Well my luck just ran out today...

Last week I got off work early, at around 1am instead of my usual 6am.  The ride home was so beautiful that I just stayed out for a while to cruise around town for a bit.  I got stopped twice for doing slightly more than 10mph over the limit.  Luckily neither officer saw me just a few seconds earlier smoking the tire across the intersection.  Both times they were sitting in parking lots about mid-block and I had been on the slowdown side of a stoplight launch.  And both times the officers were just full of comments and questions about Max.  Needless to say, after the second "Just slow it down" warning, I decided it was time to behave myself and go home.

Today I had to go in to work for a meeting.  I could have called in to the meeting but I wanted the ride anyway so I threw on the gear and hit the freeway.

Wow! It’s been a long time since I blogged about my life and times with Max.  I'm going to try to do a condensed edition to get caught up and hopefully stay caught up.  The weather has been too amazing to spend it sitting at home in front of the computer and work has actually had me busy enough that I haven't had time to do my personal stuff there either.  Damn work!  How dare they!?

Let's see, what happened after my ride to Globe?  I don't remember very well.  Everything is a blur…kind of like going 120mph on Max.

I finally got my 'repainted' side panel and to me it still looks like crap.  I'm pretty sure I'm the only one that can see the imperfections though.

Legal Disclaimer – Any opinions, riding practices, feelings about other members, product or retail suggestions, religious beliefs, or beliefs in extra-terrestrial beings dressed in fairy costumes expressed in these blogs are those held solely by me, the blogger.  Especially the riding practices, don’t do what I do.  Sometimes I’m not safe at all and I know it.  Believe me, I reprimand myself quite often.  It’s just sooo damn much fun.

For those of you just joining us, you may want to jump down to the first blog titled ‘The Beginning’ and read them from the bottom up.  Again I apologize; I am playing catch up from my first day with my new V Max and I’m documenting the experiences and emotions I have related to riding this unbelievable machine.

Its Tuesday April 20th and Vanessa just left for work, kids are gone to school so… what to do?  Housework? No.  Work on the back yard landscaping? No, that’s way too much physical labor.  Hmmmm, I know!  I’ll ride Max!  But Where?  I’m bored with Casa Grande.  I think I’ve gone down every road in town at least 3 times, just to be riding.  And there are cops EVERYWHERE!  Every time I think about lighting up the back tire or just punching the throttle, a black and white appears.  Geez guys, let a guy have some fun.  It seems like I ride into Chandler every day even on the weekends so that’s getting a little old as well.  I want some mountain roads, twisties, and amazing views.  I would really like to find some beautiful backgrounds for some good pictures of Max.  Globe isn’t that far and I hear it’s a nice ride.  Shoot, I think I can even find my way without mapping it on Google first.  That’s it then.  Bundle up, grab the MP3 player, gas up (again), and hit the road.  Yeah I know, not supposed to use an MP3 player with earbuds while riding because you can’t hear anything around you.  I don’t listen to music though, I actually listen to audiobooks.  Kinda cool, especially listening to sci-fi thrillers or mysteries.

Grrr, there's that damn side panel with the patch of paint missing again.  It is really pissing me off.  Two calls to Seth at the dealership and all I get told is, “I’m still trying to get in touch with the painter.”  Bullshit!  He’s just waiting for the can of spray paint to get there.  I’m also starting to feel with my butt dyno that she just doesn’t quite have the pep that she did the first few days.  Man, I hope I didn’t screw up big time with the break in.  Maybe my butt dyno just needs calibrating.

Everything’s quiet and cool riding out through Coolidge and Florence.  A comment from somebody at a stoplight in Florence causes the grin to appear.  No horsing around or showing off.  Just nice, easy riding.  Everything about this bike just feels right.  Smooth, poised, balanced, ready to strike with a flick of the wrist.  I actually like the stealthy sound of the stock pipes.  To me, they have the perfect little rumble at lower RPMs and then they jump right up and snarl at you when you open the throttle up.  They are perfect to me, but I also realize that is probably because I haven’t heard any of the others in person yet.  Sure wish I had an X-Pipe, wink, wink.

