redkow97

Well, I hit the "trail" last night on my brother's huffy. A lot of trees have fallen in the last 10 years, but a Saturday spent marking the path and clearing small logs should be all it takes to make things fun again. Just need to find a like-minded rider so I'm not bored all day.

He must have been feeling a lot of adrenaline when he decided to strap the helmet to his bike instead of his head. If he'd made any attempt at at protecting himself, I'd feel bad for the guy, but if he doesn't care about his safety, why should I?

You don't want to scratch it when your head hits a pole, do you? (if I'm being serious though, there are some riders who only wear a helmet on the highway, when wind-speeds are much greater)

speak for yourself. I rarely, if ever, act like an idiot on my bike, and while "God's grace" or whatever you want to call it may have something to do with my safety, I'm betting the helmet, leathers, and skill-set I have built up over the years have a LOT more to do with my continued survival.

internet says the baby interceptor put out 70hp in its day. Is that accurate? I'm comparing it to an EX500, which put out a whopping 52hp on its best day. 70 is SV650 territory. Granted, I doubt any interceptors are making 70 hp NOW with 28 year old engines, but if the potential is there, I'd look for an eBay motor and try rebuilding it!

single-bike accident, no helmet? seems like this falls 100% on the rider. I have a hard time feeling sorry for him. Sucks for his family. I hope he was responsible enough to have life insurance. Risking your own life is one thing. Risking your family's future is another.

cool old bike. I would actually be pretty interested if it weren't in such good shape My next bike is either going to be an SV650 (first gen), or something like this that I can just completely rat-out and not care if it falls over in a parking lot. the paint may be faded on yours, but all the bodywork is there and in one piece. Hell, I bet you could part it for more than $800 if no one jumps on the CL asking price in a few weeks. Body work alone will get you a couple hundred...

Thanks Brian - I am indeed "dipping my toes in the water," which is why I don't want to spend $500+ up front. As noted, I'm going to take an old Huffy (free) and remind myself how much they suck. That might be all it takes to get me willing to buy that second bike posted. I just need to verify that I'll actually stick with cycling. And if I can get the wife into it, then suddenly she'll have a lot more appreciation for a more expensive bike. So there's a lot that's "TBD" in this whole endeavor. In my mind, I'm going to hit the trails tonight and be blasting off sweet jumps right away. I also thought I would be sweet at tracking a motorcycle the first time I went out, and as I've said before, I'm finally almost as good today as I thought I'd be my first time out :-) So I know it's not going to be exactly what I envision, but if the Huffy gets me started, and 90's Trek for $275 gets me through the year, THEN I think I can swing the $800 or so it will take to get something really "serious." I'm just not there yet.

The CAMBA forum had a post that suggested not buying suspension unless you can afford GOOD suspension. That makes sense to me, and I am hoping to find a hard tail with a fork that locks for road use. That or a full rigid frame that will eventually become a road bike. An older GT or Trek is now topping my wish list.

I wouldn't rush into another dog right away, but we get TONS of great 1-4 yr old dogs through Secondhand Mutts. Hank was 8 months when we got him, and Kramer was closer to 4 years. www.secondhandmutts.org, and click on "adoptables" or something. It might not be totally up-to-date. Check their facebook page too. My wife is head of their foster committee, so she coordinates the volunteers, and it's generally a really good group of people who train the dogs as if they're going to keep them. It makes them better pets, and thus easier to adopt. If you see one you're in love with and I can convince the wife, I can pull one and make sure (s)he knows the basics and is 95% house-trained. Or better yet, I can try to push that dog toward the people who fostered Kramer before we adopted him. He's been an angel since day one in our house...

Dude, a dog passing is reason to call off work. Sorry for your loss.

Well that's another question - fitting. I know (or have read) that you fit a road bike by sticking a book in your crotch (like a bike seat) and marking where the book hits the wall. Measure from the floor to the mark, and you can figure out the proper road bike frame size. For mountain bikes, the frames are much smaller. I believe my old Giant (from when I was 13 or 14) was a 16" frame, but it might have been 18" I am 6' and have around a 33" inseam, so I figure 18-20" frame is probably about right, but I'd prefer to guess too small than too large. Am I wrong to assume I'll be up out of the seat more often off-road? Legs are nature's rock shox, no?

The disc brakes are something I've wondered about. How do they work? Hydrolic? I just wonder how a small disc can be more efficient than the radial-mounted cantilever brakes grabbing the rim further from the point of rotation. It would seem that the standard brakes would have better leverage. I have always assumed the disc brakes were more to combat muddy or wet rims that would compromise the radial-mounted standard setups. My old (1997?) Giant "boulder" had decent enough brakes from what I recall, but I wasn't even in high school then.

I'm cruising Cleveland CL and finding all manner of bikes... There are a lot of $60-$75 Walmart bikes that look high-tech (i.e. Y-frame and full suspension) but I know the componants are going to be junk. What I'm more interested in are the $200 bikes that someone paid $500 for a few years ago. This is even less than I was expecting, and looks to be pretty high quality. http://cleveland.craigslist.org/bik/3130035314.html

I bought my first "real" (non-huffy) mountain bike from Sherman back when it was still "BikeLine." I just dont' want to buy new, and spend an extra $200+ for no reason. Maybe after i'm addicted though.

