swingset

Nice review. I've owned several Cabergs (Solo, Trip & Rhyno) and they were all superb helmets. Crash tested one, too (the Trip) and it saved my bacon.

They're a quality helmet and a great deal.

Just make sure you plan for a site disaster.  To many of us think we'll be good by just backing up data to an external hard disk, then we fail to rotate them off-site or into a fire vault every day.  Dropbox and Carbonite are excellent solutions in that regard, and they don't convert your files.

I have a few external HD's. I do a drive image + data backups about every week, then take the fresh backup to work with me so it's stored here. Bring last week's home to update, rinse/repeat. That leaves 3 physical copies in rotation at all times, and one very fast, convenient restore point right there waiting to unfuck things.

Even if I trusted cloud solutions (and I don't, ever), I don't like using them for large files or restores. Takes too long, ties up the connection. I use dropbox for convenience, but never rely on it and for sure don't put anything even remotely sensitive on 'em.

I would never trust data to Google's half-baked tech children. Hard drives are stupid fucking cheap.

Doesn't affect me, though.

I'd argue it does, you're just choosing to write off the additional hit to the wallet. Affect verses care.

Yes an 08. The guy was picking up his new KTM tomorrow and really wanted this gone. The only thing so far that I'm not crazy about is the shorty levers that are on it. With the gloves I had on I could only 2 finger them. With my arthritis it got pretty uncomfortable when I was in traffic.

I hear ya on the levers, I don't like shorties either. I got some of the Chinese ASV knock-offs on mine but they're longer style - just a touch shorter than the OEM's.

It gets to a point where comfort and airflow equal no real protection and just ends up adding to shit I have to scrub out of your wounds. Not knocking mesh, I still wear one when I ride street. I wear Icon though. Yes I know it adds to the price and you're paying for the name to a point but Icons come with CE back, elbow, forearm and chest protection. I currently have the Merc 3

Had Merc and Merc 2, went down stupid hard in the Merc 2, it shredded as you would expect mesh to but the CE guards stayed on and did their job. I wear that with Icon riding pants over EVS knee pads and Astar boots when I'm on street. Walked away with no road rash, that's not going to happen with many mesh jackets.

Good point, some skimp pretty hard on protection. On that note, the Motoport Kevlar Mesh is the best stuff going, but it's pricey.

I found the RevIt to be a good compromise. Mesh where I needed it, fabric on the hard points, good CE armor.

Sweet! Looks very well sorted out, all the right stuff on it.

'08? Trying to remember when the Gen1 went flat black.

I have an '09 that's new to me and loving it so far (had a 1k before that). If you head East and South (and you probably will) drop me a PM...always glad to ride with another Strom rider.

I'd like to follow behind to smell the intoxicating blend of grape MadDog, Axe Body Spray and burnout fumes.

I don't buy online to avoid tax. I buy online to avoid people. This doesn't affect me in the slightest.

Affects me because Amazon's prices have crept up to the point where other vendors are beating them on nearly everything they sell anymore, and their once fast shipping has been spotty at best. My guaranteed 2-day shipping times have crept into 3 or even 4 days. Big deal? Yeah, when I'm paying a Prime premium and not getting any benefits of it. With tax on top of that, it's making them even less competitive. I buy online to avoid trips and people, but I also don't pay the most I possibly can. I'll go where the deal is the best.

Anymore, I'll do a quick Amazon search, then google it and 9 times out of 10 someone else has them beat. Now it's not even a contest. My Prime membership is about to expire, and I'm gonna let it.

Bookmarked so I can watch the news feeds for crash & arrest stories.

Yup, that's a helmet.

Three lanes. Left for passing. Right for exiting. Center for driving. That's the best I've seen.

Ohio has the shittiest drivers.

Out west they've adapted to this system, and I'd contend that Texas and Arizona's drivers give any state in the nation a run for worst drivers. Out there the 3 lanes work like this:

Middle lane for really slow drivers - like 10-15 below the 75mph limit. They can't accept it's really that fast, like it's a trick.