On Highway 60 now and heading toward Superior and then Globe.  The highway is wide open so I kick the speed up a bit and cruise for a few minutes around 110mph.  I just can’t get over how easy it is to get there and how smooth it still is.  Oh, now the road is narrowing down from 4 lanes to 2 so time to let off and take it easy again.  Oh shit, perfect timing!  Just after the 2 lane reduction there’s a cop coming toward me.  Speedo says 70 and the speed limit is ??  Crap.  55 I think.  Oh well, he didn’t do anything and besides, the guys on the forum say the speedo is 10% off anyway.  Anyhow, a few little twisties and nice viewpoints later and I’m in Superior.  Damn that was quick.  Need gas.  Sure wish this thing had a bigger tank.  And I’m never ready for the little pullover viewpoints until I blaze past them.  Here’s a couple of shots I did manage to get though.

You can see the quarter sized patch of paint that came off my side cover.  It’s just embarrassing.  Stupid dealership.  Oh, and the side screws holding the intake scoops vibrated out yesterday so I had to get stainless replacements.  You can see one of those here also.  I’ll touch those up one of these days. 

And I just had to take of picture of a thistle.  I hadn’t seen one of these since I left Kansas 7 years ago.

Ok thanks Oliver!  I guess now I’ve got an audience so I’m actually a little nervous.  These blogs were just meant to be a way for me to document my experiences with Max.  Well I guess it’s no big deal.  I’ll just keep going on like I was.  I may have to explain things a bit more sometimes though so everybody knows where I’m coming from.  I know what I mean (most of the time) but you might not.  Know what I mean?

See, I’ve got the greatest job in the world.  I’m an Automated Equipment Specialist at Intel Corporation.  I maintain the robotics equipment in Intel’s chip fabrication factories in Chandler.  It is awesome!  I’ve always loved robotics and as it turns out, I’m pretty damn good at fixing things.  15 years of working at my dad’s hardware store in Kansas really gives a guy a good learnin’ at wrenchin’ and fixin’ things.  J  Catch my little redneck slang there?  Well, I work the night shift, 6pm to 6am, on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and every other Saturday night.  We always have a few routine and scheduled maintenance things to do every night but the majority of the time we sit like firemen, waiting for something to break so we can run to the rescue and get the factory back up and running.  And did I mention that we are pretty good at fixing things?  All that means is that things don’t break very often at all.  This gives me all the time in the world to get caught up on reading this forum.  Yeah! 

OK her first service is done on April 20th, 2010 with 1200 miles on her.  Man I don't trust these dealership dudes.  How the hell do I know if they even did anything?  I mentioned the paint coming off of the side panel to the service tech and he said that they wouldn't have had the bike custom painted.  WHAT?  The sales manager told me they did!  Now I don't know what to believe.  Oh well, as long as it gets fixed I don't really care.  Seth, the sales manager, came out and looked it over.  He said he would call the painter (yeah right) and see what he wants to do about it and he assures me that it will get taken care of.  And damn, they used that spray polish on her again.  Sure it looks nice on the body parts but the overspray makes spots all over the engine and they never wipe them off.

Had a great friend and his wife come get me while the service was being done.  Took me out to breakfast (I paid though, of course...geesh) and drove me around so I could get a couple of things done.  I had been told of this place in Gilbert that sold nothing but helmets and I was definitely in need of a new one.  He had an AWESOME Shoei helmet with a dragon on it.  I love dragons but this one was just a bit more than I could afford.  I picked up a sweet HJC IS-16 for a lot less than I had expected to spend but it was the one the owner recommended.  And since the helmet was less than I expected, I bought a new riding jacket too.  My old leather one was about 2 sizes too big because of my long ass arms.  This new Tour Master fits perfectly.  The liners are a bit of a pain in the ass but they sure work good.  Oh and new gloves too, gotta have new gloves...and maybe some sunglasses too.  Holy crap I've got to stop spending money.

