redkow97

curious on barrel length. Would love to have this as a carry weapon, but only if it's got a nice short barrel. Looks like you've already got plenty of interest anyway.

never been there? how long have you lived in Ohio? STT used to ride BeaveRun! Pretty easy track to learn though. only real "trick" to going fast there is learning a good reference point for turn-in as you crest the hill for 7. I use a little blue square that's painted on the track. Everything else is pretty straight-forward. Watch the bump if you pass on the brakes 'inside' going into T1. Shouldn't upset the bike, but it can scare the shit out of you if you've been setting up wide (race line), and only go left to pass.

yep. Unless the bike is used primarily for touring, with a few jaunts through tighter roads. about once a month I convince myself I want a touring bike, and I'll shop bandit 1200/1250's, or SV1000's with clubman bars, etc. Then I realize that I really don't have the time to do much distance riding, and I prefer to spend my weekends racing anyway. It's never a question of "which bike is best?" It's a question of "which bike will be best for the type of riding I do most often?"

If she's read any of the other intro threads for women-folk, I trust she'll tread lightly. welcome to ORDN. Enjoy your stay, and ignore (or laugh at) the leg humpers

FYI - a guy on the NESBA board is selling an '03 600RR track bike for $1200... It's in VA, but I'm seriously considering picking it up myself for that price. Needs a new brake lever and some other minor stuff, but you could be on track for well under $2k. Like I said, I am trying to talk my wife into letting me buy this as a spare, or a simple investment. $1200 for a running bike (brand new un-mounted set of tires included) is a steal.

I'd tread lightly here. Have him take the MSF course before buying anything. My brother and I are way into riding. Convinced our dad to buy a bike. He sold it about a year later at a $400 loss. Probably rode it 10 times at most. Anyway, my point is that you can't make your friends love riding. Of my really close friends, none ride. My brother rides, but we lived 100 miles apart. You're better off making friends who ride than making friends ride. I catch shit from my buddies when I go a couple weeks without seeing them ("you're always at the track"), but it is what it is. I wish they were interested in bikes, but I can't make them love it any more than they can make me like golfing...

I don't think you're going to hear anyone argue that torque isn't highly desirable for any form of street riding, but liter sport bikes take outright power to excessive levels. I'm not saying that's a bad thing; it's just not absolutely essential. if you're into distance touring, a bigger engine will certainly cruise at highway speeds at lower RPM, and give you more torque without down-shifting ...but I like shifting. It keeps me involved, entertained, and ultimately I have more fun dropping 2 gears and pinning it than simply being lazy and rolling on in 6th. It's like driving a Honda S2000; the first couple years before they bumped the displacement to 2.2 liters. The more you rev the piss out of that car, the more fun it is. Drive it like you hate it, and you'll love it. I view 600's in the same light. the more you work them, the more you love them. But a lot depends on if we're talking sport bikes, or sport touring bikes. The FZ6 is the only real 600cc sport touring bike I can think of off-hand, and if you compare it to an R6, it's easy to see that Yamaha cammed the FZ6 for torque rather than top-end horsepower. an CBR 1000 is no more comfortable to tour on than a CBR 600. The additional torque is a poor substitute for a true sport touring bike. The Ninja 1000 is probably one of the better options out there for a bike that can tour, but looks the part of a full on sport bike.

I know this is an older post, but I'm glad I wasn't crazy thinking there was a 5.7 option. I know (or used to know) Fords a lot better than Chevys, but I would have been shocked if the 5.7 block wasn't used in the trucks. I only knew the 5.3 from the SSR, and I didn't know the 6.0 had been around as long as it would seem it has. I really don't want to bag on the 5.3, but like I posted before about my buddy Mike's Tahoe, the 5.3 was kind of underwhelming towing a 6x12 with two bikes. I wasn't driving, so maybe I'm off-base, but as a passenger it sure seemed like the 5.3 was making a lot of noise. No enclosed for me, but my "tow rig" gets almost 24mpg highway on its own, and right around 20 towing a bike or two. Really liking the last gen Tucson V6. My Altima w/ a 2.5 inline 4 only gets 1 or 2 mpg better on the highway!

