Louder, faster, stronger

July 31, 2008 - Thursday

Three months of waiting, two weeks of excited anticipation, and a Monday that just wouldn't pass fast enough... And the adrenaline hasn't worn off yet. Florian picked me up at the office shortly after 1600 hours and we headed to my mech's. Peter was out on the test drive when we arrived, so we had to wait a bit, but there was no question when he returned. The Beastie's cat purr had been replaced with a genuine bear's growl. I couldn't stop grinning. Florian's first comment was something to the effect of, "It's not that loud." Bah humbug. And he changed his mind soon anyway. Peter gave the Beastie a quick high-pressure bath and warned me to seriously be careful as I got used to the new strength and handling of a powerful little bike. It has three times as much horsepower now. I promised I would, and refused to let Florian drive it home for me. I forgot to ask Peter for the Beiblatt, the official document that confirms the new exhaust is legal. The mech will send it to me with the bill. Florian and I headed home, and I was very careful. In the lower rpm range you barely notice a difference in pull. Just the fat, showy growl of a two-cylinder with a decent exhaust. But pulling away from red lights and passing things... And when I close the gas, it misfires and burbles and sounds so darn cool! My face was sore from grinning when I roared up into our drive. Kevin and Nico were there, waiting. Nico asked if there was any possibility my driving style had suddenly been changed. I said I didn't know but I was working on finding out. Nico suggested we drive out to Winterthur to visit his dad. That way I'd get to try to Beastie on the autobahn. It goes. It goes fast. I can pass things within seconds and know that I have pull and power left over to scramble out of tricky situations. The only aspect of the new exhaust that's a little bit worrisome is that it's so rich and smooth that when you're driving a fairly straight stretch at high speeds, and it's late and you're a bit tired that it's very lulling. Yeah, I'm on Cloud Nine. And I can't wait for Saturday for a real full-day tour with other bikers. I've become accustomed to the power by now; it's time to use it.