Bubba

Understand. The problem you describe can happen even with gear that fits well. Any two-piece riding suit, even if it's zipped together, can gap in a hard sliding spill. Only way around that is a onesie, and while they're safer than a two-piece, they aren't very practical around town when you're doing stuff off the bike. If you've got the cubic cash to burn, buy yourself a good suit that provides the protection you need/want, then sell you stuff on CL if possible to recoup some bucks. If you budget is tight but you want to be safer, start with some 'cheap' but pretty effective hard guards, some compression shorts and a pressure suit to wear under your street clothes. Then treat yourself to a high-end suit when you reach your goal. Check out these: http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/fox-racing-titan-race-kneeshin-guards http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/shift-enforcer-elbow-guards http://www.revzilla.com/motocross/troy-lee-bp-4600-hot-weather-armored-shorts http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/fox-racing-turbo-belt-1

Sounds like your gear is already to the point of being too big for safety, but man, it's not like going out and buying a cheap pair of pants and a t-shirt to fit you in the interim while you continue with your weight-loss program. I sometimes wear jeans depending on where I'm going, and I always wear a pair of MX-style knee/shin guards underneath for protection. You can pick up a set from Iron Pony or online for between $10 and $20. I'd also pick up a set of the hard plastic arm/elbow guards as well. You could either leave your built-in pads in the gear or maybe more comfortably, take the gear pads out and just go with the MX guards. That should hold you until reach your weight goal and are ready to spring for new gear. OH, BTW, congrats on working your way to healthy!!!

They love to lighten the load when they take off in a big hurry. If they ever do 'paint' you with the full dump, you'll wish you WERE DEAD!!! BTW, nice pic of the front of the bike. Sooo…..do you end up having nightmares and visions of corpses if you use the feathers from a turkey vulture to make a dream catcher?

Definitely potential for death--yours! There's a thread on ADVRider forum about a rider who was killed hitting a vulture at speed. Even hitting a bird at 50-70 MPH leaves a mark right thru gear.

Brand new (leftover) 2012 FZ1 for sale in Indy: $7999 http://www.dreyermotorsports.com/2012-Yamaha-FZ1-FZS10BW-inventory.htm?id=422479&used=1&fm=2&vin=JYARN17E9CA008561

Had an FZ1 for a couple of years. Liked it pretty well. Comfortable riding position, torque curve you can surf all day in one or two gears. Motor is pretty much bullet-proof. Downsides were lousy seat (if you plan on riding any longer than a 150 miles or a couple of hours at a time) and so-so suspension. Look closely at some years of the early Gen IIs ('06-'07 I think) as there was a batch of bad frame welds that tended to crack over time. I also wasn't in love with the stock bar and would have liked to change it out for a mid-rise ATV bar or similar, but it would have required changing the cables/brake lines. Seat is an easy fix by throwing a couple of hundred dollars at Corbin, Sargeant or Eddie (Dirtroad) on the FZO1A forum. For longer touring, I added a taller Yamaha Touring screen with a laminar lip and soft luggage. When its time to change tires, I recommend going from the stock 190/50 to a 190/55 for better turn-in and slightly quicker handling. The nice thing for you as a buyer is that there seems to little love for the naked liter bikes. I include the FZ1 and Z1000 in this category. They drop in value pretty quickly and can be had for a thousand or two less than the R1s and ZX10s of comparable year.

There are many social policies across much of central Europe that seem to be more 'progressive' than those in the US. One thing often overlooked by people who espouse such a system is that those supposedly 'free' benefits, like education, health insurance, 6 weeks paid vacation, 1 year paid maternity leave for both spouses, are paid for by taxation at rates of 50% to 70% of wages. Be careful what you ask for--you just may get it!!!

WRONG!!! I would strongly urge you to re-think this decision thru many times before embarking on this course. It's almost NEVER a good idea to cash in your 401-K or IRA early to pay a current debt. S'matter of fact, read enough financial advice columns and they'll give you quite a few reasons why this is universally a terrible idea….if you look 25 or 30 years down the road. My advice--and its free, so judge its value on its own merit--is that its always more sensible IN THE LONG RUN to do anything else, including starving yourself and eating mac&cheese, canceling your cable, your cell service, your personal trainer, your night with boys/girls, than cashing in your tax-deferred retirement accounts early. Do EVERYTHING you can to reduce your monthly cash expenditures and aggressively pay your loans off using your free cash flow. Anything else and you're jeopardizing your future security.

I have some sympathy for people who took out loans for student debt, but most never even bothered to ask what the future payments would be on the balance or how it would be repaid. Problem as I understand it is that its akin to buying a house and then being allowed to live to live in it for 4-6 years for free without ever making a payment, and then being 'shocked' when the monthly payment--along with the deferred interest--comes due finally. I've got several friends who are into debt for between $50-100K of both government and private loans, with absolutely no way of ever paying the balance off. IMHO, the system was far too lenient in making loans to students for anything they wanted without ever asking for a reality check from the debtors. At the same time, I never cease to be amazed at just how naive many young folks are about going into debt, whether it be student loans or CC debt or vehicle loans, without having any concept of just what they're signing on for. Seems to me I saw a number of somewhere between $1 and $2 trillion dollars of unsecured student debt outstanding in the US. Definitely the next 'housing crisis'….

Wow!!! Thanks a ton, Ben. While my luck's running, maybe I should pop for a Lotto tik as well. PM'd you back.

