ReconRat

1. Maintenance on both will be about the same, with the Audi costing a bit more? More than what it's worth to have either, unless: 2. You do your own mechanical work. Typically German cars are expensive in both parts and labor, but what isn't expensive currently. Taurus seems to need regular repair work too. Labor rates for American are so high, what the heck is the difference. 3. Probably not the best choice for a primary car, unless you drive shorter distances to work and shopping. Gas mileage means nothing if you are only driving 10 miles to get to work. 4. Think about how and when you could resell it, like later this Summer or next. What price might you get when reselling it. You could have it for a while, have fun, and sell it for a profit. 5. Check the insurance cost on it first. It might cost more to insure.

Is this the ultimate Valentine's Day gift? Guaranteed to put you in the dog house?

SP5 USARYIS 1970-73 here...

No clue, maybe they don't understand OSU. It's what the students do there. Big drinking scene. Major party school. I remember that.

Correct, historically the death and dismemberment rate for workers on railroads was extremely high. Unions and federal intervention put an end to that. It was necessary. And it wasn't an easy battle.

Simple I think, the group in the back too often tries to keep up. Maybe it's just new riders, maybe it's desire. Doesn't matter it happens too often. It's over the skill level, over the mechanical level, and involves road speeds way too high, entering or braking into corners way too hard, etc. Don't know about the riding too close. I learned to ride in close formation. Two bikes moving together. It used to be legal to ride side by side. Most states/cities don't allow it anymore.

I've only ridden the part between I-70 and Woodsfield, which is a wide smooth well-maintained two-lane state route.

Aye, me too, but best done in smaller groups of similar performance.

Ok, I going to explain something you probably already know, but haven't given much thought to. I've seen this happen in convoys of cars traveling on freeways. The lead car speeds up a little when there is an opportunity, and the next car is slightly delayed in responding, and has to go a little faster to catch up, and so on with the next. The guy or gal in the back has to floor it to stay anywhere near the rest of the group. There you have it, The Whiplash Effect So when we ride in groups, a steady pace by a leader, is so very very important. I don't care if it's fast or slow, steady is good. It also means hard acceleration out of corners can create the very same condition. The group should string out but still be in sight of a portion of the remainder. Then it bunches up entering corners. I suppose that's the "Slinky Effect", but I really didn't want to go there...

1. I'm pretty sure singling out, or even mentioning in context; "white male construction workers" is a bad idea by anyone for any reason. 2. Bids for construction are known to go to the lowest bidder (with the biggest bribes). 3. We ourselves, collectively, are responsible for all our woes. Nobody else. Particularly in the category of "lack of education" or "quality of education". 4. Unemployment in Germany was running 12% to 15%. Unemployment in France is even higher. In France among teens and young 20s, it's around 25% with little or no hope. Greece is now suffering the same. Much of it is from having the borders come down in a EURO-state, allowing lower cost labor to move freely around. Not saying good or bad, but it's what happens.

I've also seized cranks, melted camshafts, exploded brake drums, broken many chains, blown out three tires, overheated engines, suffered killer speed wobbles, been forced off the road by cars, tried to eat a back bumper while sliding sideways, had exhaust system parts fly off, etc; all while moving. Close calls, but stayed upright in all of those. The joys of old fashioned motorcycles, what can I say...

Me too... but when I ride with cruisers, they won't let me in the back... apparently it's a popular place, sort of like safer sitting in the back of the plane. Have also noticed that anyone riding double up is usually not wanting to be up front. A wise decision.

I've dumped small bikes, while learning how not to. Both in the dirt and on the street. End result was learning to slide around corners without losing control. It really makes motorcycle cops mad when they see you doing that on a wet street. Learned that the hard way. Worst dump was a bike a friend bought and I rode it home for him. Tuned it, painted it and took it out for a night ride. I hit poorly marked construction, and it turned out to be more like a ditch in the road. I eased weight back, ready to ride it through, (scrambler). Then found out the previous owner had filled the front forks with heavy weight oil. It launched me up and out, and I watched the bike flip over IN THE AIR BELOW ME, tail light went by, headlight went by, it lands on it's wheels, rolls along for a while, and lays gently on it's side to a stop.... oops, I'm still in the air above it, heading down range. It knocked me out for a minute, and yes, it hurt like hell the next day. It near paralyzed with bruises, the one side of my body that I landed on. Later replaced a bent shift fork in the tranny. My old rule was, any bike can dump you quick, if it's new, borrowed, or even just early in the riding season. You have to be familiar with your machine to the MAX. Become One with the machine, Grasshopper...

Made me look... I see that, WV 7. what about WV route 2 right on the other side of the river from Ohio route 7? I could see it on the other side, and it looked like it had all the elevation changes, while the Ohio side was dirt flat.

I've ridden Route 7 from Stuebenville to Marietta early in 2008. Flat river road, it varies from two lane to four lane divided. Some pavement not so good. Fairly easy road. Lots of state highway patrol on parts of it. It's a sight seeing road along the river.

