First Day on the Blackbird

I arrived in Knoxville on schedule. After a slight delay at TSA with
some smart mouth woman working there and a very loud discussion of me
convincing that idiot that a Throttlemeister was not a threat to the
airline industry or passengers, I was finally on my way. I got to the
hotel and called the (now) ex-owner of the Blackbird. He was excited I
arrived and came to pick me up and take me to get the bike. We arrived
at his place and he opened the garage door to drive in. I spotted my
bike and went to quickly touch it to make sure it was real. I had a
good slow walk around it as I touch various places on it as if to get
to know it for the first time. The guy said "here's the key, take it
out to the sunlight while I get the paperwork. I climbed on and
brought it off the centerstand. BOY! You can't get the idea of the
size of this monster from a picture. This is a HUGE sportbike! As I
pulled it out to the driveway, I wondered if I did the right thing
buying this bike. I've been on big bikes before, but not something
with so much beef both with horsepower and with sheer size. The seller
came back out with his gear and asked if I was ready to go. I took one
last walk around to make sure the bike was ready and I put on my gear
while I waited on him to get his bike out. We pulled out and as I
heard the sound of the CBR motor rumbling, it felt as if pure ecstasy.
I pulled onto the road and we started going up to speed. "This is one
sweet ride", I thought. As I tried out the bike, I found the gears to
be quite silky. So much so, clutchless shifts seemed effortless. There
was no hesitation at all from this bike. As we hit a few curves in the
route, I found the bulk of this bike unnerving at first when at low
speeds. At higher speeds it seemed to glide through corners. With the
linked braking system, it took quite a bit of getting used to. This is
a system that if you're not careful it WILL send you through the
windshield. Here I am, riding not only one of the world's fastest
production motorcycles, but one that I also have to watch out for the
brakes and the size. Needless to say, I didn't "hot dog" this bike
today. New bike, paid for with cash (and quite a bit at that) and
1000+ miles from home. Not exactly a combination to flirt with. I
explained before we left the garage that if I fall behind, it's not
that I couldn't keep up but that I'm just getting used to the bike. As
the owner of several high end bikes, the seller seemed to respect my
saying this. As we continued the ride, we'd pulled into a road and the
seller on his bike lost his grip on the throttle and caught back. When
he did, the front end on his bike came up and he gently sat it back
down. I could tell the way it happened that it wasn't a "I'm showing
off" sort of thing but a complete accident which he recovered nicely.
These are high horsepower machines he works with, and very capable of
such incidents. We continued on the curvys and then found an
interstate. We weren't racing, just going to the steak house for
lunch. Since I got an incredible deal on this bike, I offered him a
steak. We got on the interstate and I wanted to find out a sample.
Here we go! I bumped the throttle from a 5th gear 50mph run. About 1
and a half seconds later (it might've been a quarter second more) I
was going 125mph and never shifted up with only less than 7000 rpm.
Whew! I didn't hesitate to get off the throttle. I had my answer
whether this was a smoking hot fast bike....it was! I continued to
notice that at 45mph, I would be in 3rd gear and if I tried to shift
up I'd bog the bike's motor. This bike is definately one which has
earned my respect. After lunch at the steak house, we rode on to
another curvy road with quite drastic switchbacks. I got a little more
brave with this, but not much. After a while, we decided it was too
cold to continue and decided to go back to his garage and put the bags
back on the bike and part company for the day. As we headed back,
there were a number of incidents where people would catch us at the
redlights and comment on the bike I was riding. Not just a "nice bike
dood", but more like "man, I was hoping he wouldn't sell that bike so
I could save up and buy it". Quite a few people we ran into today knew
the seller and knew the bike. They all had nothing but good things to
say about both. With the custom flame paint work on this Bird and the
custom body work, it's quite noticable. It's certainly not one you see
every day. As I headed back to my hotel, I was on my way to the
interstate and thought I'd give it one last time to see if what I
heard was correct. Before I got on the highway, I wanted to see if
this bike was what everyone said. The talk has been that this bike was
a stump puller at any rpm. At 7k rpm, this bike would suddenly leap
from it's skin and cause you to wish you hadn't pushed it that far.
The bike redlines at 10.75k (in stock form...which I don't know where
this one would be at). I left a redlight and shifted from 1st to 2nd.
I began twisting on the throttle without hammering it. I didn't want
to find out the maximum, only to get this bike in the range everyone
said. As the rpms grew really quickly, I continued to watch. Sure
enough, almost like a switch turning on, this bike hit 7k and lunged
so freaking hard it literally almost came out from under me. I had to
seriously hang on as this bike jumped. Before I could realize it, this
bike was doing some serious hard core pulling and I was fighting to
keep it under me. We had just put the bags on the bike, so those were
holding my legs on the bike. I've never had a machine anywhere close
to what this one was doing.

As I sit here tonight eating my dinner pizza, I'm plotting out my day
tomorrow. I've heard of several places to go to including Deal's Gap
on 129.

Final thoughts for the night are that this bike is an incredible piece
of beauty which accels really hard, brakes just as hard, handles
really well for it's size, and is extremely comfortable to ride. It's
great!

According to the seller's wife and all the people who knew him, if I'd
backed out on the bike, he wouldn't have had a problem with it. After
spending day one with it, I can understand.

 

Out riding today we saw 6 of those customs w/flames and they are nice.
They were all ganged up behind Big Ed and the BB.

I can't wait to go 1st through 6th gear on the rear.

.....louie

 

Thanks!

I can't wait to get it home either. I've been looking at it all night
so far and the only thing on my mind right now is to bypass doing the
work out here and just get on it tomorrow and start riding it home.
I've got to stay out here for a couple more days though. It's about 22
degrees right now here, but they're saying it's going to warm up
quickly today to around a high of 55 degrees. We'll see. I got off the
plane yesterday thinking it would be good riding weather and hit the
roads up to speed. It got cold when you got going. Maybe the weather
will make the day a good ride today at Deals Gap for me to ride
through it?

 

Waiting till it warms a bit....there's still ice on the cars out
here....

27 with 45 at 10am....it should be about then the car parked in my
front door leaves so I can back this bird out of the room....

 

Thanks Jerry!

This is probably the best place in the world to buy a new sportbike.
Within 30 minutes ride from the hardest twisting roads and mountains
galore!

I've sent some photos from last night to several people. I asked Louie
to post them to his website. I hope he won't have a problem doing it
for me....

 

The new BBB @

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfsj975x_150hhw8wx

...louie

 

Jerry..You kin to any of the Easleys in or around Canton,Texas? I cant
remember the name of the dad but when we were kids there were alot of
Easleys in Ben Wheeler,Tx.

Redshad

 

Cool Dude!

I'll get a better one of me with the Bird and send it to you!

I'm so freakin' proud of this bike it's amazing...now I see what you
guys who were buying bikes were getting so excited about. Before this
one, I was having to buy used bikes and make them my own by adding
nice parts to them. This one is just nice right out of the box....at
least the box to me!

Thanks Jerry....

Brian

 

(louie)
The new BBB @
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfsj975x_150hhw8wx
..louie




sumBitch, that is a whopper of a Rocket Bike. Chee'wah'wah.
I believe I got the color down right, it is a Black'un.

Whoooooooooa, Gotta say, Brian, no wonder you been a taking about a
certain Bike wayyyyyyy over east somewhere, that you were flying to get.

Congradulations are indeed, in order.

Hope and pray, you get back home here in Texas, safely. bj




B. Jay Kana--
NETexas
03Valk-&-98 Magna
Have a Dandy Day--