redkow97

sweet. I want one.

at least you realize that you're better off letting someone else teach her. I'd push her to wait for the MSF course. After 'teaching' my wife to ride, she dropped my bike in my garage (this was a couple years before we were married). Somehow the only damage was a broken clutch lever. To this day, I don't know how she managed to drop the bike so perfectly... As her wedding present to me, she surprised me by signing up for the MSF course. Llike I said, this was over two YEARS later. Initially, she did NOT do well. I got a call during their first break of the day saying she wanted to come home because she wasn't catching on. But rather than being the bad guy who was doing a piss-poor job of teachign her, I was suddenly the good guy reassuring her that she could do it, and if she didn't want to, she could come home any time she felt like it. She came home that day with paperwork for her endorsement. Let the MSF instructor be the bad guy... no one on this site should be saddled with that task.

WARNING: AMA (mini) SPOILER BELOW. I DON'T KNOW IF THE RACE WILL BE TELEVISED OR NOT, BUT IT HASN'T AIRED YET. i watched live timing friday afternoon online. I believe someone rode a BMW to second-to last (20th place maybe?) in yesterday's AMA American superbike race as well. Granted, the guy was probably riding against teams with tons more support and testing time.

cool. it's like a marching band with cars.

what a job, right? "so what do you do for a living?" "oh, i make fun, elaborate, frustrating, awesome; but totally pointless, chain-reaction devices for music videos." jealous...

they have, but not recently. NESBA used to do 2 nelson weekends a season. One was run by the "midwest" staff, and one was run by the "mid-atlantic" region staff. I always missed the June date for some reason or another (brother's graduation in 2008, bachelor party in 2009), but I rode the October date in 2008. There were no more than 30 riders total. like 16 in "B" group, 10 in "I" and 1 "A" guy. Financially, it was a nightmare. in 2009, there were fewer than 5 people signed up for the September event (I was one of them), and they canceled it about a month prior. for 2010, NESBA didn't even bother scheduling it. It's disappointing, but I can't say that i blame them. Fasttrax is only $120 for saturdays though. I'll be riding with them a lot I hope. Might be there the weekend after doing Gingerman with everyone.

I am not responsible for the instance pictured, but like the title says, it's funny every time. I was looking at a WERA album, and someone had a bumper sticker that said, "OMG! Ponies!" on their lower. I've seen a very professional "Viagra" decal hidden in amongst other sponsor stickers as well. I think that one made it several months before the rider noticed. my bike is orange, thus i keep orange duct-tape in my tool box. nothing spoils your buddy's weekend photos like a big orange penis on their lower fairing but the all-time best track prank i've seen was my first TD ever at BeaveRun. They 'initiated' a new control rider by hanging his pit-bike from the scoring/timing tower. It was there through the entire riders' meeting, and he didn't notice until around 10 or 11 AM

Henry will be 2 in June. He's a beagle mutt from the Gateway Animal Hospital's "project Noah" rescue program. he was brought in as a puppy with a broken leg. we adopted him at about 7 months (leg was healed by then). Taken at the Great Lakes Brewery we also had Abe for about 2 months as a foster dog. i'd still consider him part of the family if he wanted to come back. He was adopted a few weeks ago.

i still like the 1 second Miller Highlife commercial better.

I actually live off Ridge, but not that far from Snow. they just resurfaced Snow south of Ridge, so it's not too bad there. Must have stopped before Pearl. I only drive that way to go to the airport. Work is the other direction.

"snow road - i see you."

sunday's at Gingerman are weird though - you ride from 9-10 (20 mins per group) then they close the track for 2 hours because of an agreement with a local church(?) I think they call the second hour of that break "lunch," and you ride 12-6 (instead of 5) to make up for the hour you missed earlier in the day. all told, you should get no less than 2 hours of track time, and probably 2:20. It feels like a lot more than it sounds like. I'm sure Brian and Monte can verify. My info is based on what I experienced riding Gingerman with STT two years ago.