Left lane for slightly braver drivers - only like 2-3mph below the speed limit, unless someone is towing a travel trailer, then it's 10 below.

Right lane is for furious out of state road ragers who will risk death, tickets and using the shoulder to pass the clusters of failboat slow pokes.

It worked like that for about 12-14 hours of my 12-14 hour drive from Vegas through Dallas recently.

I have a Firstgear Adventure Mesh that's pretty nice, it's a 3/4 length. I kind of hate short jackets, but those are your thing the RevIt Air is damned nice. I had one and it breathes great and looks good, just prefer a longer fit.

Im all for renewable resources, so don't take this as an argument against changing our ways. I just think that stating nuclear vs coal is safer because "1:4000" is disingenuous. The numbers are low because there are far more coal plants than nuke plants.

Unless I'm wrong, which does happen..although far less frequent than 1:4000.

It's not a disingenuous statistic, the difference in manpower and number of plants needed actually makes the point that nuclear is a safer gig. It takes less human toil once things are in motion, there's less risk. Could be risk is something to factor in, but you also have to look at historical risk. And, it's pretty damned low.

It's not the end-all-be-all of power delivery, it's just a viable one that we've shut our minds off to because it's scary. Reminds me of GMO's....a little hysteria, Hollywood scare tactics, bad science and health blogs and now chains and restaurants are proudly not serving perfectly healthy food that is under more rigor than organic.

Insanity.

Good list there, saving for future reference. There are a good bit of really nice very twisty roads west of Gallipolis and north of Parkersburg.  Greasy Ridge, 271,218...

 

Yes, those are some great roads and often little to no traffic. It's a haul for me getting down there, but I love that area. 795, 799, 141...all good.

It's the "holy shit, all apocalyptic hell has been unleashed" risk of nuclear disaster that always gets me. And the huge construction cost and plant build times.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_and_radiation_accidents_and_incidents

And yet coal has killed far more people than nuke accidents have (and if you take out Chernobyl which was an engineering and maintenance clusterfuck we'd likely not repeat, the number is absurdly lopsided, something like 1 death per 4000 of nuke vs. coal).

It's costly, for sure, but long term? I'm not sure we'll ever find a better balance between clean/safe/efficient than nuclear power.

Currently the way I see it we really don't have "Clean" nuclear power yet either.  It may not be dumping coal sludge into big pits, CO2 emisions causing global warming or the descruction of pristine land to mine the ever shrinking resources but what do you think those giant stockpiles of used fuel rods and the radioactive disasters like Fukashima are doing to the planet.  You have just shifted the harm to our environment in a different direction that the media and talking heads are not currently concerned about it.

 

And as an addon, who do you think has the largest Uranium mining operations in the world to get that nuclear fuel.  It's not the USA, we are like #8 or so.

Not gonna derail the thread, but nuclear is vastly cleaner than coal, it's as simple as that...and can be even better but we've decided it's just too scary. There's no free lunch, never, but you pick your poison.

Powered by Coal\ Powered by Petroleum. What's the difference?

As we do it right now, in this particular part of the world/country? Not a whole lot. But, what if it were clean nuclear powering all the electric bikes? Good hydro? Even efficient home-solar/wind?

I'm not a "save the earth" weenie about it, either, but there's potential for electric vehicles to be very very clean and more cost efficient. That's not the case with petroleum, not nearly as much, and at the very least something like nuclear puts less of an importance on the Saudi criminals and foreign interests.

That's a win, IMHO.

I'm not opposed to electric bikes. I just don't want one.

Understood, I'm like that with choppers. It's not that they're bad, it's just that they're for poopyheads and everyone who rides one is wrong.

I like wrenching. I like maintenance. It's my happy place. Electric bikes take that away from me.

