CBBaron

Engines are a significant difference between bikes. But from what ive seen engine configuration is not all that important. Especially in less racing oriented machines. Hence the reason why there are 4 different configurations available in the same bike category. Between counter balancers, tuning and design tweeks the different configurations can be made to suit the manufacturers requirements. Even in race categories V2, V4, I4 and I3 all compete fairly closely. So I really think, comfort, price, and other features are more important than engine configuration. Craig PS Currently a fan of the 90 degree V-twin as that is what is in my current bike.

V-4 engines are elegant engineering designs. Compared to I-4 they can be narrower. Compared to V-2 they can rev higher and produce higher peak power. However they are more complicated than either and usually slightly heavier also. As mentioned midsized bikes are very price sensitive so the V4 has disappeared. So why are you stuck on V4. There are plenty of light sport touring bikes with I4, I3, V2 and parallel twin motors. The differences between motors is usually one of the smaller differences in bikes. SV650, Gladius, Ninja 650, Street Triple, Monster 696, FZ6r GSX650R. Lots of choices in this range.

For myself, I wouldnt spend $20k on a car. Get something dependable and functional and use it for as long as possible. Cars are a waste of money. A modest used compact are usually available for $5k if you shop around. Buy a nice bike with some of the savings and put the rest towards and loans or your retirement. Even more of a waste for me because I only drive the car when I can't motorcycle (snow, ice, passenger). I put less than 2k miles a year on the car.

I commute as long as there is not a chance of snow. Been a few days that were below 20F. Heated grips make a difference as does a good jacket and wool socks. Ofcourse my commute is all 35mph speed limits (~45mph) so not as much heat sucking wind as freeway commuting. Last year I rode every month. Craig

In laws wanted to do crab legs (Alaskan King Crab) but the wife and her sister vetoed the idea. So we will be doing deep fried Turkey injected with Louisiana Licker sauce. Actually I really like Turkey so Im glad we are going that route even if I do also love crab legs. I will be making the sweet potato casserole. And it is my favorite dish. However it probably should be served for desert Craig

Surprisingly the best Mexican I have had near Cleveland was El Patron in Middlefield. Not saying its great Mexican but pretty good and inexpensive in a very unexpected location. Craig

I have not seen one under $2500 which is about what I paid for mine. They are great versatile bikes but not really competitive performance wise with a sportbike which appears to be what the OP wanted. I think the Vstrom is a great value but not cheap. Craig

I like the 500 bikes. Size is nice and so is the price. However I wont be trading in my DL650. The CB500X would not really be considered and adventure bike. Maybe "Adventure Styling". Only a little lighter than the DL650 with less suspension and a 17" front. That and you give up about 15hp. Ofcourse if you are comparing new the CB500 line comes in considerably cheaper. That should help sales alot. Some great entry/budget bikes introduced this year. Ninja 300 and now the the CB500 range. Im actually surprised to see all of the CB500 bikes are due to be released in the US. Still not sure I believe the news. Craig

In order to turn a bike (motor or otherwise) the center of gravity of the bike/rider combination has to be on the inside of the turn with respect to the wheel contact patch. However it is possible to turn without leaning the bike if you move the rider to the inside instead. You shouldn't need to grip the tank or any other part of the bike to remain on the bike through a smoothly executed turn. From the riders perspective the weight of the rider is sit down through the seat of the cycle. However sportbike riders lean over the tank. The tank grip makes it easier to grip the tank with your knees to take weight off the handlebars. This is true while riding straight or executing a turn. And as Im sure some will point out executing an aggressive turn requires the rider to move their body to the inside of the turn relative to the bike. Which will change the forces felt by said rider. Fairly simple physics but misunderstood by many because riding is intutive and it is not necessary to understand to be able to ride. Craig

When did Great Lakes mall add a second floor. As I remember a couple big stores had 2 levels but the mall was 1 level only. I believe Mentor Mall is the mostly strip mall across the street. However your point is still valid. Beachwood place is an example with ground floor entrances on both levels. Probably pretty common given that it doesnt take much of a slope to account for 1 floor change over the length of a typical mall. Pretty ballsy caper. And quite the haul Craig

Well that KLR will have even less power and speed than your current mount Even the 650 twins are going to have plenty of power and speed to get you into trouble. My Vstrom 650 will go well past 100 and out accelerate most sportscars to 60. And thats much slower than most bikes. So if you want a little bigger and more modern you are going to have to keep your right hand under some kind of control if you hope to avoid problems with the law or worse. Craig

I think you may have your physics a little confused. I doubt the GS500 has a limiter. It will be power limited in top gear. Im guessing somewhere around 100 or under, depends on the wind and rider position. Remember this is a carburated air cooled bike. Craig

Yea they will do highway but 85 is about maxing it out and they do have a reputation for burning oil, especially with lots of highway. Craig

Bankruptcy does not mean you are going out of business. It is basically a legal way to screw people you owe money. So they will try to pay pennies on the dollar to people the company owes. Probably mostly the auto dealers as they back out of promises. Then continue minus the autos. Actually now that I think about it, the main reason for the "bankruptcy" is probably just so that they can break thier contracts with the auto dealerships, transporters and other auto related items. Craig

