day to pick up both bikes.
They brought back both bikes ready and kicking, they have a check list which is important checking on a motorcycles vitals.
The List:
- Tire Pressure
- Oil Levels
- Coolant Levels
- Adjust Chain tension and lubricate (K1200R doesn’t have chain)
- Charge Battery
There service is always good, and its nice to see the boys back in shape and I will be riding soon again. I won’t be riding to work any more since there no longer is a half Thursday and I’m happy I get to ride a more and also get to sleep in a bit as well. I missed riding both these machines, and I thought how they would be different to ride in the highways of California but I don’t know when that would happen and if that would happen. It would be nice to ride these machines in the cold weather again.
During the early morning and afternoons I would go riding, and one afternoon just after having lunch with my friends I decided to head up to San Francisco to take the long sweeping highways and then enjoying the ride inside the city. The route being shown is only my riding inside the city across the Golden Gate Bridge. The best part was crossing the bridge and getting a very cool breeze and heading into Sausalito. Usually I go to the more curvy roads in the area such the 9, 35, and Alpine but this time I just felt like going to the city. There is something very different about San Francisco and I enjoy going there, the great part is the amount of motorcycle parking available. Then on the way back I stopped at my friend’s restaurant to get a quick bite and wait for him to finish his shift at the restuarant then we headed back down south. And as we sort of raced each other for the next 40 minutes of riding.
So a little while back my 05 Yamaha R1 was stolen from the apartment complex and since then I have moved the bikes to my friend’s house. You really don’t think that something of yours could ever be stolen until it is. So I received the insurance cheque in the mail in July, insurance companies do take their time.
So as soon as I got the cheque I asked my friend to go to San Jose Yamaha and get another 07 Yamaha R1. He told me what color I told him surprise me, he is the friend who is getting married and his engagement was in Egypt. I told him not to send me any pictures I just asked him to break in the bike by the time I get there. And it was just broken in by the time I got there at 570 miles for the first service. As soon as I took that machine I noticed how much of monster it is, he got it in Gun Metal Grey which is really nice. Its looks black at night and a very nice shade of grey during the day. This quite a different machine then the 05 R1 but like that bike it needs a little tweaking at the bottom to get it off the line faster. The crazy part is how powerful it is, if you give it full throttle at mid range you have to hold on for your life since its got a lot more top end power. Also another new modification is that it has more stability at high speed which is great, and even sharper at turns then before.
Ducati has now released the nutiest machine of their line at this point, the only similarity it has with any other in the Ducati line is the Multistradas engine. And that engine has been modified to suit the punchy power that has been asked of this machine. Its a very light and nimble machine which you can have a fun filled day around every corner you can find. It has mirrors on the bar ends which are usable and can be folded when your traffic. This machine isn’t a supersport so it needs your input to do what you want it to do and it does it really well. With a 130 mph top speed, a very light clutch, perfect fuel ejection and perfectly smooth gearbox are at your control. There are two versions the normal Hypermotard 1100 and the Hypermotard 1100 S the difference is the suspension is modified aiming towards more track use, and the S version has the brakes of the 1098 which give it a major bite and ability to stop where you want. One thing is for sure when riding this machine you will have a wheelie overdose. Just take a look at the YouTube video.
Price: ₤ 7750/ ₤8995 for S
Link: YouTube
Link: WebBikeWorld
I think this machine was meant to be a joke but some how they made it. Even the idea of an electric motorcycle is something that I find repulsing, and I want to have a sit down with the Yamaha engineer and ask him what he was thinking. The point of motorcycle is to feel the engine rumble and feel the vibrations of the engine to get a feel for the soul of the machine, batteries don’t vibrate!
This machine packs some interesting features, it has a top speed of 19mph and can travel up to 40 miles. It can glow in the dark and has an iPod docking station which may lower the 40 mile range. I think it would be better off living as a toaster.
Link: Crave
I slept at 10:30pm to wake up at 6 am, to ride with vampire from early in the morning at his request. I dragged myself out of bed looking forward to riding with the new exhaust and tire. We met up and headed out to the Gulf Road for an early morning ride by the sea. The roads were 95% empty which was fantastic, and we just road all the way towards Kuwait University in Shuweikh.
Then we came back to the Gulf Road from Shuweikh and riding towards Salmiya. We turned Kuwait into one big curvy race track, vampire’s riding just keeps on improving. He has now gotten a really good feeling for his bike, and he was taking some very nice sweeping turns. I kept forgetting that Pyro is such a powerful bike and I need to decrease the twist of the throttle and we were enjoying the ride.
We got to Marina Crescent by 7:30 am and we were damn hungry and the only thing open at that time on a Friday is Johnny Rockets which I didn’t mind going to. As we sat down we decided to have a hearty meal, we had some chilli cheese fries, burgers, and milkshakes. It was a great feeling even after eating we continued our fun ride about Kuwait.
Towards the end we ended up on the 6th ring road heading towards the city down the Airport road. While we were riding I ran out of gas so I was thinking where the closest gas station is and so I had go to a gas station at that point, and that is when I lost vampire. While I filled up and headed back out I couldn’t find him, it turned out he went home but I continued riding for another hour before heading home.
Tristar came Tuesday and picked up Pyro for a few quick tune ups, they were promising to have Pyro back at the latest Thursday afternoon, aiming for Wednesday but that didn’t happen. I didn’t mind since they were always making an effort to get the bike to me in an effecient manner.
- They were installing the new tire from Zed Motor which cost a 110 KD, which is close to the price sold outside of Kuwait so I don’t mind.
- They are also installing a new start kit from the factory which is replaced under warranty and helps stop the bike from stalling. I haven’t had any issues since Tristar’s tune up so I have been happy riding Pyro.
Can’t wait to get on the road and hearing that exhaust roar.
As I was enjoying setting up the dual screen mount and installing Vista on my laptop my phone rang and Robo has arrived. It was one hell of an arrival, I walked outside and I heard the exhaust of the K1200R which sounded like music to my ears. They told me the issue that I was having was due to air bubbles in those hose which was causing the clutch to act up. They cleared up the issue, they bled the air out and they refilled it. Everything was running smoothly at that point. They fixed the bike really quickly which is great and everything is running smoothly.
That was the quickest service I have seen yet, since it was an upgrade and not a diagnostic run Tristar brought back Pyro in less then 24 hours, to be exact 23 hours. They picked up Pyro at 6:30pm on Tuesday with Robo and they dropped Pyro off on Wednesday at 5:40pm with a sexy tail. The first thing I did was to put on some gear and take him for a spin around the block.
The Termignoni is nothing short of amazing, and you feel an extra grunt in the middle which is perfect. I wasn’t expecting it to sound like that, it really has that rumble to it. Its fantastic, and I’m extatic about this upgrade, it took all the will power I had not to ride hard or for a distance since I’m still waiting for the new tire from Zed Motors.
After starting the engine this is what I felt “ ITS ALIVE!!! ”
Today was the first time I had to depart with both Robo and Pyro at the same time. Tristar came in the afternoon after I called them in the morning, two things to deal with, one is an issue and the other is an upgrade.
Robo has problem with the clutch being too stiff and it isn’t working right so that needs to be looked at and they told me when they would be doing that which I don’t mind.
Pyro is getting a full exhaust system upgrade and ECU upgrade to go with it, they have had the parts for the past week and a half. Whats crazy is how fast they will put it together, and it isn’t an easy install either it has lots of fasteners. They will bring back Robo by Wednesday evening, and I will have a before and after dyno chart to know the power of the full exhaust system which is great.
So I get Pyro back before the weekend but they will keep Robo for diagnosis!
