palandor

I can't make it out Sunday due to family obligations.

Sounds nifty. I haven't ridden trails/dirt/gravel at all this year and have been feeling annoyed because I didn't make the time for it yet.

I would be trailering an xt225 to the meetup spot (or somewhere nearby?) but I need to figure out if I am going to have scheduling conflicts. I should know for sure on the 11th.

If there is someone else from the Dayton area that would want to go, let me know. If/when I commit, it would be interesting to carpool/trailer-pool out to Laurelville.

-b

No, it just means he likes to fap to Playboy.

-1 for you.

Most of their chicks are not for me (they're very fake looking), but I do make exceptions for natural beauty.

:-) Thanks Casper

You sir, have earned my sincere respect!!!!

I like hot chicks. :-D

A great looking dark-haired brunette with light skin is da bomb diggity in my book.

Her name is Claire Sinclair.

:-)

There ya go.

ShawnR, It looks a bit like Alissa Milano from the neck up, but definitely not from the neck down.

Saturns own.... my first Saturn was a 95 sl2 4door twin cam with a Turbo from SPS (Saturn performance Specialist) in Dayton Oh....

I had a 98 sl2, no mods. 0-60 in 8.9 seconds. (hahahahahahahahaha.)

48 to 63 I'll wear light leather glove with synthetic lining.

38-48 I'll wear the leathers with liners or the Tour Master Cold-Tex gloves with liners.

-b

I want to know how she fucked up the right side of the car when the guy came from the left. Typical shitty woman driver. I still lol'ed

Well, you could go for explaination A:

The guy faststeps and misses the left and middle, hitting on the right side of the front of the car.

But mostly, if you watch the vid when it's reversing itself, it looks like the car is already damaged before the legs hit the car's front end, especially the wheel shot after the leg comes off the hood.

0:25 thru 0:28.

Plus the metal on the side panel looks ripped off like someone grabbed the panel and pulled outward and twisted at the same time.

or explaination B:

She's a shitty woman driver and managed to screw up something simple like hitting someone.

;-)

I bought an '06 about a month ago and like mine pretty well. I'm still getting it adjusted (preload, windshield, etc) and getting used to it, but no complaints so far.

I am confused as to why folks aren't fond of the headlight design; it looks fine to me and seems to function really well too.

DL650, 57mpg from the most recent tank of gas. 15 mile commute to & from work, plus a few light errands around on the weekend.

My XT225 gets about 72 mpg IF I ride it on the road or around town enough to consider it "road mileage". :-)

I had a Vulcan 500 that got 49 mpg for the same usage as the DL650.

I had a '97 dr350se as my first bike. I thought it had enough power for me when commuting (rarely rode above 55 at the time), and worked well enough on the trails (kind of heavy compared to other trail bikes) despite my noob skills.

I have an xt225 now and yearn for the power of the 350... ;-)

-b

*** SOLD! ***

1999 Kawasaki Vulcan 500 LTD aka EN500 aka EN500C4

Great bike for a beginner or intermediate rider to enjoy around town or on "weekend warrior" day trips. Seat height is about 28"-29" (nice for lady riders) and dryweight is easy to handle at about 440 pounds. It is peppy and has very good acceleration but not quite the get-yourself-in-trouble power of bigger cruisers or most sport-bikes.

Starts easily, runs great, and is reliable and trustworthy transportation for commuting and/or day trips. Maintained and kept in good condition. Mileage is about 12,900.

Extras include a National Cycle Streetshield EX windshield, saddlebags and mounting bars, sissybar (passenger backrest), tail rack & tail rollbag, and very loud horn (factory horn is included but not on bike). Extras add up to between $450 and $500 new.

Bike is ready to ride!

-b

I stopped in to EPC last fall looking for a carb jet. They didn't have it and would have had to order it but for twice what I could have gotten it elsewhere.

Nice guys, but busy and did not seem interested in my small dollar business. Definitely a sport bike and sport atv shop though.

That looks like a nice tent.

That's what she said. ;-)

(nothing else to see in this post, move along.)

I use an old school Eureka A-frame like this one:

haha, I should have scrolled down to Casper's post.

Classic Boy Scout tent, but so much better than when I used them *cough*twodecades*cough* ago.

I have one like this. It's a 1 or 2 man tent. Think I got it at Cabela's or Gander Mountain. Very simple to set up, very lightweight and small. I use this when I go backpacking.

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=one+man+tent&hl=en&qscrl=1&biw=1366&bih=643&bav=on.2,or.&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=698465524392389513&sa=X&ei=wuB3TbboCYnyrAGjk7n4CQ&ved=0CL8BEPMCMAk4KA#

We have the Eureka Timberline 2 and the Eureka Apex 2xt. Both are backpacking tents (timberline is very light), inexpensive, but very effective at doing what they are supposed to. The Timberline 2 would be my choice out of the two if it were me and a motorcycle.

The full size is to big the Medium is too small...I'll see what I can do.

Thanks Goldilocks.

its not in there cuz they dont want you practicing before the test, or so thats what i hear, but i did find what i think is the right layout online.

http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcycle-training/motorcycle-test/

That link has the portions of the test during the BRC course.

