Brendan & Tiffany Sullivan

Well, after much searching, cajoling of salesmen, and driving hours to look at basketcases, I finally bought a motorcycle. I haven’t had my own bike since Tiff and I were dating, when I had a Honda Nighthawk 750. That was a great bike, and Honda always has made wonderful motors.

We’ve been saving for a number of months now to buy a bike for the riding season this year. Both Tiff and I were determined to have a bike, although dad has been generous in letting us use his bikes over the past year. Still nothing compares to having your own ride, plus there isn’t the additional mental overhead of “this isn’t my bike”.

So without further ado:

2005 Vulcan 1500 Classic FI

As you can see in the caption above, it is a 2005 Kawasaki Vulcan 1500 Classic FI (Fuel Injected). I was particularly happy to get a Fuel Injected bike over a carbureted  model for the ease of maintenance and upgradability. This particular bike is mostly stock, with just two modifications so far as I can tell. First, the previous owner decided the stock pipes were too quiet and civilized, so he gutted them of their baffling, and then took a hacksaw to the ends of them to make them look like ‘slashcuts’. The other modification was a suprise, albeit a pleasant one. The previous owner had already installed a Power Commander, which is a small computer to help reprogram the motorcycle when doing performance modifications.  It was hiding under the black cover just underneath the rider’s seat and I didn’t find it til I had brought the bike home and started tearing it apart, as Tiffany will probably tell you I do with anything mechanical I get

I bought the bike from Monster Powersports in Wauconda, IL. Tristan, Leander, and I went to look at some other bikes there one day after I had picked them up from school. After looking at the bikes I had specifically gone to see, I asked the sales guy I was talking to if they had anything else that might not have been on their website. He said “well, we have this guy… a “scratch-n’dent” special”. I looked the bike over, expecting to find boatloads of issues. Surprisingly, the only real ‘major’ flaw was a non-creased dent on the right side of the tank. The following photo (sort of) shows the dent.

Crappy Phone Pic

Sooo, it’s not aesthetically perfect, but mechanically it’s great, and the dent just gives me an excuse to tear the bike apart next fall when it gets cold and get a really awesome paint job

The plans for the bike:

• Backrest – For Tiff. And my sanity. That was her one request for whatever bike I ended up buying. She loves to ride with me, but it does get tiring for passengers to have to sit up with no support, and it helps me in that I know I can gas it hard at any time and know she won’t get flung off the back if she’s not paying attention.
• Bags – I have been kinda frustrated looking for bags. I really want something big enough that if when I go on road trips, I can pack enough gear, but they get really expensive, really quickly. It would be simple to spend over $800 on a set of ‘soft’ bags, and $1200 on a set of hard bags… nevermind the paint to match. There are cheaper solutions, but you tend to give up space, quality, or both. Decisions, decisions…. Right now, as in, from about Thursday to Saturday, I’m leaning towards a set of hard bags from www.mutazu.com. They have some exceedingly ugly designs, but there are a couple nice ones, namely the RS and HL models. Which brings me to the next item on the list….
• Trunk – I really want a trunk for the bike. I love the ‘full dresser’ look (like this but without all the extra chrome). It would also kill two birds with one stone: trunks can, and usually do, double as a backrest for the passenger.
• Windshield – Keeps 70mph from beating on my chest. It would surprise you how tiring it is to ride a bike w/ no shield. Also surprising how hard it is to find one I like enough to spend money on…
• Pipes – These are lowest priority as the bike already has ‘de-baffled’ stock pipes. Aftermarkets would mostly be for the look, but there are some performance gains to be had.
• Random stuff – Being unable to leave mechanical things alone, I have plans for the bike that involve modifications more than big-ticket purchases. Mods to the air intake to let it breathe better and make more power, custom lighting, etc. I’ll post updates as things happen.

Now. WHERE IS THE WARM WEATHER??!!!