redkow97

check the torque specs on your triple trees. If I had to guess, that right fork leg shifted up after you removed the bar that covers it. You're probably way below spec on the right fork leg (rider's right), and it's shifting under the weigh of the bike. if that happened while on a steering head stand, then you've got me...

I don't think this is a fair statement. I don't take anything for granted just because I'm "used to" track riding. I think of track riding as if you're swinging 2 baseball bats before going up to the plate with 1. It makes everything less dramatic in a street scenario. If I'm used to encountering a given situation on the track at 100+ mph, encountering it on the street at 70mph makes it feel like slow-motion. Much easier to handle without drama. Track riding builds your skill set so that you have more in reserve on the street.

- my wife "let" me keep the Rottweiler we were fostering - new Browns tags for both dogs - Browns leash and collar for our beagle - new lid (bell vortex, to replace the one I crashed) - two nice dress shirts - four ties - two new suits for work - $500 cash from the inlaws - Browns hoody - new golf umbrella (new job means I walk over a quarter mile from my car to the Justice Center...) - Nerf guns (my parents bought like 8 of them, and my brothers and sister and I shot each other all day. Of course my dad bought himself a really high-end one, and had about double the range and reliability as the rest of us) - Girl with the dragon tattoo (paperback) - really nice travel coffee mug - "dogs are people too" hippie uniform and then promptly spent $450 on textbooks for next semester

^ My "Mr. Beer" kit is essentially what is described above. It's really "home fermenting" more than "home brewing," but still results in decent tasting stuff for cheap. if anyone in the cleveland area needs bottles, I probably have 100 extra in my basement. All are clean, and have been stored in a manner that they shouldn't be getting dusty. Obviously you'd still need to sanitize them before use, but I've done 80% of the work for you. most of them are Great Lakes Brewing Co. bottles, and their labels will survive the apocalypse. Budweiser American Ale has different shaped bottles, so you can easily use those to determine the difference between your brews even w/o a label.

my wife got her M endorsement as a "wedding gift" to me. I sold my street bike about a year later I'll get her on the track some day. I think she'll be horrible, but she'll improve quickly.

"THAT IS WHAT THE FUCK I AM TALKING ABOUT!" This guy actually looks and sounds a little like Misha's (can't remember his forum name...) cousin Yuri. Those dudes are equally as Russian, and equally as funny

Glad she's recovering. Christmas in the hospital sucks, but severe stomach pain and a burst appendix sucks more.

the fun part of street riding for me was always primarily based on the ability to accelerate rapidly. I enjoyed bombing through the metroparks, but my EX wasn't the best handling bike, nor were the leaf-covered roads confidence inspiring to go fast on. So if I get another street bike, it might be cruiser-ish. Noisy, and (moderately) fast in a straight line. I get my fix of curves at the track. Essentially I'd want a bike that does everything an 80's or 90's mustang/camaro/trans am would be good for. Noise, and acceleration. The bike will just do it cheaper, and faster

That's what people typically say when they're king-shit on the street, and then realize that even "beginner" track riders are a lot faster. (i'm just kidding. the track isn't for everyone. your bikes are all too nice to track anyway)

Maybe, but if you go down and hit a tree, or any number of other roadside hazards, your medical bills are going to be a LOT higher than when I lay it down in turn 2 at 90 mph, get up, and walk away. Plus i think you learn a lot more much more quickly on a track. I get 100+ opportunities a day to get a given corner just right. On a street ride, you get one, and you're holding back all the time, not knowing if there's gravel, traffic, etc. Street riding with any level of moderate "aggression" isn't worth the risk. Too dangerous.

^ this is similar to what I was going to post. I did 5 trackdays on my street bike, then bought a track bike. I was still commuting pretty regularly on my street bike, but during fall semester, it gets darker earlier and earlier, and I was getting out of class at 9:45 Between the safety issues with riding in the dark, and the risk of my bike getting messed with at CSU, I stopped commuting nearly as much. Then I had to start dressing more professionally at work, and stopped commuting all together. Weekends were generally spent riding my track bike, fixing my track bike, or doing yard work once we bought the house. By the time i put my street bike up for sale, I had ridden it twice that summer, and was looking for a way to finance my track riding (after we replaced a $2400 air conditioning unit on the house). I would like another street bike for sure. I still don't think I will ride it much, but it will be a fun project, and a cheap toy. Right now, I just want a track bike more than a street bike.

A buell with big ugly radiators hanging off the sides no less I am in full support of ratting out an RC51, but there's a reason that the chopper/bobber crowd usually favors air-cooled engines. Radiators are hard to make aesthetically pleasing. I've seen a few people relocate them, but that can reek havoc on your cooling efficiency (which is already a bit of an issue with the RC...), so the next best bet is to make and paint a radiator guard to cover it a bit, without restricting much air-flow. I'm casually looking for a Katana 750, or F2/F3 to rat out, so i've been weighing the pros and cons of liquid vs. air cooling. An RC would be badass, but ambitious.

i had a cable snap on my way to work in 2008(?) If i knew then what I know now, I would have just called a taxi to take to buy a new cable, rather than having the bike towed. The cost of the cable, and tools to replace it would be less than the tow cost me. Or rather, now, I would have the taxi take me to get my trailer... I don't like clutchless down-shifts. I've done it by accident while racing (hand slipped off the clutch, and I had to get to 2nd gear, or get killed on my drive out), but don't feel like it's as smooth as up-shifting with the same method.

