redkow97

My trailer rides nose-heavy, and with Imprez55's bike going on next to mine tomorrow, I'd like to remedy that. I bought a larger rise that should correct the problem, but I don't have a suitable wrench to loosen the ball from the old riser; nor do I have one to tighten it down on the new one. I can't remember how the hell I tightened the current one either. I thought I had a crescent wrench that was big enough to get around the nut on the hitch, but no dice. Now i'm thinking I call the local u-haul, and ask them if i can throw them a few bucks to borrow their wrench (in their parking lot) for 5 minutes. Other ideas? If I had plate-metal and a plasma cutter, I'd just make my own wrench...

it's dangerous to make that kind of blanket statement without some kind of disclaimer like, "in general," or "in most cases." Inline 4 cylinder engines are perfectly balanced. So are V12's. I can't remember which additional cylinder configurations are as well; or why they're "perfectly balanced," but that will affect the "feel" of an engine immensely. This is based on a motor trend article i read a long time ago, so my memory of it is spotty, but I'm fairly confident on the I-4 and V12. In any case, there are times when big torque and simple design are desirable. In those applications, an old-tech V-twin is arguably "better" than a complicated I or V 4 with additional valves to fail, a liquid cooling system that can go bad, etc. from what I have seen, both of the bikes pictured are very good, but also quite different in their power delivery. one of my happiest moments was out-driving an FZ1 onto the back straight at Nelson Ledges. At the time I was on a '93 F2 with 87hp. I figure the FZ1 has about 140, and I passed him on the gas.

Registered. Bringing Imprez with me. The dog will be staying home. See everyone Saturday morning.

Perhaps I was the only one who wasn't aware of how AMA Pro racing works, but it's now my understanding (and I may be wrong here) that the track pays AMA Pro racing $xx,xxx for the "right" to host the event. In years past, M1 promotions have billed this as the "big kahuna" weekend, and did a decent job of drawing a crowd. Supposedly the VIR staff saw the ticket sales, and thought, "we could promote this on our own - why are we paying M1 to do it?" So they fired M1, and the result was that VIR didn't know how to promote the event. Ticket sales were shit. Because there was no contract given to VIR until early June (that's the AMA's fault, as far as I'm concerned...), VIR had every right to "back out" of an agreement they were never bound by. It definitely sucks ass, but the track is the customer here. They're buying the event from AMA Pro Racing. The fact that people don't want to pay for the product isn't the track's fault. while I agree that the situation sucks, and the fans are the ones who really suffer, neither party's hands are clean here. The AMA could have supplied a contract sooner, or cut the price to help out VIR. VIR could have or should have kept a promoter involved to bolster ticket sales, but keep in mind, that's just another added expense for the track. The promo company has to manage to pay for itself, then cover the AMA fee, then all the other expenses involved in running an event of that scale for a weekend; THEN make a profit.

check the WERA board. Racing is a small community. Someone will talk to someone else, and before yuo know it the whole community will know. there aren't a lot of Daytona Motorsports Group fans in the WERA crowd, so if the track itself was actually to blame, and that's the story people are hearing, I would tend to believe it. They will be looking for any reason to bash DMG.

Ask me after track season! I just bought a new helmet today<facepalm>

Isn't this kind of like asking which hard luggage will work best on an R6? Just seems like you're spending enough on suspension to buy a cheap old sportbike like an F3 or something similar. hell, I am biased because I owned one for so long, but I bet an EX500 is every bit as quick as the glide in a straight line, but wil be "sporty" enough to make you grin a lot.

What's scrap at now? I could have picked up a lot .223 brass. There were 4 guys with AR-15's!

cheaper tires, lighter and better handling, less likely to highside the 600, less work to ride the 600, you will be forced to learn more because you won't have 150hp to rely on. Plus there aren't a lot of tracks around here where a 1000 can really stretch its legs. Mid-Ohio's back straight is ~3,000 feet. 600's are JUST ticking the rev limiter. liter bikes may not even need 5th gear.

