2wheels>4

I want in!

Hey!! You're the dude I talked to today at the Meijer gas station, right? Greetings, glad you joined!! Edit: Talked to YESTERDAY on my way home from Knox Co. I was a bit burned from the long weekend, lots of riding, and no sleeping.... Still a bit foggy, already drinking again today... yep...

+1 In Dublin too, always down for a ride. Welcome!

Been down on the pegs a lot, but only came off the bike once from laying it down and that was on ice. (yeah, I know you are supposed to let go and not stand it back up, I didn't try, I just did it. Too much riding mountain bikes and horses and it was instinct. I will probably high side it one day as a result, and still do it again.) Once over the handle bars... very amusing story, but I have told it too many times. Short version: Matt's bike is POS. Matt impatient. Bike meets curb. Matt gets pilots license, then eats dirt. Everyone but Matt laughs uproariously. Fuck.

I ride 12 months a year, any time it is above 10ºF and there is not ice or snow on the roads. I avoid cars whenever possible, refusing to ride with cagers unless weather or circumstance makes it necessary. I only bought a car last year when it snowed, 300 bucks for a beater and I only drove it when it was slippery. I rode to my parents house for Thanksgiving this year (50mi one way). I laid my Suzi down on Christmas Eve because the ground froze under me. (it was 50ºF and raining all day, but when the sun went down the ground was still cold enough to refreeze the pavement at only 40º or so... and I was on my way home in the dark when that happened...) Several times this winter I got to work and walked in the building only to have my gear frost up from being so cold when it hit the warm humid air. This, by the way, really freaks out your coworkers... like they didn't already think I was half psycho anyway. I'm riding out to Morrow tonight, probably after dark, so it will be around freezing I expect by the time I jump off of 71 out at 61... All I can say is LAYERS. If it dips below 40º I wear a layer under my pants (thermal underwear) and multiple layers up top. Under 20º I find my fingers get numb under my Isotoners, so I use multiple layers on gloves too, and must limit rides to about 15-20 miles before I stop to warm up a bit. Need a better suit, full pants and jacket, I will go lower..... farther...

No matter what you are probably going to get boned with a suspension. That part is civil, not criminal so they don't have the same due process, or at least that was how I understand it... Either way it has to do with you signing a paper stating that you would keep insurance or a large bond, blah, blah, blah.... The good news is that you can apply for work driving privileges at the same hearing where they suspend you. Then I think they let you keep your tags, but take your license card. Just don't get popped driving anywhere but work for 90 days or you will get horse fucked by the man then.... repeat offenses get steep penalties and I think on the third time you loose driving privileges permanently. I had a friend that got screwed on this, he let his lapse shortly after HS because his car was broke and he was riding with other people. Because the car was still registered though, he got the "random" letter and lost his shit without even driving the car... If you read the print on your registration it should give you all the gory details regarding penalties and hearings and such.

+1, as long as we are riding ATVs, 4x4s or at least a good dirtbike.... Not so much on street bike expecting the road to be made of a single, cohesive bit of asphalt.... On the other hand, I DO ride for the excitement, so who knows. Does kinda sound adventurous though.... I may have to get down there just for the pic op. That, and I have never seen this devil's tunnel of which you speak, sounds like a civil engineering nightmare worth visiting.

+1 Tuck it like a girl or hack it like a man!! (Yes, I'm just jealous because I had to cut mine too, and never grew it back...)

Haven't tried mirrored yet, need to see if I can find one for my helmet... But I keep both visors, super dark smoke and clear, with me unless I am CERTAIN I won't have changing lighting conditions, or I am going a very short distance on surface streets. (I wear a half shell a lot in the summer, so I don't mind having the visor up to come a few blocks home at night though I try to avoid it anyway...) When I wear a skid-lid I wear my Oakleys and keep a spare set of sunglasses, and a pair of clear or yellow safety glasses in my bag for night time. (and usually goggles somewhere in case it rains.... Rain sucks in Oakleys and half-shell.....)

