swingset

Cool, enjoying those.

I thought this was an Obama thread.

My avatar wants to know if your dog is single.

Short term profits, that's all they seem to be able to grasp.

If you like riding in a straight line completely constrained, more power to ya. It's everything I ride a bike to get away from.

I ride with a Tourmaster Synergy liner and heated grips, between the two I'm very comfortable down to the teens (my legs seldom get cold, especially if my core is warm). I wouldn't dream of owning a bike without heated gear, it lets me enjoy the bike year round, instead of sitting and looking at it depreciate all fucking winter. Winter riding rocks, nothing like bug-free, bike-free roads and the strange looks at the gas station from people who can't imagine you're warmer than they are.

If I'm street riding all of it goes in my backpack/hydration pack.

The worst deer collision I ever had, totalled my car and caused me knee and chest injuries, was at 670 and Hamilton Road in Columbus, right by the airport. It was at 1pm, the deer came running off the side of the road by an embankment, jumped over a car on the right hand lane, and landed right in front of mine. Not an area I imagine anyone would be hypervigilant traveling, yet it's actually full of deer because of the bean fields near the airport.

The problem with such a map would be it would not necessarily show the roads where you're most likely to encounter deer, only where more had been hit. The amount of traffic is going to skew that, severely. For instance, I recall a local article saying that per mile, SR661 which is where I live had more deer hits than any other road in Ohio...this was several years ago. Well, it's a state route so and rural through farms and woods, that makes sense. But, working for the local township and living here I can tell you that the secondary roads around Licking County have more deer on them, so you could map it and see that 661 is where a lot get hit, but it actually might be a safer road to travel than a county highway in the same area. Another problem is, you're only going to get partial data. I hit a deer the other night, no one but my insurance company knows where I hit that deer because I did not file an accident report. I've only needed to file 2 for the eight deer I've hit in my life.

I nailed one last night on the way home from work, luckily in the car...8th one I've hit in my 41 years. Fuck. My only hit on the bike, believe it or not, was stopped at a crossroads and a deer ran into me sitting still and knocked me over. Still makes me laugh.

Weird, but you should be able to tell a lot by the tube when it's out of the tire. If it's cut, it'll be obvious...and I'd look for abrasions or other signs on the inside of the rim...make sure the rim strip is covering the spoke nuts well. If it's tearing at the valve, that's an issue of the bead letting go and spinning the tire around the rim...pressure too low and too hard on the throttle. Doubt it's that by the sounds of it tho. A pinched tube will usually tear, kind of a messy looking rip. Or, it could just be you got shitty luck and have had two crappy tubes. That's certainly possible, but not likely. I wouldn't bother running HD's, even tho that doesn't sound like your culprit they're generally a waste of $$. Anything that can puncture that tire will go through an HD tube easily, I've run std. duty tubes on and offroad forever and have never had issues, but I make sure I use a 100% rubber, quality tube (Michelin or equivalent)...as the valve area is where most tubes fail and better tubes have good valve glue/builds.

Something's up, I've only popped one tube on a dual sport in 30,000 miles of riding 'em, and that includes offroad. How's your air pressure? Are you using extra HD tubes? (they're really not meant for the road and can overheat and blow). Any chance there's a broken spoke nut or abrasion in the rim? Pinches when installing?

It infuriates me that the state won't open the season on deer. I know why, it's $$...licensing is a cash cow, but the blood of a lot of people are on the hands of the ODNR for keeping the deer numbers high needlessly. You can shoot groundhog year round, coyote, etc. Deer populations are in no danger of being impacted by deer being hunted heavier, and in fact a lot of good comes from that not only OUR safety but food from the kills, less crop damage, etc.

I'm probably in, unless the weather is pure shit I was planning on doing Wayne that weekend anyway. I much prefer the New Straitsville trail going down to Dorr Run, less traffic, and not as much mud....better hills too. I can't remember the name of it, but the loop over on the east side of Nelsonville is cool too, but you gotta be street legal to get from the main corridor over there.

I have never needed my gun while eating dinner at Applebees. I have also never experienced a house fire, guess I'll toss that extinguisher out. Never suffered a heart attack or other cardiovascular problems....guess I can stop working out and eating right. This thread delivered.

Buy a Ninja 250, ride the piss out of it, and make your mistakes on a bike that's forgiving, cheap to own and buy into, and easy to sell when you're moving up. Remember, your goal as a new rider should be one thing and one thing only - become a safe, proficient motorcyclist as quickly as possible, not buy the baddassest bike you can put your leg over. You might find that a 250 is a ton of fucking fun, too, and may not even want to get rid of it when you've got a few thousand miles under your belt.

I wouldn't even consider riding shoes...without ankle protection, they're unsuitable for motorcycles IMHO. My buddy crushed his ankle in the driveway pulling the bike in after washing it, put his foot down in the slippery stuff and the bike came down on his foot.

I guess I don't get the point. I ride a motorcycle to get away from shit like that.

If you're really only on the bike on rare occasions in the cold why not just buy some Hot Hands shake/chem warmers from Wally World and use them on the occasions you need them? That's what I do on my offroad bike. Put them on the top of your hand where the veins are, your mitts will be toasty and they'll work with any glove.

Agreed. I like the Oxford Heaterz myself, but most of them work just fine. I ride with a set of thinly lined leather gloves down to the teens/20's with the heated grips in total comfort, without giving up any tactile sensation on the controls. That's one thing I don't fuck around with, cold hands make for a dangerous ride.

Better emissions is probably driving this move. Consistent temps = consistent detonation and burn. Not that it's a bad thing, necessarily, but there are 100 other ways to improve a Harley.

A quality, properly installed string plug will outlast the tire...every time. And, even in the worst case? It's not going to explode it's going to leak very slowly if it fails so if you monitor your pressures (you should anyway), it will be a non issue in that part of the tire. I've run 10k on a plugged tire and not thought twice about it. Tech brand are the best, the Slime brand string plugs are supposedly very good too.

I'm on my third round, doing the Plus right now. It's a great workout. Kicks my 41 year ass with authority, but I'm in the best shape of my life. Upside, very little face in asscrack instances, unless it's date-night and I'm high on Zimas.

Good thread, nice looking pups. Labs are the best.

That's why, and I'm serious, if I'm ever attacked by multiple babies I'm gonna kick all of them in the scrote. Well, the boys I guess. Girls are getting taco punched. I'm interested in Krav Maga, purely from a violence/practical point of view, but when I went with a friend to watch his classes the amount of times his face was in someone's asscrack and crotch was alarmingly high. I just can't pay good money for that. In fact, I will pay NOT to have my face in an asscrack. So, P90X and a handgun it is. If I can't shoot you, I'll outrun ya.