Alright, back to the bike.  Her first service done, I've got all new gear too.  Backpack is stuffed with all my old crap.  I've still gotta figure out some way to carry things on this bike.  I'm almost shaking with excitement because I don't have to stress the break in period anymore.  This time I still take it easy cruising down through Mesa and Chandler.  I’ll have plenty of time to open her up on the 87 out across the desert.  Or do I take the 10??  Hmmmm, I hate the 10, way too many stupid people on that road.  Highway 87 it is then.  At the outskirts of Chandler, just as you get off of Arizona Avenue and get on highway 87, there is a little dogleg.  A short little turn to the left followed by a quick jump back to the right and then she's WIDE open.  Well, I had a little pickup in front of me that was creeping along.  I took the first left really slow to let the truck get some distance on me.  Then the turn to the right, still in 1st gear, just starting to come out of the lean and I start to crank open the throttle.  Her ass end kicks out and the smoke is a rollin'.  FU&$!!!!!  That was cool!  I just powerslid my friggin V Max!  Never done that before.  It was cool too, nice and smooth.  Gunna have to work on that...build up some powerslidin' skills.  Anywho, I lean into the wind and go WOT.  Blast past the little truck at about 115mph and start into this long sweeping curve to the right.  Its a lengthy curve that does about a 90 degree angle in about a 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile.  Well let me tell you something, at 135mph, that curve scared the shit out of me.  I'm leaning into it like crazy and I'm still drifting toward the center line a little bit.  WOW!  Ok let off a bit before you crash you idiot.  Wouldn't want to scratch Max all up.

The rest of the ride home was a blur.  I held my speed to within what I consider a reasonable distance from the speed limit.  90-100mph is nice.  I did test the limiter a couple of times when the road was clear.  Yep, 147 is all she'll do.  Might just have to check into FX's top speed fix.  Why?  Because more is always better, right??  I just can't get over how smooth Max is.  It feels like I'm flying.  Just floating on a cushion of air.  The mirrors work their way inward going that fast though.  That's a little annoying and I'm definitely going to have to fix that later.  Ok now a turn to the right again by Sacaton and I'm on highway 187 heading back toward the 10 and Casa Grande.  This road is fun because it has a few of those water crossings that dip down pretty good giving you that queasy feeling in your stomach if you take them fast enough.  What's that you say?  Fast enough?  Well let's see what Max can do about that!  I roll into the first dip at about 120, still accelerating and my friggin ass comes off the seat.  Then coming off the up-slope, the front wheel comes off the ground for an instant.  HOLY SHIT!  Ok, that’s really dangerous.  I like it but I don’t want to die just yet.  I take the rest of the dips just a bit easier.  Well, I did try to pull a wheelie coming out of the last one but my timing was off so I missed it.  Gunna have to work on that too.  For now I just want to get home and ditch this backpack.  The kids will be home soon so my fun for today is done.  Well, almost.  I did leave a nice long black snake on the road leading to the house.  I’m going to have to check on the price of a new back tire soon.

Ride it like you stole it. Check!  Mark that one off the list.  Shit, I think Max could possibly even outrun the police radio.

Sorry, please remember that I'm playing catch up here so these first few blogs are from memories of days in the past.

So I've had my Max for a little over a week now and I've ridden it pretty much nonstop with the exception of eating and sleeping.  And going to the bathroom...I haven't figured out a socially acceptable way of doing that while riding.  This bike continues to amaze me.  There is just so much power throughout the entire RPM range and in any gear.  I've discovered that if I drop the clutch in 2nd gear and hammer the throttle, the back tire will light up and leave a snake over 50 feet long.  Break in period is technically over but I still need the first service done before I can really open this monster up and see what she really can do.  I still worry that I may have already and am still pushing her a bit to hard during the break in.  I just can't help myself.  Surely I'm not the only one that has done this.

Ok, first service is tomorrow.  It was supposed to happen at 600 miles and I have 1000 miles on my baby.  My work schedule is wacked and the service department is only open on one of my off days.  The dealer has the contract to do the first 20k miles worth of service at no charge.  I don't trust them but what can you do?  Its free and under warranty so if they fnck up anything, its on them.

I'm a little bit peaved because I just noticed a quarter sized patch of paint has come off of the left side panel.  This is in addition to the noticable chip in the left muffler and the chip in the front left intake scoop.  Both levers also have paint coming off kinda like I've been wearing rings and scraping them across the levers when I squeeze them.  I don't wear any rings except my wedding ring and the scratches aren't near that finger, some are even on the other lever.  When the salesman was telling me about her, he specified that 'they' had had her custom painted to black her out.  I gave him a troubled look and he assured me that it was professionally done and not by some guy in the back room with a can of Krylon.  Well as it turns out, as things usually do for me, it was a crappy job.  It appears to me that maybe it was done by some punk in the back room with a respectable tallent with a spray can.  The only thing that keeps me from really getting pissed is that I plan on getting her custom painted anyway.  The side panel looks like crap though so the dealer is going to fix that one.

