This morning I stopped at a gas station on my way …
This morning I stopped at a gas station on my way to work. The attendant, as per my instruction, ‘filled it up.” How full, I didn’t realize until, upon returning to my motorcycle after stopping by the post office to check my mailbox, I found gasoline bubbling up out of my sun-heated gas tank, just as sure as if ole’ Jed Clampett had shot it while “lookin’ fer some food.” It was dripping down the sides and pooling in the fairing, so I had to clean it up as well as I could before resuming my commute, hoping that the bike didn’t burst into flames while I was on it. It’s parked downstair in the company parking lot now, and I still hope it doesn’t burst into flames any time soon. I don’t think I want to shell out the money for a new motorcycle, and besides, the selection here, restricted by law(via the motorcycle industry) to 150cc and below, isn’t exactly titillating. I hate scooters, which feel like chairs on little wheels, and I already have a chair on wheels. I am sitting in it now. But there are more scooters here in Taipei than anywhere else on the planet, or so I heard somewhere. In any case, it’s not hard to believe. By limiting engine size to under 150cc, the government, by caving in to the interests of the scooter industry, has actually harmed the environment, since, in order to get any power of an engine that size, you pretty much have to make it a 2-stroke engine, and 2-strokes pollute a lot more than 4-strokes. Thanks, Mr. Government Official! But he is probably on his monthly ski vacation in the fresh mountain air some other country that doesn’t have such stupid regulations.
I would really like to get a larger motorcycle, perhaps an R6 or CBR600, something in the 400-600cc range, but in reality the traffic of Taipei would make that somewhat cumbersome. They don’t turn as tight and they can’t fit between cars as well. Parking would be a bitch because they take up more space, and such a motorbike would probably be a target for thieves as well. Oh, but how nice it would be to be able to take advantage of that kind of engine in the mountains, or on a trip around the island! There are already a lot of illegal larger bikes out there, but they tend to travel in packs, and my bike is plenty fast for the city anyway. To be honest, there are a lot of better ways to spend my money than on a motorcycle like that. One can dream, though, right?