I think the general consensus in this thread is "know your audience," or at least try to be predictive of their likely reaction to seeing a firearm carried openly. I am probably a bad example, because i'm somewhat desensitized by seeing plain-clothed detectives carrying on their belt at my county job, but I would guess that many people will assume anyone openly carrying a firearm is some sort of off-duty LEO. In a lot of ways, open carry is like crashing a wedding... Act like you're supposed to be doing it and it's no big deal, and most people won't question you.

Seriously. How old is the OP? I know I'm not the youngest buck on this site, but at 28, I remember reading about this a long long time ago. I would have guessed high school, but 2003 is a little too late for that.

Look into the penalties as well. As we discussed in the thread about crime on CSU's campus, CC in a government building (i.e. state school campus, post office, etc.) is a felony. Just disregarding an establishment's "no guns" sign is a misdemeanor. Usually just a slap on the wrist in the long term. I'd risk the misdemeanor in certain situations. I'd avoid any situation that risked a felony.

i'm in disbelief that this occurred. The article I read actually said that they're still waiting to get ballistics results to confirm that it was definitely this guy's shot that killed her. I thought mythbusters tested this, and a bullet would have to have PERFECT trajectory to arc and hit someone with enough force to kill them. If the bullet loses rotation and starts to tumble, it would hurt, and could cause serious injury, but death should be even LESS likely Good on the guy for turning himself in though. It's sad all around. Frankly, I hope he apologizes, and the law goes a little easy on him. Wonder what they'll charge him with.

this was a pro se defendant with a hand-written request that his appeal be re-opened. He wrote it from jail, and his arguments were garbage. beyond that, he filed his request for reopen after the deadline, so strictly speaking, the court didn't even need to consider whether or not he had a valid point. i believe the firearm spec was added to BOTH counts (agg robbery on 1 victim, and robbery on the 2nd). He was either only convicted on 1 of the firearm specs, or they were to be served concurrently anyway, so it was 3 years regardless. the fact that they couldn't recover the gun, and the witness changed her story made it a little suspect, but there's no doubt in my mind that the guy had a gun, or wanted them to believe he had a gun. If it wasn't really a gun, that's his dumb fault...

"Harbor Freight: when it only has to work once or twice." I used to say that as a joke, but honestly, it's turned out to be pretty much spot-on. Anything that gets used with any frequency should be purchased elsewhere. The exception might be their trailers, but even those benefit SIGNIFICANTLY from relatively minor improvements, like better hardware and such.

**edit** Scruit beat me to it, because i didn't finish the thread before posting. 3-year firearm spec confirms the experience I posted below though. Ohio adds "firearms specifications" to crimes where it can be proven a gun was used. 7 years isn't correct though. I believe it's 3-5. It may be a larger range, like 1-10, but a flat 7 is definitely not correct. I actually had to write an appellate brief for a guy who was appealing his aggravated robbery conviction with a 3-year firearm specification. Basically he was saying that they should throw out the firearm spec because one of the two victims never actually SAW the gun. That's not surprising when the robber approaches from behind you, and holds it to your temple... Anyway, the second victim clearly saw the gun, but police never recovered it. the guy tossed it while fleeing. Frankly, his argument wasn't completely lacking merit. His appeal was still denied (because I wrote a fucking badass brief).

yeah, I wouldn't count on them MAKING money, but if they can get them cleared, and the stumps ground out in exchange for letting someone sell the lumber, then win/win. It looks like their offroad trails are going to be a thing of the past though.

welcome. my leathers would be a tad large on you, but they're priced right. check the classifieds. Plenty of us are regularly at the track.

I don't know how old that google maps image is, but they are going to have to clear a LOT of trees for track and run-off area... ca-ching$, ca-ching$, ca-ching$.

I meant behind as in that's where you would look too see it from the paddock. This is a crude sketch of the new track layout, with the existing facilities.

A lot of people seem to be making the assumption that we're just going to wake up one day, and the world will have gone to shit. If there's a major natural disaster, that might be the case, but I think it's FAR more likely that things deteriorate slowly, and you have more of a chance to plan. The 'trick' to things is going to be predicting approximately when currency becomes useless, and liquidating your cash stock at the right time. As long as the dollar has some value (albeit diluted), you can purchase supplies. Once that's totally worthless, you're left to trading and stealing. Assuming you predicted the collapse of the dollar correctly, you have a LOT more food, ammo, tools, gasoline, clothing, and other supplies TO TRADE. Personally, I would plan to make my house appear as though it's been abandoned, but try to stick it out at home. I have a solid structure that's small enough to to (at least partially) heat without gas or electricity, and I'm in pretty close proximity to wooded areas that will provide at least a temporary supply of food. The dogs would be the hardest part they're probably a liability, and 2 more mouths to feed. If they could be trained for security or hunting purposes, then they earn their keep. Otherwise, they're just companions (which is awesome now, but not in an emergency situation).