Josh1234

Well you didn't really back that up with anything.... Examples: I'm a cop, and the lieutenant told me that the chief passed down from on high that it was time to crack down on this! Or, The Guv'ner put out a new initiative to increase revenue from registration & title violations, so this will be included! Stuff like that. Why will it be so seriously enforced now, as opposed to being lightly enforced previously?

Just a little ninja 500 to get back into the swing of things. I found a good deal and bought it cheap knowing I could probably sell it for what I put into it.

Aaaaaaand stop the clock. He just TXTed me that he'd do $2,500 if I let him keep the slip-on. I wish I'd made better notes about what non-fairing pieces were damaged.

If I were a cop, I wouldn't give a shit about historical plates. But if I caught you breaking the law, I'd listen to your explanation about "going to a show" and then write you the additional ticket, laugh in your face, and say "tell it to the judge." So it's good to have your story ready, but you'd better call some friends with bikes and snap a few pictures of them all together on your phone, so you can show them to the judge or the cop, and be like "look, it was a bike show."

I was thinking about this yesterday, as I passed a highly modded ninja 500 in the legacy village parking lot.... Have you ever thought about making business cards with the website info on them, and then passing them out at rides/meets, or mailing some to each paying member? Then we can leave them on strange bikes that we see, and it would raise awareness. Business cards are pretty cheap, although mailing them out to paying members to leave on strange bikes is a PITA (Could always include a sticker or two and 10 website advertisement/business cards and call it a "membership packet.")

Where's he been, lately? I've heard they're cheap... I should probably look into them, instead of "foremost," which is who my Farmer's insurance contracts out to.

I'll be paying cash for whatever I buy next

All I can really contribute to this is to make a playlist, haha. Getting drunk and killing time is better with customized music, from what I understand.

welcome aboard!

welcome aboard!

i'm surprised they approved it, too. With enough exposure, I bet it gets recalled

It doesn't. But I like to think up idea for posts and then post them when I'm at work. RedKow started the same topic like 2+ years ago, LOL 'Sides, it always annoys me when I see people covering their plate on craigslist. It's not like it's a secret.

Cool, cool, thank you.... Hey let me know if you want to overpay for a Ninja 500 for her, I've got one

Yeah, I just think it's silly that people cover it up for an ad, but then ride around all day with it in plain view.

return the TV, then re-buy it, mouhahaha.

