MeefZah

Well, to start with, I'd like to see the captain's dash cam footage. That might give a better reference to how far apart they were, what the captain was doing at the time the rider stopped abruptly, his speed, and so forth. I'd also be interested in seeing what the rider was doing in the minutes prior to the incident. If he was riding like a jackwagon, and elicited the attention of police, or got complaints called in, it's understandable that the captain might be drafting him while pulling the bike's plate in preparation for a stop. I actually agree with the captain's comment about not stopping abruptly out of fear that someone might be merging in front of you; that's a poor move on a heavily trafficked multi-lane roadway. The right move, in my opinion, would have been to squirt fast around the car on the right side and be done with it. If the rider was situationally aware, he should have known that there was a car right behind him and that stopping abruptly might well result in being rear ended by that car. Or, it may be possible that the rider did know this, and also knew the other car was a crusier, and was stopping abruptly just to fuck with the officer? Again, I'm not some kind of zealous cop defending toolbag; rather I think it's only fair to look at an incident from as unbiased a point of view as possible. I do think it's uncool for another cop - or someone identifying themselves as a cop - to come along and render this decision that the captain is a piece of shit, etc., because like everything in else in life, there's two sides to a story and he wasn't there to get either one. I'd also add that my usual approach to this sort of thing is to look at it from the reverse perspective. If the captain had been driving the cruiser the way the motoryclist was riding - slowing up and speeding down, weaving in the lane, then stopping abruptly, and a bike following the captain had then rear ended the cruiser; I'm fairly certain the same people currently clamoring for the captain's head on a pike would still be clamoring for it - claiming he should not have stopped so fast, should have been aware of the flow of traffic, should have known there was a biker right behind him, etc. If the motorcyclist who rear ended the crusier had gotten up and given the cop a dress down, again, I suspect most of you would be like: "Hell yeah, fuck that cop, he had that coming!" A final note, those of you who are aghast at the captain's attitude and comments, while I concur that he's a pretty salty dude; it's not like he kicked this guy's ass up and down the street. He yelled at him, and in the end they two shook hands and the rider opted to not press the issue any further - you can argue duress, I guess, but if this was such a life altering moment for the rider, maybe he should have grown a set of cojones and respectfully told the captain: "I want to report that you just hit me with your car; I'd like an uninvolved agency to come take the report".

Yeah, because that's what my post clearly indicates, cover up the wrong actions of other cops. It has nothing to do with getting the full story before you make a judgement, or before you start a thread with an incindiary title.

Maybe nothing. Maybe everything. I don't have a dog in the fight as far as Joe Average being pissed at the captain, it's kind of what Joe Average does. But for another cop; who knows how video, media, and public perception can play out, to criticize their brother without knowing the whole story - that's inexcusable.

I hope I can sleep tonight.

You're a patrol cop and you are making that kind of judgement about another cop based on a 2 minute video?

I tap my helmet whenever I pass riders with no helmet, and make an exaggerated drinking gesture followed by the finger whenever I pass cars with yellow DUI tags.

Yeah, that aggravated me too. WTF? Based on the traveling they did in the first 2 seasons the group shouldn't even be in Georgia, let alone within proximity to Rick's home town. Not to mention the fact that Rick was a cop, he most certainly would know about a prison near the town he worked in. And wouldn't it be more logical to establish your camp in the town you are intimately familiar with than in some strange locale? You'd know every building, street, alley, hiding spot, as well as the places likely to have tools, supplies, weapons, etc. that you could access. Also, why is that very few of the people who are out on their own are in possession of guns? With guns as pervasive as they are in America, even a non gun owner could pretty easily acquire one simply by going house to house after the initial wave of people died. In this case we are 3 years in to an epidemic and these idiots (like the hitchhiker) are still wandering around with no gun?

The Shovel rocks, shitty little shithole bar that serves breakfast. I enjoy it. G&R in Waldo, not too far from Marion, is popular with the bikers. I hate bologna so it's not my cup of tea.

I realize you sold it, but just to offer my thoughts: The Ninja 250 is now eclipsed by the Ninja 300, so IMO the value of the 250 is going down since it's no longer even a current model. Additionally, it's an inexpensive bike to start with (new like $4000 +/-). Also, factor in the 250 has essentially been unchanged, save for a body tweak in the last couple of years, for 20 years before that - and you can buy late 90s Ninja 250s for $1000. That would also tend to devalue your 2009 Ninja; if the same bike minus a more modern fairing can be had for a grand, why spend 3.5 times that much for new plastics? Personally, I don't think even a newer Ninja 250 is worth more than $2500 in good shape. If you got more than that I'd say you did well.

