Bellboy1

This is bad because.......??? They can chat all they want still doesn't mean I'm getting a HD!

While traveling around the Los Angeles area last year a buddy and I were looking for the Pamona drag strip. We got lost and stopped in the Pamona Harley Davidson store to get directions. Nice young California blonde girl is all too willing to help us. She goes and prints off a map and comes back to show us how to get there from the store and leans over the counter to show us the map giving us a good view of, well of a lot more than that map! Suddenly my buddy says I’m going to look at a Sportster over there and walks away totally red faced. I’m an old married guy, so I just kept going! Anyhow after we walked out of the store I asked why he walked away. He said something about not going home with a red hand print on his face since he couldn’t stop himself from staring!

Sorry I call BS on this one. Been to both Myrtle Beach and Daytona during bike weeks (long before I even had a bike!) and there were plenty of hot girls on Harleys. Now to be fair, the percentage of hot girls per cool bike WAS in favor of the sport bike crowd, but I don't think you can go as far as generalizing all of them!

Valid points on the Ducati, but its like comparing hot rods to sports cars. Each group likes their stuff for their own reasons and neither opinion is wrong, they are just different. I autocross and see Corvettes around town all the time. Great sports car, goes fast, handles well, but do you know how many people actually USE them to go fast and have ANY idea of the actual handling of the car? I can tell you its not many maybe 5-6 in the whole city of Columbus. Most guys just cruise around and polish them as a status symbol or at most do a quick blast on the freeway or stop light to stop light. A duc is the equivalent. Probably 1% of the owners actually have an appreciation of what they have. The rest just want to look good cruising around on them. The guys I respect and listen to are the ones out riding their bikes through the twisties, or up at the track and using them for what they were designed for. Harleys on the other hand harken to the Hot rod crowd. Look cool, hang out with fun social groups at shows, go for group rides but not at speeds high enough to scratch the paint if a rock gets kicked up. (Sorry I'm not trying to be derogetory here, but its similar to the cruise ins that you do in hot rods. Speed is not the thing) Nothing wrong with that, its just how different people enjoy different aspects of this 2 wheel obsession. It just kills me how groups try to justify their positons and convince other people to join their view. I guess its just human nature. Politics, religion, cars, sports, motorcycles, everyone thinks their's is the greatest and want other to share that enthusiasm even if they have to cram it down your throat!

Primary bike is 2008, but I also have an old 82 Virago I'm working on.

+1 Lots of places have stop and go gridlock which would cause me to go berserk if I had to deal with it everyday. The traffic around Chicago, and any east coast city are good examples. However, I have found that for the most part people there are agressive, but predictable. You just can't do much if you can't move more than 5mph. Around here its the poor driving decisions usually at higher speeds that get me pissed off.

I've seen horrendous driving all over, but many points here are valid. I do not like Chicago congestion, but at least the few times I've driven up there people do not rubberneck like they do here. In fact I came to the conclusion that if there was no blood, they don't even lift off the acclerator. I wish it were that way here. A flat tire on the side of the road can increase my commute by 20 minutes as everyone slows down to look. Not sure I follow the left lane thing unless you are going slow in that lane. I do not understand why people do that at all. I do often ride there in any vehicle, but its usually at 5-7mph more than the surrounding traffic, I constantly watch my mirros for cars coming up behind me and will move over to the right if that happens, and I typically use it to position myself between "packs" of cars. My other pet peave is that people totally DO NOT understand how to use both the on and off ramps around Ohio. I can't tell you how many times I've had to slam on brakes because of people slowing on the on ramp because they were too stupid to look in their mirrors and adjust speed to just blend into traffic. Likewise, I have seen people cut across two lanes of traffic and race to an exit only to slam on the brakes when they realize they can't make the curve. WTF?

Well,I'm a little late on this, but I went riding with my dad in the morning since it was his road going scooter that got me back on two wheels again. Afternoon was coaching my twin's baseball team and then off to the movies with all three boys in the evening. The kids mean everything to me and I try to let them experience life as much as possible. If I could figure out how to get all three of them on the bike going through twisties I'd do it in a minute. Hopefully when they get older it will pay off with that baseball game/strip club experience.

