XB12Ss

I put in what the manual tells me to put in.... Nothing more, nothing less.

I could... Unfortunately I have prior obligations...

Assured clear distance... Ripping through the twisties with 10-15 bike lengths at least... No passing in the corners... So I am not welcome on my Sportster engined sportbike?

There so many useless government offices and services out there... Feel good legislation that does nothing but waste money. And yes, cutting taxes does work... every time.

The people paying attention are already more likely to vote... encouraging everyone else to vote just plays the, "who had the more convincing commercials" game... It was and WMD's were a legitimate concern. Our intel was bad... as was other countries who agreed... The inspections were a total joke... "come back in three weeks ok?" Did the Bush admin suffer from groupthink and jump the gun?... most definitely... You cannot discount the fact the entire world had the concern. Encouraging people to get educated about politics? Yeah right... Good luck with that... Either you have interest, or you don't. As cynical as it is, I think Americans are so self-absorbed that it cannot be done... He lobbed a whole lot of bombs on a few very poor countries killing many, many people too. Sometimes... many times not.

Ok, so piss poor weekend choice by yours truely.

You are absolutely right. Your ideal ride, is not mine. Understand though that the 'getting to know you' portion of the ride will not be excessively fast, especially in the turns. A leisurely cruise until everyone feels comfortable with the roads and eachother... Then it's about riding within everyone's expecations and your limits. Not being a dick at all... again, your ride is not mine... If someone wanted to organize a cruise... I might go... I would be sure to ride within expecations for the ride.

I am not a believer in encouraging everyone to vote. If you don't know what the fuck is going on, stay home.

I agree, but the problem is... at least with most people who I have voted for is that they waiver and faulter after they get my vote. Sometimes it's easy to predict, other times I get pissed off cause these douchebags aren't living up to expectations. Hindsight is 20/20. It's not about having any of these guys elected... it's about waking up the current parties into recognizing that neither of them have any true grasp on what mainstream America wants... The worst part is.... they don't care. They are concerned with the special interest and the far out factions of their particular party... The truth is, mainstream America is aligned somewhere in the center... Only people who are truely paying attention are making sound voting decisions and it seems like everyone else is voting for a party, not a candidate. During the last presidential election, with the many many heated discussions floating around in various social circles... Do you remember some of what people were saying? Why they were voting for one candidate over the other? How little information they truely had? I do. It was disgusting. Girlfriends voting with their boyfriends because they are in love, countless people voting against a candidate, endless others buying some lame crap their friends drunkenly talk about and basing their vote off of that... My point is, if you are uneducated about the issues/candidates, don't be a dumbass... you can make a difference. Voting independant gives the other two parties pause and concern. Maybe... JUST MAYBE... they will take a hard look at things and recognize that things could be different. I know, idealistic and a long shot, but still... It's better than the current trend as far as I can see. $0.02

I have taken 1,000's of call offs... It's easy to do... j/k As a manager, I have to say... don't call off. A new thread has been started.

With the ride last week and the subsequent talk surrounding it... Fuck it boys, let's do it again. I have obligations sometime after 5pm and would like to put down some significant mileage (300 or so), so I'd like an earlier start time... perhaps meet at 9:30ish and leave by 10am? If that doesn't dissuade anyone, I'd also like to set some clear expectations that I have for all rides: 1) Cruising speed will be a comfortable sub-80mph speed. Generally 65-75ish. Triple digits totally unnecessary and honestly, very much discouraged. 2) Whoever leads should be among the most skilled and familiar with the roads. Discussions on who this would be must be mature and ego-free. I'd vote EagledriverDRZ if he is willing and available. 3) Signals, hand and otherwise, should be discussed and agreed upon before we go. 4) Leaders and followers should be designated as best as possible before the ride begins, preferably with a focus on skill level. Throughout the ride it may become evident that the order is not as effective as it could be, and passes may be made. 5) Assured clear distance should be observed and recognized. Staggered formation. 6) Speed encouraged where it is an actual challenge... In the turns. Scrub those chicken strips boys! 7) Ride your own ride. I repeat... RIDE YOUR OWN RIDE. Once roads become familiar (like if we repeat the route back or repeat the ride another day/weekend)... Rip them twisties as best you can... DO NOT worry about keeping up. 8) Predetermined stopping/resting points, or at least preferences, should be discussed. Eating at KFC sucks (though I must admit, it tasted pretty damn good). 9) Ride your own ride. This one always bears repeating again, again, and again. 10) Most important... Ride Safe. Keep yourself safe AND KEEP EVERYONE ELSE SAFE TOO!!! Limit the shenanigans to an absolute minimum. If you are down... cool. If you are not... cool. Not everyone has the same expecations and/or ideals for what constitutes a fun ride. Some may want to run the ton... others may want to stunt... others may want to cruise... I want to improve my skills in the twisties... Eventually, I want to drag a knee. Those are my goals. To achieve those goals I practice and observe others... Group rides are good for both. Maybe I can learn from you, maybe you can learn from me. If you are like minded, let's do it... Anything anyone wants to add or comment on would surely be appreciated.

I have some cards from another forum that I always forget to hand out...

It's coolio yo... Note to everyone... When I say I'm gonna do something... I do it... (like continue the ride especially... :wink:) I agree 100%. I will add that parts of the group ride this past weekend made me uncomfortable due to lack of organization. I too felt kinda responsible for Bret... It's one thing to separate on roads that everyone is familiar with, but on 'new' roads everyone should stay together, at least for the first pass... These situations are exacerbated when you have such a diverse skill level... The only good roads in Ohio are down south... Well, there are a couple exceptions I guess (rt 60 was a pleasant surprise)... Gentleman... Do I smell another group ride? This Saturday? Perhaps better communication regarding expecations, riding styles, and skill level? If so, I am in. I came into the ride last weekend with many assumptions, mostly stemming from where I come from... like above... my expectations, my riding style, and my skill level.