Lawyers aren't cheap. Call it to their attention and threaten legal action, but paying an attorney even a few hundred dollars is probably more trouble than it's worth unless you're really getting screwed by the deal. Cost/benefit analysis is in order.

welcome. now please explain how I can make my wife jealous by hanging out with you.

can I make the destination a multiple-choice list?

Saw this late, but the answers are still worth posting: - NESBA isn't nazi on the numbers, but they like to have a way for the corner workers to identify you if someone in the paddock needs to approach you about something you're doing on track. I've seen everything from "green #12 is making illegal passes in 'I' group" to "red #80 is waaaaaay off line through T7. someone probably wants to mention that to him." Once they even returned a guy's knee puck at the end of the day because teh corner worker knew the bike number. The other thing is that (god forbid) if you are knocked unconscious, they can't ask you your name to look up your emergency contact info, allergies, blood type, etc. They CAN look at the bike laying next to you and pull #524's registration waiver with the emergency contact info on it. - Ray (the SB image) no longer works at BeaveRun. I believe he's at New Jersey Motorsports Park now, and it's a shame. Ray is fantastic. Jamie Leigh photography (or something like that) usually shoots Saturdays at BeaveRun, but she's rarely there on Sundays (from what I've seen).

Awesome, thanks. I a buddy of mine texted me back with 32mm as well. I'm 90% sure that my honda is a 22mm front, so I have that. steering stem nut is 27mm, so I know I have that. Rear on my bike is ??? though. I'd have to look at the socket. Probably 33 or 31 the way my luck is!

I'm definitely interested, but classes start up again this Monday. I have no effing clue what might be due on the 26th, so can't commit yet. Sounds like we'll have more than enough people to get the range to ourselves though. I participated in something similar at A&A last month, and it was a great time. Grill for lunch is a must, IMHO. Anyway, I'll keep in touch with Imprez55, if not SpeedyTriple, and Scottb as well. We're all within 30 miles of each other. I only have my 10/22 to bring, but if I bring my buddy Ray, he's got an AR-15 and a 30-06, and lots of "oh shit, Obama won the election" ammo that needs using I wish I could say i have the funds to buy a decent scope in the next month. This would be a great chance to have some help sighting it in at 100 yds.

The hard part is that the initial buy-in is 2 bikes on my part, plus a bunch of time. I think it would be even better for existing first-gen 250 owners looking to "upgrade." if people buy neons, they'll buy newer fairings. The headlight shape is what really throws things for a loop though. and it wouldn't be a cheap conversion. figure you end up buying full plastics, mirrors, and a wind-screen. That's a solid $700 or more.

Quite true! I felt hypocritical posting it, but I thought it was funny enough to risk it. thanks for calling me out ;-) But this year has been abysmal for JRP. 2009: 10 starts. 2010: 13 starts. 2011: 2 starts. my long-term track/racing goal is to qualify for an AMA pro event. I figure I'll be 40 when/if that happens, but it's on my bucket list.

Racetech emulators are great for the purpose they were designed: turning a damping-rod fork into one that has more adjustability than just preload. Messing with them is a bitch and a half. Your forks might be too long, but I used to use a $2.99 harbor freight part's grabber to get mine out without having to actually remove the forks. I still had to lift the front end of the bike and pop the caps, but no dumping oil, etc. mine is kind of like this, except it has three "fingers" http://www.harborfreight.com/24-inch-2-in-1-pickup-tool-94162.html

i really need to get serious about this business idea I thought of a few years back: hardware kits that set up older model bikes for newer model fairings. "Turn your 1999 Ninja 250 into a 2009 Ninja 250 for only $79" (plus the cost of the 2008+ fairings) I think people would pay it. Could do the same for 03-05 R6, 03-06 600RR, etc. I'd probably have to sell or distribute through one of the aftermarket fairing companies, but there's plenty of room for profit on something where the materials cost so little.

your tiny bike makes that trailer look HUGE! hahaha But that is a great deal. I paid $280 for mine new, and I don't regret it at that price one bit. The spare tire is another $45 btw, and then $40 for the decking and hardware. I probably have more like $350 into mine for a similar setup. $200 is a great deal.

yeah, my first bike was my EX500, and although it FELT powerful at the time, it's definitely manageable for a new rider. cruises at around 5500 RPM on the highway, so a bit more 'relaxed' than a 250 would be on longer rides.

