Sol Power–BrammoBlog.com

Blog 62: The Pickup-Part 2

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Yesterdays’s blog was quite verbose…with WAY too many uses of the words “lovely” and “nice”. So today’s blog will be more images and less words. Always a plus for any of my blogs.

We left yesterday’s blog with the protagonist of this blog, me, picking up the Enertia Plus, T’Challa, at Scuderia West and getting ready to take a “short” ride around San Francisco. I couldn’t stay long so I had to chose a couple of cool points. I picked Lombard St and the Golden Gate Bridge. Both famous, both fun and both near to Scuderia West. I also did quite a bit of video (I was forced to hold my Contour Roam helmet camera in my left hand as I brought my oh so kickass Icon helmet–see photo below– on the trip West. Sadly that helmet doesn’t have a mount…yet). It will take me a few days to edit the video, so that is for next weeks blog.

But that is the future. This is the present. And off we go….

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THE CITY:

I lived in Berkeley for a couple of years in the early 70’s. When I was 10 and 11..or something like that. Crazy times. Crazy days. But that is a story of another time. San Francisco was known simply as The City. Maybe it still is? We (me, my mom and brother) would hitchhike from Berkeley to San Francisco with a cardboard sign that merely said, “The City.” I lived there when BART was finished and I rode it on day one. I kept that BART ticket in my wallet for many many years. I think it was just a couple of years ago that I finally lost it. Even after BART was up and running, we mostly hitchhiked from Berkeley. We were dirt poor at the time. But that too is another story for another time.

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First Stop. Lombard Street.

From the bottom looking up. Fun…but slow. Always has cars going 5 mph on it.

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Half way down Lombard St looking toward Coit Tower.

Getting a photo of the bike in shadow really washed out the background sky.

It was a beautiful blue sky that day without clouds or the famous fog of San Francisco.

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Bottom of Lombard looking toward Coit Tower.

This photo reminds me…I should make an “Abby Road” recreation with Brammo bikes.

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A crappy attempt at showing Alcatraz. It stands beyond the end of the street in the distance.

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First Golden Gate Bridge look out…Not a very nice view of the bridge. Only for the tourist 🙂

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And here are a bunch from the much better 2nd turn off. Take the Marin Headlands exit. The extra few minutes drive is insanely worth it. Just a hell of a nice overlook.

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Mmmmmm, Panoramas….

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Me. Looking my best. Full Face Helmet helps greatly.

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But that is about it from San Francisco (other than the video…next week…i promise…unless i forget or get busy or lose interest or…). This was a Saturday from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm. Traffic flowed very smoothly and it was surprisingly easy to get around San Fran…though my sense of East, West, North, South was messed up with all the hills. Back home I’m use to the very simple, Mountain is East, Volcanoes are West. Hard to get lost in Albuquerque. But San Fran, other than the endless potholes, isn’t so bad to ride in.

And–Important Note Here–an Electric Motorcycle is perfect for this city. I wouldn’t want any thing else for all these extreme hills. Electric motorcycles have all that torque to easily get up the hills and regen braking going down saves a good bit of brake pad wear and tear. All good. And FUN FUN FUN 🙂

And I think I understand all the potholes. I don’t like them, but I understand them. Closing the streets for repair would be a nightmare. So, like a root canal or a prostate exam, they are a necessary evil.

Gotta run. Next blog is the travel East and back home. Including a less than fun stop in Baker, California. Luckily Baker was much nicer in the morning heading out. Of course leaving Baker is probably the highlight of any trip there.

Till Next Time…

Gavin

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For more info on Brammo, please visit: www.brammo.com
For more images, photos, discussions and all around Brammo goodness: visit, lurk and maybe join: www.brammoforum.com

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Bonus

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Sometimes I will combine two photos. One with near focus and then a quick second photo with far focus. So you see the bike and you also get a pretty sky. The downside is twofold. One, you sometimes get a photo that looks photoshopped. 🙂 And secondly, movement of objects in the background is an issue…Here I combined two photos…One had a Pruis in the background and one did not…when combined I got a Ghost Prius….SPOOKY.

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this is another photo looking toward Coit Tower. The one further up is a combined image. This one is not. Or the other way around…I can’t remember.

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ps…go read this…now.

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/firstrides/122_1304_brammo_empulse_r/viewall.html