Moto-Brian

I think these websites do these things on purpose to attract new members. They do it in an effort to create a negative buzz, but they gain a bunch of new members in the process... It's like a train wreck - you don't want to look, but you do. They don't want to be members, but they feel compelled to sign up and give their piece of mind... Seems to be working.

Call me tomorrow. I got a guy...

You are better off renting a small SUV from AVIS or similar for the trip out and back. Abuse their stuff and allow them to take the punishment that trip is going to put on a vehicle. There isn't a need for trailer brakes and you saying it is worth it vs not to have them is wasting money that could be spent on a rental. That trailer is a pile of shit also. You are better off searching CL for a used double rail and getting a better quality trailer for less or equal value. HF is great for quick band aid stuff, but if you are traveling 30 plus hours one way, it ain't up to the task. If it does well enough, it isn't going to be worth squat after... I also suspect that on a 3 day drive, you are going to be packing heavy and with at least one other person. That essentially means that you are WELL beyond the GVWR which isn't doing the tray any favors. Positioning the weight correctly will help, but you are still hammering that car and that's where the issues will come in. If you don't value your vehicle or aren't planning on keeping it long after, go for it. Otherwise, the end result with the repairs you'll likely have to go and have done, you could take that money and invest in a proper trailer and a proper vehicle to tow it with...

I'll say it on here as opposed to again on your site. YOU NEED TO DITCH BUYING FROM A NORMAL DEALER. You need to get in with Parts Unlimited, Tucker, Western, etc and get TRUE dealer cost on products. Outside Lithium, none of them are solid vendors and they aren't getting any better deals than what you could. You are paying them to buy stuff and in this industry, margin is tight to begin with. Even Lithium isn't getting as good of deals as the top dealers out there. If in Ohio and you want a great dealer to buy from, go to Iron Pony and tell them what you are doing and buy from them. I can promise on tires and such, they buy better than ANY of the dealers you have currently and can get you probably the same % above dealer cost, but it will still be lower than the other guys because Iron Pony's dealer cost is lower on a lot of things... Don't let a dealer tell you they get the best deal at Parts, Tucker, etc. There are better deals than Platinum, etc... You need to get the best deal on the best things right off the bat in an effort to not be constantly trying to keep the lights on. I've said it once and will say it again - thin margins to get people in, to satisfy "buddies", to beat deals in the area, etc are a death sentence. You aren't going to satisfy everyone. One guy will want a certain tire brand, one will want another. You need to maintain the top three choices and leave it be. Special ordering will only go so far. If I come into a shop that I have to wait until you get it shipped to you before I buy and have to come back? I will go somewhere else... Shops in Cincy are not good at carrying accessories. Only Cycle Specialties is... That being said, they ALL carry a decent supply of chemicals, tires and hard parts. You NEED to be at MINIMAL, on that same level or you will have a tough time right off the bat. It will go like gang busters as you will be new, but the novelty will fade and the challenge will get tougher. DO NOT rely on friends. DO NOT ask on forums what to carry. YOU NEED TO SHOP OTHER SHOPS and take the best stuff and incorporate it into your shop. Used parts, fairings, etc are all things that sound good on paper, but will absorb money that can be better spent elsewhere. Used parts is a really bad idea anyways. Unless you are a salvage dealer and then you can sell used parts. Otherwise, going in to a business where you think carrying used parts to satisfy customers that have less money is fine. Right up until a customer that wants new parts comes in and sees all you carry is used stuff. Catering to a lower price point customer is OK. But, they will require lower price point on everything. Again... Margin. Get away from site sponsors as an outlet for stuff you can get. Get the cash to buy the minimum needed to be a Parts, Tucker and Western dealer. All three are the top distributors in the US for this industry and will battle each others prices to get you the best deal. The Tucker guy in your area is the shit and is a great guy and doesn't want to loose a dealer to Parts. Western is smaller and the rep force is pretty green, but they want to make a dent and would get you better prices when they can. Use them against each other and get the best margins to provide the best prices. If you are planning on price matching, you will loose right away. People that go to a dealer to price shop and then go online are typical now. However, if it is there and in front of them, the people that buy to save 15% total and have to wait 1-2 days vs now, are not customers you want anyways. YOU CANNOT discount everything. That being said, you have to watch what you sell and what prices you list or you will price yourself out of a category immediately. You will need loss leaders, you will need to make bigger buys to price sone lower priced items within the store, etc. But, mainline stuff that is current and what people want are usually price protected online and not an issue. But, the issue then becomes what dealer has them in stock vs what dealer has to order everything. Then, if you order from another dealer, the timeline gets stretched even more... That will not last long. WATCH the prices going direct also. Check with the Parts guy as to the price on Dunlops vs. if you are going to a vendor or similar. Dunlop may be able to sell through the race distributors, but understand that Dunlop itself wants to make money also and race tires are cheaper there vs. street tires. You can typically get a better price through Parts or the others on street tires vs. direct through a race distributor... Anyways, good luck. But, ditch the dealers you are working with. Only consider another dealer on OEM parts and OEM chemicals. Everything else? Why pay them when you can make an additional 10-25%? One final note... You better figure on not racing in 2011... My buddy did the shop thing and he was in that shop from open to close. Saturdays and Sundays especially... You are going to have to sacrifice a lot. Employees at this stage and for the start up you are suggesting is not going to support paying others to mind the shop. Sacrifices are needed and guess what goes first? I have always wanted to do a shop with the knowledge I have gained over the years doing this. However, the one thing I am not willing to sacrifice is my time with family and my hobby. Not yet at least...