a ZX-14 rider WOULD think this way The mileage on the R1 makes me a little nervous. if there are other mechanical issues looming, then i'm definitely sold on the CBR. Pauly can fix your forks for a very reasonable price, and you can borrow my stand to hold the bike up while they're being fixed. I also have the socket for the front axle if you need it. for street duty, I have basically no opinion. For track duty, it's hard to say, because the R1 has upgraded suspension, but the CBR will be less work to toss around. I guess i lean toward the 600, just because it will be cheaper on tires, and a better learning tool. Jbot does pretty damn well on stock '03 600RR suspension. I have stock internals in my forks, but a penske shock. Neither of us will be the slowest "Advanced" guy out there, and (no offense) passing you on an R1 will be pretty easy until you've got a lot more track experience. Now on the street, there is virtually no situation where carrying corner speed to out-pace a bigger bike is safe. Be honest with yourself about what you really want the bike to do. If 95% of your riding is on the street, the R1 is going to be a bit more user-friendly, but it WILL hold you back at the track to some degree. Whether or not you care for 5% of the time is your call. For this weekend, ride whichever one is going to be less of a head-ache. You want to RIDE your first trackday, not wrench all day.

i've read some magazine reviews of the "armored" jeans, and they're really just (usually) reinforced with kevlar in the impact zones. that means knees/shins, ass, and hips. The rest is sometimes just denim. The magazines (accidentally) crash-tested at least one pair and they were impressed - but only because it was a really minor wreck... I really WANT something like that to work, but I think they're a false sense of security for the most part.

how official is the timing for a beer bong? is there a little transponder on it somewhere? can I bring my own beer bong to the fight and go head-to-head? who judges who is first? what about that "ass" left in the tube afterward? how much is enough to disqualify the would-be winner?

who was there from that crew? Jeff's been doing a lot more riding than Eddie while Eddie's hand heals. i figure either of them could qualify for Daytona Sportbike if they wanted to, but it's probably not worth the coin to be a backmarker... The leaders were in the :29's, and you needed to be ~1:35 to be in the top 20. I'm shooting for :39's (i think) the next time I ride Mid-O, but I bet Eddie and Jeff can get into the :35's, or better.

i'll see how he is around running bikes. Brutus tried to attack my weed wacker last thursday. he's a weird dog... god I hope he gets adopted soon...

I'm only riding Saturday. Probably will go down Saturday morning, and need to come home Saturday night. If you're looking for a ride though, as long as we can load up Friday night, I have room for you and your bike. For Nelson, gas costs are really pretty negligible, so help me w/ the dog, and we'll call it even. Was the track plastics comment directed at me? I don't have any for sale. I have lots of painter's tape though. PM me, and let's talk.

I guess all i'm looking for is someone to give him some shade adn water if i take an ambulance ride. My parents are 40 mins away, so they'd come get him and take him home.

MY dog is great with other dogs. This is my coworker's dog that his parents had to surrender when they moved. Long story... anyway, Brutus isn't terrible with other dogs; he is just a yippy a-hole when he first meets them. He barked and tried to kill my friend's pug for 10 straight minutes. Then we took them outside, butts were sniffed, and they were totally fine together for the next 4 days while my friend was in Florida. He's just really jealous because he's spoiled. And he's got a Napolean complex. I'll probably pit off by myself to keep him away from trouble just in case.

when you're riding an inexpensive bike from the 80's, there's less wrong with being a casual rider. You've got less invested. What cracks me up is the people who spend $24k on a Harley, or even more on a Goldwing, and then barely ride. I'm going to be lucky to get 1,500 miles of riding in this summer. Granted, being track only, that's probably not as "sissy" as it sounds (arguably, anyway), but I don't think there's any shame in riding to enjoy it, rather than to 'be a real rider.' If you're having fun, you're doing something right. If you're not, you're doing something wrong welcome. Now pics of any and all bikes. I'll ride anything w/ a disk brake up front. The fellas who race bikes with front drums are nuts, IMHO.

might want to check that again. My dog was definitely hit by a baby skunk. It wasn't even 1/10 as bad as what mama skunk had done to him the previous year, but the little buggers can still spray. baby skunks are almost cute. All that means is that I would feel worse drowning one in a garbage can.