Yeah I noticed that... I stayed in the back of the pack and kept watching my mirrors... I figured that if you didn't catch up by the time we hit the first turn off, I'd just wait for you... Next thing you know, you're right beside me. Dude's pretty fast... Probably much faster than I am... I was keeping up with him in the twisties, but I was pushing myself... I think he was on vacation... LOL...

I gotta get me one of those... Talk about competitive racing... PURE FORM...

Pfft!

That is one DAMN CLEAN old bike... I'd ride it...

My old roommate and I shared a first name... He was quite large so I immediately became Little Zach (I preferred Zach the Lesser)... ANYWAY... He got into sky diving... He was too big to do a tandem jump (strapped to an instructor) , so he had to do static line jumps (rip cord attached to the plane, jump and the cord is immediately pulled)... One weekend he came home... arm in a sling, bandages EVERYWHERE, and on crutches... "DUDE, WTF HAPPENED TO YOU?".... 'I hit a house.' WTF? Apparently he jumped out of the plane and instead of pulling out the chute immediately, the rip cord broke. He tried to pull it, but it was fucked. He attempted to stay calm and keep his form proper to avoid getting into a spin, and went for his reserve. No dice. So here you have a 300lb+ guy plummeting towards the ground accellerating at 32ft/sec/sec. Not good. FINALLY he got the reserve to work, but at about 1,500 feet... Not really enough to slow him down properly. He said as he was falling, he was moving too fast to steer correctly... then he noticed some power lines and a roof... It was one or the other... He chose the roof. In his own words, "everything under me was getting bigger... it was just that the roof and the power lines were getting bigger, MUCH FASTER than anything else." Crash landing onto the roof he blew out his knee immediately and slid down one section, onto another section on his arms and face. He slid off the other section on his legs and ass, then into a flower bed. From there he rolled into the gravel driveway that was recessed about 4 feet lower than the flower bed... ultimately re-injuring an old college football earned, torn rotator cuff. Somewhere along the way he also sprained his ankle. The people living in the house were an elderly couple. They thought someone had crashed their car into the house... that's how loud it was. They called 911 and came out to find my buddy wadded up in their driveway. After a few hours in the hospital getting scrubbed, wrapped, and x-rayed he was released. You should have seen him... Ankle wrapped, knee in a soft cast, arm in a sling (and trying to negotiate crutches), face, arms, and legs wrapped in gauze. He was a fucking MESS... One lucky SOB, but a mess none the less.

Down 1 tooth in the front and up 2 teeth in the rear is a pretty standard change for sprockets... I'd ask around for Kats though because I am not sure what the current gearing is... Either way it will significantly cut down on your top speed, but be a big kick in the pants getting there...

Truth. They think we are pussies... and for the most part, they are right.

I had them change a tire for me once... I think this guy should take them onto Judge Judy... She will lay the smacketh down on their rooty-poot candy asses... And this place, http://www.racersedge411.com/, pisses me off... The spam the shit out of Cycle Trader... "Here look at this bike we already sold that came up because we added 1,400 unrelated bike keywords into the ad... now check out our website for other shit we don't really have." Unfortunately Cycle Trader won't do shit about it as I have reported them about 100 times...

I'd put a full exhaust on there before I went too far... Slip-ons are for sound and provide small performance gains... Full exhaust, proper jetting, and airbox stuff will get you something noticeable fairly cheap... Airbox's are notoriously restrictive... Hackin' a hole in it will improve airflow, but I've seen various accounts of lackluster gains due to over/under-hacking... Probably making the mix too lean... I dunno though... I am no engine expert. Be patient... I PM'ed a guy on another forum who will probably be able to shed a lot of light on this... I'll let you know as soon as he responds. Hundreds of places... Iron Pony for one... www.kneedraggers.com and www.ronayers.com I'd assume... From what I have read, Renthal sprockets are real nice and Vortex sprockets are the anti-Christ... Check this out regarding Vortex sprockets.

After everybody left to go to their prior engagements for the evening and I got stuck not being let out of KFC's parking lot, then zigged when I should have zagged... I FINALLY met back up with EagledriverDRZ right at rt 60... We took that north from 541... railed some twisties and then got stuck behind about 15 Harleys... We made it to 62, headed west into Danville. From there... where the hell did we go from there? I dunno, don't remember... I was just trying to keep up and keep smooth... ended up in Newark, then parted ways... I continued on for another 150 or so miles solo...

I got a guy on another forum who is probably one of the smartest bike guys I've ever encountered... He happens to love Kats too... I'll see what he has to say...

I'd start with full exhaust/jetting, then consider cams, heads, possibly bore/stroke... Not for sure, but you may even be able to stuff a larger engine in that thing... One thing that you can do that is cheap and will offer noticeable performance gains is to swap gears... Changing the gear ratio is a quick, cheap, and very easy way to improve real-world performance. I mean, who needs to go 110mph+ on the street anyway? While you're at it, go from the 530 to 520 chain to free up some ponies as well... err... redirect them from the drivetrain, into the back tire. IMHO N20 is only good for drag racing... if you want consistent street performance, work that engine! And my disclaimer... $0.02... Kats are great bikes and get a bad rap from hardcore 1-upper tech guys... I have seen guys on Kats SMOKE dudes on the newest, fastest, bestest (yeah, I know) sportbikes... A good buddy of mine had one and we both rode the yarbles off it... Can't break the fuckers either...