Well used Olympia Ranger 2 pants, 38" waist. Two areas have tears and were professionally patched, though the patches have faded at an accelerated rate - see pictures. Zips, snaps, and velcro are all good. Knee pads are good. No seperate liner. Includes suspenders. Basically, a great pant for the budget minded KLR rider in all of us. Fit is slightly large to accomodate pants worn underneath, I wear a true 38" waist and these are a hair loose on me. Newer, less well used Olympia AST jacket. Everything works, looks good, still like 98.7% waterproof. All armor (elbows, back, shoulders) is intact and never been down. Size XL. I have a 44" chest, 38" waist, 35.5" arms, and this is a good fit for me. No liner. $150 shipped in ConUS for BOTH. Not selling individually. Paypal only. Thanks! -Mark

Rick's over acting is about ridiculous. The rest of the cast is good enough to redeem him but I'm getting a little tired of his breathless, non eye contact making, high pitched indecisiveness. Glenn apparently has some deep seated issues about watching his ol lady get porked by Da Gubernator. Merle's a piece of shit and I imagine after some conflict Darryl will kill him and return to the fold. I think Hershel's younger daughter is getting hot for Rick. It was laughable that the blonde chick (forget her name) was able to give a 30 second impromptu speech that totally soothed the tensions in Woodbury. So ghosts are an impossibility but you're okay with the existence of zombies in an apocalyptical world? Though I concur, the ghost shit is ridiculous. The writers don't have to show us his visions fo us to feel that he is going a bit crazy.

I'll comment. I'm not on here a lot and I've only ever met maybe 4 guys here, so I'm not really privvy to the group dynamics, but respect to Midget Todd, cause that shit is hilarious. In my car, provided road conditions are acceptable, I always set the cruise at 9 over. 64 in a 55, 74 in a 65, etc. On the interstate, unless there is a really torn up section of road or some other good reason not to, I always stay in the right lane, and merge left to pass. If someone comes up behind me, which is rare, I get over immediately. On the bike, I really have little regard for speed limits. I try and keep my speeds at around 10 over, but invariably I look down and I'm doing 85+ mph. I took my lumps for that years ago with a 4 point, 119 in a 55 citation; and I'm quite certain I'll get another one at some point. It happens - ya gotta pay if you want to play. On the bike I am also always in the right lane, except to pass or under the conditions described above. I'm personally ok with speeding if the combination of equipment, skill, road surface, weather, and traffic density is all proportionate; and I write very, very, very few speeding tickets because of that and because of my own propensity to speed. I make a lot of speed stops, but that's to sniff out what else might be going on. To actually get a speeding ticket from me, you have to first catch me when I'm not getting bombarded with other calls, then you also have to have a shitty driving record, and you have to sprinkle in a dollop of asshole with a smattering of uninsured. I also hate, with a fucking passion, those fucktards who clog the left lane, or who insist on going under the speed limit on a 2 lane road. I understand that not everyone shares my habit of speeding, and that's okay; but at least go the speed limit, and get over if someone wants to pass. I chuckled at some people's comments on here, because I do the same thing. Climb up someone's ass, yep. Flash the brights, yep. Make insane arm gestures, yep. A few years ago I took a pursuit class and we did live PITs on other vehicles on a track; and for months after that, as I was trapped behind a horde of Voyagers and Siennas I would daydream about just smashing the slowpokes off the road and laughinging maniacally as they spun into the median, unaware of what had just happened to them. I have a divided highway (8 lane, actually) in my jurisdiction but it's not really a "freeway" in the sense that it has traffic lights and cross streets, so there are always cars in the left lanes that are moving slowly in preparation for merging, turning, etc. Thus, I can't really engage in much enforcement for left lane violators. I do make some general "impeding traffic" stops on cars that are clearly trundling along below the speed limit and have several cars backed up behind them. I'd like to see the OSP do more in the way of educating drivers to stay right on multi lane roads, and I'd like to see more enforcement on the freeway. Sadly, the OSP is so wrapped up in writing speeding tickets that they fail to enforce a lot of traffic laws that would truly promote safety and improve traffic flow. Oh, and as far as it being legal to pass at 10 over, umm, no. As someone else said, the speed limit is the limit. Well, I mean, technically it's the limit....

My kit has been tweaked over the years as I have found that most stuff in a commercial first aid kit isn't applicable to motorcycle travel. I also am a firm believer in keeping it small and simple; and I recognize that a first aid kit is only really going to be useful for the more minor injuries. Thus, no need to carry a Sager splint for a possibly femur fracture; that would be beyond the relm of treatment that I could administer on the side of the road. My kit contains a pair of gloves, a micro CPR mask, a ziploc with a few asprin and benadryl, 4X4 dressings, 2X2 dressings, 1 5X9 trauma dressing, 2 rolls gauze, a few bandaids, a pocketknife with a pair of tweezers, 1 roll tape, a few alcohol prep pads, 2 triangular bandages, safety pins. I carry this in the saddlebags on a trip. Seperate from my first aid kit, in a ziploc in my tank bag, I keep one pair gloves, a few more band aids, and a few asprin, and Blistex.

