NinjaDoc

16 hours ago, FatWibur said:

@NinjaDoc

Not me... I was down south today on 83/78/550/26/800.  I have the Red/White/Blue paint scheme.  I do like the red though.  Almost all of the first batch to hit the US back in June where like mine.

very nice, 

how was the 2017 s1000R for you ? was it reliable and comfortable since more upright? How does it compare to these new RR

Good day of riding, nice to see all the folks before the season ended. That was prolly my last one for the season as I don’t see another opening till October. If it’s at least 50+ I will venture out below that just too much for my tropical blood. I was lucky the tires barely lasted till the return journey home  need new tires and oil changed and prolly back to the tender it goes or sell it hehe. 

@FatWibur  

was that you and your friend we ran across in Cadiz? Hard to believe there would be two new 2020 RR in that small radius of living of canal Fulton 

Nice, I am guessing this is the bike you did an exhaust for after a loooong time right? I gather you really like it   

2019 apparently comes with akra?

Nice, Is that hanger with rear peg? Unable to take rear peg off or I gonna go with custom hanger for it? 

2 minutes ago, Tpoppa said:

The motor is plenty capable.  It needs to be revved, but is happy at high rpms.  The spring rates are softer on the Z400.  Not sure if the gearing is the same or not.  I looked at them both.

The reviews on the Ninja 400 seem to be a bit better so that's what I went with.   While the looks are sport bike, the riding position is definitely sport tourer.

I am so used to upright position now, even on the tracer I put risers on top   that’s the way I am trying to cheat on my left hand cornering issue. Instead of unlearning and learning the right way. When ever I turn hard left handers I end up pressing on top of the left handle bar instead of pushing it. (If that makes any sense) when I raise the handlebars high I stopped doing it and pushes it 😂

9 minutes ago, Pauly said:

With bikes like the CBR500 and Ninja400... the appeal of a GROM is lost on me. 

Exactly, ninja400 is where you can draw a line I guess on how low vs practicality. 650 is a slight step up grom is a step down 

19 hours ago, Tpoppa said:

Full of fuel it weighs 361.  I can get it down to 345 with just a slipon and lithium battery & removing passenger pegs and tool kit.

I could probably get it close to 335 if I was willing to throw more $$ and time at it...spoiler alert:  I'm not  😄

I been eying the z version for some time when I migrated from the thought that grom will be impractical for us neo guy. But was not sure about the power plant and package etc. when you are giving such stellar review I am really tempted to give this a try 😆

good old days, wish i could working tonight tomorrow  tomorrow night blaaaaah 

ride safe , beautiful day not to be wasted 

Sorry for your loss,

ride away everything, still plenty of time left. Monsoon season  just ended anyways. 

I go sleepless nights to dig internet motorcycling galore to share these hidden gems with y’all. 

leave it to Japan to come up with wtf race ideas 

I always thought they had a balanced business, always saw customers lurking around. Sad to see the down trend. But I guess it is what it is. Motorcycling has its good days, manual cars had its glory times. Evolution and tech will inevitably overtake nostalgic romanticism. 

On a positive note Ktm oversells hardly bloatison bikes globally these days. 

If your buyer good times, And it’s a buyers market. Not just new used as well. Don’t go by the online estimates. Prices are rock bottom for motorcycles.  

Yes I wish more people would post rides once in a while. To keep the community inspired and glued together. I wish I had the same energy and enthusiasm as 10 yrs ago. But I drank the cool aid of just showing up and following and it’s sweet and less stressful sleep better ride better. ( I am happy @Tonik got a break last ride, I was encouraging him to just experience this seeing how much he was burning energy during gap trip hauling us all around. You earned & deserve this break)  

When you look at it, Right now there are only about 20ish active riders who are consistently riding here to actually form group rides with it. That’s it. Every year the number slowly dwindle down. Heck I even feel the whole motorcycling community numbers are down. These days I see less and less sports bike on the road when we go for a group ride. I am thinking less of the new gen folks are picking up riding as a hobby because of the inherent risks involved. Statistically dangerous than even sky diving. 

Nice, I am not much active in FB except for group activities like pick up soccer etc These days easiest way to organize I suppose.

I am no expert in FB but I think make a group instead of page to have members join and keep discussion private etc

I don’t think I have posted any rides in last couple of years. I discovered that helps me sleep better prior night heheh just wake up in morning look at clock and decide if I had enough sleep and if i have enough time to make it or not. Plus peel off early as soon as fatigue hits and not to worry about finishing ride etc. Not taking the responsibility has been a huge blessing. 

Before this i  consistently posted rides for many years, even when I was in Michigan would ride down here and form a group ride. Never realized how much it consumes your inner energy. But the good thing I would comfortably claim I have met and rode with most of the active OR riding members in person  over the years. 