The forum is driving me crazy.  I am so eager to start working on some of the mods that they are doing.  First thing I will do is the air filter and restrictor plate mod.  That one is cheap and painless.  Then I think I will do the HID headlight and garage door opener mod.  Only one thing though, I still need to buy a garage door opener for that door.  Vanessa insists that I get the touring windshield for safety reasons but I don't care for the looks of it yet.  Maybe it will grow on me.  I really need to figure out some way to carry things on the back.  I hate using my backpack but I hate the look of those saddle bags even more.  One guy on the forum has made an awesome rack but I don't have any of the skills or equipment required to do anything like that.  I would love to start doing some of the performance mods and hitting the track.  It sounds like so much fun.  And I really think I'd be good at it.  Some of those mods are just sooo damn expensive.  $800 for the racing ECU, $???? for the X-pipe, $1000 for an Akropovik system.  Then the tires and riding gear that the track might require.  Damn so much $$$$

Then again, most of the things I would buy, I wouldn't be happy with.  I wouldn't work right or it would just be cheap and not work at all.  Just like everything else.

Maybe that's why I love this bike so friggin much.  It is like NOTHING else!

So a couple of days into enjoying the hell out of my new black Max, I stumbled across this cool site called starvmax.com.  Almost like the bond between me and Max, I'm instantly hooked.  When I'm not riding, I'm reading.  When I'm not reading, I'm riding.  Damn, sometimes I really wish I didn't have to eat, sleep, or use the bathroom.  I'd have it made.  These guys (and gals) are V Max wizards.  They've done all kinds of modifications, dyno tests, made mistakes, posted pictures, videos, and instructions for just about anything I could imagine.  I can't stop reading....I can't stop riding.  What the hell is a guy to do.

I still feel bad about how I have pushed my Max a little too hard during her break in period.  Especially after reading some of the forum threads and the comments about how critical the break in is.  Damn you guys.

Reading, reading, reading....What the hell is an X-pipe?  How much does one cost?  How can I get one?  Oh wait, there's a cool headlight mod.  Hey someone mentioned a top speed eliminator.  Geeesh this Bad_Max person sure posts a lot, where is he from and what does his bike look like?  Is it odd that I get a really good vibe from this guy Qtip? He seems like a cool cat.  Wow check out the picks of Twin_Daddy's carbon fiber!!  Oh shit, wasn't I reading something about a Z-pipe, Q_Max, X-speed....oh what the hell?  And who the hell is this fxstein and why does everyone call him Oliver?  Is he the boss of this place?  All I know is I want to stay away from any threads related to the Break In Period.  Friggin A.D.D.

Ok time to start marking the threads that contain information about things I may want to come back to later.  I'm definitely interested in exhaust modification.  I like the HID headlight look.  Might consider the fender eliminator.  Definitely going to do the intake restrictor mod.  Oh and the clutch mod is also a must.

Ok, I want to be a part of this community.  Time to start contributing.  Welcome a person or two.  Add a comment on a couple of threads.  Don't have shit to contribute to any modification ideas, haven't done any.

Alright, don't get ahead of yourself Grover.  Your comments sound idiotic compared to these guys'.  You don't know what the hell you are talking about, you haven't even put on a real license plate yet.
Damn I love my V Max!

Oh well, time to ride now.  Time to read later...at work.  Hehehe

So I'm playing catch up with my blogs about my experiences with my new baby.  Please bear with me.

My ride home from the dealership was nothing short of incredible.  It was about 15 miles through Phoenix suburbs and then 35 miles of open desert road to the south and east.  I got comments from people in cars at 2 different stoplights, looks from everyone that passed, and was so happy my helmet covered my huge grin.  I babied it though town as much as I could.  I opened up the throttle a couple of times to see how scared I should be and I think maybe the people in the oncoming lanes might have heard me scream a little bit.  My grin was getting even bigger.  I finally got out of the city limits and just had to open it up.  I know how important a good break in is but I just HAD to see what she had.  I think I might have put a crack in the space/time continuum.  My god she is a friggin rocket.  The grin is starting to make my cheaks hurt.  Ok, take it easy.  I want her to be the best she can be right?  A good break in is critical.

The wife and I had worked out a plan to trick the kids when I got home.  I would call from the park a couple of blocks away and she would send the kids out saying that I needed help bringing some stuff in.  So I came rolling around the curve toward the house, her and the kids were standing out in the front yard goofing off like kids do.  I blipped the throttle a couple of times and rolled up onto the sidewalk.  The looks on their faces was priceless.  And I think my face was now permanently stuck in the grinning position.

