motociclista

***SOLD*** For sale is a Razor MX500 electric motorcycle for kids. Price: $150. Location: Bexley. Full details below. My father bought this several years ago for my nephews to ride. Considering that the grandkids are now respectively 6-0 and 6-5 , it's obvious they're not going to be riding it any more, so some other kid should have fun with it this summer. This is an electric only motorcycle that's real simple to operate so it makes a good first bike for your kid to ride around the yard. There's only three controls: twist-grip throttle and front and rear cable-actuated disc brakes operated by the handgrip levers like a scooter. Just twist and go with no need to master a clutch or shift gears. Charger is included. Ricky Carmichael number plate and Honda-era color motif included at no extra charge. It weighs 98 pounds, according to Razor, and I measured the seat height as about 23.5 inches, if that gives you an idea of whether it will fit your kid. Razor lists the top speed as 15 mph. Knobby tires are 16 inches front and 14 inches rear and are in good shape. The bike was only used one week a summer when the grandkids visited, so it didn't get used a lot. There's the usual scuffs from off-road riding, but everything works and is straight. Best Buy lists it for $379 new on their website. I'm pretty firm on the $150 price because I'm selling it for my father and because it's about as good as new, except for minor cosmetic issues. The scratch on the decal shown above is about the only thing I could categorize as "damage." Tires look almost new. You can see there's a little corrosion around the axle, but nothing serious. Offering it here first and if nobody wants it, it's off to craigslist.

The one most important piece of information nobody has asked or mentioned is how tall is she? The Ninja 500 is a great first bike, but not if you're 4-11 and weigh 90 pounds. ScubaCinci was asking the right questions. Does she even know how to use a clutch in a car? Or is she starting from scratch? And what's her general aptitude for such things? If the answers to those questions are positive, then it's probably a good choice. If not, then maybe something smaller and lighter, and just stay off highways for now. Experienced riders almost always overemphasize the "she'll get bored with it" aspect because we're thinking about ourselves, not a brand new rider. The far more common scenario is someone tries to start out with too much bike and gets intimidated or frustrated and quits riding because it's no fun to struggle.

To each his own, but I agree with everything in turnone's post above except the "boating is awesome" part. My father bought a boat and was the living embodiment of the saying misquoted earlier: The two happiest days of a boat owner's life are the day he buys his boat and the day he sells it. Putting around the same lake gets old after a few times, or in my father's case, putting up and down the same ol' stretch of the Ohio River. Beside, you can't get a knee down on a boat. But I hope the OP is the first first exception to the rule, loves his boat, doesn't blow a fortune on a big-ass gas-guzzling truck to haul it and an expensive place to store it over the winter and uses his boat happily every weekend. If not, we'll see him back in a couple of years, talking about buying a bike after the second happiest day of his boat-owning life.

It's possible. If he doesn't hurt himself. Everyone agrees the kid has supernatural talent. What was that race last year where he had to start from the back of the grid and passed 11 riders in the first two corners? Sacrilege alert: I don't think Rossi will win a race this year. OK, maybe one. Pedrosa sucks? Pedrosa was the fastest man in MotoGP for the second half of last season. Definitely. As much as I'd also like to see Nicky win again, I'm not crazy enough to believe it possible. It's a shame, because he's been such a loyal soldier for Ducati, too. Just one more rider who saw his career ended by Ducati's MotoGP bike. I've lost count of how many.

Spy photos reveal Homeland Security's motorcycle-mounted zombie outbreak response unit. As also seen here, so you know it must be true.

I believed you when you said you kept up with the sports cars in your SUV, but a Holiday Inn near a Waffle House? No way. Now you're making s*** up.

Now that's impressive.

Here's a couple of articles I've written about the area that might give you some ideas: In Accelerate magazine and in Rider magazine. They cover some of the same areas, so they're a bit repetitive.

Good information. In this case the detour sounds like a lot more fun than the original route, anyway.