If Paul cannot help you out - sure he definitely can - give poppa Reuben a shout. He knows people...

You cut their football program in half and the other sports will suffer greatly. OSU football is the number 1 money generating device OSU has. If you cut the coaching in half, nobody will coach for that little, the team will not perform and it will fail. Fail means the spectators will fall, the alumni will not donate as much and the overall program will fall. That happens and nobody goes to OSU for the sports anymore. The student count falls and less money comes in, school drops status and it goes from great to community... Not a good idea...

Yup... Rules are that as a college athlete, you cannot make any gains due to that fact. It's clearly stated and easy to understand... One thing to note to the people saying they have the right to sell what is given to them. You are correct. Once they graduate or move off from college. Think about this - if they allow kids to sell anything they are given or awarded, think about when they go and court the high school kids. I could have red shirted OSU. If the recruiter came to me and said "Hey Brian, we cannot offer a full scholarship, but understand that OSU has a lot of wins and championships. Our athletes make the most money on awards, gear, etc that they sell. We are one of the highest money generating colleges for our student athletes in the country. Because of that, you may not get college paid for, but you stand to make a lot of money selling things you have been given or awarded." That's a can of worms that should never be opened. The idea is that the NCAA has major concerns over incoming students. Allowing them to sell what they get is something that can really cause a major issue in recruiting... Championship rings are worth a shit pile of money. If they were allowed to sell them, it would be a major factor to some in choosing a college...

sold!!

