Scruit

Yup, in the side. My MD80 uses an 8G card. I get 15 mins per gig.

Nope. Dude. The police report made no mention of the status of his nether regions.

Yup, Failure to Yield Right-Of-Way while Turning Left. Whenever I hear the "They weren't there" argument I am reminded of the closing arguments that the plaintiff's lawyer gave in a left-turn accident I was witness to... "Your honor, my client's car is not equipped with a cloaking device. It was not dropped 10 feet in front of the defendant's car from a UFO hovering overhead. It was THERE. The reason he didn't SEE it is because he didn't LOOK. Accordingly we ask for damages in the amount of...." That defendant stated the same thing - the car was not in sight when he started his turn so she must have been speeding. He then stated he could see for several hundred feet. Presented with the actual numbers, he had no choice but to agree that it was not possible for the oncoming Sentra to have been doing over 100mph in a parking lot, after only 400' of acceleration, and still suffer less than $2k in damages...

I'm reading the police report now. It's pretty scary stuff. Bike was riding on park center drive and an oncoming cager made a left turn into his path. Bike skidded for 20' before going under the front of the car - the car pushed the bike nearly 20' after the accident. Biker ejected, landing a couple dozen feet from the impact point and EMT'd to the hospital. Non-fatal injuries, thankfully. He was wearing a helmet and bike jacket. He was able to write his own accident statement after the fact, so looks like he's gonna be just fine. What makes my blood boil about this accident is the handwritten statement from the cager... I'm typing this as it is written, leaving out personal information but leaving in mistakes and all. Bolding is my emphasis. This should serve as an educational tool to all bikers - a glimpse into the thought processes of a left-turning cager... * = Well how f*cking gracious of you. You want a f*cking medal? ** = If you make a left turn in front of oncoming traffic then OF COURSE he is going to hit you on your right side, numbnuts. Besides, the police officer stated the initial impact was on the front right corner of the bumper. Some math: Cager claims the biker was not "there" when he started the turn. This means the cager is asserting that the biker was out of sight around the nearest corner when he started his turn. The cager could see 600' down parkcenter (google earth rocks). Assuming that two seconds passed between the beginning of the maneuver and the impact, that means the biker had to come into view and cover 600' in order to collide with the front/right of the car. 600' / 2 seconds = 300 feet per second = 204mph. As it's clearly not possible for an '06 Suzuki Boulevard to reach 204mph (and even if it did, the result of this accident at that speed would be more than just cuts/bruises), we must conclude that the cager is full of sh*t, didn't look or just has his head so far up his a$$ he can smell his own toothpaste. (don't try to visualize. just don't) Cliffs: Cagers suck.

Noted. Saved for future reference.

Does the label on that can say "Deer Slayer 750" ??

Fair enough. I'll take a look at the plugs.

I got two of the MD80 cameras and simply use a piece of velcro to hold it inside my helmet. *If you attach any cheap camera to the bike itself the vibration will make the video unusable* (A more expensive camera will have digital stabilization to make up for most of that) Here's a quick clip from my inside-the-helmet MD80: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LEmwhgTWiY

No, no, no... There's no way I'm taking my cruiser on the track. *Goes to mid-ohio website* Dangit - I should have read the course info better. I did their Defensive Driving and Advanced Defensive Driving courses last year and they provide the car if you pay extra. I was hoping they'd provide the bike too. Apparently not.

I'm thinking I need to get up to Mid Ohio and do their bike course... BTW, my turns are smoothing out greatly. As time goes by my trust in the bike's traction in the lean is getting greater so I'm losing the fear that dragging the pegs will cause me to tripod. Leaning mor into the corner initally is making it easier to smooth out the acceleration through in he corner as all I need to do it let the bike stand up again. By seeing the corner as a single thing rather than a mesh of two cornering styles I'm finding myself better able to take the corner in a single smooth curve.

'04 Suzuki Volusia 800 - carb / electronic ingition. How do I tell if it's running rich? I know other Volusia owners who claim 40-50mpg and I'm getting 33mpg. Thinking I may be running rich, but dunno how to tell...