I respect your opinion, and I tried to keep an open mind, which is why I asked you to explain. That said, here's my take on your explanation: I never had any problems with my clutch. It was my first one, so maybe I lacked experience with comparisons (I'd ridden several bikes, but it was the first I owned) but it worked just like every other clutch I've used since then. I'll grant you, though, that I did feel it had a pretty short engagement zone, but really, that's something that is just a matter of forming the correct muscle memory with your hand. A good skill for a new rider to learn. Vibration: Yeah, it's a thumper. Single-cylinder bikes do tend to vibrate a bit more... But it was never enough to bother me, and at anything other than idle, the bike smoothed right out. Blurry mirrors at a stoplight didn't bother me enough to say the bike is a POS. Besides, I sort of liked it, and felt that it gave the bike character. Brake feedback: Does a ninja 250 or another starter 500 (Ninja, gs500) have better feedback on brakes? I don't think so... I was quite happy with the brakes. It's not like it's a supersport. Goofy ass ape hangar bars that bend: They're less intimidating than clip-ons or drag bars. If you don't like them, that's just opinion, and doesn't really have any bearing on whether or not the bike is suitable for beginners. I didn't drop mine, so I can't really comment on the bars being bent, but I've NEVER heard of a blast with bent bars, and it's a safe bet that most of them have been dropped. Handling being poor: What kind of handing are you talking about? Trying to take it on the twisties or a race track? Leaning until you're scratching up your knee pucks? C'mon, for a starter bike, it doesn't have to do ANY of that crap. It has to handle decently and as-expected (as though a new rider would expect it to) and it does. Power is outgrown the day you get your license: This proves, more than anything else, how you view bikes & riders. That statement from you tells me that you think all riders will always want more power and never be happy with a 500cc. Sorry, but this just isn't the case. And for those that DO want more power, and who DO outgrow it... They can do what I did, and sell the bike for MORE than they paid for it after riding it for almost 2 years. There's nothing wrong with buying it for a starter bike, outgrowing it, and then selling it. Getting experience on more than one kind of bike was part of my plan. So there's no problem with outgrowing the power. That she moved on to an ex500 and F4I after that sort of just proves that you & she believe in the "more RPM, more horsepower" school of riding. Some people are quite content to cruise around at low RPM and enjoy torque more than having to rev the shit out of an engine. Which brings me to my next point: No, a 250 is not strictly better than a blast. This is the oldest argument on the internet on biker forums ever since the blast was released. It's been well-covered, but in ANY comparison of the two bikes, the 250 will have to have a great rider who likes to stay at the top-end of the tachometer. Is that what I wanted to worry about as a new rider? Not really. Some of it is different strokes for different folks, and some of it is you viewing the Blast through "sportbike rider" glasses. Some of it, I'm sure, is your informed and experienced opinion, but I think there's enough interpretation and opinion on your end to fail to convince me that it's an actual "disservice" to recommend one as a starter bike. I WILL concede that I don't think someone should buy it and plan to ride it for 5 years, but for learning it's fine. And you certainly COULD ride it for 5 years if you wanted to. Hell, I took it on ORDN rides and routinely on the highway and it served me well. That said, I'm gonna stop internet-arguing since I don't want to get you (more) pissed off at me, and it's not like I own one anymore

My bad, that was the 2nd gen redesign: Suzuki's Koji Yoshiura designed the look of the new Hayabusa. He had previously styled the first generation Hayabusa, as well as the Suzuki Bandit 400, RF600R, TL1000S and the SV650. For research, Yoshiura traveled around the United States to bike nights and clubs for a first hand look at the styling aesthetic of the Hayabusa custom scene, and was inspired as much by the look and build of the Hayabusa rider as their custom bikes. While the second generation is very close to the first in overall shape, and is largely dictated by wind tunnel tests, the raised lines and curves are meant to suggest a muscular build. Said Yoshiura, "I wanted to create a masculine form that complements a rider's muscular structure with hints of developed bicep, forearm and calves."

Didn't they design the Hayabusa to imitate men with muscles on top of muscles, knowing that's the crowd they'd be appealing to? Men who always want to have the biggest muscles, fastest mtorcycle, hottest chick, etc?

Let's hope no one's trying to talk to us... If someone else is out there... We'd be far better off if they didn't know about us. They'd come to kill us, not share knowledge in friendship

Can you explain?

People hate on Blasts so much. Why are they "buckets of shit?" Did you used to have one and it kept breaking down? Do you hang out on bad weather bikers just to hear breakdown stories? They're perfectly fine motorcycles... They just happen to be "only" 500ccs, and instead of shiny plastics, they have nice resilient surlyn coverings. I had one and the only issue I ever had with it was a dead voltage regulator/rectifier that probably came from pinching the wiring harness together where it shouldn't have been. Everything else was great... there's no choke to mess with, there's no chain to mess with, etc. Nice low seat (they made a higher and lower seat, stock) for shorter or beginning riders, etc. I loved mine for exactly what it was, and I hate hearing people rag on them

Okay that's for a car, not a bike... Then again, if you like riding that much to put a riding-related plate on your car, then more props to ya

So you block out the plate of your motorcycle when you sell it.... But then give out your name and address so people can come look at it? Or if you meet them publicly, then the plate will have to be on the bike anyway. The point is that the plate is already public information, so why hide it?

So do white/silver look the best? I'd like to order a few, along with a "watch out for motorcyclists" bumper sticker for my car.

Bump for a dead thread! I never got around to posting up the vanity plate for my '03 Ninja 500... See attached.