This has always been my motto, but it took fucking 8 months for my tendons to heal in BOTH arms from being stupid and catching falling bikes.... I don't think the '78 Suzi was worth THAT much trouble... (not that it stopped me from riding, but I couldn't lift weights and I wimpered a lot while trying to tuck my shirt in for months... )

My old stomping grounds... Eloise's closed!?! I'm in! I am from Centerburg which we will no doubt ride through on the way... And I grew up (parents still reside) on 657 which runs between RT 3 and RT 13. (the road to MT Vernon and the road from Mt Vernon to Utica) Just took the triangle from 657 at my parents to 13 outside Newark down 13 through Utica into Mt V and then 3 to some back roads that lead back to my parents. Nice first ride for my sister... The Mill in Utica is pretty badass too, and great Icecream.

Oh, I have done that one... Also: Working on bike when drunk, tipped it over wrenching, caught bike in mid fall by handle bar. This happened more than once, I'm afraid... First time I caught it, but severely pulled a tendon in my arm doing so. Another occasion I grabbed the hand grip and almost caught the bike until hand grip slipped off and I managed to accidentally punch myself in the face with it because of how hard I was pulling... oops... Why did I try to catch a falling bike?? Reflexes. I catch shit when it falls without thinking and it is NOT smart... Especially if you are clumsy and have sharp knives... Also: Right after taking a flight over the handlebars (had some clutch issues, got impatient, let bike get away from me and clipped curb... took flying high-side exit over handlebars into perfect somersault followed by less perfect head plant on ground.... ) I got up and picked up my bike immediately. Too much adrenaline and bad form resulted in me picking the bike up in a big heave and promptly dropping it on it's other side. Lucky I broke it's fall with my leg that time... Super lucky, people got to watch. Not at ALL embarrassing... ARG! Haven't knocked the cruiser over yet... (knock on wood) But I'm a clumsy fuck... Maybe I will edit this later today.... LOL

+1 Anyone sober and in a suit at mine will be haunted as punishment. Screw flowers, send beer. (but don't drink and ride, damnit. One funeral at a time is enough.) Count me in for the ride. I only really knew Kenny from posts on CR mostly, but I think a show of support is worth my time and gasoline any day. I will probably skip the drinking after, though. Drinking after funerals always goes bad for me, I'm part Irish...

Will someone in the government please do the right thing and beat this asshat to death, publicly, with a rolled up copy of the Constitution? WTF is wrong with people... Impeachment followed by execution is the only acceptable response to this sort of suggestion by a politician. Apparently history and common sense is not sufficient and immediate examples must be made for the multitudes of sheep.

Hell, I thought I didn't care about losing skin... but in shorts and tennis shoes? At least dude was sporting a lid, that and a cup and you have the important bits covered.

Yah know, I already believed you... this is just showing off... Now, gimme one... hehehehe :grin:

I most recently made a living as an EET, I might be able to handle some basic wiring... Or, if you need some QFPs or BGAs swapped on a MOBO... On a side note, if anyone wants their game console modded, I have very reasonable prices. I will mod XBox and Wii cheap depending on the chip you want. Play all your legally owned backed up games.... Don't download and pirate games, jesus kills kittens when you do that. Will do. I might be a smartass and a bit crazy, but I'm not stupid. I try to listen to those with more experience and knowledge, and accept the penalties when I don't. Either one will teach if you aren't killed, but I have found that one hurts a hell of a lot less.

I don't think I want a bike that weighs as much as my car and has three times the horsepower... This sounds like a disaster waiting to happen...

Sounds likes that's the one then. I will keep my eye out for a cheap one. I like the idea of a 250 that will put me in the air with ease because I know it will be light as hell and on the road I imagine 60-75mpg too.... No mods, durable, and cheap are exactly what I need. I will take other suggestions for consideration, but I think I'm sold on the motard idea. Thanks for your input!! edit: Wait, that isn't street legal is it...

Don't fucking tempt me... I'm in Dublin and there are kids here that race me up and down the streets on dirtbikes and ATVs... Last winter the fuckers were drag racing snowmobiles during that blizzard... In Dublin!! I expect this out where I grew up, but not between Riverside and Sawmill.... I will end up in the frickin' park terrorizing all the rich white people around here... they don't like it when I do that. Or so the cops keep telling me. Edit: I try to avoid being a squid... Gixxer is my ultimate goal, I think, but too expensive and powerful for me to be learning on I think.

