My bike with her new exhaust system....

"Hey, its a beautiful day, thought I'd go for a little spin.

I'm in North Ballard, thinking a blast partway up highway 20 could be just the ticket.(Pun not intended!)

Anyone?

Quick run, at or above the limit mostly, my trusty detector'll be on.

Meet??

Stanford's. It's a newish restaurant in the NW corner of the Northgate Mall parking lot, easy to find. I'll be there early on my black Ninja ZX10r.

Hope to see you there."

I posted this up as a last minute ride invite on a local riders forum.
The ride report...

"Got as far as Sedro- Wooley before the ominous thick black/gray clouds descended. Sure enough, started getting rained on. Spun around and headed back, getting out in front of the clouds.

Saw 10-12 cops. Getting ridiculous out there. Still loving my detector.

P.S., apparently, it's October. Fingers were a little chilly by the end of the ride.

P.P.S., I have a confession... I waved at a scooter today. It was an honest mistake!!! It was one of those overgrown puppies on I-5, I saw the bikelike headlamps, and out goes the arm....Damn.

The new pipe is a revelation. Coming from the stocker, I put on a high mount Leo Vince CF, and used a newish power commander map. Wow.

The bike always was a wheelie monster in first, and when you twisted its tail in second, but now... 2nd gear, wind on the gas at 80-100 and up comes the front. Third, same thing, a slowly rising front wheel is the consequence of cranking on the gas. Accelerating in the first four gears must now be done with respect to any rises that'll have you levitating the wheel unintentionally. Actually had to use the rear brake to moderate a long power wheelie... first time ever. Oddly enough, much better mileage, too.

FUN. What I don't like, though, is the lack of footroom. The upswept midpipe now hits your heel. There's a CF guard, but it'll take some getting used to and/or a stretch piece to move the whole thing back a bit. Anyone else notice this?

the ominous thick black/gray clouds...

Just an abandoned railway bridge along the way...