This was my last long ride of 2008. 331 mi – about 11 hours 24 mins Not for the faint of heart, it gathers in most of the twisties of 555, 26, and 78. Since it crosses over itself, it can be ridden 10 different ways. 8 long routes, and two short. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=5435+Westerville+Rd,+Westerville,+OH+43081+(Iron+Pony+Motorsports)&daddr=40.087003,-82.782669+to:Lancaster+Rd%2FOH-37+to:zanesville+oh+to:Center+Rd%2FOH-555+to:OH-555%2FOH-669+to:OH-555%2FOH-669+to:OH-555+to:OH-555+to:OH-555+to:OH-555+to:redbush,+oh+to:marietta,+oh+to:OH-26+to:woodsfield,+oh+to:OH-78%2FWoodsfield+Rd+to:caldwell,+oh+to:mcconnelsville,+oh+to:new+lexington,+oh+to:OH-13+to:Lancaster+Rd%2FOH-37+to:5435+Westerville+Rd,+Westerville,+OH+43081+(Iron+Pony+Motorsports)&hl=en&geocode=%3B%3BFaAnYwIdRM8U-w%3B%3BFcDsXwIdEAAd-w%3BFT-sXgIdVpkc-w%3BFRhLXgIdsEcc-w%3BFUt5XQId5FEc-w%3BFTh9XAIdxLAc-w%3BFYALWQId7o0f-w%3BFQqDWAIdjP0f-w%3B%3B%3BFfhJXAIdNI4p-w%3B%3BFeguXwId-Oom-w%3B%3B%3B%3BFYbMXwIdXtYW-w%3BFZE4YwIdXNMU-w%3B&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=11&via=1,2,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,13,15,19,20&dirflg=ht&sll=40.030769,-82.790222&sspn=0.379074,0.514297&ie=UTF8&ll=39.730426,-82.040405&spn=1.522922,2.05719&z=9 It can also be stretched to ride it this way, to maximize route 78 past Burr Oak Lake. 367 mi – about 12 hours 39 mins so i just gave you 16 different twisty rides out of Columbus. I will be riding one of these early this year. As soon as I can. This was the first ride of last year: mostly gentle farmland and sweepers along the rivers Columbus to Steubenville to Marietta to Zanesville and back to Columbus. Route 22, 7 and 60 374 mi – about 9 hours 41 mins

The short stretch of Route 7 is a 4 lane mostly divided road along the river. There is a scenic view pull over on the East bound side between the Little hocking and Marietta.

Luckily, I wasn't drinking anything when I read this... I'd have blown it out my nose... geezle peezle

And yes, parts of the Northern portion were torn up last year. It will be worse this year. Enough so to take you out if you're going too fast. It required weaving through missing chunks of pavement. It's in a sort of wooded area not far South of Zanesville. It was worse on the Southbound side. Steep embankments and trees. Bad place to leave the road. The road was ok after that. It needs to be scouted and reported first. Hell, the entire road needs to be scouted and reported first.

Basically it's Zanesville to Little Hocking on the river. State Routes 60 and 339 runs between the two towns, and looks like this; 66.6 mi – about 1 hour 58 mins - Sweepers http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=zanesville,+oh&daddr=little+hocking,+oh&hl=en&geocode=&mra=ls&dirflg=ht&sll=39.907629,-82.023239&sspn=0.12404,0.2211&ie=UTF8&z=9 And back road 555 looks like this; 67.5 mi – about 2 hours 56 mins - Twisties http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=zanesville,+oh&daddr=OH-555%2FOld+River+Rd+to:Center+Rd%2FOH-555+to:OH-555%2FOH-669+to:183+to:OH-555+to:OH-555+to:39.354742,-81.789951+to:T238+to:OH-32%2FOH-7%2FUS-50+to:little+hocking,+oh&hl=en&geocode=%3BFY62YAIdAc4c-w%3BFSrJXwIdevoc-w%3BFeyRXgIdoowc-w%3BFZzuXAIdjHMc-w%3BFaiaWwId6G0d-w%3BFefVWQIdq7cf-w%3B%3BFZJPWAIdQmEg-w%3BFas-VwIdfHwh-w%3B&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=7&sz=13&via=1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9&dirflg=ht&sll=39.34452,-81.78154&sspn=0.062527,0.11055&ie=UTF8&ll=39.626846,-81.905823&spn=0.996361,1.768799&z=9 edit: changed distance and time for 60/339 I rode both last year. part of Route 60 just South of Zanesville had some weather bumps/lumps in it at the seams that were just annoying. thump...thump...thump... needed a better saddle for that.

Rode the Northern part several times last year. Rode it all solo in late September last year. The Southern part past 78 was mostly smooth. It didn't seem to match all the rider reports. It didn't look like fresh pavement, it was weathered in. So I don't know when it got repaved. I said so back then. Most of it is populated, houses and farms, small towns. Especially toward the Southern end where it nears the river. It is not uncommon to see cars and trucks that ran off the road the night before. I don't think it is a good road for elevated velocities. A little, sure, a lot, no. I'll predict crashes for anyone that pushes the limits, bring a crash truck. And saw a group of fast-moving squids (no helmets, no gear) on this road last year. No idea who they were.