Ok, I'm a little hesitant about this post. The reason being my ride wasn't a motorcycle but rather a 150cc scooter (downsizing lost the space to park the scoot, still missing it!!). In my defense, I racked up 10K miles in 3 riding seasons, no tickets, no accidents but lots of great time on 2 wheels going from city to foothills to prairie. If it wasn't freeway, we would try it! Oh, did I forget to mention my wife had a scooter too (best idea ever! She's missing her scoot too!!). The point I guess I wanted to make is to enjoy the ride, get out there and see, hear and smell what you can't in the cage. Do it safely though, eliminate as many risk factors as possible. Do the MSF safety course even if you have years of experience on your bike. Knowledge is as important as safety gear. Make sure your bike is always in excellent condition, good condition isn't good enough. Know that you are invisible to cagers, they aren't out to get you, they just don't see you. Always have your "Spidey senses" going, something doesn't feel right, act on it, you've nothing to lose. It sorta sounds like a lot of negative rules and we're out there to have a great ride, right? Trust me, once you get the safety rules down, you can confidently enjoy your ride. Did I mention how important knowledge is? Notice I said "eliminate as many risk factors as possible", we can only do so much for ourselves to be safe. The rest we do what we can and, honestly, hope for the best and enjoy the ride. Nothing like a sunny day on two wheels, with the wife riding to the rear and right going to, well, where ever!
Missing our scoots is one of the reasons for getting the Elio, true, it's a modified cage. But it's a really cool modified cage that happens to get great mpg, be pretty safe and looks like a hoot to drive! Ours will be James Bond Black, auto tranny and cruise control. Yeah, cool on three wheels.