redkow97

It's hardly a circle, but have you ever actually tried it, or are you just speculating that it's not adventurous? I am not knocking street rides or touring, I am just saying that the experience some people seem to be after might be easier to achieve at the track. There will be pros and cons to both. I'm not particularly advocating for either option (okay, sure I am...), but I think it's best for everyone to make an educated decision based on as many facts as possible. I have logged thousands of laps at PIRC and hundreds at Nelson. Neither has ever gotten boring. That said, racing (big and little bikes) has severely changed my outlook on track days. I really like just going out and having fun on the track now. Not every session has to be about going as fast as possible, or catching the rider ahead of you ...until you want to make that the game.

Boss came in last week and said, "they want to cut our department by one attorney and move two into felony - start logging ALL your overtime." In 5 months of working there, I have already accrued and extra week of vacation. As long as my wife's work schedule doesn't put her out of town for this weekend, I could actually make it.

ImPrez55 hasn't been active lately, but I know he has a tire machine and was charging about that in the Cleveland area. Before he got his machine, Pauly was closest, and would meet me on my lunch break to hand off wheels and tires.

I feel like some of the people mentioning the hazards of street riding have also been resistant to track days. Is that my imagination, or is the $150 for Nelson less than the cost of gas and lodging for a deal's Gap trip?

See, that is the real problem here - insurance companies have in-house counsel. They're getting paid whether they're fighting you, or sitting on their thumbs. You're stuck with either finding an attorney who will do this for X% contingency, or for an up-front price you can live with. Attorneys will charge $50-$600/hour. You don't need the world's largest law firm to handle this, so a one-man shop charging closer to the $50/hr mark is probably fine, but that still only gives you 20 or so billable hours before it's almost not worth it...

Welcome. Your 600RR is much nicer than the last couple we've had on this site. Between Jinu and me, I think our poor Hondas were 80% zip ties! But they always got the job done. If I find any old parts in my garage, they're yours. I keep finding spark plugs and other stuff I meant to sell with that bike...

As infrequently as most of us change tires, $20/wheel is a bargain. I am getting better at using tire spoons lately, but that's only an option because my rims aren't nice enough to care about... And our "race team" bought a balancing stand, so that is also a $0 expense for me. Just the weights and time.

The link to the Ohio auctions had multiple bikes for under a grand. Most needed batteries, but oh well... I was trying to talk the wife into one of the TW200's she used for the MSF course. She said "SURE! ...I you get rid of one of the other two bikes."

Lol posting in a thread from 2011 solves everything too!

I generally really like center stands, but the difficulty using this one and infrequency of need for it are deal breakers. Plus I can always put it back on...

How much do you stand to recover? You can avoid paying (up front) for an attorney if they're willing to work on a contingent fee basis. That also incentivizes them to get the most money. Typically an attorney will want 30% of any settlement, or 40% of any judgment (I.e. if it actually goes to trial) I can't (and nor can any other attorney) give you an educated answer on this without knowing ALL the facts and researching the case law. The latter takes time, and costs money. Legal services are just like any other - you can expect a free "diagnosis" to some degree, but no mechanic can tell you exactly what's wrong until they spend a few hours taking things apart.

This lady sounds like the type who thinks she has a right to not be offended rather than simply a right TO be offended.

Not looking to spend a bunch on a new set of wheels, just seeing what I can remove without missing it. So far, body work and center stand seem like no brainers

That Transformer turns into a car (specifically the concept Corvette, if memory serves). Last I checked, those don't fly.

I wouldn't say "faulty," but I understand what you're saying. You are using a constant for the starting weight, and I was adjusting the starting weight with each piece removed to reflect the fact that the second 18 lbs. should be felt as a larger change than the first 18 lbs. When actually riding the bike, I expect that to be the case.

I like the idea of using % as a measure of weight loss, but if you adjust the 'new' curb weight every time you lose weight, the next pound becomes a larger percentage than it was before. It's an exponential(?) or logarithmic(?) relationship. for the sake of argument, let's say the stock wet weight is 550 lbs. removing the fairings is 18 lbs. gone. That's a 3.2% reduction, which I admit is minimal - but it take the curb weight down to 532 lbs. The next 18 lbs. lost is a 3.4% reduction. And that relationship grows as more mass is removed. I'm not going to break my neck (or my wallet) to slim this fatty down, but easy stuff like the center stand can't hurt. Even if I only get it from 550 to 520, that's something... I'm only 175, and I don't foresee myself losing a lot of weight.