Count me in, too!!! Already got reservations at a campground and was planning on picking up tix at the gate Sat morning. Nice giveaway!!!

Tomorrow (7/15) at the Comet….. Next week, July 15th, the Star Motrocycle Bolt Tour will be stopping by the Comet for Two Wheel Tuesday... They'll be bringing some Bolts, Some Swag and The Star Motorcycle Girls and Boys. Come down check out their bikes, swag and enter a contest to win an Alice in Chains autographed Geee Tar Good clean fun for the whole familiy Date: July 15th Time: Live Hours: 6pm-9pm Load-In: 4:30pm/5pm

NKY? Weather looks pretty primo for Tues-Wed-Thur-Fri coming up….

OK, got it. Does sound a little ridiculous. Sounds like THEY need THEIR ass kicked by a bunch of good ol' boys…. ….altho life usually ends up dealing with fucktards like these way more harshly than just an old fashioned ass-kickin'.

Help me. Old guy here. I ride MCs. Can rebuild my own engines. I have ink on both legs, both arms, chest and back. I'm a real hep cat. WTF are juggalos?

Took a few days off from my grueling retirement schedule to take a road trip south. Hit the Corvette museum in Bowling Green and then rolled a bit further to Birmingham, AL, to check out the Barber facility. Best motorsports destination….EVAH!!! Just a few pics to tease you into making the road trip. Not a bad ride at all--maybe 6.5 hours if you speed just a little…. Here's slideshow link:http://s875.photobucket.com/user/icantdrive55/slideshow/Barber%20Motorsports%20Museum?sort=6

Some folks indicated they might have interest in checking out the meet-up. Weather looks awesome and I'm sure there will be a big turnout of both cars and bikes. Coffee is great and if you get there early enough, the sausage gravy and biscuits are guaranteed to clog your arteries. Planning on getting there 8:30-9ish. Lemeno…. https://plus.google.com/114391303109222329854/about?gl=us&hl=en

So….assumption is 120/70-17 front, but rear is ??? 180? 190? 50 or 55 profile? Might help generate interest if you specified a tire size other than "wrong" for you. IJS.

Julie: Just to clarify, it's not your ignition switch. It's the starter button on the handlebar. In normal operation, the current for your lights runs thru the starter switch in the undepressed position. When you depress the switch, it cuts the current to the lights and sends current to the starter relay. It's the current surge when the lights are instantly shut off and then back on that burns the contacts. That and dirt, moisture, oxidation, etc. At least that's the way the Zuk's work….

Pretty sure that it's a bad connection in your starter switch on the handlebar. Most of the modern bikes run the current for the lights thru the start switch so that it momentarily interrupts the current to the lights during the start sequence. It's a cheap way to do it, but it's been a problem for late-model Suzukis as well. Take the switch apart and clean the contacts well, use some dielectric grease when you put it back together. If the contacts are shot from arcing and corrosion, you might have to replace the switch. I wired a couple of relays into the lighting harness of my '09 WeeStrom so that the main lighting current is shunted thru relays and only the small current required to operate the relay runs thru the switch. This is actually a worthwhile fix, as it also increases your light output due to less current loss--a typical installation will run the lighting juice straight from the battery or your main fuse block direct to headlights (thru the relays). You should be able to Google this and possibly find a custom plug-n-play harness to fix your bike. Good luck!

Value Decision: potential loss of baby duck lives > potential loss of human life = stupid bimbo How about the offer of mandatory sterilization so she doesn't pass along her defective genes….just a thought.

You planning on installing this on the lowest level or on a slab? The kind of weight you're talking needs to be checked for structural loading with respect to your construction details. If you're planning on cladding a room over a floor joist construction, best get specs on current design loading, existing load specs, joist span from beam supports, etc. If you're loading the basement steel support beam, get that spec'd also. They ain't gonna need to shoot you if the room collapses into the basement and crushes you….

I've got a few items from Bilt that have faired pretty well over the last few years of ownership. I've got a pair of their summer textile pants and some of their dirt gear and it's perfectly functional. Only criticism I have is that the pants aren't as well optioned--pockets/zippers/etc--as the more pricey gear. No quality issues, tho. I've also got some winter gear--pants, gloves, neck warmer--that I bought on the cheap from Jaffrum (another discount gear online retailer) that have performed well, too. Not saying that the top dollar stuff isn't worth the money, but for a typical rider, the gear is fine. IMHO…. ADD: I think the big quality issue with the cheaper race gear is the integrity of the sewn seams and the fabric thickness. Don't want those to separate/wear thru when/if you go down. No experience with the race gear, so I can't comment.

PM sent. Hmmm. Messenger not working….your Inbox full?

FYI. Not trying to hijack your thread, OB…just putting this here since the thread is about riding later this week. I know there aren't many OR peeps located in the Cinti area, but thought this might be of some interest to folks. Rob Giles (Dice32) posted a ride event on LocalRiders/AFJ that is gonna explore the backroads in NKY on Thursday, 7/3. Will include many of the great ones like 227 south from Owenton to Stamping Ground--definitely worth the trip!!! Pace will be 'spirited' but not gonzo crazy (prolly not more than about 15-20 over). Usually a mix of both sport bikes, DS bikes and cruisers, whatever else shows up. Riders should be very comfortable/competent riding twisty, rural roads at speed. Group ALWAYS waits for the tail riders/counts heads at every turn. Link here: http://www.localriders.com/forums/showthread.php?p=163884#post163884