WOT...Anybody ride here?

[JD]

Check out http://www.harleychatgroup.com if you're into Harleys. I'm a tech on the forum.

[Necrovore]

Thanks guys. Sportsterguy, Oh yeah of course. If/when I get a bike I will be a parkinglot commando for a while. Streetbikes have always scared me a little. Mainly due to seeing a few really bad accidents involving motorcycles and cars and motorcycles by themselves. Not talking bike dumps, but full on high speed impacts with vehicle on vehicle and vehicle and inanimate object.

Kennedyblvd, Thanks for the suggestions. I was leaning towards the baby ninja as well as an older 750.

[KennedyBlvd]

Oh yeah of course. If/when I get a bike I will be a parkinglot commando for a while. Streetbikes have always scared me a little. Mainly due to seeing a few really bad accidents involving motorcycles and cars and motorcycles by themselves. Not talking bike dumps, but full on high speed impacts with vehicle on vehicle and vehicle and inanimate object.

Very astute.

No matter how good a rider you are it's not all in YOUR hands, the most dangerous thing out there is the little old lady in the Buick Electra who ain't gonna see ya, even if you're lit up like a Christmas tree!

Coupla tips. Ride a bit different than you drive. My ol' lady bitches about how I drive, I drive like my grandma and grandma has been dead for a good many years!

Watch the front wheels of that car that's about to pull out in front of you. DON'T look at the driver, make eye contact and sometimes they think because you see them it's o.k. to pull right out in front of you. If their front wheels are moving cover the front brake, that means have your fingers over the clutch and brake and get ready to use 'em. Look for a way out if you need it, on the track you need to have at least one extra line available in case another rider goes down in front of you. Even if you're up front you can catch up to lapped riders!

Watch for motorists openin' doors on parked cars. THEY ain't lookin' so YOU have to!

Don't ride like an idiot and you'll avoid "full on impacts". I've only had ONE "full on impact" in thirty some odd years... and I was ridin' like an idiot at the time! Near misses... happen all the time. Between talkin' on the cel phone, checkin' her makeup in the mirror and smackin' the kids that soccer mom in the mini-van ain't got time to look out for you!

Spend a few bucks on good gear, helmet, leather jacket and good gloves are it at the minimum. ALWAYS wear that leather jacket no matter how hot it gets, sweating is more fun than getting skin grafts.

The more advanced kit includes riding pants with armor. Just think about sliding down the road on your knees, Kevlar makes it less painful. A lot of guys wear back protectors these days.

AVOID heavy traffic if you can, the more cars there are the more chances there are of one takin' you out!

Kennedyblvd, Thanks for the suggestions. I was leaning towards the baby ninja as well as an older 750.

Good choice! The little Ninja is more fun per pound than nearly anything else out there. Spend a few extra bucks for premium rubber and you'll have a bike you can twirl on one finger in the corners!

When you're talkin' an "older" 750... the market has become sportbike focused, the Ninja 750 isn't a fun bike to ride on the street. When you're talkin' older you probably mean ten years old. There are some deals out there on '80s bikes but you get '80s technology, '80s motors and '80s brakes. Kawasaki was the last to give up "anti-dive" brakes, a good idea in theory but they make the front end push when you most need it to STEER.

My picks for 750s: ANY 750 Katana right back to '88. Suzuki has been buildin' that engine since '86 and it was right to begin with in '86. It's too bad the 750 Bandit never made it to the U.S. but if you want one bad enough you can stuff a GSX750 engine into a 600 Bandit frame. OR pick up an older Honda VFR750, there's pros and cons to the Honda: On the plus side it works very well and will be pretty reliable up to 30k IF it has been properly maintained. On the minus side if it ever breaks I can buy Porsche parts for less money than I can buy Honda parts!

A 750 makes sense if you agenda includes ridin' with a chick on the back, just be aware that bike plus you plus babe is gonna weigh at least 700 pounds and probably more, remember to ride with enough in reserve that you can avoid trouble if it comes your way.

[NY Chief]

Was that you I saw on a big twin Top Fuel setting the record at AHDR at 223mph??

