I have a couple potholes on my street. One is particularly bad, a deep, wide gravel hole right in the path of travel when I turn onto my street. The gravel from the hole is spread around the hole making it a sour note on the end of my usually spirited commute.

I was skeptical when I read about the online form to report potholes in my home town of Oakland. I knew the form would work and that the city would get my complaint. I was skeptical that the city would fix the pothole in my lifetime. I filled out the form, intersection and my personal info and hit submit. Every night as I ended my commute and avoided the pothole I would be reminded about that city Website. And every night I was disappointed. So when I returned home from a business trip three weeks later and saw the patch over the hole I was overjoyed. Not because I can now lay my bike way over on the final turn of my commute but that my city works. It works in an efficient and tangible way that improves the quality of my life. It gives me hope in the midst of police scandals and diminishing budgets that a group of people who work for the city are doing something right for the people of Oakland.

I was picking up some parts for securing my ignition, parts that only the dealer in Hayward, CA carries. As I was there I was exiting a weird looking bike caught my eye. They had a Blue 2009 Kawasaki Versys on the floor. I have been looking at the bike for a while but have never seen it in person because Kawasaki was taking its time conforming to the nation leading air standards we have in California. So I climbed aboard and really liked how it felt under me. With a 32 inch inseam I was not flat-footing it, but just barely. I believe with my thicker soled motorcycle boots that I would be able to. The position in the saddle was nice and neutral, legs underneath and knees bent comfortably. What I noticed most about the difference between the position of my ZR-7S and the Versys was how far up the handlebars are but I can’t really comment on this until I ride the bike. In person I got what the Kawi engineers were going for. It seems like it is being pulled in three directions. A little motard, a little sporttbike, and a hint of touring thrown in for good measure. The only oddity was the size of the front tire. It looks very small compared to the bikes next to it but again I can’t comment on what this does to the fell of the bike until I ride one.

I am not sure when I will ride one. If I want to get serious about getting a Versys I will have to sell one of my Yamaha and if I really want a all in one bike I will have to sell my Kawi as well. I will probably wait until I start seeing them used and pick up a gently broken in unit. Let me know your experiences with the Versys in the comment form below:

Not since I saw Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang have I been this excited about a flying car. A british inventor has cobbled together a dune buggy and a paraglider propelled by a fan powered by a Yamaha R1 engine. The car will travel form London to Timbuktu all under its own power. Street legal, it drives on public roads and when it gets to places normally impassable on four wheels, you unfurl the parachute and crank up the fan. The car will fly over the English Channel, The Straight of Gibraltar, and parts of the Sahara.

If the car survives its maiden voyage, you can expect it to go on sale for about $75,000US. This could be better at avoiding traffic than splitting lanes.