The EBR dealerships should be checking final assembly when they take them out of te crates.

I have owned bikes with center stands before. Neither were hard to use. I can put all my weight on the katana center stand while pulling on the grab rail, and it still doesn't get up on the stand for me. As infrequently as I need it, it's coming off. I'll have it looking decent eventually.

yeah, I removed all the fairings to clean things up and start seeing what needs to be fixed, and after my 40th or 50th body screw, I decided they're not going back on... I would agree that the additional drag will decrease top-speed, but it should have a negligible effect on acceleration below highway speeds. The weight loss should prove advantageous in those scenarios. the claimed top speed with stock gearing is something like 143mph, and I may consider going -1/+2 at some point. That will largely depend on what RPM 80mph ends up being with stock gearing though. I want snappier acceleration, but I also have to be realistic about the fact that 90% of my riding will likely be commuting... So weight loss helps acceleration without sacrificing as much highway economy.

Hoblick's Grom thread got me thinking about how one could go about removing weight from a bike without buying expensive rearsets and the like. With the Katana now in my garage, even a moderate weight reduction would be welcomed. This isn't a race bike, so I'm not going to do anything drastic, like cut the sub-frame behind the seat or anything like that, but I am looking into the following: - running without fairings. One is cracked, but they weigh quite a lot, and can be sold to finance parts and repairs. I would estimate they are 5-10 lbs. easily. - mounting a smaller headlight. The katana has dual-eye lenses. with a naked bike, a 7" round light would look better anyway, and I expect it would weigh less than the wider stock unit. - ditching stock gauges for Trailtech Vapors (I have researched this a little, but I'm not sure which ones to buy to make install as smooth as possible). That would eliminate a couple of lbs. for sure. - without fairings, I have considered cutting/grinding the body mount points off the frame. Nothing structural, but this seems like a lot of un-reversible work that probably won't yield a huge weight loss anyway. It's at the bottom of the list, but I think it might be worth it for cosmetic purposes in some places. - removing the center stand seems like a no-brainer, because the bike is so heavy, I can't get it up onto the center stand anyway... I needed help to do it last time, and I'm going to buy a paddle-type rearstand anyway... - I am going to experiment with taking off the large weights on the bottom of the stock pegs. This is for ground clearance, AND weight savings. My suspicion is that I will want to put them back on when the pegs vibrate too much... But I can at least grind them down on the outside end for better cornering clearance. Anything else I'm not thinking of?

I know I am overlooking 15 years of suspension, chassis, brake, and fuel injection development, but the power & weight stats on the CBR650 look oddly familiar ...because they are virtually identical to the katana 750 CBR is 86hp and 465lbs. Kat 750 is 92hp and 465lbs. Both make peak power at 11k rpm. Torque figures are also very close, although without looking at the Kat's specs, I would guess the CBR has a more user-friendly torque curve.

LBTS. GLWS. but really, that's probably the most economical way to transport 2 bikes any serious distance. I know people who never owned a trailer, because one of them had the long-bed regular cab F150 for work. They always talked about getting a trailer, but they were living in NJ, so storing it would have been a major issue, and the ridiculous tolls every time they pulled an extra axle was the other issue...

I don't mean to be rude, but when lenders won't work with you, there is usually a good (or statistically rational) reason. Banks, dealerships, and credit unions want nothing more than to finance people, and collect the interest. If they're turning away your business, it's because they don't think you're actually going to pay... This time of year, that $800 down should buy a running beginner bike... Ride that in 2014 and save up a few grand to buy something nicer in the 2014/2015 winter off-season. I believe someone had a GS500 for sale here not too long ago for under $800. That would be a great first bike.

https://m.facebook.com/AndersonDoorRacing?id=487684037969139&refsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FAndersonDoorRacing&_rdr

Jeff was doing a rolling burnout on Russ's Grom at one of the last few OMRL rounds. Either he is really good at them (very possible), or the Grom does them pretty darn easily. JB (who only recently started an "intro" thread) has a few pics of it.