Moto-Brian

I wasn't making fun of anyone. I was just trying to figure out why the big deal over the GSXR? Nicky is MotoGP. If they had a CBR Repsol edition, it would have been out of place - he doesn't race a CBR... The GSXR comment was that it WOULD have been better. That GSXR looked like a pile of shit. I was really refering to the comment that there was no WSBK or MotoGP Hondas at the show... Relax. If I was making fun, I would have said "Hey dumbasses - KTM's GP bikes are sponsored by Repsol. It isn't just the RCVs that carry the logos..." That would have been poking fun...:grin:

Once again, Todd has a killer avatar. Dude, you slay me. I laugh out loud. Thank God nobody likes me and hangs around me or they would think I am strange or something... Flounder - shut up.

Dr. Capslock... The Indy show is NOT open to teh public like you stated. AND, you aren't getting in unless a dealer registers you ahead of time. They have been a LOT more strict in allowing anyone in. They usually have been asking for proof of employment via check stubs or W2s... You're looking like you're out of luck. As far as the show goes, I actually don't have to go this year and I couldn't be happier... Everyday standing on that fucking floor and breathing that recycled air gets a little old. I've been there as a shop employee and industry guy for over 14 years. It's pretty much the same old, same old year after year. Just add a hundred more Chinese scooters each year...

The RC8 is a 2009 model... they were showcasing 2008 models. Bimota??? Serious? Yes, Honda not having a MotoGP bike of Nicky's is kinda lame. It is the US show series and yet, there were no showings of any American racers in MotoGP. WSBK is a weird deal as the Hanes Spree team is probably not well recognized over here...

I understand if you aren't well versed in MotoGP and think only Honda is associated with Repsol. Repsol Oil Company is simply a major sponsor in racing. They support more than just the Honda MotoGP team. They use Nicky due to the fact that here in the States, he is well recognized by motorcycle enthusiasts... Kinda like Budweiser and Dale Jr. They aren't just NASCAR and Dale Jr. - they do a LOT more motorsport deals with other companies... Hell, this year, they are sponsoring a Dodge... Point is that it is simply marketing and the Suzook (Even though it looked like a pile of crud) represents and relates to other riders out there... Would it have been better having Nicky's bike there? Sure.

Yup... I do!!!

Repsol isn't Honda... They sponsor MANY different teams out there. Repsol in MotoGP is related to Honda because they sponsor that team, but it isn't a Honda product...

Hmmmm.... I assume you want that shock back, right? It was a little fuzzy, but I was driving and pulled over to sleep. When I came to, the shock was gone and a note, a shiney nickle, and a half eaten chocolate chip cookie was left in the passenger seat. It was from the road racing fairy and he needed a Penske so, he took it and left me a shiney nickle and half of his chocolate chip cookie. I thought it was really weird, but guess that's how it goes... Now, whatcha gonna say, Willis?

He's right about Kaws, though... We pancaked one into the wall at teh bottom of the esses at Road Atlanta. Had Kawasaki built it to stand up against "abuse", the bike wouldn't have snapped the frame when it hit the concrete wall top first... Yeah, they are total shit...

Looks good, Todd. By the way, guys - he's not a backyard mechanic, either... He knows bikes and considering his background, I wouldn't be afraid of the bike if it had 100k on it. WAY fair price for a clean titled 600 for that year. Condition and miles is actually out of average - on the GOOD side.... This looks above average in condition and below average for miles. (Shameless plug from a guy who apprently wears dresses. However, that guy that wears dresses can smoke the guy who made the comment. Has to suck getting DESTROYED by a guy wearing a dress!!!)

Pretty fair price, guys. Think about this - it is an in-line four. Seen these motors go well into 50k before... I'd say for $4k he's right in the ballpark. Looks SUPER clean, as well. Plus, the 636 makes a similar year 600 owner wondering what you did to make your bike so much faster...