I don't believe i 'hated' on anyone's choice; i just disagreed. my bike is for cheap thrills, emphasis on cheap. Perhaps I should have said that up front. the 'line' where street performance becomes overkill is different for everyone as well. i guess my threshold is lower than most. I like that my 500 feels fast compared to my econobox, and I like that my 600 feels fast compared to my 500. If i had a 1000 to ride around whenever I liked, I'd be afraid of getting used to it. Then I'd be out of cheap thrills completely...

finally, we agree on something! it sounds like we just have different preferences when it comes to riding. I'd never utter a bad word about an SV650 as a track bike, but I absolutely prefer an I4 for track riding. the engine-braking of twins is less comfortable for me than an I4. My fault, not the bike's.

did i log onto the WERA board by accident?

Oh he was definitely passing novices. They were way off line and barely leaning over. It looked like the 2-up rider was taking it pretty easy because of the passenger. No knee-down action, and the camera bike (a 600) almost came around him by accident in a couple of the corners :-P it was a bit surprising that the liter bike still pulled away so easily on the straights with an additional person, and that track had a hell of a long straight, but otherwise, I think they were turning a fast "I" pace by most people's standards. I think i'd keep up as the camera bike - no way I could (or would want to try to) be the 2-up pilot...

so you routinely go 100mph on public roads? I'm starting to see why our opinions differ. As for riding in the twisties, i enjoy shifting gears. Putting it in 3rd and lugging it around is boring to me. may as well be an automatic at that point. and how fast are you riding through these twisty roads? unless it's over 120, an SV650 takes turns just as well as a 1000RR; arguably better. the only twin on your list is the 500. Do you have opinions on something like an SV650 or SV1000? I don't think any supersport is ideal for street riding, so I wouldn't ride a 600 on the street either. i think i'll always have a twin as a street bike, or an older 600 modified for a more upright ride. I've ridden an R1 on the street, and it was very civilized - but I'd just feel like it was a waste of the power. If you disagree, and can afford the difference, to each their own - i just don't think it's worth it to own a 1000 purely for the acceleration. my 500 will do well over 100mph and is a hoot when the road curves. bigger bikes certainly pull away in a straight line, but it rarely matters to me.

a 1000RR isn't a "malibu" or a "civic," it's a Ferrari Enzo. Sure you can, but why?

you have a bike that's capable of 190mph, so you're using about 1/3 of its potential then, right? a 1000RR is a streetable race bike - If i said it was a 'bad' street bike, that might have been harsh, but there are absolutely better choices that make more sense. Even if you go to the track on a regular basis, a liter bike is only fully utilized by the most skilled riders, and most tracks still don't have a long enough straight for a 1000 to really stretch its legs. (maybe Barber and VIR?) liter I4 riders rave about how much torque they have. if that's what you want, a liter twin does things just as well, and will cost you a lot less to buy, and insure. Call it a difference of opinion. if we disagree, we disagree, but the thought of a cherry '07 1000RR sitting in the garage 25 days a month, and never even scratching the surface of its performance potential makes me a little sad. Man, i guess i AM a pussy.

impressive, but I think i'd keep up with that just fine at the pace in the video.

different orgs have different rules for boots, but "over the ankle" is the basic requirement. if you have leather work-boots, they'll ask you to tape the laces up. STG has the Teknic "chicane" for $143. http://stores.sportbiketrackgear.com/Categories.bok?category=TEKNIC+APPAREL:Boots I think that's what I have, but I got last year's model for like $99 on clearance at Iron Pony. i know I saw 'my' boot at IP on clearance for $79 shortly thereafter, but they only had yellow left :-p

owning a liter I-4 for street use is like buying an Xbox 360 and only playing Tetris.

^ either way, it sounds like the bike tossed him... might he have whacked the throttle as he was being "bucked" off? that would explain the 12:00 wheelie... lord knows it all happens fast enough that once the sequence of events starts, the "thought process" quickly turns to "oh shit," and then you wake up laying on the track. That Shoe is going to look good on his garage wall though!

yikes. what happened? the first pic of the wreck shows dirt already flying, so I assume the ground caused the bike to tumble into the 12:00 position. Was it a lowside with grass causing the tumble, or a high-side with grass making it that much worse? (the latter seems more likely based on the helmet impact, etc.)

i vote sell it, and buy something more suited for street use. buy your wife some flowers, and yourself full riding gear with the leftover money. win-win-win.