Funny that the knee jerk reaction is that Cam got away with something and it is the world coming down on these guys simply because you are a fan of OSU football. Take the emotion out of it and look w/o bias and you will see it differently. 1) The rule is that the NCAA automatically suspends an athlete that violates rules like this for 4 games. No questions. However, the athletes initially denied the allegations and said nothing happened and thus, the extra game. So, on their shoulders. 2) Rules are rules. They are trying to make this a sob story where the kids were sending money to their families. I understand the economy sucked and I understand that many a full time scholarship athlete to football comes from a less than desirable setting in life. However, is it OK to rob a bank to get your family help? Same here. Rules are rules and I can tell you as someone that was an athlete that these rules are VERY well expressed. All from the time they are courted by the college to the time they leave... 3) The deal was they sold these things to get the money. In turn, they got a discounted service or even free (yet to be determined) tattoos. So, they sold their stuff and got a perk outside the money. The rule essentially is that as a college athlete, you cannot gain anything from your status as an athlete. It's BS and not fair at times, but thems da rules. Stop comparing it to anyone else. Stop with the shit "If it were another school". It would be exactly the same. Stop comparing to Newton. Jealousy is a funny thing. Cam's a badass football player who is going to be a lot bigger and better than Pryor. Suck it up and leave it alone. There's no conspiracy theory here or anything you are going to unveil that is going to show favoritism towards one or another. If things come up that Cam had some involvement, they will react accordingly. Look at Bush... The thing is pretty simple. Cam deserves the trophy from what he was as an athlete. If you think people voted for him based on wrong things, that is fine. That's your opinion. But, if you think they voted for an athlete that wasn't deserving from his actions on and off the field, you have a pretty lame case. Maybe we don't know everything, but the NCAA takes this stuff pretty damn seriously. As for the suspension at OSU, I am on the fence. I think it is really stupid to sell your stuff. Listen, a blank OSU ring vs a ring with Pryor's name on it are worth way different values. These kids knew that. They knew they'd get good money for these items. I also think that Gene was right in saying the money went to the families. But what kills me is two fold. One, they all went out and got tattoos. If life is hard at home, every penny needs to go there. Not towards a sleeve/s that from the start of his OSU career was nothing to what it is now. That amount of money is significant and if he would have saved that for the family, the $2500 he owes would have easily been covered. Unless they didn't pay for them at all. Which again is a serious issue... The bottom line is that the old saying "If you aren't willing to do the time, don't do the crime" applies. Now onto another issue I feel is needed. Paying the athletes. The deal is that a college football player gets a scholarship to go to a college to work towards his profession. Football. If you are an athlete that gets a full time scholarship to a major university, the odds are that you are destined to be on the roster on an NFL team. Pretty simple. Take a kid that gets a large scholarship to the engineering dept at OSU. Same thing. He is going to a college to work towards his profession. An Engineer... Don't sit and weigh out that they are there first and foremost as a student and that's what the top thing needs to be. They are. They are there to get an education towards their job in the future. These kids work hard, have a TON of rules and are under a LOT more focus from others than say a kid that gets a small scholarship for academics. These football players are in the gyms, training, practicing, etc to the point it is very tough to get a part time job, go to class and maintain the requirements of the team. My feelings are that the rating of the sport and academic, music, etc level of scholarship should weigh in on a payment structure. I think a full time athlete should get paid. I think it doesn't matter if you are a first string, full scholarship player or a bench warmer. You are at the field the same amount of time and have the same amount of things to juggle at times. Throwing something out there, I think $5k (using blank numbers) for a football player and $1k for a band member. $3k for Basketball, $2k for other sports, etc... You get the idea. Structure it so that the amount of inflow is reflected. Football at OSU inflows the most money into the university. If you think otherwise, you're blind or biased towards something and cannot accept the fact that football is the generator of cash that it is. Wake up. 100k of people every weekend. jerseys, posters, trinkets, etc. All proceeds, royalties, etc are going to the school. It helps with research money needed, it helps with paying scholarships, it helps ATTRACT students to a school as well regarded as OSU, etc... The school makes a shit load on these kids and it is tough to make money to enjoy themselves while being students. If you think they don't need to party, they don't need to eat more than they are allocated under their stipend, if you think they don't need extra pens, etc., you are pretty naive. Pay these kids a minimal amount and the results would be less of things like this happening. It's minimal, but I think they need to be paid maybe a % of the average income a student makes while attending college. Not the full %, but at least 1/2... Rant over.

I have a Black on Black Vapor Element case for an iPhone 4. I bought three cases as these are a wait for ordering and then wait for delivery case. They only make them in batches and to orders so, it can take 8-10 weeks for some builds and 2-3 weeks for others. Just depends on when and how much they make. Pretty tough to come by and on Ebay, these are going for over $120-$150... This is a brand new in the box as sold by Element. I just was going to etch some stuff on the sides of this one, but decided to go another route. I have the AR one coming and this is somewhat similar and just an extra. $95 to OR members. Or, you can wait in line and wait the weeks for one and pay $70 plus shipping or go Ebay and luck out for $120... Doesn't effect the signal, either as this is one that has the updates from the original. I got this one two weeks ago... Looks like this: Uploaded with ImageShack.us

SOLD!!! Thanks Scott!

