Tonik

My intent wasn't to start a serious discussion but alright.

Nothing serious about this discussion. You made a BS ad-homenum attack on a group of people and you got called on it. Nothing more.

I took the MSF a long time ago for license and manueverbility practice. I never cared about their specific rules, because I make my own rules that keep ME and others safe. They are not 100% the best efficient way to ride.

It is interesting. MSF would agree with you. I took the experience rider class and one of the first things the instructor said was please forget the 'rules' we taught you in the first class. He explained they have to give new riders 'rules' so their heads don't explode. Then he went on to explain they are intended to make people think, to understand the situations and how to process the info.

Ok, I would hazard a guess at 150 to 200. It is just the usual first service. Just a suggestion, doing your own work on your own bike will save you a TON of money over the life of the bike. First couple of times you will have to buy tools and stuff but heck you can get a decent MC lift for under 100 bucks. You will need tires for example, you lift it up, take them off and roll them to the trunk of your car and pay someone 50 bucks to change them out. Instead of 300 to the dealer.

Find a busy Triumph forum that covers your bike model. You can learn everything you need from other owners of the same bike.

What's the manual say needs to be done? I think folks can give you a better guess with that info. Usually it is just an oil filter change and check adjustments on clutches, brakes and make sure nothing came loose and is falling off. And grats on the bike, that is a nice ride you go there.

....so these things need to be dumbed down to their level.

You know when I first came here I was shocked at all the crashes. Every Monday during the season several posts about how someone crashed over the weekend. And 99 percent of the time it is a self induced crash that occured due to rider error. Maybe it needs to be dumbed down a bit more for the sport bike crowd.

Whoa. Did anyone else notice Tonik has a prairie dog?

http://www.fellowearthlings.org/

100 bucks and we got to hang with the little guys for about 2 hours. Most awesomeness thing I have ever done.

With all due respect, you guys are trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. If it is a large group ride the leader goes as fast as the slowest guy. If your intent is to tear up the roads then you need to run small groups with people you know/trust and are of similar riding abilities. Any other combination is going to fail.

I would delete that second pdf man. MSF has always been about the 2 second rule on following distance. The second pdf says two bike lengths which is not enough unless you are still in the parking lot.

Mid turn you should be getting back on the throttle in most cases or just about to get back on it.... You are either entering too fast or you only think you need to back off the throttle. Only you know for sure.

A smooth steady acceleration coming out of a turn is a beautiful feeling.

I added my windshield bag, replaced the horn with a real loud one and I changed the air in both tires. Changing the air is not something I would normally do but I was putting Dyna-Beads inside both of them so it kind of worked out that way. Oh, and I rotated both valve stems 90 degrees because some genius at the factory thought it would be a good idea to have them point to the low side.

Did all the major work a month ago.

I thought it was dangerous/illegal to ride with headphones in....

Not illegal in Ohio...some states do have laws on it. Many limit you to one speaker so the other ear can hear.

Update

Thanks, I am back to a tiny bit optimistic. My first trip there this year isn't until mid-July so it is looking ok. Maybe.

Well, I was an optimist about this a few days ago. Now not so much,. TDOT has an update on their Twitter page saying closed until 9/1. Deals Gap is working with the two States about opening it back up from the south...through The Dragon...up to the rockslide and have NC cover the LEO's and emergency services. Sounds like NC is willing to do it but they don't have an answer yet from TN.

"State Route 115 N in Blount Co Incident at NC-TN STATE LINE / BEGIN HWY-129 / {US-129} at 3/15 4:00 PM est clear by 9/1 5:00 PM"

I saw a guy last fall in a full Santa get up not far from my house. It was outstanding.

for people that worried, you can hook up a fuel gauge

It's weird...I was more comfortable with no gauge. I knew I could drive away and when it coughed I could switch to reserve and I had a solid 30 miles. With the gauge I feel like I am never sure...did the light just come on or did it come on 10 miles ago and I just noticed it?...did it just hit 1/4 or was it like that for awhile?....I feel like I don't really know. I think part of the problem is also how far I can go changes a great deal depending upon how I am driving. Hammer down on the freeway vs just cruising along is a big swing in mileage.