Well its now time for rides.  Girls go first of course.  My daughter climbed on and put her hands on my shoulders.  I told her, "No honey, you will want to put your hands all the way around my stomach and lock your hands together."  I took it kinda easy with her.  She's only 12 and I wouldn't want to scare her too bad.  I did show her why she really needed to hold on tight though.  I heard her giggling the entire ride.  That never happened on the old bike.

Now it was the boy's turn.  I had to show him something.  He was older and he had heard me go on and on about how awesome the V Max's were.  His sister had made it a point to stress the importance of holding on tight so he did as he was told.  We left the house nice and easy, cruised into a long slow bend and I started to open it up a little.  I felt him tighten his grip as we hit about 90 within the first block.  One stop sign then it was a straight open road for about a mile and a half with no houses on either side.  I left the stop sign nice and easy then about 30 feet on I went WOT.  The front end came up a little at first and then again in second and I think we broke the speed of light in third.  Ok, ok take it easy.  Still breaking it in you idiot.  I let off the throttle and I felt my son's whole body shaking like crazy behind me.  It was 85 degrees but I asked him if he was cold.  He said, "No.  That was super scary and AWESOME!  Let's do it again."  So, being the good dad that I am, we did.  Zero to light speed in what?..2.5 seconds.  I know....still breaking it in.

Now for the wife.  The most important one to sell on the deal.  She has a bad knee and only rode on the old bike a couple of times because it wasn't comfortable for her.  She didn't look like she even wanted a ride but the kids insisted.  She got her sunglasses out of the truck and grunted and groaned while she climbed on the back of Max.  I felt bad for her because I know how miserable she must be.  The back seat of Max wasn't much for cusion and her poor knees were bent at terrible angles.  Anyway, I thought we should get this over with and took off nice and easy.  We putted around the neighborhood fairly slowly.  She complained about the wind getting behind her sunglasses and I heard her say 'Ouch' at a couple of bumps so I headed back to the house.  She grunted and groaned while she climbed off the back but told me to stay there, she'd be right back.  She went inside and got the extra riding glasses, grunted and groaned back onto the back of Max, and told me "Now lets go.  I wanna see what this thing can do."  Oh damn, there's that grin again.  And of course, being the good husband that I am, I showed her what Max was all about.  I gave her an abreviated version of the ride I had given my son because I knew it had to be killing her knee.  Her first words when we got back to the house were, "Oh my god!"  I was grinning again.  After dinner, she insisted that we ride to her work so she could show Max off to her friends at work.  Then she refused to just go home and wanted to cruise around town for a bit.  Which I happily obliged.  We took it easy for the most part.  There were a couple of times that I felt her grip tighten around my waist so I opened the throttle enough to answer her.  I was really starting to feel bad for not taking it more easy.  Still breaking it in damn you.

I love my new V Max.  I really do.  I love it.

Well, I've been wanting to start documenting my experiences with my new V Max for a few weeks now.  I guess there is no better time than now.

I bought this amazing machine on March 29th, 2010.  Its a rather funny story to me and many don't believe it is true but I swear it is.  See, I had a V Max many years ago and while being young, dumb, and drunk; I crashed it.  Flipped it over backwards because I was wanting to show off in front of some girls with a friend on the back.  I wouldn't say that I totalled it but I certainly didn't have the money to repair it myself and beer money was more important at the time.  So, I sold it for more than what I paid for it.  And ever since that day, I swore to myself that I would have another one some day.

I went for about 15 years with no motorcycle at all.  Personal and family issues took precedence over getting back into riding.  Every time I saw somebody race by on a crotch rocket, roll past on a cruiser, or rumble the windows with a harley, my heart broke just a little bit more.  After finally getting my life straight and getting stabilized in an amazing career, I broke down and bought a 2005 Yamaha V Star 1100 Custom.  I fell for this bike initially because the charcoal gray with gray ghost flame paint scheme matched what I had done with my first vehicle when I was a teenager.  But I wasn't happy.  I knew it on the ride home from the dealership.  It just wasn't right.  My wife even sensed that something was wrong.  She kept asking "You just got a new bike, why aren't you out riding?"  I just wasn't happy with it, it wasn't a Max.  I don't know why I bought it.  I had the money, why didn't I just buy a V Max to begin with.  Sometimes I don't understand the things I do.

