2500 miles

I now have 2500 miles on the Grom and its still a blast! I have removed the rear blinkers and added a programable sequential tail light which has the turn signals (the sequential part is that they blink from the middle out toward the direction your turning) integrated into the tail light housing, installed flush mount front blinkers added a rear splash guard, cut off the rear foot pegs and added a iPhone holder.

The From has so many aftermarket parts available its easy to get carried away! There is a member of my Honda From G+ community in japan that has a really nice looking White Grom with blue anodized parts thats really nice looking.

For those of you that have read my other blogs you know I have an affinity for small motorcycles, Hondas in particular. I have restored many and customized a few and have one that I don't ever see me selling I call it Butcher.
When I first saw the new Honda Grom I was happy they had not abandoned the old reliable horizontal single that had helped to forge the legend of Honda motorcycles. I wanted one but had so much going on in my life at the time it just wasn't possible, now it is.
Today I bought a brand new black Grom from a dealer here in San Diego! I felt like a little kid at christmas, and could hardly wait to take it for a spin! It was everything I expected as I had read about all the reviews I could find and watched several videos showing it doing all kinds of stuff I am sure is not recommended. It's nice having fuel injection, no more choke! I look forward to not setting ignition points as it has electronic ignition.
On my first ride I took it to my favorite beaches near my place including Belmont park, pacific beach and La Jolla. I am used to people gawking at my bikes like Butcher the radical custom trail 90 and the baby Dreams so the looks while riding where nothing new. I like to park somewhere near a high foot traffic area and sit back far enough away to not look like the owner of my bikes and watch the reactions. I don't do what I do with bikes for others I do it for me and don't seek their approval but do enjoy someone getting a kick out of them! Most times if someone is really checking out one I wander over and talk with them. The old advertising for honda bikes states that "You meet the nicest people on a Honda" and it's true, but it can also be true for any motorcycle. This new Grom caught many peoples attention, it's new, it's stylish and dare I say it's really cool to the guys and "cute" to the girls! I overheard more than one person say that they don't own a bike but think that one looks like they could learn to ride it. This is what motorcycling needs, a good looking well built small bike that looks inviting to both sexes young and old. It starts easy and runs great cold, has a real manual clutch that's easy to operate good power for around town an easy to read digital dash nice handle bar controls nice bright headlight and front and rear disc brakes and a nice suspension feel. 

I now have over 1500 miles on my Grom and have done 3 performance mods that the really transformed the whole riding experience! First I changed out the front sprocket for one with 1 more tooth. This increases speed and sacrafices torque. Next I did the chimera intake swap eliminating the factory air filtration system and ducting and at the same time I changed out the factory exhaust with a MAD shorty system. I knew that if you just change the exhaust you end up with a lack of intake vacuum and that means no power in upper RPMs, and if you change just the intake you end up with the opposite. Now the bike pulls fast all the way past the red line so I need to learn my new shift points. The sprocket increased my speed by about 5-7 mph and made it much better even thou I weigh almost 200lbs it pulls much better! Now it sounds great and I think the rear looks much cleaner without that large factory muffler and bumper!

Rear fender eliminator

After installing the fender eliminator I went to the beach for some new pics!