Yeah.... Bet you can show me how it gets done on your 600/750/1000 GSXR too... How does 50 bucks an hour sound? Do I get one of those cool Monster shirts too?? Really?? They look fun as hell, pretty much a street legal dirt bike from what I understand, but will riding it really translate so easily to a street sport bike? I won't even ask about displacement, it is also my understanding that it would weigh about what I do, so I could probably wheelie the thing if you just gave me pedals... Eventually I want to just have a sport bike that I can ride road, track and occasionally stunt about in a lot somewhere. I just don't want to wreck THAT bike so often, and I have other bikes for riding street already so my "learner" CAN be a purpose built machine if that is most expedient. See, now you are just going to involve me in ANOTHER damn expensive and dangerous hobby with supermoto... damnit, like I need another method of passive suicide... Asphalt AND dirt all in one, kinda like running from the cops in Northern Ohio...

Dude, that was pretty good, and by extension I found a few more browsing youtube afterward. I have a bit better understanding of things I was doing without thought, both good and bad. I am relatively new to motorcycles, but I learned a lot of balance habits from mountain biking, ATVs and breaking and riding horses, some of which have translated well, others not so much. The whole counter-steering thing was counter intuitive to me at first, but leaning myself sideways half off a bike was easy and I don't panic when the bike does funny shit like wobble, bounce, drift or lay down... (that part is from horses... when they spook and jump sideways, buck, wtf ever, you just have to relax and go with it or you get tossed....) I definitely need to get some stouter pants and make it to a track day now... Yet another reason why I need knee pads...

50 sounds a bit small, but I was pretty much expecting to be told "grab a busted old 250 and sprocket the hell out of it." If a 50 will actually pull me up, I am game though... If I can get it off the ground easily and learn the basics of balance and brake/throttle control for stunting, then that is sufficient. I would sort of like it to be "intermediate" though. Small, but not so small that I out grow it the first year I own it. Of course, I can always bust it all to hell and just sell it to the next sucker a year later. Use the cash from sale to help buy the next one...

Hahahaha... I won't even separate the colored from the whites when I do laundry, seems too much like segregation to me. (ok, I'm not a civil rights activist so much as lazy, but I try...) I will have to add this to my list of things not to do drunk Driving, Dialing, Deciding, and now... Forum posting. Doesn't really fit the "D" motif...

If you had it to do over again, what bike would you learn the ropes on? I'm the sort of idiot that needs adrenaline like most people suck oxygen so I want to do things which exceed the capabilities of my current bikes. Basically I want something to get me started playing in parking lots, not the end-all-be-all of stunt bikes. I WILL lay it down, wreck it, chop shit off, rattle can it, etc, etc... I would want to ride it on the road some too, but mostly just a parking lot toy. And on the cheap. I have a cruiser and a GS550, but neither is appropriate or capable for wheelies, endos, donuts, etc. (well, the cruiser will burn tires and and I can slide the back end around a bit on corners at takeoffs, do a 180 or donut maybe, but it's not really what I want it for....) The GS is just far too old and worn out to do anything more than growl a lot and bleed oil all over the landscape. Besides, I keep grinding the chrome off my pegs on the cruiser from getting too low in the corners... good thing those fold up, cause I caught the right one pretty good and ground a bit off my boots too yesterday whilst out riding. When that happens on the GS they don't fold and I have actually levered the back wheel off the pavement a few times as a result... (and the pegs look like they were attacked by a pack of rabid rottweilers, had to bend one back straight with the help of a six foot section of pipe for leverage) I have no need to do wheelies at 120mph, though that is exactly what I will do eventually if given a powerful enough bike... Nor should I have anything at my disposal that will exceed 160mph. Given a Liter it would not be a question of if I kill myself, but how much of the landscape I take to hell with me. Preferably something with just enough power to get me (6foot+ and 185lbs solid with gear) vertical, but light, cheap and durable enough that I can wreck it regularly while I learn. I figure if I can play in parking lots, AND cruise on the road, perhaps I won't try to mix the two of them... I don't mind wrecking at 25mph in an open lot, but stunting on roads will get me killed or arrested for certain. I like to take things too far, so I try to limit myself or give myself alternative outlets so I don't get overly stupid. Aesthetics mean nothing, just functionality in this. Also, I am my own mechanic and have fabrication experience, so I am not afraid to chop, weld and grossly modify the appropriate bike. Any suggestions? (other than that I "go fuck myself for being a squidly tool," I am already aware of that)