Ride to Vikingsholm

So, I actually made two outings today. One before work, and one after. After work I rode all the way around the lake, which ended up taking about an hour and a half. I pushed the bike a bit, and it was a lot of fun. I got up to 8k rpm and 70mph today, after doing a bit of research about the "break-in" period. I guess there are two schools of thought: One is follow the manual, the other is ride the hell out of the bike.

I've gone over the manual specifications a few times already on the blog--don't go over 4krpm the first 500 miles, don't go over 6krpm the first 1000 miles. That is pretty lame. You can't really go over 35mph adhering to those rules. The Motoman theory is that pressing the bike in all sorts of rpms actually helps the bike more in the long run. Riding the bike hard in the first 500 miles attunes it to all the different speeds, and helps seal the components better than just taking it easy.

Motoman's theory makes sense to me, I mean--if you ride the bike for 1000 miles never going above 6krpm, then at mile 1001 you gun it to 10krpm, wouldn't there be a shock to the system? I read lots of forums last night and this morning, and it seems like the consensus is that it really doesn't matter which way you ride the break-in period, as long as you don't press the rpm at a constant speed. Either keep it at the manual recommendations, or ride the bike hard--but spread it out. Bust it for 8-9krpm, then slow it down to get the engine used to the varying speeds that you'll use everyday. Don't keep the rpms at 7k for 50miles, because the bike will get used to that--and suck at all the other rpms.

So anyways, I rode around the lake after work, which was a lot of fun. I decided to push the bike a bit, and it responded great! I got up to 8k rpm for the first time, and I read that the Ninja 250 really shines from about 8k to 12k rpm, which I hadn't encountered until this afternoon. At right around 8k it went into some sort of overdrive mode, and it felt great. The bike sped up without a huge change in rpm, and that was the only time I hit 70mph today. I didn't want to press the bike much past 8krpm in the first 500 miles, so I cooled my jets once I hit 70.

The ride was a lot of fun, lots of windy road along the lake. The most fun part of the ride was over by Emerald Bay, which I actually hit before work, in addition to after work on the drive around the lake. Emerald Bay is on the SW corner of the lake, and probably the most picturesque part of the lake. There are a few hikes in Emerald Bay, including a trek down to Vikingsholm, which is a castle built in a Norwegian style by an elderly lady. I'd never actually made the hike down to the castle, so I did this morning with my camera and barely made it to work in time.

The little hike was pretty neat. A mile long that led down to the little castle. There is a very distinguishable island in Emerald Bay, which apparently used to be a tea-house for the owner of Vikingsholm, but is now a bird wildlife sanctuary. Nobody is allowed on the island, but there is still a castle formation on the island, which reminds me a lot of a rook in chess.

Here are some pictures of the island and Vikingsholm. I'm not sure where my next biking trek will take me--probably to Nevada City and Kristina for the Grass Burn frisbee tourney in about a week. That should get me to the 500 mile hump, and back to Carson City for the first check-up.

Vegas is less than a month away, and I need to get about 750 miles in before then to be in the clear and have the bike nice and broken in before my first long-distance trip. Each trek to Sacramento is 200 miles round-trip, so two of those (or one to SF, DTran??) should get me over the hump after my Nevada City trek.

Pics!