By the way ASSHOLE, no ONE in my club or I that I know takes ANY fuckin pride in getting hurt or getting somebody else hurt. Especially a wife, girlfriend, brother or sister. Your statements are so fuckin moronic I won't waste any more of my time.

Yeah big guy I got a rise outta you!

Take yer 113 inch H-D, crank it up as far as it will go on the front straight of Loudon, then grab a big handful of front brake and turn left. You ain't gonna make it, the floorboards are gonna ground out.

NOW before you start calling people nasty names, remember that there are plenty of guys out there who don't know any better tryin' to make a Big Twin do things it was never designed to do. Bad-asses like you. You'll get some dumb shit killed tryin' to be a tough guy like you are.

Wheelies are for school kids, you better get a trials bike if you want to learn to steer something on one wheel.

Ummm, you are the one that posted on a very cordial, respectful forum ranting and raving and bringing all kind of vitriol about something that is obviously stuck way up your ass, there Missy.

I'm not braggin about nothing, merely posted a pic of my rides in response to another post.

You are obviously a very seasoned, experienced rider. I would have given almost identical advice as you did above.

I agree that there are plenty of morons trying to make a big bike do things it's not designed to do. I also have seen many more wanna be leather jocks like you eat it on a bike that will do those things but the rider is just as stupid or inexperienced. I have seen some guys do amazing things on big bike. I'm sure they earned it the hard way. Is it for everyone? No. Is 185mph on an Itchypussy for everyone? NO to that as well.

I really don't care WTF you think of Big Twins (or anything else) just don't post your crap here in an antagonistic fashion and FUCK UP the good friendly vibe that George has got here.

Go ride (really) fast somehwere!!

[KennedyBlvd]

Chief,

Please accept my humble apologies for dissin' your religion and H-D big twins are indeed a religion, I can think of no other reason why otherwise sensible people would stick with The Motor Company through thick and thin. That's another story...

Diss someone's religion and they skip diplomacy and turn to violence. Where else have we seen this?

My previous post is in response to the ol' mine is bigger than yours is Sportsters are girlie bikes crap.

If you carefully re-read my previous posts you may notice that my two anecdotes are about two fellows who knew no better than to, for lack of a better term, kill their ol' ladies. One guy used a Sportster. They're both true stories, names have been omitted to protect the guilty. That's two death trips within my small community, I could put a bit more effort in and write about the guys who just got busted up real bad. Yeah, a buzz-rape for sure. But we both know there's only two kinds of riders, those who have been down and those who are gonna go down. No exceptions! I ride better than I walk these days and yes, I still ride and I still ride hard. I know damn well and I freely admit that I've screwed up on two wheels before and I probably will again.

Then ya post a pic of some dude doin' a moonshot wheelie on a Big Twin with NO HELMET! There's a reason that ya often see pics like that with a little disclaimer that reads, "Professional driver on a closed course. Do not attempt!"

'Cuz some would be hero wannabe with a bad case of Harley envy is gonna try it.

[NY Chief]

Chief,

Please accept my humble apologies for dissin' your religion and H-D big twins are indeed a religion, I can think of no other reason why otherwise sensible people would stick with The Motor Company through thick and thin. That's another story...

Diss someone's religion and they skip diplomacy and turn to violence. Where else have we seen this?

My previous post is in response to the ol' mine is bigger than yours is Sportsters are girlie bikes crap.

If you carefully re-read my previous posts you may notice that my two anecdotes are about two fellows who knew no better than to, for lack of a better term, kill their ol' ladies. One guy used a Sportster. They're both true stories, names have been omitted to protect the guilty. That's two death trips within my small community, I could put a bit more effort in and write about the guys who just got busted up real bad. Yeah, a buzz-rape for sure. But we both know there's only two kinds of riders, those who have been down and those who are gonna go down. No exceptions! I ride better than I walk these days and yes, I still ride and I still ride hard. I know damn well and I freely admit that I've screwed up on two wheels before and I probably will again.

