First long City ride since I got my Vulcan

S

Spinner

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I am a new old guy who decided for my birdthday present to buy my self a motorcycle. I rode when I was 20 and gave it up after wife kids etc. Wife gave me permission this year to get one if I wanted. I spent months reading thinkg looking and almost spent my money on a new road bike until this baby came alsong.

I have bee riding road bikes 3 days a week mininnimu for pleaseure doing 50 to 70 km per ride, this is what gave me conficence to tackle a MC again. I knew i would have to proactice and I orignally started out looking for a Rebel or Virago 250, I ended up with a sweet Vulcan 500 and I am becoming reasonably good at handling the bike ( I practice :). I have registerd for a course at centenial in 3 weeks and I believe I am doing everything right.

Today I road freom my home in the Lawrence Ave Rd area to Snow City to have some Kurkyan grips installed, I purposely made the appointmet for 10 am so I would not be in heavy rush hour traffic. I planned my route and I know the buisest are would be Lawerence between Yonge and Bayview - I stuck to the right lane left tire track, drove the speed limit plus a little and was checking mirrors 12 sec ahead etc, almost by the book! I was heading east on Mount Pleasant when all of a sudden I see a *&^% &#*( pull up on my right side and pass me in the right lane WTF......

All I can say is its a good thing I was focused if I had not been paying attention it would not have taken much of a move sideways for me to smack this guys car. It took me awhile to get over this....sort of ruined my ride. The good side is I really like the grips and I must say the people at Snow City are really nice (I did nto buy my bike from them).

How do you guys and gals handle these jerks, I do not mean what do you do to them, Do you just get use to people like this? This was much worse than the lady who blew around me at a 4 way stop - and then proceded to run 5 more before I could not see her. Just wondering what you think.
 
Congrats on your Vulcan. I try to forget the the near misses etc...and count my blessings that I survived another day on the "insane" streets.
 
You have to ride very defensively these days.Your situational awareness will come back to you shortly.Scan all directions continuously every 5 seconds and eventually you usually will be able to pick out the potential tailgaters ,right side passers,phone talkers,other worlders,and aggressive SOB's around you in your stop light to stop light group or highway pack.If you don't like what you see move along and try to stay away.When I do see a car coming up on the right or a tailgater a quick couple swerves within my own lane usually backs them off as I become the vehicle that they focus on as erratic.If they want to go let them but a quick hand signal to back off is really all you can do against a 1000kg car ,and i don't mean to shoot them the figure either.
I've seen guys boot them as they go by,spit in or on their window and the ever popular dropping of a handle bar on the hood of their car when they pull up beside you at a light tactic.All with a sorry didn't see you but then you're not supposed to be there either excuse.Sooner or later a match comes along and you end up in a street brawl you may not win so just give them a shake of the head and leave them behind.After all the one thing you have that they don't is maneuverability and HP to weight ratio.It's my lane so i try to own it as best you can while realizing pound for pound I will lose if they really want it.
 
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Just ignore the ******** and carry on, the world is full of people who should not be behind the wheel. They eventually meet their fate. Enjoy the ride, keep your eyes open and pay attention, you will be fine.
 
Spinner I've got the EN500 as well and a VERY predictable backfire... Comes in handy when someone is where they shouldn't be because these Vulcan's are pretty quite with the stock pipes. Not good for the engine but hella fun when the talker drops their phone and can't pick it up because they're moving too quickly. Nothing like a "dropped" call! :lmao:
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