You're not missing anything. It used to be awesome. Now, it is less about bikes and more about cruising and drinking and acting like an idiot... Wait... That's what made it awesome. I was referring to the races and the reason for the event. The racing is a waste now and with them running SX a week prior, it is going to really kill the attendance. But, if you have never watched them race the road course, it is worth going at least once. We used to go every year, but as of the last 5-6 years, I go down to see my parents and don't care about it...

Used street tires may be a different and easier idea... However, everything is DOT approved so... Not sure. Just would hate to see brandon sell something as trivial as used race tires and get everything taken away...

WTF? Seriously?? I'm not a shop, Jeff. Relax a bit and pull back. Personal sales is one thing. Being a business owner and selling something used like tires is asking for issues. You mount them, kid crashes and gets killed, his parents come to you because you sold him race tires for street use.

Take offs are a VERY dangerous issue... Selling used tires is a no-no...

You're probably correct. The building structure is the same as what Gary has and that damn green tool box is almost identical. I think Snap On offered one in that color...

No. I mean, Reuben can chime in for sure, but the price is for the 25mm cartridges... The extenders are extra and I think he may have a deal on those also... I am not sure, though. Best bet is to call him at 317-850-3884...

Very clean and really cool. Not a lot of work done, either. Looks like he kept the frame intact, kept the forks, wheels, etc. Did some fab work, but nothing you couldn't simply buy... I like and is a great example of what we normal folks can accomplish...

I was talking about outside Ohio... I have a good friend that does some very serious performance stuff and has two in ground dyno's. Evansville, IN... That looks like his tool box in the background is why I asked... But, I think the garage door is actually on the opposite side from what I remember...

Where is that being dyno'd at? That looks familiar...

Bump up... Still not sold and need these gone out of the basement...

Hmmm... I'm not sure. i think the forks are stock as the caps are not Ohlins. Weird since the rear is an Ohlins revolved... The wheels are not really that attractive for road race or track days. Half the stuff is pure anodized and CF bling that would be removed for real track riding. I also think that you could buy the R6 (Newer model that is updated from the 06 anyways) from Reuben and he can put in fork internals and a shock that would be probably a bit better than what is on this one all for cheaper... Again, that bolt on stuff may sell on Ebay and pull some money for you and help bring the total cost down more, but the fork internals alone are going to be $700-$1200 depending... You couldn't get that from the CF stuff and ano stuff... I'd say if you are wanting a cool bike to wheel into bike nights, this is certainly your ticket. But, if it were what you were wanting in an actual track day bike, I'd consider something different. I suspect they sold it anyways as they haven't said boo about it since a few questions were asked...

What year CBR? If it is the pre genie to the one now, I'd say it isn't going to be any worse than a current crop 600... I find it somewhat silly that people with new genie 600s saying the older crop 1000 CBR is a bad choice. Sure, CBRs had more HP, but weighed over 40 lbs more and handle like trucks. R6 makes it power at the top of the rev range, so to get it, you are screaming it to do so which means you're riding fast... Liter bike is torque and honestly, the older model might not be a bad thing... But, it is still a lot of bike. Point is, it is tough to say get a new 600 vs an older 1000... They are so damn close in terms of what ability and experience is needed... At the end of the day, if you are just starting out, my suggestion would be to avoid a liter bike. They just make things happen too fast to absorb for newer riders. That being said, I have seen guys adapt to liter bikes rather well and VERY experienced riders struggle with liter bikes... It's all what you want out of it and what your brain tells you to do. As someone stated above - it'll be fine if you avoid riding like a douche...

What Isaac stated. Marbles are totally hosed. Little ticket noises - especially on the down turn of revs is a sign it is wearing out. $ 45k - might want to replace the chain if you can. Kind of a big job, but not bad at all... I'm not positive on the chain, but it is a pretty small amount to pay vs. if it takes a shit... But, CCT is where it is at and what I would lay a big amount of cash on...