DerekClouser

as weird as it sounds but stock tires are worse/cheaper than aftermarket ones. I've heard a million complaints of the BT023 as a stock tire but people loved it as an aftermarket. I think they make the stock tires with cheaper material to keep costs down. I'm not sure it's the best marketing, but what do I know. Just my .02 I've also never rode the Rosso II, but with tire technology now a days, I'm sure it's more than a capable tire for how we ride.

Go with the Rosso II's from RD. They are on special for 199 shipped... you can't really beat that price. S20's are great, Angel GTs are great, T30s are great, they are all great. I don't see you doing a ton of wet riding (or spirited wet riding at that) on the sport bike so I wouldn't worry about that too much. I've ran a T30 rear and a S20 front and enjoyed that combo. Now I'm running S20 Front/Rear but I'm losing a lot of life in the rear. These straight roads aren't helping... neither are the burnouts.

This is not good to hear... This just reminds me so much of my brother it's kind of sickening. When my brother crashed, the initial report I got was that he was seriously hurt and wasn't likely to make it. Then I get to the hospital and all the things the doctors told me were positive things from the initial report so I kind of got my hopes up... Then they stabilized him and took him to surgery, even more positives and more hopes... Then the doctors came and told me he didn't make it. Almost exactly 5 years to this date 7-12-12 I just hope it's not the same thing... It's the worst when bad things happen to such great people. John, we are still all rooting for you. Don't give up, keep fighting! You can do this!

Thank you for the update. Glad to hear of significant movement. Yes, his family is a representation of himself. All really good people.

Update: Spoke with John's daughter again this morning. They are delaying the meeting with the brain doctor for another day or two to give him some more rest. He's still fighting the infection. His daughter said "we are still praying his brain wakes up". Keep fighting John.

It's times like this that I hate that I live 2 hours from home. We are all rooting for you John. It's just like the 50 mile bicycle rides that you do. It might suck now, but you'll get through it. One thing for sure, tomorrow marks 5 years from when my twin passed. You definitely can't let that happen!

Update: @whaler was able to get to the hospital this morning and meet with John's family and John. They put John into a hypothermia state over the last 24 hours trying to preserve any brain functioning that he may still have. Last night as of 9pm they stopped the hypothermia. This morning at 9am they are starting to warm him back up over the next 24 hours. They had him sedated and pulled him out of sedation this morning. He was responsive to the touch on his body. He's still on a ventilator but the prognosis is much more positive today than yesterday. Heart functionality is still at 100% which is fantastic. Brain functionality still needs to be assessed (scheduled for Wednesday as long as things continue the way they are). Brian believes he is aware of his surroundings. He seems to respond to sounds, touches, and other things in the room. John definitely has a ton of support there with him from his family and friends, which we knew because of the type of guy he is. John is definitely a fighter. KEEP FIGHTING JOHN! WE ARE ALL HERE SUPPORTING YOU!

Please update me when you can. I talked to his daughter last night and asked for her to keep me in the loop. I sent her a text this morning for an update, but haven't heard anything.

PM'd

Just remember, you are one of them now...

From what I was told, Hells Angels beat up someone so the cops showed up. Nice seeing you as well. 80 miles of highway eachway was well worth it

Okay, well if you show up, post up and I'll look for ya. I'll be there around 7pm

Going to be heading up to QSL in Sheffield to meet with some buddies from Akron. Figured if anyone else wanted to come out and grab a bite is more than welcome. I'll probably be there from about 7-9 before heading back to the flat lands of Toledo. Yes, I know, it's a bike night full of pirates and drinking. Yes, it's not twisties at Mach Retard Pace. If it's not for you, just move along. If you'd like to join for some food, let me know. Looking at their website it says 'CIA Band' will be playing. No idea what type of music that is. Just using this as a meetup place to meet some guys that I haven't seen since moving to Toledo for work and a reason to get out on the bike!

In my opinion if you ran Mobile 1 you would have avoided this all together because it's the best oil.

@Casper I'm upset you found this from Pat and not me !!! OMG I'M DELETING MY ACCOUN Wait.... are you following Pat on IG and not me?? OMG IM DELETING MY ACCOUNT.

@RidersDiscount I'm hosting a motovlogger meetup in Hocking Hills. I reached out to Iron Pony for a sponsorship and they graciously have come to the table and donated T-shirts to every attendee, a few gift cards to giveaway and other 'industry swag'. Larger motovloggers such as 650ib (115k subs) and BeRad (350k) are likely going to be in attendance which could be great advertising for a small donation. Would you guys want to throw in a few items? I can't promise how big it is going to be, but it seems to be taking off. I had to move it to the parking lot that the Epic Ride was held at in Hocking to accommodate the much larger anticipated crowd. This isn't necessarily about the ride, although the roads I picked are decent, it will be much of a parade, (Which was why I didn't post it here.) It's more about networking the motorcycle vlogging community and their 'fans'. You can PM with discussion if you prefer not to publicize your answer RD. More details are on the Facebook event page. Everyone from here is welcome to come and get a free IP t-shirt and a couple shots at a free IP giftcard and other swag. FYI, here's the updated flyer. I plan to make a weekend trip and stay down there over night and ride a really nice route on Sunday to get the twisty fix in.

After they cool off, does it give it a greasy feel when you ride on em again heated up?

Any route that involves 78, 26, 260 and 800 is a good route in my books

IMHO, I'd rather ride on used tires than shinkos.

What Kevin said is good advice. If you don't have chain cleaner, kerosene or wd-40 are great alternatives for cleaning your chain. Won't damage the o-rings and gets it nice and shiny. Wait for the cleaner to dry and apply a nice chain lube/wax. Check tension (follow your manual) and let the lube/wax setup. Every 600 or so miles is good rule of thumb unless you ride in rain or really sloppy conditions and then do it afterwards every time.

I hate you.

Tonik blows. That is all.

Nah bro, you just thirsty. We get it.

Here's my .02. I love riding with the smooth guys... I won't say fast, because they don't look fast, they just look incredibly smooth. The bike is on rails. Then they just fade off into the distance ahead of you. I enjoy the tow from the fast guys because I like to watch how effortless they make it look, but I only like following predictable guys. Even if you aren't fast, if I know your tendencies, I enjoy following. If you are sporadic and unpredictable, it really can hurt others' focus and generally means you are riding over your head. A rule of thumb is a lot of the times if a group really wants to ride hard, they likely won't let guys that can't be vouched for into the group. I know in past Epic Ride years guys have tried to jump into the fast group only to be told no because of the pace they were going to be running. In the past, the group didn't do this, and newer guys paid the price. If you join any of these rides that people put up for everyone, they will wait for everyone at route changes. No-one will mind waiting 5 minutes for people to ride their own rides, rather than waiting hours for ambulances and tow trucks cause you crashed riding over your head. Edit for typos.

Well since you went and test rode a slingshot, I'm guessing it's that.