I was born in Holland while Dad was in the Air Force. Made getting a security clearance interesting. It was hard to prove I was NOT a citizen of the Netherlands. I still can’t believe I am riding a motorcycle. I loved dirt bikes as a kid but witnessed a pretty bad wreck between friends when I was about 12. I didn’t start riding again until I was 40 and am loving it. I have worked in and around the hobby industry since I was 15. Planes,cars, models, trains, rockets, helicopters, I’ve done ‘em all since I was about 5. Give me some plastic and balsa wood and I can build damn near anything. I am a huge military history buff. During high school I used to volunteer to give tours through the Air Force Museum and work at the Dayton Air show. My wife still gets pissed when I correct people when we are at national museums. Got in a huge fight with a college professor in engineering. I had been doing well in my coop experience and pointed out that the professor was using outdated methodologies compared to the real world. I ended up walking out of school that day and never going back. My biggest regret. Been happily married 18 years this Saturday. I have three red head boys. Since neither my wife or I have red hair(its on both sides of the family) I often joke that they are not mine, but it is obvious to any who meet them that they are DEFINITELY mine as they are all mini me’s aside from the hair. I love racing in any of its forms and have been racing in SCCA autocross on a 125 shifter kart for the last 7 years even being in charge of that for several years. Prior to that I was a corner worker at Mid Ohio. I love to coach kids. I had several good coaches growing up and I hope that I can pass that experience along to the next generation. Mostly baseball and football, but also coaching the karters. I have NO respect for people who are ONLY fans or just read stuff on the internet and talk like they know what they are talking about and try to talk down to me about those topics. These are people who have never flown in a plane, ridden a motorcycle, raced a car or any number of things that I have actually DONE. Seize the day and go out and do it before you talk to me. Then maybe I’ll respect your opinion.

Sound advice. Even in a kart I like the smaller tighter courses. I'll probably look at Ledges or Gingerman for a trackday. I've been to Ledges to crew with SCCA but have never been to Gingerman.

Good info on the different series so I can start looking at them. Having someone to follow will definately help keep me in check. I know it will be hard for me not to flip that switch from "under control" to "push it hard" if I'm out there by myself. I just have to remind myself I can't just spin out in a motorcycle like I do with a racecar. Good info on STT BamBam. That helps guide me to the right sites to look at. I know I really liked my MSF instructor and he was also an STT instructor, so he pointed me in that direction.

My leather jacket is designed for pants to zip to it. I guess I'll start looking around to see what I can find.

Based on many threads I have seen, I believe the next step in my rider eduction is to figure out how to do a track school or track day. Redkow had done a great descrption of what you need to bring on the ex-500 forum, but I have a couple concerns before I sign up. I worked as a corner marshall for many MO events years ago. I do know what can and does occur at a track even under the best of conditions, so: 1. For a track school, do I need a full set of leathers? My most lacking piece of safety gear is good leather pants. I usually use a pair of textile based pants for my daily riding. Rent or buy I guess is the question. 2. Realistically, what are the chances of laying down a bike during a track day or track school? I'm not afraid to go down,I just don't want to mess up my bike. I've really been thinking about trying to find a cheap bike just for track use because I know I tend to get a bit agressive in that type of environment. Is it worth that, or just man up and use my daily ride? 3. Are there any organizations that you recommend? STT is what my MSF instructor ran with. KTM has their rent and ride program at MO sometimes. What other options are out there? Are some organizations geared more to track time while others do more coaching?

I think it is like anything. The basic course teaches you just that, the basics. The advanced probably falls between the basic and a track school. The track school teaches you riding techniques at higher speeds, but skips the basics. Its all about having the right expectation for the experince. What is nice about motorcycles is that there is a structured building block approach to it where you can advance your skills one step at a time with skilled instruction if you want.

