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.