| Degrees of familiarity |
 On an evening run to Sylvania to pick up a Ninja 250 (more on that in another post), I stopped to fill up my unnamed relative's Chrysler 300. Leaving the gas station, biker instinct kicked in and I punched the tripmeter button.It said the exact same number as the odometer. It had never been reset. So I asked. Some people are funny about that. Bikers reset their tripmeters, because often it's the only "gas gauge" they have. Some car drivers never do, as some kind of hinky badge of honor. Oh, go ahead, my unnamed relative said. I punched it to zero, then punched it again. The temperature popped up in the digital readout window. "How did you do that!" my passenger nearly squealed. "I pushed this button." "We've been trying to find a way to display the temperature since we got this car!" It pays to know your vehicle. I had run into a similar issue on the way to Sylvania. In this particular 300, all the cruise controls are on a stalk on the low right side of the steering column. On another 300 I just drove, they are all on a stalk on the high left side of the column. No matter the vehicle, two- or four-wheeled, it pays to spend a few moments, in the driveway — before launch — getting familiar with the controls. That was reinforced as I drove the Ninja home. I had eyeballed the tires. Bolted on a plate. Checked the oil. Listened to the engine. But the clutch lever was cocked too high. I hadn't checked the chain tension. (I did check for lube.) And the rear shock preload could have used another twist or two. Strange vehicles have their strange ways. This spring, many of us are on strange, new bikes. Get to know them, before they get a chance to rear up and bite ya. blog comments powered by Disqus |