Went hiking (ok, walking dogs and needed to stay out of the sun) on Sunday morning, and could not stop thinking about how awesome it would have been to be mountain biking through the woods instead (sans mutts). Cycling would also be a good way to stay in shape, and hopefully take some of the strain off my knee (which gets all pissed off and irritated if I run more than 3 times a week, and any more than 5k or so). I am planning to buy a decent bike helmet and use my dad's $90 huffy mountain bike as an experiment to make sure I actually enjoy the whole cycling thing before taking the plunge on a "real" bike, but for those of you who are into cycling, I have the following questions and talking points: 1) Which is more practical and feesible, road, or trail? I do have access to multiple acres of wooded ravine with some trails already cleared (at least they were 8 years ago, the last time I was back there) So a place to ride off-road is available, but it's a 20 minute drive from my house, which means I can't just walk to my garage and go like I could with a road bike. Roads are (duh) everywhere, but not nearly as fun... There is also the safety issue with cars, etc. The park path near me allows bikes, but can get a bit crowded at times. If Imprez55 happens to be reading this, the park trail pretty much runs from my house right past his. I don't know how far it goes. at least 7 miles, but on a road bike that's not very far. 2) If I go with an off-road bike, how necessary is suspension? I am seeing really great deals on older Trek and Univega mountain bikes from the mid to late 90's. The componants are solid, but so are the tails and forks... Is suspension that important if I'm not doing major down-hill runs on rocky terrain? My other thought is to buy a rigid-framed mountain bike, and when/if I feel the need for suspension, upgrade and then throw narrower more road-friendly tires on the rigid bike. Then I have dedicated bikes for both environments, if not an ideal road bike. 3) what are the "hidden" costs? Helmets are shockingly cheap, but I'm guessing riding shorts aren't, and they become really necessary (right?). 4) assuming I do go the off-road route, where in the CLE area can I ride? The metroparks don't allow bikes on the hiking or horse trails (assholes...) 5) What are the odds that I'm going to be able to get my wife into this as well? I'm looking for something athletic that we can do together. I expect that I'll have to start her off on the park trail near our house (which is pretty flat, minus 1 large hill) and then work her up to light off-road riding. She THINKS she can't do a lot of things. I know she's just not willing to try that hard, so early success is important... thanks all

Yes. But you probably know him as Donald Trump.

Excluding the really small mini-haulers, a deisel is advisable. A friend of mine got a "half-ton towable" keystone(?) hauler that sleeps 4 and is side-loading in the front. It fits 2 bikes there, and then a double bed folds out when the bikes are removed. There is a rear slide for the master bed, and then the table converts into a third bed (I've slept there) that is surprisingly tolerable. But my point was that even with what was advertised as a light hauler, he felt the need to upgrade to a deisel F250 within a year. He may not have needed to, but frankly, you have the same personality type and need to upgrade stuff. If you get a hauler, you are going to end up buying a bigger truck. Converting a standard enclosed to "live able" isnt a bad option if you don't crave running water and bath facilities. But fold-down beds, a tv, insulation and heat/AC isn't hard. The lack of an onboard water supply and ability to distribute the bikes wherever you want their weight also really helps.

I built my own that rides along side the bike. Off the top of my head, it is 7.5' long, 18" wide, and 20 or 22" tall. It holds my canopy, tool boxes, leathers, grill, helmets, camping gear, etc. I built it with locking latches, but I would have to add more to make it truly secure. I really just wanted weather-proof and out of the wind. No more piling shit in the car or tying it down all ghetto on the trailer.

They don't really police anything in the camping area. Find a neighbor with a touring bike and a tent. They won't need all their space

The advice given has been good. Brian's post near the end of page one is as far as I got before jumping to the "last" page, but I'm betting I didn't miss much. The main questions I have are what proof is there that the quad was ever even in the shop's possession? That SHOULD be a simple bailment agreement, and Brian would be correct that the shop or shop's insurance pays for stolen property. Their little "disclaimer" may or may not hold up in court. Without doing any research whatsoever, it doesn't seem right to me that they can just stick that on the bottom of a form and be in the clear. Contacting the police is absolutely a good first step. If there is any kind of fraud going on, the combined value of multiple quads definitely takes this theft into felony territory. Suing is certainly an option, but legal fees can quickly eclipse the value of the stolen quad, so contacting local media is a good second step. That also motivates the police to take things more seriously so they don't look bad. A last resort would be an attorney. You MAY be able to split costs with other victims (assuming you can identify them), but the attorney also needs to avoid conflicts of interest. He can't have you insisting on $5000 compensation while another victim wants to accept a $800 settlement from the shop. But assuming all the victims are like-minded, it would be a good way to defray attorney fees.

There is a good YouTube video on prepping and racing a Honda 250. The guy could only hit 86 on the straight without a draft, but would push 100 behind a Kawasaki. The Honda does brake better (it's like 40 lbs lighter), and the single starts better, but unless it's a really tight track, the Kawasaki is still king. I like the idea of a $500 mid 90's bike though. My goal would be for people to think, "that runs!?" and me be racing it.

bump. I know I owe a couple of people pictures. I just havent' been home much. I'm done with class for the summer now, so I'll try to snap some pics tonight. Now also open to the possibility of trade + cash for a ninja 250. Realistically though, I don't want a very nice 250, so rattier with more cash trumps a pristine 2011 250 with a few hundred bucks.

I don't mind a mildly modded 250; I just don't see the point of sinking a bunch of money into a bike that's supposed to be a BUDGET racer. I would probably run a street/track tire (110/140 seems to be the consensus) and just have spare clipons and rearsets in my tool box. What else could even break on a bike that can only hit 100mph? I'd like to ride one on the track before taking the plunge to buy one, but I am liking this idea more and more.