Take your time, don't do anything until you've had a chance to think it through and talk it through both with yourself and your family. Whatever decision you make, I'm glad you're ok and hope you get this all sorted out ok.

Guys, please be more tolerant. Emos are the safest drivers out there! (They only ever cut *themselves* off...)

I just called American Family. I "did not opt for medical coverage", apparently. Was not asked, not that I recall. Anyway, my health insurance is typically very good. ($1k out of pocket per year, rest is covered at 100%. Not a HMO either, PPO) I really don't understand why someone's health insurance wouldn't cover a motorbike accident. (I can see why they'd want to subrogate against an at-fault driver, but that's after they pay your injuries)

If your bike is stolen with the keys in it then you can expect your insurance to hate you. If you DO get a check from them it'll probably have a cancellation stapled to it.

Admitting guilt doesn't make you guilty of something you didn't have the opportunity to do - regardless of your intent. Imagine I call you and say I'm going to shoot you, and you call the police to your house before I arrive. I tell the police; "I tried to kill him". Does that make me guilty of attempted murder? Well, no, it doesn't. Until I actually attack you I'm not attempting to murder you. I'm preparing to murder you, but you stopped me too soon. There are other charges they could get me on, but not attempted murder. Regardless of my "confession" - I can confess to something I didn't do but that doesnt make me guilty. Same with the bike.

On my MSF BRC I use a little 50cc dirt bike. I could balance that thing all day long and the figure-8 was real easy by counter-balancing as you say. The Volusia is a much bigger bike, of course, so I'd have to hang quite a ways off the high side to counter-balance it. Although my wife would say I've gotten heavy enough I might just manage it...

What do you suggest? I had my eye on a BMW K1200.

I'm definitely agreeing with the advice you not over-analyze it. I guess it's like learning to juggle. Once you have the basics it's just a case of practice and more practice until it becomes second nature. If you over-think about the minute details then you lose focus on the big picture.

What if you're going 5mph?

...or you get halfway into the corner and realize you're not leaned over enough. And it turns out you're not leaned over enough because you started out so slow that you had to steer into the turn rather than countersteer. I have no problem with counter-steering once I'm moving - it's trying to adjust the lean while accelerating to maintain a smooth curve that I need to practice.

I know, I know. After I got the bike the job situation for myself and my wife changed so I wound up driving my kid to and from daycare every day until he started first grade this year. My only riding was at weekends etc. Now my kid rides the bus to school, I commute on the bike unless it's raining. I'll be riding more more in 4 months than in the last 6 years. I guess it's just something that comes with time and practice. Think I'll head out when it dires up and get started on that.

Been riding since 04 but only have 5k miles under my belt. Now I'm commuting daily on the bike. I'm pretty confortable with most of the riding techniques, but the one thing I need to improve is setting off around a corner. Of course at slow speeds you steer towards the turn and above 15-20mph you counter steer, right? Well, making that left turn from the red light onto the 4-lane highway requires means you pass 15mph while still turning - so you have to transition from "Steer into the turn" to "Counter steer" while you are in the corner. Well, rather than cornering in one smooth arc I find myself making the turn in two distinct steps - the transition from low speed cornering to higher speed cornering can be pretty ugly sometimes - not smooth at all. When turning righ I've wound up crossing into the oncoming lane once or twice. Is this something that will come only with experience, or is there a technique that I'm missing?

If he's going northbound and wants to turn westbound then why move his rig onto the southbound lane "to make it easier" to turn left" I'd had thought he would stay in the northbound lane rather than cut the corner. Now, if we wanted to turn right and go east then I can understand him moving into the southbound lane to make a wider sweeping turn. (once he has determined the lane in clear!)

Before the crime there is the "attempt". Before the attempt is the "preparation". He was caught "preparing" to "attempt" the theft. If the owner had let the kid move the bike or start the engine up then it would have been an attempted theft. Theft is the unlawful taking of the property of another with the intent to permanently deprive (the owner of that property). Putting on gloves does not contitute taking the bike. Now, why was he not charged with theft of the gear?? He took posession of it and his intention was to permanently deprive? I wonder if he had some BS story like his buddy said he could ride the bike, but he got the wrong bike by mistake or something...