For what it is worth, here's my view of the show based on some select models... Pictures are not going to be loaded due to many of them shown, but also, my camera died and I had to use my cell phone!!! Anyways: Kawasaki: ZX10 - looked good. Love this bike. Feels a LOT smaller than the previous model. Weight can't be determined as they don't usually have fluids. Not a fair take on that... However, the fit and finish is good, the look of the black and the green one is good. The blue? Looks like shit. Why they do that color is beyond me... Overall, the ZX10 gets an A- ZX6R - Not new this year. Just BNG. However, it's been since 2001 when I remember seeing green rims on the green bikes. We raced Kaws back when they had green wheels and we hated it then. I hate it now. It looks like a pile vs. the black rims.... Shit. this year, the ZX6R gets 1/2 a point down from last year - A 250 Ninja - BADASS!!! This thing is going to sell like bread. super cool finally and the colors are decent. Even the blue looks "OK", but the green and the black one will sell well. Not my cup of tea as far as a bike goes, but the looks are great and the feel is more substantial. A+ for this guy... Suzuki: GSXR600/750 - Awesome. Nothing real drastic in terms of looks. Typical Suzuki style and the updates are pretty much what I expected. Saw these last year, but in case this is the first anyone else has seen them, they look good. The colors are good and the fit is typical. Standard issue from Suzook - A Honda: CBR1000 - Ok, the CBR1000 is a weird machine. I'm in love with a lot of the bike for sure. I took a picture of just the back half and was in love. The tail section is AWESOME!!! Who cares about passengers? Not any of the sportbike manufacturers apparently. Again, I bet that in 3-5 years, passenger seats and accommodations will be left out. It's fine with me. It is proof that they are building these as race bikes first and street bikes second... VERY much a sign of the trickle down from MotoGP.... I really am not sold on the front half, though. In red, the fairing makes the front look tall and stretched up and down. In black, the bike looks MUCH better. That side fairing gets blended in and isn't as in your face. The red will sell to the Honda elitists, but man, if you are considering this bike, black looks best... I give the CBR an A+ and a B. A+ because Honda FINALLY did something outside the box. B because it looks like shit, but has some great details. It feels very narrow and 600-ish. This very well may surprise people at time of the 1000cc shoot outs... MV: The $120k MV is a work of rolling art. It really is worth the $120k asking price based on the handmade components. It isn't just CF bodywork. BUT, looking at the body panels, they roll their edges, they have a paint scheme and process that is well beyond typical production bikes. This thing was gorgeous, but typical of MV, it looks like the bike is 10 years old compared to the other machines in it's class.... The 312 which is what the LE bike is based is a turd. It feels top heavy and even though it does well in shoot outs, all I know is the guys that raced them in WERA struggled with the bike. It is fast, no doubt, but it had issues in terms of handling and dependability. No excuse for the kind of money involved. MV gets a B- Ducati: I love Ducati. I really do. I hate that their bikes are not dependable, they are rough in terms of how they are built, and the fact that the technology is sorta old school and dated. Also, don't even talk about service. A 1098 first service will set the owner back over $700!!! BUT, Ducati is passion. It is race bred and they are gorgeous from the outside. Hyper Motard - I want this as my street bike. This thing is pure hooligan and will require me to register my driver's license with the State Highway Patrol, Sheriff and local Police Forces. Damn.... From what I have heard so far, the motor is not holding up well, though. For $12k, that' not acceptable. At all. Also, they are in the 70-ish HP range and that's not far off from a typical 450 MX bike nowadays. You can street legalize a CRF450 or whatever 450 easily. Considering they will be less HP, but lighter, they match up well. However, you'd be into a CRF450 or whatever for about $10k so, the $12k asking price isn't bad and you get that sound and fun factor... The motor reliability issues is a concern, though... I give the Hyper an A+ for the idea and a B for reality. 1098R - BADASS!!!! Nothing really flooring to my mind as I knew Ducati had this coming. They need it for WSBK and considering the rules and what they have to have included in the motors and such, Ducati HAD to build this machine to make it legal for WSBK racing. Internally, it has ALL kinds of goodies. Titanium, etc... The bike comes equipped with REAL traction control. There is a sensor on teh rear wheel with sensors pickups on the rotor. This isn't Bazaaz or ZX10 based traction control. This is World Superbike and AMA Superbike traction control. However, detail in some things is left wondering why they couldn't make things better. Typical of Ducati. Also, all the trick internal components and such hand a street rider issues with dependability and cost of running the bike. These are NOT intended as pure street bikes for sure, but there will be street owners. The $40k asking price is more than fair for what you are getting. Definitely worth more than the MV $120k machine... I give the 1098R an A+ for what they built and an A- for street based ideals. It would be a killer street bike, but consider this - what can you do to a GSXR1000 with $29k more after buying one that can be put into the bike itself? Answer? More than where you'll start with the 1098R... Outside those companies, nothing more interested me. I liked seeing the MotoGP machines from Yamaha and Ducati. Interesting again. The Ducati looked rough. The body was rough, the frame and swingarm looked like it was painted and had been knicked all over. Kinda had that garage built look to it. Had yummy parts and was tiny, but compared to the M1, it looked like a privateer effort. The M1 looked finished. The body panels were works of art, little items like the foot deflector to keep air off Rossi's foot and be as aerodynamic as possible was cool. the M1 was just a lot more finished. Sure, it doesn't matter when the fact is that Ducati won the championship, but it speaks loads as to why a Ducati looks the way it does underneath the body panels as compared to a Japanese machine... Show was cool. It wasn't nor ever has been worth the asking price of admission. Not sure what tickets cost, but that $8 for parking had to make the total over $25 per person, no? That's too much money. Gypsy row wasn't as bad as in years past. Not much other than close-out items, but there were a few cool new things sprinkled around. Got to try on the new Puma boot. Saw a few good friends and hung out with a lot of folks I haven't seen in years. Overall, the show was good. Nothing great, but it was good.