They'll still require chains, sprockets, controls, tires, suspension work, etc. It's only the engine where maintenance will be less (not gone, just less). For that matter, show me any high performance vehicle driven by anything where modification isn't part of the game. It will just be a different type of playing around, but if you like spending time working on things it's not going to go away.

But, if you like gas motors that's certainly fine, I do too but I think electric has advantages and if the batteries ever get there, they have a role in vehicle propulsion.

As they currently exist? No fucking way, my bike is for commuting and travel, so range is hypercritical.

But, if they improve that sure, why not? I'm not one of those "soul" guys or in love with vibrations. The bike is just a means to the ability to travel on two wheels, I don't give a shit what it's powered by....could be Tibetan baby seal fetuses...as long as they're not endangered.

Where I'd REALLY like to have electric is offroad if the batteries get light. All that torque? Virtually silent and with such a low operating cost? Fuck yeah...make that shit happen in a dual sport.

Don't over-size them, if you normally wear a large get a large, they're roomy and meant to go over gear.

...know how to use their brakes better, do track days to practice, don't go on poker runs that are bar hops.....yet they are dying at a rate 2 to 4 times faster than the cruiser guys.

 

"These bikes made up less than 10 percent of registered motorcycles in 2005 but accounted for over 25 percent of rider deaths"

 

http://www.iihs.org/iihs/news/desktopnews/popularity-of-high-performance-motorcycles-helps-push-rider-deaths-to-near-record-high

 

 

Slow down guys, please.

What I take from this is, it's harder to die waddling around in parade formation with your other fat Wild Hogs.

On a srs note, even a cursory thought into this should be obvious that a lot of sport bikes are owned by 18-25 year old risk takers, and are often ridden well beyond safe limits and skill. The deaths I would wager are over-represented by younger males with little to know training, and very little experience. Once you get past those years, you wise up, get serious about your bikes, and become a more proficient motorcyclist. Deaths become rarer.

Break these numbers down by age, and miles ridden, and you'll see a massive divide start to appear as the riders age. Of the guys over 40 I've known who have had life-threatening or serious accidents on bikes, the majority have been cruiser riders who were essentially rookies or fair-weather riders.

In any case, I'd rather die of speed with a decent skillset than from a left-turner having lived my entire motorcycle life timidly riding around dressed like an extra from the Police Academy "Blue Oyster" scene.

I love the idea of a 400 with a better seat but they're so tall. I want to ride a DR and see if that would be a better all-around beater and sled to get there and back.

I've owned the DRZ400 and 650, and a bunch of other mid-sizers. I never wanted to like a bike more than the DRZ, but I hated it. It's just a poor execution in a number of ways. It desperately needs a better transmission, it carries its weight up high and forward, making it feel much heavier than it is, and the geometry and wheelbase (and slushy suspension) makes it plow offroad. Doesn't turn well, and it's heavy as hell. The S is so choked up it takes a grand to get it where it should be.

On the road, it's buzzy and the narrow MX-sized saddle (even the aftermarkets are thing) make it tiring.

For an "all arounder" it just seems to suck at everything.

The WRR is a vastly better bike, or a Beta400, or a 525exc, or a plated WR450, or....whatever.

I don't mind the tall part, that's more technique than anything else...you get used to it, but I'd love it if the DRZ gets a makeover. It's a great idea, it just doesn't work very well for what it's supposed to do, IMHO.

Shit, if you're going to do that Wojo72, oogle an FJ-09 and then go ADV riding with us!

 

I've sat on IP's DR-Z400S several times but can't bring myself to pull the trigger.  Moreso wanting a used DR650, which they don't have, not even new.  Someone sell me theirs.

Hmm, they must have sold the DR650 they had in there when I bought my bike. I sat on it.

You're wise to go for it rather than a dizzer, the 400 does nothing well. Well, that's not true, it tortures your asshole with that 2x4 seat better than any bike ever made.