I certainly don't know him, but I met him when I took his class. I liked the guy a lot, the little I was around him. When I said "I'm not a huge fan," I meant just that: I have a level of respect for all pro racers, and especially anyone who has reached world champion level, but it's not like he's my all-time favorite. But again, it's irrelevant whether I like him or not personally, whether he won one world championship or seven, whether he is or isn't better than someone else. And Brian, I wouldn't worry too much if I were you. My "BS blog" probably has a lot less influence than you do. You're now in company with the president of the AMA, who also declared me an enemy of the sport because I disagreed with him.

For those reading what others think I said, a couple of clarifications: I did NOT tell anyone else they should boycott the MotoGP at COTA or MotoGP anywhere. Realistically, I will attend one MotoGP race this year. Due to what has happened at COTA, I'll just go to Indy instead of Texas, as I originally considered. I'll attend the exact same number of races as any other year. I didn't tell anyone else what to do, just stated what I was doing. If that's not supporting the sport, then I'm guilty. I don't think I have to attend every motorcycle race in the country to support the sport. As for those saying we don't know the full story, I agree -- in reference to the lawsuit. Again, I was talking not about the lawsuit but about kicking Schwantz out of the track.

@Cephas: I see your point. Believe it or not, I'm not a huge Schwantz fan. That's not my motivation. Whether he was better than Rainey or how many titles he won is irrelevant. As someone who has worked a little in public relations, I would tell any company that you gain nothing by treating a popular public figure poorly. Maybe you get 30 seconds of personal satisfaction by throwing him out. But you would look like the bigger man if you kept the business dispute in court and treated him courteously, like any other team associate at the test. @Brian: You say it's a business decision, like Apple vs. Samsung. I'll agree, insofar as the lawsuit. But not letting Schwantz into the track for a test wasn't a business decision. If it was, it was a stupid one, because it brought negative PR. His presence in no way hurts the track. He can't steal any information from them or hurt them at all. Having him kicked out by security is just pettiness. I have no illusions that I have any kind of effect over ticket sales and TV viewership of the race. If COTA ends up backing out of MotoGP in the future, it will be because they've alienated so many fans for so many other reasons, such as their ticket and parking prices, restrictive policies, etc. And I long ago gave up on this idea that we have to support everyone in the motorcycle industry no matter what they do. If a company makes a crap bike, do I have to buy one to support a fragile industry? If a track puts on a lousy race, do I have to attend to support the industry? No, I'll just buy a better bike or attend a different race. And no, I certainly wouldn't attack any other company associated with COTA. They are not guilty by association. That would be foolish and petty. Kind of like kicking a former world champ out of your race track.

Although I initially loved the idea of seeing a MotoGP race on a real road course, I won't be sending any ticket money to the Circuit of the Americas. The reason is very simple: If Kevin Schwantz isn't good enough to be allowed on the hallowed grounds of your racetrack, then it's obvious I'm not either. That bad COTA aftertaste P.S. -- Some of you have had positive words for my blog. I just want to mention that one way you can see when I've posted something new is to give my Facebook page a like, if you're a Facebook user. And for those of you who aren't interested, please feel free to ignore me. I'm generally pretty easy to ignore.

Of course the real fanatics who ride the Lake Erie Loop every year think my 650 is a huge, overweight, bloated pig of a motorcycle. That was my one and only 600-mile day on a GN125.

It really does boil down to what kind of riding you do. If I did huge miles two-up, then I'd definitely choose a larger and roomier sport-tourer, but I also know I'd regret it all the time I wasn't doing huge miles two-up. It's like McCaa says in the article. Sure the guys on Gold Wings and the like have an advantage when the next leg of the rally calls for 350 miles of non-stop interstate. But when the next location is at the top of Pikes Peak or down some barely paved country lane, he regains the advantage with the lighter Versys. Others have made valid points about the cost-cutting on smaller bikes, but the Versys is a good compromise there. The suspension is not bad at all, definitely better than any style-conscious cruiser I've ridden, and the lower weight means the suspension doesn't have to be as good. It's also surprisingly good for two-up riding, though it would be cramped on long rides. But my wife's idea of fun is a day trip of 50-100 miles with lunch in the middle, and the Versys handles that very well. I've never felt like I was "suffering" on the Versys, and I've done 700-mile days. Now I have felt like I was suffering on a 400-mile day on the Daytona.