Make sure you can ride slow (the stall portion) without putting your foot down, practice quick stops (being sure to shift down to 1st while braking before putting your foot down when stopped), and obstacle swerving. That's the areas that the people in my class seemed to have the most trouble.

Decent trailer for the money. I bought one last year about the same time for the same price. :-)

To share, here's what I found in my experiences with mine so far:

1) it's max GVWR weight is 1195 pounds. Subtract the weight of whatever floor you add to it, the weight of the bike mounts, AND the weight of the trailer (shipping weight is 265 lbs), to make sure you can haul two bikes on it without exceeding its limits.

2) factor in the cost of buying the floor and mounting hardware with the cost of the trailer (mine was about $40 for treated 4x8 plywood and nuts/bolts). I also added 2"x12" solid wood sides so I could haul mulch or branches/yard waste.

3) parts may not fit exactly right, some stuff may be broken, not work, or left out. BUT if you dont mind waiting for parts, HF will ship replacements via ground for free. if looks are important, those parts may not match the original parts looks-wise. (*cough* round vs square taillight *cough*)

4) the frame is great for tiedown straps, adding eye-bolts, and just generally securing any kind of load you can think of.

5) the ball receiver is a 1 & 7/8 socket for use with class 2 hitches, not the 2" socket that is used with class 3 hitch balls. Having said that, you can buy a different one from various places, including, I think, HF.

6) the tilting is nice, but I bolted a landscape timber under the back frame piece because otherwise it bent the crap out of the license plate in its default location. (and it makes loading in mud/grass that much easier.) adding the "bumper" changes the balance; strap down two cinder blocks at the front of the bed to adjust the weight. also helps ease 1-person loading: if you move the blocks to the back of the bed, the trailer stays tilted till the bike is on the trailer.

7) the wiring on the trailer SUCKS. a) if your lights dont work, check for bare metal (not red paint) at all commections; then scrape off more paint just to make sure. b) the bare metal wire clips will strip and cut the wires quick as shit. c) wire it up with the bed folded in to get the amount of wire at the bend right.

8) I hauled two loads of horse manure for mulch in the trailer and it seemed pretty heavy, but the trailer (and my car) did good. (that's about 32 cubic feet of manure per trip, plus it was heaping up a little on the 2nd load.)

9) folding it up for storage is very convenient, but not something you want to do on a weekly or maybe even monthly basis. 2 bolts on each side in hard-to-reach places when the floor is on. and it's heavy with the floor on too.

10) A mesh floor trailer from TSC that's rated for 1500-1800 GVWR costs $429 and up. I'd say I still spent less money than that.

11) the paper to register the trailer is in the box somewhere. If there is a typical clear paper holder on the box, it's probably in there. if there isn't one, you can call HF and ask them to send you the Certificate of Origin paper, but you have to talk to the trailer department because they understand a CoO; support is useless except for replacement parts.

And finally, after a long rambling post... I found average weights of mulch, sand, dry dirt, and mud per cubic food. Dry mulch is about 30-40 lbs per cu ft, dry dirt is 75 lbs per cu ft, and mud is about 110 lbs per cu ft. Given that it was dense horse manure that had been sitting for a while and then loaded onto the trailer with a frontloader, kind of wet but definitely not dripping wet, and a bit of clay got in one of the loads... I would say it was probably a minimum of 2600 lbs up to 3100 lbs per load.

So, yea... it gets stuff done.

-b

I don't have experience with a sumo...

For dual sports, yes, there are multiple light dual sports less than 350 lbs wet weight that work for shorter people. I'm 5'8"-ish and sit on an xt225 with a 32" seat. It's comfy for me. I wouldn't make it into a sumo though because the hp/torque are small, but there are other DS bikes out there with a bit more power and less seat.

Don't forget you can always shave the seat padding or change the suspension height to get a lower seat height. So, a 36" on a dr350se can be thinned down to probably 34.5" tall.

It's all about priorities!

So the plate for my bike has been expired over three years - if I go to "renew" it there is going to be a $20 surcharge? Can I just pretend it was never registered and get a new plate?

I had car plates that were 2 1/2 years old. I was told that after 365 days of being expired, they drop out of the BMV system and that plate number goes back into the pool for new plates.

So, maybe you can register your bike like it was never plated. :-)

Or, they may keep some kind of record history despite plates "expiring".

is there any chance you could spray something on the foam so that you skin doesn't get irritated? I had a friend with an allergy to nickel so she had to put clear nail polish on all of her pant buttons so that she didn't break out.

Thanks for the suggestion. That is an interesting thought. I've decided I am going to get a new pair of hypo-allergenic goggles, preferably with single-layer foam, but I will keep nail polish in mind.

-b

try to find a pair of hypo-allergenic pro grip goggles...pro grip googles are the hands down best googles ive ever worn

what you should do though, is go to iron pony and find a pair of googles that claim to be hypo-allergenic, and wear them just around your head and walk around the dirt section for 5-10mins with them on and see if you have the same reaction

Pro Grip? I'll check them out. Good to know Iron Pony would let me do that.