And I Really really appreciate anyone who would post a ride and hats of to people who take the initiative. I hope more folks would do that. Which bring me to the point I am kind of in a grey zone. 

But been talking to lot of old members, and I am confused. Don’t know the right answer. Without posting rides will never get to meet new folks, newer riders. One of the many that might show will turn out to be a real good guy and perfect fit with us. I would have never met jerry if not for the very first dream ride. For that alone I considered taking the risk of posting rides and having squids or amateur riders who show up and pose a danger worth it. But the last time I bought along a “new guy” all the way from Michigan and he had a bad crash after which I kinda of changed camps. Now I lean more towards just keeping to you own circle and ride etc. 

But a part of me still thinks inviting new members to the forum and including new members  to ride is the only way to keep the community going. I still remember 10 yrs ago the OR group ride I could join helped me a ton to improve myself. @Uncle Punk babysitting me on my first good group ride. Jerry did the same for @TimTheAzn. I am pretty sure we all have tales of someone showing us the ropes. Less and less rides posted up. We can literally see the dwindling number of active new and old members in here. Heck I still pull over random riders who seems like they know what they are  doing and ask them to join forum and meet up for a ride. @Skinny guy was such a find, we would have never met unless took that leap of faith. Now One of my favorite rider to ride with and go stop for a fajita or a burrito. 

These days folks seem to communicate through group texts or pm and arrange rides. Stick to kind of small niche or their own style which makes perfect sense. Less reports of negative outcomes and mostly all positive. To be quite honest it’s very nice and perfect in a way that no headaches, full confidence in riders, easy to work with schedule and times etc. But this way we will never get to meet another new rider, and the new guy never gets to ride with a good group and learn/ improve etc 

That was a huge wall of text, and that too typed on phone 😡 Whats the right answer here? To post or Not to post open rides? 

1 hour ago, SpecialEd said:

Hey, Nivin--

The ethnicity of members on this site never concerned me, but I hope to ride with you sometime. My bike has been under construction for a few years, and is slated to be done, according to the mech, "this summer." It's a 1971 Honda Ct70 modified for street riding. It will have 70 mph capability, but the tank is limited to ~half a gallon, so I am somewhat limited vis-a-vis extended rides in the absence of gas stations.

Ed, for sure we will ride one of these days. 👍

But not to be a “prevaricator” I will confess the average OR rides will be hard with such a set up. Since the cruise speeds are above 70s and the gas stops at 150 miles apart. Or 100 miles apart if fz10 is involved.  

It’s nivin,   I guess only active brown guy here as of now.   

11 hours ago, TimTheAzn said:

If you're doing it just to keep the muscle memory/ keep your tool bag sharp for the unexpected, then I guess it's ok.

I really want to make it second nature and using it instinctual but for so many years been doing the policy of set entry speed without brake policy it’s a hard thing to learn. Old dog new tricks and stuff. But I believe it’s a very valuable tool to have and practice because it adds another layer of safety to this dangerous sport.

And since we initiate the whole process even before the actual corner entry it’s something we probably need to practice for every blind / new corner we ride into. Make a habit since most unexpected stuff happens mid corner or afterwards. Cant take it out of the bag of tools to implement afterwards. 

10 hours ago, TimTheAzn said:

I don't know if I'm getting old or what, but if you need to trail brake on the streets, you're riding too fast on the streets.

Is there even a question about that. Even our average “leisure” rides are too fast for the street   

1 hour ago, Tonik said:

It's not a Goldwing.

Yes that as well, another positive attribute I missed.  

Correct me if I am wrong, but about 10 yrs ago the “pace” was considered  the Bible for street riding. Seeing no unnecessary red light of brakes in group rides used to be considered good as in people are setting corner speed right and going smooth etc 

These days “trail braking+ following pace” is the best combo. Advise is to start using trail braking even in routine street rides and not only in track. Which makes a lot of sense. Smooth and gradient input on brakes and then modulating it to your advantage. 

I think problem with gold wing is the the initial bite felt very heavy ? as in almost more than 50% of the braking seems to come in as a big chunk with slightest input and then it slow and gradient. 

50 minutes ago, Killer_kaw said:

Been looking around here a bit. See you made that same mistake. How you liking it? Lots of folks on something different than last year. 

One of the best bang for buck balanced do it all motorcycle  I haven’t sold it yet and I prolly will buy it again if I quit and come back to motorcycling for the 5th time 😂 haha you made the right choice 

Welcome back, missed seeing you at the gas station  .

Just to be clear. Awfully bad choice of a bike  don’t understand why you would make a horrible choice. 

On 7/21/2019 at 10:56 PM, NinjaDoc said:

Great car. And Some Brave spectators standing close there. 

4 hours ago, serpentracer said:

 

I was trying a subtle stereotype sarcasm of mustangs and people on the side line like cars and coffee.