I lived with the V Star for a few years and it was a very good bike.  I never had any problems with it and it was a very good ride.  I still watched Ebay and Craigslist for the possibility of finding that amazing deal on an older V Max though.  Most of the time they were overpriced (to me) or too far away.  Then I saw the adds for the Gen 2 and started seeing them at a couple of the local dealerships.  WOW!  Talk about adding fuel to the fire.  That just increased my desire exponentially.  My god those things looked incredible!  I HAD to get back on a V Max so I started searching even harder for a good used deal.  Finally, after having missed out on a couple of deals on Ebay, I decided I was going to go to the local dealers and ask them to call me if they ever got a used V Max in trade for something.  I even took my title with me, just in case I stumbled across something that wasn't shown on their websites.  Which of course, I did.  I didn't meant to but man it did.  Really, truly, I didn't 'plan' on buying anything that day.

I was strolling around looking at the small assortment of used bikes at our nearest Ride Now dealership waiting for one of the sales guys to get freed up and come talk to me.  I knew they would eventually, they always do.  Sales guy, Dominic, was the lucky guy that day.  He came wandering over and asked if he could get me set up with any of these 'sweet rides'.  I said "No sir, not any of these.  I want a V Max."  He looked a little shocked and expressed his suprise at how I was the first guy he ever helped that knew exactly what he wanted.  He also said that I was obviously aware of how insane those things were and I assured him I was.  He said they didn't have any used ones but they did just happen to have a new 2009 crated up in the warehouse.  They were actually getting ready to ship it to another dealership because they hadn't been able to sell it for several months.  They had had it custom painted to 'black on black' and offered to see what kind of deal they could work up for me if I was interested.  I wasn't at all interested in taking on that kind of payment because I was just hoping to find an older one to possibly trade mine straight across.  But hell, what could it hurt.  I gave him my terms and sent him off to see what he could do.  And, as expected, he came back with the sales manager and expressed how there was no way they could do that deal and gave me figures nearly triple what I had told them I was wanting to pay.  That was it, thanks for your time, please let me know if you get a used one so I can come see it.  I wasn't there to triple my monthly payment.  Then the sales manager started back peddling.  "Wait, wait, wait, maybe we can still work something out," he said.  I assured him there was no way I could make payments anywhere near what they were wanting.  I finally gave in just a little bit, knowing that I had just gotten a very nice raise at work, and threw out some figures that were just slightly higher than what I had originally given them.  I wasn't stressing it.  I knew there was no way in hell I could afford an $18k V Max.  He went away for a few minutes, like they always do, and came back with a big grin on his face.  He said, "We can manage that." 
HOLY CRAP!  OH SHIT!  OH MY GOD!  What had I just done?  Was this really happening?  He had dropped his price over $200 per month and I had only gone up $100 over what I had been paying for my old bike.  And I had just shook hands and bought a NEW 20009 V Max!  My heart was beating so hard and fast, my head was racing, and I'm sure I was stuttering like a nervous 8th grader on his first date.  I immediately called my wife and told her what had just happened.  She laughed and said, "Well at least NOW you will finally be happy."  And happy I was.  Words cannot describe how happy I was.

I patiently waited there at the table and wandering around the dealership looking at the riding gear and other accessories while they had the bike brought over from the warehouse and prepared for me.  They had several dozen other bikes of all makes and models, only one Goldwing was more expensive than the V Max.  Holy shit, I had bought the second most expensive motorcycle at the dealership, site unseen.  What the hell was I thinking.  I never thought I would be capable of doing anything like that.  Then I glanced out the front window and there she was.  My Max.  My dream bike.  MY 2009 Black on Black Yamaha V Max.  God she looked amazing.  She took my breath away.  The entire sales staff and service crew were circled around her while the lead tech walked me through the technical details, safety items, and starting procedures.  Comments and whispers were coming from all of them about how insane, awesome, and incredible this bike was.  Then he shook my hand, handed me the key, and said, "She's all yours, for god's sake be careful.  You do realize how massively powerful this machine is don't you?"  I said, "Yes sir I do."  Then I climbed on, took a couple of deep breaths to settle the butterflies in my stomach, and turned the key to ON.  Time to Ride - This is Vmax 
I think I wet myself a little bit.