I've been good. No complaints. How's my WRR? I realize that almost every other owner of the Tenere is in love with the bike, I am the anomaly. I certainly don't hate it, but I guess maybe the best way to explain it is to say I had hoped a $14,500 bike (retail) would be better. At any rate, I plan on keeping the bike, and I hope it will grow on me. It'll be okay...

I don't see this as a "con".

I guess I missed this thread. I have a 2012 Tenere, bought it new a few months ago. Currently have about 4,000 mi on it. I came off some other ADV cred bikes, like a KLR and a V-Strom. I also have a WR250R. Overall I am really kind of ambivalent about the bike. It's really heavy, and has kind of notchy acceleration in 1-2 gear, gets bad gas mileage, has a good amount of wind noise and buffeting from the windscreen, stalls in 1 gear quite often, has hard starting quite often. But, it is powerful, comfortable, looks bad ass, has a shaft drive (so 0 chain maintenance ever again), has really good ABS, and has top notch fit and finish. There have been very few reports of any real issues with the bike. The two big ones that come to mind are spokes loosening (I've never had it happen), and the headlight harness overheating (also never had it happen). Supposedly the new bikes have a slightly modified connector at the headlight bulb which keeps the wiring from overheating. The other issues I mentioned, except for the weight and gas mileage, are easily remedied - for example, in the case of notchy acceleration and stalling, a cheap jumper around the clutch switch totally transforms the bike. Would I buy it again? I got a good deal on it ($11,399) but that's still a shitload of money; and you can buy a damn nice Strom for $8k, or a Tiger for $10k. Factor in a used unit and you could be spending less than half of that for the same style of bike. At the time I bought it I thought it was really what I wanted. This is the most expensive bike I have ever owned, and I knew I'd have to keep it long term to justify spending the money, so I bought a 5 year warranty with it. I'm pretty much locked in to the bike now, so I don't have any plans to get rid of it, but if I was to answer the question totally honestly, I think I might rather have a Tiger 800. I will say this, though. Every ride I take on it, I enjoy it a bit more. I've also been told that the break in period is kind of lengthy, and around 5,000 miles the bike really settles in and seems to run better and more smoothly. If that happens, it will up the fun quotient quite a bit. Edited to add: I ride pavement and gravel. I refuse to do "off road" with this bike - it's too big, and too expensive, and I want to try and keep it nice as long as I can given the cost. This is not a bang around do it all bike like a DR or KLR, it's essentially Yamaha's take on the R1200GS. It's a street bike that can handle rough roads. There are those who chose to ride theirs off road, those guys are better than me, braver than me, or stupider than me. Mine:

F'epic!!!!!!!!

"Fucksticklets" LOL!

I bet they all smell really bad, and have bad breath, too. Personal hygeine, first thing to go in any zombie apocalypse. That's why my go bag contains 14 sticks of deodorant and a box of Altoids.

Truth in advertising up front: This Garmin Etrex Venture has been displaying a tendency to shut down of it's own volition over the past few months. It is only when used on my single cylinder dirt bike and only at high RPMs so I would speculate the batteries vibrate and lose contact, or there is an internal bad connection which is manifested at certain RPMs. The screen has some tape residue on the bottom, and the top of the unit also has tape residue (tape was used to ease the vibrations between the unit and the RAM mount). There is a scuff on the top of the screen but mostly not in the viewing area. It's been perched on a bike for 5 years and it looks it. It works fine other than the above issue, locks on the satellites quickly, backlighting works, tracking & routing works fine, all controls function. On my multi cyclinder bike, which is smoother, it does not power down. When used in handheld moe, like hiking, it also does not power down. But - having said that - I am selling it as is, for parts / project only. It may work great for the next decade (probably) or it may take a giant crap tomorrow. You assume the risk. Garmin ETrex Venture CX (color, micro SD slot, mini USB port), RAM mount (no ball), manual, quick ref guide. Standard world basemap with major highways. $40 shipped ConUS. New was around $250, plus the RAM. What's $40 in the overall scheme of things, really?

That's great!

We did 89 as part of a 5500 mile, 8 day trip back in 2005. Very nice.

Don't dealerships have an account? I doubt they pay per VIN checked.

It's not your concern, he's not your kid. He thinks he's an adult and is competent to make mature decisions, and his parents are so stupid as to "get talked into it", then wash your hands of it. Hopefully he survives but if not, that'll be by his own doing.

You are either mistaken, an embellisher of the truth, or you are a witness to police impersonators. In Ohio, to make a traffic stop and issue a traffic citation, an officer has to be in a marked police car equipped with a permanently mounted roof light and siren. Some agencies, like those in the Cleveland area, stretch this with barely marked cars and the tiniest light possible on their roof, but they are still in compliance. What you describe would not be in compliance and there is no agency in this state that would do that.