Yes the other tablets are considerably less for the same or better functionality. However it may be that the OP requires an iPad. I know the apps my wife uses for speech therapy are iPad only and they use iPads at her school. My opinion is it depends on your need. If this is a laptop replacement use then screen realestate is a preimum and the larger form factor will work better. If portability is priority then the Mini works better. Basically same screen resolution as Ipad 2 with the other hardware from Ipad 3. Craig

SmartCar is great if you have a tight parking space. However as mentioned there are better choices for about every other item. Handling is very poor with an ultra short wheelbase and high center of gravity. It will be even worse in the snow due to the rear wheel drive. Not any more fuel efficient than many other small cars. Much less room than about any other car. High maintenance costs. MSRP is fairly high vs other small cars but it appears they drop value quickly. However it will stand out and she wont be hauling around a gaggle of friends Hyundai's and Kia's are usually lower priced than Honda's and Civics in the used car market and are pretty reliable these days. Thats the direction I went for a college car back in the 90s and wasn't disappointed. I think they are an even better option these days. Craig

Yea, I love seeing these on an old Dodge Caravan Sport. What in the world about that car is "sport" I think they have lost popularity because I dont think Ive seen a spinner hubcap in a couple years and only a few spinner wheels in the last year. Though bigger is better is still envogue. Love the 80s sedan jacked up to fit 24+" wheels. Craig

Your recommendations were excellent until you recommended a KLR650 for dirt Current KLR650 is only slightly better suited for offroad than the Vstrom and BMW 800GS. A KTM EXC would be more inline with best tool for the job, while WR250R or KLX250S would be the more common models. The KLR tries to be a good enough adventure bike and decent off-road bike at a budget. The KTMs are street legal dirt bikes. However the rest of the article make sense. I bought a bike based on budget, fit, and utility. I'm tall with a long inseam so small bikes and supersports are not comfortable. My riding is mostly urban commuting with significant freeway riding, some fun paved roads and not infrequent excursions on dirt and unmaintained roads. And I wanted a bike with some water proof luggage to run errands and carry a laptop on my commute. When I found a good deal on a Vstrom it was a perfect fit. Many bikes would work for me, some maybe even better. But I would be hard pressed to find better without spending much. much more. Craig

The "rebuttal" had a couple of good points about poor practices of not meeting regulations and ignoring it. However the arguments over the "safety" devices totally neglects personal responsibility. I'm guessing those devices are the ones that annoy 95% of the users. Why cant we have a gas can with a good cap and a spout that actually allows the gas to flow Because of stupid limitations and laws. The rebuttal also fails to mention the fact the jobs that will go to competitors will often go to overseas factories. So from a domestic prospective it is jobs lost. Craig

Got my first loss this week. Had to happen sooner or later. I was skating by on wins most weeks. Craig

You can add hard saddlebags or a trunk to nearly any bike these days. Most midweight sport/sport touring bikes have kits available to make it easy. My choice would be a bike like FZ6, Ninja 650, SV650, etc. These are a significant step up if power with only a minor increase in weight over your current steed. And they have comfortable riding positions. Vstrom and Versys are also nice but the taller suspension will make them more difficult to fit a short inseam (great for us tall guys though ). If you want to eat some miles on a trip the big liter+ sport tourers seem nice but I dont really care for the size and expense. Not to mention they will eat gas pretty quick also. Try out as many as you can. Atleast sit on them and see how they fit. And look for good deals on used models. Craig

I use it nearly all of the time and have been happy with the choice. I don't tend to use many extensions so cant comment on that. As mentioned there are always a couple pages, usually internal corporate pages, that only like IE but otherwise its what I use. One of the features I started using it for was the online sync of bookmarks and other settings. I have multiple PC with Linux and Windows and its nice that my bookmarks are readily available on all. I think other browsers have also provided this since but it was the primary reason I started using Chrome. Craig

Little outages like 70 houses in a neighborhood are put on lower priority than big outages. Thats why it takes so long for a simple job. Its because they dont have a crew available to do that little job. I have noticed in recent years power, phone and cable companies either dont give estimates or give very conservative estimates. Glad to see you got power back earlier than expected. Craig

Not rescheduling in our town and Im glad. We usually get over 300 mostly rude kids, teens and some adults in about an hour. Its chaos. The weather should thin it out quite a bit. Craig

Killing the engine and using the clutch to control speed is a nice way to ride down a steep hill. Even leaving it at idle in first gear will work well. Front brake works OK as long as you have a very light touch. If you are in first in idle the front should help to keep speed under control. I keep my feet on the pegs but thats probably easier on a Vstrom than a sportier bike. However I am no expert on riding heavy bikes off-road. Only done a couple steep hills. May want to ask in the Dirty Talk forum or on ADV rider. There are a lot of people doing crazy things with adventure bikes that are not that much more capable. Craig