You have time to do Brno for a meaningless race series for a week but not enough time to hone your skills via a credited school like Swantz or Spencer? Weird... I'd say skip Brno as it will cost an arm and a leg and to gain what? Again, looking at it from a different perspective, but here's what I think - some guy asks you to ride an endurance series for over a week (How many races in a week's time???) and you float all the cash to get there and I assume split costs. Is the guy legit? I mean, how competitive are you going to be over there? I'd say if seat time is what you want, take the travel money you're going to spend, buy a pre 2004 GSXR600 and run a few endurance races over here. Much better seat time, run at tracks you race at to learn better and you'll gain experience of a 600 and corner speed techique that will develope you as a rider... You can go Baller status and race in Brno. That would be cool for sure, but again, I ask you what you want out of racing. Do you do it to say you race or do you want to do it to be the best you can be? Both answers are "OK", but if deep down you think you can't feel the difference between this or that and that you aren't going to notice certain things due to your lacking of ability to do so, is racing really what you want? I'd think you want to be the best racer you can be. Learning is the best medicine. Take an American Supercamp a couple of times. Ride MX bikes religously and learn corner speed and sliding around. Get as much seat time on your bike as you can and certainly go somewhere that can help you hone your skills.

Real abuse or parking lot bashing? Real abuse? We ran a ZX6R from 1998 to 2001 through both body changes and upgrades. Ran the WERA National Endurance Series all years. Bikes had over 60 hours on their bottom ends and they looked great. Bikes held up superbly. Shifter falling off is a bolt issue. Could have been poor maintenance on your buddy's part or it just vibrated loose due to horsing around. I think the cowl issue is abuse, as well. Has nothing to do other than not taking care of your stuff... I'd say your opinion is lacking credibility...

We can talk racing - anyone realize Keith Code is a Scientologist?? Just a little food for thought... Oh, and 420 - it's all good. It's a debate of sorts and it is good that we keep it "middle of the road". Debate is healthy. I actually try and provoke others to defend themselves when I argue so that I can hopefully learn something. You seem to be well versed in this so, it has been educational to a degree. Opinions are always going to be laced into ANY debate. It's good to... Now, about the racing... Hmmmmmm... Catholics suck at road racing! That should start something!!

Huh? Basis of your statement? Please share. I've been around Kawasakis for over 14 years in terms of sportbikes and although some years were piles, never had dependability issues nor stuff falling off...

Again, you are right - you can type whatever you wish as far as thoughts. However, what time frame does it get to be considered a religion? Is it 10 years? 100 years? 1000 years? Where are the rules that state a religion can only be considered a religion if it has lasted a set amount of years? think about this. There are MILLIONS of religions in this world. We are used to calling groups like this "cults" because they don't fit into our set views of what religion should be. Is Jewish better or worse than being a Catholic? they don't see eye to eye on beliefs (Jesus for example) so, are they a real religion? Or, is being a Catholic not really being a religion? What, because they are such old religions do we consider them valid? Is it not because people who started this country have dictated what beliefs should be? If so, Judaism is older than Christianity so, it should be regarded as best, right? Have we considered the Native American way of beliefs? They don't believe in Jesus, they do ceremonious type get togethers and believe in spirits and how they cleanse the body, how they guide their day to day lives, etc. They don't (or, didn't) believe in one god where Judaism, Islam and Christianity are based on a monotheistic (sp?) point of view. Even though they are similar, Christians were killing people who essentially didn't conform to their way of life. MANY Jews and a TON of Muslims were killed in the name of Christianity. Murdered, actually... What the Scientologists believe is that they can heal on a different level. They believe in reincarnation, etc. Just because they had people die because they didn't receive medical attention is no different than the Native Americans believe that spirits will cleanse the evil from a body and do not seek modern medicine to "cure" issues. Plus, Scientologists aren't recruiting people to carry out a war to "convince" people to join them or they will be killed... Cliff notes, for sure, but read up. Time has no bearing on beliefs. A religion isn't a religion just based on a time line. Single or multiple Gods or Spirits are common and have been all through time. Scientology gets a bum rap because it doesn't make sense to a majority of us Americans due to our upbringing... My beliefs are that I am not convinced about Jesus. I'm almost like the Jews in that I think Jesus was a prophet and not the son of God. I believe there is a single God up there pushing buttons and directing traffic and I think that relgions as seen in other countries that even though they are not Christian based, they have one God that reigns supreme and they believe he is the top ranked guy. How is that really different than Catholics, Jews, Lutherns, etc??? They all have one God they see as supreme. What, our way or the highway??? Carry on. Again, these political discussions only lead to people getting pissed. In teh end, look at it this way - is it really different than what you believe? Do you have 100% proof that your religion is accurate? If you do, please share. Otherwise, just like Tom Cruise, you believe what you feel is right and what you feel you understand. Your beliefs are yours. His are his. He is part of a religion as it is recognized as such all over the world. Here in the US, it is easy to call what we don't accept as a cult...

