Riding my new red 2009 Kawasaki Ninja EX250 motorcycle around my neighborhood to get familiar with shifting, turning, clutch/throttle, I figured I would get the hang of it pretty quick. At least I was able to shift, stop/start, turn corners, etc. but not to a high degree of confidence. I only wished my friend, who SAID he’d be here to teach me, had ACTUALLY shown up. Guess I know what kind of friend he is…
So here I am, practicing and yes, stalling now and then. Thankfully I’m just circling the same 4 blocks around my house which are light on traffic. Here’s the thing: I am teaching myself. Not the way I wanted to do it, seeing as I don’t even know how to drive a stick shift and this is barely my third time on a bike. However, this gorgeous piece of machinery is just sitting in my driveway waiting to be ridden. And my friend isn’t showing up… and I’m waiting patiently…. now impatiently…. now he says he’s too tired and will come by later…. and I figure F it, I’m going.
I’m turning around a cul-de-sac when I accidently give it too much throttle and head straight for a truck. I’m probably going about 7 miles per hour… so no life flashing before my eyes or anything, but all of a sudden the bike isn’t doing what I want and I don’t know how to fix it fast enough. In trying to turn left away from the truck too quickly, I am suddenly down on the ground.
The first thing I notice is a popping sound and some pinging reflection bouncing down the pavement. “Fuck.” I just did something to my bike. Fuck. Hitting the kill switch, I easily stand up and smell gasoline. Um…. ok, I get the bike up on the kickstand and see the gas leaking out. “Shit.” I can’t find where the leak is, so I continue to assess the damage.
The pop/ping was my front left turn signal, the bulb hanging out of its socket. Shit. There’s scratches on the left mirror and a few light scrapes on the body. Ugh. And then… I start laughing 
What a dumb thing to do, the first day I ride my bike I drop it!! Oh well, I’m glad I got that out of the way !!!!!!! Even as I write this I’m doing it with a smile on my face…. ha ha leslie, good one!
So I wonder if I should try to start it, considering there’s a small puddle of gas but it seems to have stopped. I’m only 3 blocks from home, would I turn into a huge fireball if I try? Against my better judgment, I walk the bikes a good distance from the puddle and flick back the kill switch then hit the starter button but it just turns over. Ugh, guess I’ll just walk it home. Walk of shame, huh??
Only in my apartment do I actually think to check myself over. There’s no scrapes on my jeans or boots so at least those survived! My thoughts currently are 1.) I’m going to kill Samir for bailing on me, and 2.) I hope this gas leak thing isn’t serious because I’m going to jump back on my bike ASAFP.
By the way, all the guys at San Diego House of Motorcycles are Awesome and thanks for everything!! I definitely recommend buying from them!! (and p.s., this bike is only new to me, it’s actually used with 364 miles on it!)
broken light and scratched clutch
scratches 
