The Long Wait Ends - Brutus Is Born

The first bike to roll out of the WillieStreet garage. She rides like a charm. The first pic is how she looked when I got her. But the following three are presently how she's patched up. Pretty much a violation from every angle, dripping with attitude that screams, "Write me a friggin' ticket already!" - tiny left side mirror, no tail light (yet, anyway), no fender (yet, again), no horn (who needs one?) , no turn signals (sissy add ons), no speedo (if the wind is lifting my helmet already, then that tells me I'm at cruising speed), lame plate holders (stock ubone thingies, temporary), pant ripper seats (temporary), asswipe side covers (another temporary excuse), sky high apes (again, temporary but the only fine excuse), but slick and sick from every angle - ultra slick matte black against black flames, German white side inserts - way better than Classic brands, black mirror rims, black ceramic pipes. Spent mostly two weeks chopping off and adding on to the stock steed I got from Jay's friend. Here are the first pictures of it. Now go tell the neighbors.

The Second

When it seemed impossible yesterday that I should get the bike that I had primed my mind with, now it sits quietly where Mandelbrot used to park. I don't have the snaps since I haven't got a camera anywhere in the house - which sucks since I'm maintaining an online diary. But what I do have is about 50 miles of fast joy and neck jerking experience as the honed Steed has way more torque than Mandelbrot had. I thought that I was twisting the throttle the way I did before but now I got more speed in return.

The bike is a blank canvas. Ready to be transformed. It has been to far places and yet it still packs the punch it probably had when it was fresh out of the factory line. Its deep husky growl is music to my ears. The apes are way up there, as in scandalous. I like the idea that I didn't lose how people stop and stare when I pass by.

I thought I got bored of riding and it became a chore already with Mandelbrot, but now I'm stoked again. Even as I type I have the itch to ride out, if it weren't for my morning deadline - which I haven't started on yet.

Haven't told Dodge yet. Hope to get the papers tomorrow.

Mandelbrot Rides Away

Last night, I took a long look at Mandelbrot resting peacefully in my garage unmindful of the moment around it. I thought that tomorrow night it will be parked in someone else's garage quietly. I thought of floating beside it and looking at it through all the times I've enjoyed riding it in the late hours and early mornings from Quezon city to south and back. After a brief blast through EDSA I would tap on the tank and say "good boy.." like the obedient puppy that it is.

It has never failed to turn heads wherever it cruised. My first bike. I remember having it delivered to my place of work and staring at it excitedly with a dumbfounded look and an impending question: "How the heck am I going to take this home?" - I have never in my entire life ridden a motorcycle, much less sit on one.. and here I am looking at this big brute that was suddenly thrust under my care. How am I going to tame it? It died on me six times on the way home. Ahh, sweet tragedy.

Fast forward two and a half years, I stared blankly as the new owner - a very young kid - rides away on it. It looks good from this view. I've always wondered how we looked together or sounded from a distance. It was a loud monster - who even now fades silently into the afternoon as I see it round the corner for the very last time.

Who knows, I might see it zipping through some highway any time in the future. But I'd be an audience for a change. And if I do manage to catch it blow by me like the wind, I'd smile inside - thinking "good boy.."