Like I said - who cares what it looks like stock? Sure, street guys aren't going to go this deep, but I look at every bike as if it were in race trim. This shot concludes my thoughts that this bike is gonna look BADASS in race trim. http://forums.13x.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=27103&d=1201361758

Questionable deaths from Scientology? Again, anyone ever read world history? Yeah, these guys are bad... I think they are nut jobs, too, but still and again, it is a free country and who really cares? Why are we concerned whether or not he is so damn into the religion he is? We have people in small towns with religious beliefs that are constantly being pushed on others or they are told they're going to hell. How is that different??

Gotcha. Must have been someone else who has done Code's deal a few times... Anyways, consider my other ideas as far as schools. Would benefit you, I think since you want to acquire more feel and ability to understand what different things are doing.

For a top shelf privateer in say the Superbike class or Formula classes, wheels can make sense. It's kinda like keeping up with the Joneses... In this case, a club racer can better spend their money in avenues that will result in bigger gains. Hell, Chris - you ought to go to a Spencer school and the Swantz school. You could gain a lot from those places if feel is what you are looking for. Quit doing the BS Code schools. They suck and outside the Level 1 group, it is not worth a whole lot. Spencer and Swantz are pretty damn good schools and they are more one on one. Swantz's school has guys like Tray and Opie down there. You could bend their ears on set-up and learning tire feel and suspension feel... Again, the money for those would benefit you more than a set of fancy wheels...

It takes up to a whole season to learn a tire. It takes a lot of dedication and note taking and experimenting... It took me almost all year last season to learn the Michelins. I rode slicks in 2005 from Michelin, but the entire deal was a pile of shit and didn't even count towards this last year. Set-up is so damn important - especially when talking expert class. Notes. Notes. Notes. Did I mention motes?

If you cannot tell the difference, why on earth don't you sell all that stuff and ride it stock? Why did you go to a 1000 and not get a 600 and learn with that bike? Again, not busting your balls, but here's the drill - when you want to get serious, be serious. If you cannot tell the difference between tires, you have a LOT ahead of you. Plus, $40-$50 a set is chicken feed in terms of tire costs. You could make that difference up in contingency money... I almost bet the price of that bike that you CAN tell the difference if you try and if you can get a set-up that works for you and your ability... I'd put my head down and focus on set-up this year. That way, you can learn the bike and develop as a better racer. Some of the best racers are VERY good at set-up and feel. HOWEVER, some of the best racers are complete idiots when it comes to the same thing!!!

He's always done stuff for Ohlins. If you are in the AMA paddock, he's always got the ol' Blue polo on (while always smokin' a cig!!!). He probably is just moving up near the facility. It isn't that big a move for him...

Another note is that no matter how much seat time and set-up you shoot for, how many guys are on BStones with GSXR1000s? If you need notes or need help in set-up, those tires are different than other tires. Sure, you can try a Pirelli set-up, but if it doesn't work, that was a waste of time. You can then try the others, but again, going in circles is never any good. When I saw your rear tire, I gave a suggestion to you about rebound. You claimed that it was good and that it must be the compound. You NEED to take time and set things up. Fly by night is only going to cause frustration. Period... You also need to learn to ride around things. God knows I have done that so much it makes my head spin. However, you need to find an answer at some point. Shooting blind only makes a lot of holes before you hit your target. Focus on the issue and learn what you need as a rider and you'll get closer to the target with shooting a shit load less bullets... Tires. Dump BStone. Do they give you free tires or something? Why are you hesitant to try something else? If you want to be serious about your program, you need the best you can get. If you have cash flow for high priced wheels, you can afford different tires...