i wanted to hear JRP's side of the story after the AMA was pissy with him a few years ago regarding being lapped (he 'raced' the leaders rather than letting them by). He took "hidden" video of Roger Edmundson(?) from the AMA berating him about not getting out of the leaders' way. posting it online was a bad move on his part. The video showed JRP reading Roger E the rules that said riders being lapped should hold their line. Basically JRP was right - he was a douche about it, but he hadn't done anything that violated an AMA rule. The following year, they changed the rule. In my mind that's an admission that JRP wasn't wrong, and shouldn't have been suspended. officially, i think taking and posting the video was actually what got him suspended (violation of the AMA tv licensing agreement?), but it was clear to everyone involved that JRP was suspended because he pissed off AMA management. I remember part of the video where Roger E was saying how Johnny "wasn't part of the show," and people "didn't come here to see (him) race," which is kind of true, but a dick thing to say to a guy who has paid his entry fees, and turned a fast enough lap to qualify. The fact is, no one is there to see JRP finish 17th, but they're also not going to watch a race with only 10 bikes in it. In a weird way, the AMA does need the bottom 1/4 of the field to fill out the grid. And when they're actually racing against each other, they ARE part of the show. A battle for 15th is still a battle. So I became Facebook friends with Johnny Rock Page because I appreciated the fact that the "little guy" in the AMA wasn't just rolling over for "the man." Although he comes across as an egocentric drama queen, Johnny also congratulated me personally on getting married when he saw that my profile pic was from my wedding. Over the last couple of years, I've seen him post some questionable things about his wife and divorce, but no worse than most people on facebook... Most of his posts are about how much he loves his daughters, and lately, how much he loves god. I'm not one to fault him for either. Does JRP crave attention? I think so. But the guy came pretty close to having a reality show about his family. I don't know if he's really an egomania, or just really good at effective self promotion. Maybe god really told JRP to run for president. ...or maybe a guy who has 2 starts and a best finish of 19th in 2011 found a great way to get Road Racing World to bring his name back into the public eye a few weeks before New Jersey.

any EX250 that is not the new body style (2008+?) should be pretty damn cheap by now. $2k is the most I'd pay for an older gen EX250, and it would have to be pretty flawless. Basically though, just look for general upkeep and cleanliness of the bike. Check: - tire wear (cracking? due for replacement? that's $250 you're going to spend on top of the purchaseprice) - brake pad life - fluids: check where the bike was stored. fluids on the ground is bad news. a dirty engine case might be too. - mileage matters to me. I think there's definitely a price barrier at around 15,000 miles. - cosT-metic stuff. If this matters to your friend, fairing damage is damn expensive to properly fix. If he doesn't care, it's still a good way to tell the seller, "that's going to cost me $400 to repair! At least meet me half way and knock off a couple hundred bucks." - sprocket/chain wear. look for "shark-finned" rear teeth. a 250 shouldn't wear a chain and gears very hard. If it has, it's probably not aligned properly. - call ahead and ask the owner NOT to start the bike before you get there. Touch the engine cases when you get there to see if he has. a warmed-up bike starts much mroe easily than a cold one. - take a test-ride if at all possible. I like to go single-digit speeds w/o a helmet to hear things better, then take a "real" ride with my lid on once I've heard any valve chatter, or chain rubbing, etc.

Edit - only the REAR axle. and does anyone foresee a problem with flipping around the 'arms' on my spooled rear-stand and using the other side like a paddle-style stand? His bike doesn't have spools.

Hoping to get Misha's tire swapped tonight. Anyone know off-hand the socket sizes we'll need to remove wheels? Just need to know the axle bolt sizes, and don't trust the internet to give me reliable info (except here). thanks!

We JUST got one, so my wife and I read up on it pretty recently. Each EZ pass is registered as class 1, class 2, etc.. So to pull a trailer through, you are supposed to have a "class 2" EZ pass, and will be charged accordingly. You're required to register the plates of all the vehicles on a given pass so that if it doesn't register, you're not ticketed. In that regard, you could just register a bike, and then never actually mount the pass at all - they'd just photo your plate, look it up, realize it was registered, and then charge the account. Or you may have to fight it, which could be a PITA. That will likely piss them off after a while, and it won't work if the pass is being used by another car at the same time (they'll notice).