Looking to make this "official" and register ASAP, but I am almost definitely going to have a dog with me, and need someone to keep an eye on him while I'm riding (not that I'm worried he'll get into trouble - just better to be safe). Brutus is a 4 yr old puggle. He's a good little dog, if a bit excitable. He is kind of a turd with other dogs. The people who surrendered him to the rescue spoiled him rotten, so he's really jealous of other dogs. But he's pretty good w/ people when he's the only dog around. The more you love on him, the better he is. Anyone not riding in "A" going to be around? Chances are that you would have very little to do except sit in the shade and drink out of my cooler for your trouble.

this was a relatively un-molested helmet when we started. It had some scuffs, but it had never been crashed. This was about half way through the day. It's in way worse shape now, and I can post more pics later. CD "tree" after shotgun intervention. .22lr round after penetrating 852 pages of Constitutional Law. I was surprised by how much the hollow point actually opened up upon impact. the hp on .22's looks like you took a mechanical pencil lead, and poked it into gum. Not large at all. I think I shot about half of these: Don't break into Ray's house... He must have been shooting the 12 gauge at this point. (30-06 and AR-15) the .45 and 9mm. I've shot these before, but didn't have time yesterday

The NEO guys have probably all been to A&A (right near Nelson Ledges), but yesterday was my first visit. I went in not knowing what to expect, and that place is awesome. Totally beat to shit (seems to be a theme in Garrettsville...), but awesome. My uncle is a big hunting and fishing enthusiast. Always has been. Anyway, a few weeks ago, I was forwarded an email from one of his neighbors (i've met these people at least 50 times throughout my childhood, but probably haven't seen them in 10-15 years) saying that they had reserved the "sporting" range at A&A. I'd say it's about 100 yards, but the fact that it was 20+ guys who all knew half the people there, and the range patrol basically left us alone all day made it a fun time. Counting my cousin (recently "retired" for medical reasons), there were at least 3 police officers with us. I think that probably helped our cause as far as being left alone. So i rolled in around 11:00, and there was already a healthy array of stuffed animals, bowling pins, an LCD computer monitor, cans, toys, dishes, bin-laden pictures, Justin Beiber posters, etc. scattered about the range. I added 2 rows of CD's screwed to some scrap lumber, and my original helmet from when I started riding in 2005. I started off just trying to not suck with my 22. Then my friend Ray handed me his 30-06. The largest caliber weapon I had previously fired was a .45 pistol (also Ray's). I took aim at the helmet, and put a large hole in it. The .22 wasn't doing much to the CD collection, so my cousin handed me a 20 gauge. Having never fired a shotgun before, I was expecting a lot of kick, but compared to the 30-06, it was pretty tame. My uncle insisted that I shoot some clays with his over/under 12 gauge. I hit my first few clays, then went into a slump before getting comfortable with it again. This went on for a while, and the bottom line is that I definitely want a shotgun as my next firearm purchase. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was shooting Ray's AR-15. I've always thought of showing up to the range with an AR as sort of like showing up to a beginner trackday with an 1198R, and a full pit-crew... Having shot it though, it is pretty much awesome, and I see why people like them so much. Minimal recoil, surprisingly accurate, and fucking fun as hell to shoot. Ray had a lot of .223 ammo that was starting to get old enough that he wasn't shy about getting rid of it But one of the highlights of my day was shooting my Grandfather's (now my uncle's) Ruger single-six. Fun little gun. Easy to shoot, and really accurate for a handgun. The history made it way cooler for me than the actual shooting, but there's something retro-cool about having to cock a single-action revolver that I kind of like too. So what did I learn? - a lot about shooting - even a cheap MC helmet will stand up to a buckshot. The wearer definitely wouldn't be happy about getting hit, but it doesn't penetrate the shell. - a 30-06 will do DAMAGE to a 1,400 page Constitutional Law textbook. - a .22lr will stop on page 852 pics to follow:

there is no such thing as "news" or "sports" when money is involved - there is only "entertainment."

the NFL could (should?) start its own minor-league system. It works for baseball. I don't know the percentages, but it seems to me that more players come from the minors than from the NCAA. Frankly, I am surprised the NFL hasn't tried to dip into that revenue pool and compete with college football. it might actually even be a great stepping stone into a tiered league system, like European soccer. The top 2 teams in the lower league move up the next season, and the bottom 2 teams move down. Just come up with cute names for them instead of "majors" and "minors," and everyone has a place to play.

people are interested in what they're familiar with. Blacks make up something like 12-15% of the US population. A failure to pursue 15% of the viewing public isn't necessarily meant to be racist; it's just a simple numbers game. I was just as disturbed by that a-hole in Columbus who jumped on his infant son and then threw him in the trash. That was a black baby, wasn't it? It's been a while.