Then ya post a pic of some dude doin' a moonshot wheelie on a Big Twin with NO HELMET! There's a reason that ya often see pics like that with a little disclaimer that reads, "Professional driver on a closed course. Do not attempt!"

'Cuz some would be hero wannabe with a bad case of Harley envy is gonna try it.

Yeah, the intent of the pic was that you can get a big bike to do strange things (wheelies) but it ain't for the slight of heart or stupid of brain! Craziest thing I ever seen ws my first croos crounty ride and all the guys that lost their lids as soon as we got into helmet optional territory. There's still a shitload of idiots 'round SoCal cursing the helmet law and "how much it was better when we didn't have to wear 'em."

[KennedyBlvd]

Well frankly Chief you obviously have way bigger balls than I do bein' as you ride in SoCal and all, the traffic out there is a freakin' meatgrinder!

One o' these days I gotta ride out to Oakland and then up the the Coast, man there's some big-ass trees up there!

[mightymike]

Took my oldest son to both Redwod Groves 2 summers ago. (The thicker larger ones, more inland, in the Sequoia National Forest, and Kings Canyon National Forest, and the then the taller/thinner ones along the Northern Cal Coast from Patricks Point)

We Drove from the Sequioas/Kings Canyon to Patricks Point (Via Humbolt), and then up to Crecent City. It's so beautiful, that it's spiritual. I miss being able to drive to places like that for a quick weekend. It used to really rejuvenate me. I've been all over the countrry,and NOTHING east of the Rockies compares imho. The only other place I've been to as beautiful, in that overwhelming way, is Hawaii. .

We did the Redwood thing after camping up river from Kernville around Johnsondale falls, and doing some inner- tubbing in the Kern river. Then camping in Cedar grove at the end of Kings Canyon. This is something I used to do when I was younger, and wanted to show my son. He loved it. Won't stop begging me to go back.

I was very sad and angry when I camped over by the Kern. A lot less trees from fires, and the camping areas by the river had a bunch of LA gang graffiti on the river rocks. People left a case a beer by the river.
What happened? I've been camping in those parts since the early 1970s, I have only seen my fellow campers respect the land until now.

Sorry to hijack this tread
Try'n to keep things positive...

[JD]

Took my oldest son to both Redwod Groves 2 summers ago. (The thicker larger ones, more inland, in the Sequoia National Forest, and Kings Canyon National Forest, and the then the taller/thinner ones along the Northern Cal Coast from Patricks Point)

We Drove from the Sequioas/Kings Canyon to Patricks Point (Via Humbolt), and then up to Crecent City. It's so beautiful, that it's spiritual. I miss being able to drive to places like that for a quick weekend. It used to really rejuvenate me. I've been all over the countrry,and NOTHING east of the Rockies compares imho. The only other place I've been to as beautiful, in that overwhelming way, is Hawaii. .

We did the Redwood thing after camping up river from Kernville around Johnsondale falls, and doing some inner- tubbing in the Kern river. Then camping in Cedar grove at the end of Kings Canyon. This is something I used to do when I was younger, and wanted to show my son. He loved it. Won't stop begging me to go back.

I was very sad and angry when I camped over by the Kern. A lot less trees from fires, and the camping areas by the river had a bunch of LA gang graffiti on the river rocks. People left a case a beer by the river.
What happened? I've been camping in those parts since the early 1970s, I have only seen my fellow campers respect the land until now.

Sorry to hijack this tread
Try'n to keep things positive...

Well written. Pretty much why I ride. That, and chicks dig bikes.

[NY Chief]

The Kern river IS gorgeous. We do an annual weekend at Lake Isabella and trade the scoots in for kayaks and tubes and shoot the rapids. One year we lost one guy out of the boat and found him all the way at the bottom. HIS bottom was a bit sore from bouncing off all those rocks!!

Kennedy, I hear ya' about the SoCal freeways. It's like f'n pinball. I ALWAYS expect EVERYBODY to do something stupid EVERY time I'm out there. It's the only way to survive. These assholes drive in total oblivion and almost nobody uses turn signals to change lanes. It's f'n scary. I make lots of new friends almost every time I ride...