I don't see this attitude much on this forum (which is why I hang around, I guess), but we've all seen the attitude that you can't do big miles unless you're on a big bike, that anything under a liter is not fit for touring, etc. Call me perverse, but I love bursting stereotypes. So I really enjoyed writing about Steve McCaa in the latest issue of Accelerate. He qualified for the 2013 Iron Butt Rally on his 2008 Versys. And nobody is putting him in the "Hopeless Class," either. Lots of people only ride about 30 days a year, but how many of them put 14,000 miles on the odometer in those 30 days? That got me thinking about why I prefer smaller bikes, so I wrote a companion piece on my blog about how I'll probably never buy a bigger bike than the ones I have now. Just offering both up for reading, if anyone's interested.

Why no supermotos? There are two basic kinds of riders in our part of the world. The fanatical ones like me and you who hang out here. The masses of casual, fair-weather riders who ride only occasionally, often as a social activity. I don't think supermotos hit the right buttons for either one. Let me explain. Group one (us): I would love to have a supermoto, but any time I've been in a position to get one, I couldn't come up with any way it made sense for me. The 250s are fine for around town, but I don't really ride around town enough to make adding a bike for just that purpose worthwhile. Converting an MX bike is expensive and maintenance intensive. The KTMs and such are a hoot but expensive and I still don't want to travel on one. (I know a guy who had the original KTM Duke. Fun, but it vibrated so much it literally ripped the license plate almost in two.) So the supermoto is purely a recreational bike, and my sportbike does that very well, too. Suddenly, I can't find a reason to add a supermoto. Group two (them): If you're a fair-weather social rider and your friends all ride cruisers, they'll laugh at you if you show up on a "dirt bike." If your friends ride sportbikes, they'll laugh at you if you show up on a "dirt bike." And since you don't ride that much, you don't have the skills to ride circles around them and teach them some respect. Thus, no supermotos. Nobody buys them in this country.

Thank goodness! Before I clicked on this thread I thought you might be talking about chaps. But seriously, my levels are a lot higher. $50,000 sounds like a lot of money until one time you run a red light and a guy in a $100,000 Mercedes swerves into a bus full of kindergarten kids to avoid you, totalling the car and putting four people in the hospital. Suddenly your insurance isn't enough to cover the gauze and sutures in the surgery. Sadly, I can confirm that a Daytona 675 is not a cheap bike to insure.

>> SOLD << I'm selling this for a friend who traded in his Harley and relocated. It is a brand new Dunlop D402F front tire, size MT90B16. This tire is new, never been mounted and still has the sticker on it. I don't think you can find one for $100, even at the discount places, but he's willing to let it go for $50 firm, since he can no longer use it. Located at my house in Bexley, in the Columbus area. Cash and carry strongly preferred. I don't know how much it would cost to ship it. It may also fit your metric cruiser, if you don't mind having a Harley-Davidson branded tire, as seen in the photo below. I know there aren't a lot of Harley riders around here, but I wanted to give OR first shot before I go to Craigslist. PM me here or contact me through my website in my signature below.

Thanks!

In addition to the above, check discountmototires.com, motorcyclesuperstore.com and compacc.com for prices.

Well I'm glad y'all approve because there were times when I was droning along the interstate that I felt far less than "awesome" or "excellent." It was more like: Why am I spending two entire days on interstates just for two days of 65 and 70-degree weather? Almost the entire ride home was 48 degrees. It was 48 degrees in my cousin's driveway at 6:45 a.m. in Georgia and it was 48 degrees in my parents' driveway at 4 p.m. in West Virginia. I got further north at the same rate that the day warmed up. It was a little colder yet when I got to Columbus. Oh well, we do what we do and figure out the justifications later, right?

It’s testimony to just how bad my cabin fever gets by the end of February that I just finished a 1,480-mile weekend trip, 90% of it on interstates. The kind of trip only February could push me to contemplate, even appreciate. Read about it here.

That would be a killer bike for the Lake Erie Loop race, I mean charity ride. Bump and GLWS.

I've definitely seen plenty of supermotos at Mid-Ohio track days, but it's not the optimal track for that kind of bike. Still fun, though.