I'm not sure I agree. Before riding the street bike, I'd ridden dirt bikes several times over the years. The theory of operation was easy in the transition. The differences in riding style are where the class pays off. On a dirt bike you use a lot of body english, often leaning away from the bike in certain traction situations. That's not what you want to do on the street where traction(usually) is plentiful and you want to lean with the bike. Maybe I was lucky since my instructor also does a lot of STT events and worked on my form throughout the day to break dirt bike habits. At the end of the class, I realized that we had only done the tip of the iceburg. There is only so much they can do in 8 hours of riding within the boundaries of a parking lot, so a trackday still seems like the way to go for the issues this post is about, I'm just saying that for $25 the msf does have value. Also I think a lot of the value of the class is in the classroom. Most people blow that part off, but it forces you to re examine the situations and hazards that exist on the road that don't on a trail or even in a car. For most of the people in the class, it has been years since they took any type of driver education and this class is a good refresher. There's more to riding safely on the street than just working the clutch and shifting. The msf helps new riders shift their mode of thinking as they ride as well. This is especially important if the rider is new to motorcycles and does not know any experienced riders to learn from.

+1 Once the temps went over 80 this seemed to become the standard safety gear set up. Their choice, but I'll stick with my leather jacket and at least riding jeans. I've also seen a lot of cruiser guys wearing the high vis yellow t-shirts lately. You can definately see them from far away, but I'm not convinced that's a good safety trade off.

Last weekend as I was getting gas I had a similar thing. Older guy comes up and asks what year the bike is, what size etc. Tells me biking is dangerous, people really shouldn't be riding bikes because its too dangerous with the other cars on the road and if you can survive your first year you are doing all right. (Wow do I really look that new that someone can tell it's my first year when I'm standing at the gas pump or did I read too much into it?) Anyhow after the lecture, he says," Well have fun today and maybe I'll see you on the road because I'm going home to get my VTX 1800 out to ride.":wtf:

Twice from non rider friends. " Can I take it for a ride?" " Uhhhh, no"

OK, I'm stealing this topic from another forum, but it lead to some great posts. Since I began riding, I have had a lot of people talk to me at gas stations, from their car windows, at restaurants, etc. I found this unusual since no one ever talks to me when I'm in the truck. Mostly they ask,"How fast does it go?, What size is it?, Do you really save gas by riding it? How bad is it to ride in traffic?" However, sometimes you get some wierd questions or conversations. For example: Friend goes in to an automotive store to replace the burned out turn signal light on his Ninja 500. With the help of the clerk they find the appropriate bulb and then he shops around the store. He remembers he needs a recharge can for his car's A/C. He carries both items to the counter. Clerk with confused look" So that bike has Air Conditioning?" Friend "Uhhhh yeah and it blows real good too"

When Montoya went to F1, the first year at Indy was crazy. My friends and I sat just inside the gates for a while watching all the people come in for the event and we were astounded at the number of Columbian attendies supporting Montoya. Then we saw what they were doing. A group would come in with general admission pass they would enter the gate, walk down along the fence line and pass their tickets through to the next group waiting outside and then they would come in through the gate. Lather rinse repeat. We counted over 30 people that came through that gate on 1 set of 5 tickets while we watched. I am sure others were doing the same thing, but we had to laugh at that.

I have to admit their troopers are pretty good at those events knowing what they have to put up with. A few years ago they came around the campfire when we were having some fun with fireworks and were clearly enjoying some adult beverages. "Uhhhh no officer we had no idea setting these off in Indy is illegal!":rolleyes: After confiscating our grocery bag full of fireworks they told us to be safe and walked off. We simply went and got the second bag out of the trunk!

I think it was Brock Yates who wanted an advanced driver system put in place several years ago. If you do the advanced courses, you get special plates that allowed you to go like 10-20mph over the posted limits. If you have the proper training and car control skills, he thought this could work in a similar way to the autobon. People who do not take the training must travel at the posted limits. I have a book about how he started the Cannon ball runs back in the 70's to prove the point. It had more details on the idea.

I kind of like the onboard ID with no plates idea. The on star system is damn close and is already used to track down stolen vehicles. It seems like it wouldn't take much to transmit and read an ID through the taillights similar to the way they do diagnostics through your dash lights. On board black box technology is where it could record and transmit blocks of information. With fly by wire cars, I could see a future where the car actually has a software governor that restricts the speed to a transmitted signal from the speed limit transmitter. At this point I have punched holes in the front of all of my cars, so no real opinion on front plates or not. For me I prefer not but only because I think it improves the looks on several cars.

As far as F-Up of the weekend I think that looks like a "win"? Owww. Hope that gets better for you quick.