Threadjack!

The reason for declaring party for voting in primaries....

Not really a threadjack. Pertinent to the thread and true information.

Right, but it got me thinking, maybe I should finally choose a side.

Oh, I misunderstood.

My advice is don't choose party because at one time or another they all suck. Actually I am of the opinion they all suck all the time, just sometimes one of them sucks less. You have to vote your conscience and what the more important issue of the day is. I will use abortion as an example because it is easy to define. Lets say you are pro-abortion and that is a major issue for you. In 2008 you would have wanted to support a Dem for President because there are several liberal Supreme's that are going to retire soon. If you support a Repub he will appoint conservative Supreme's and that will tip the balance of the court enough that abortion might become harder to get or become illegal. JUST AN EXAMPLE EVERYONE SPARE ME THE ABORTION DEBATE, TIA.

Then in the primaries just flip around, you see someone you really like in a particular race then jump parties and support them in the primary to try and get them to the general election. I did that in the last Presidential election, I flipped from Repub to Dem so I could vote for Hillary. Out of McCain, Obama and Hillary I felt she was the best choice. I still believe that.

I've never aligned myself with one party or another and I wondered why it wants me to choose a party.

This is for a primary....so the first step in a primary is for each party to narrow down their candidates to one. If you are going to help narrow down the Republicans FOR EXAMPLE then yes you must declare yourself a Republican. If you are going to help choose the Republican candidate to run in the fall general election than you must say you are a republican and for this election vote. You can switch later if you want.

If you don't want to declare a party then you choose: "Ballot Questions & Issues Only". That lets you vote on the issues and not vote on any party candidates.

One option is to roll somewhere that has lots of bags so you can hold them up and check them out. Iron Pony in Columbus certainly comes to mind they have a boatload of them there. Another option is to find other people with your bike and find out what they have used....I did a quick google and found one that looks real busy:

http://viragotechforum.com/phpBB/index.php

Or hit a few of the bag manf websites...they usually have detailed dimensions. I have mad replica's of their dimensions out of cardboard in the past and held them up to my bikes to be sure.

Far too young, imho. They do not have a good sense of danger yet and won't understand the importance of hanging on and not screwing around while back there. 10 or 12 before you put them back there.

I've never pushed it past 150.

Whole thing is kind of ironic. few earlier I had the wife on it and we were heading to dinner...as we got on I said we had to stop for gas and we got in the conversation of how far can you go an a 1/4 tank...or when the light comes on. I had the idea to one day soon just strap a tank on to the luggage rack and go out and find out...so that I would know for sure.

Well, now I know. Worked out very well.

.... Now, I learned my lesson....

Ok, those look perfect and I got a spot for them on the bike. How big are they...maybe half gallon each? which is plenty. Heck even two 1/4 gallon onrd would get you 15 or 20 miles. Where did you get them?

I've done that once in BFE. I try fill-up before 110 now.

Yea, 120 is always my number on this bike. I just plain forgot as I left work for the weekend....till the yellow light came on..then I remembered.

Same rock slide. More rocks. There was a boulder over hanging after the rock slide. They purposely brought it down.

Ok, my contact got back to me. The TN governor has been 'closing' the dragon for years and it has never happened. This is a big stink about nothing in his opinion and it will be open in a few weeks when they clean it up. He rides, he is a dragon fanatic and is part of a big group I go down there with...we are going again in July, so I trust his opinion.

Your a nut! LOL

I kid you not, that is the second time I have done that exact same thing in my lifetime. 20 or so years ago in a car going to Toledo...I forgot to get gas and was hammering away in the left lane when the car coughed...I was RIGHT at the 100 mile post service plaza...jammed the brakes to get over and make the ramp and coasted right up to the pumps.