redkow97

Probably correct. I posted something similar on the WERA board, but I think Erik's "business model" is impatient at best. He's trying to build a "world-class American Superbike" that will win on the world-stage. The problem is that you need to develop a viable business infrastructure to financially support that kind of racing effort first. Cart before the horse? Ford survived for longer than they'd like to admit on taxi cabs, police cruisers, and F150's. My humble opinion is that every motorcycle company needs to find that kind of "fleet volume" product to support their more exciting (but lower-volume) models. I don't know precisely what that looks like, to be honest, but it is the opposite of what EBR was doing...

IMHO, only the 2014 and newer corollas are aesthetically pleasing. The civic is definitely better looking up to that point. That said, owning my 2003 corolla has been stupid cheap. $240 for a set of tires. $26 for a tank of gas. Bad wheel-bearing has been the only un-scheduled expense, but at 115,000 miles, I expect those sort of things to start wearing out. My dad has 220,000 on his 'rolla. I average 33.7 mpg, and rising. That's probably 85% highway, but i sit in traffic every day on my way home, so it's not a horrible "real world" sample.

No. You can take a bike with an offroad title and then ask to have it reclassified as a street-legal vehicle. Depending on which BMV you go to, that may be as simple as signing a piece of paper asserting that you have added the necessary lights, horn, etc. If the BMV worker is feeling bitchy, they will insist that you go through the procedures as if the bike were "rebuilt" after a salvage. That means inspection by the OHP. but once you get the street title, you can plate it just like anything else.

You're doing pretty much what I plan to do with a smaller bike. Thinking 100-250cc 2-stroke. Before you spend a ton on 17" wheels, the stock rear is 18" do some research on if you can lace a rear rim to a front hub using the spoke setup from the rear wheel. Then your build cost is only in the $150 range, rather than hundreds of dollars for a set of 17's. Ending up with 18" front and rear certainly doesn't give you a ton of tire options, but it will improve the geometry of the bike a lot over 18/21. Edit** looks like Pirelli Sport Demon's or Bridgestone BT45's would fit.

I shouldn't have phrased it in a way that made it sound like a challenge. I'm not bragging about crashing - that's just something that happens when the stakes are high (as high as they can be in recreational racing anyway) and the risks are low (150 lbs. bike at 40 mph...). I think your advice to the OP was good - just not practical to implement without a place to safely practice it hundreds of times.

not knocking the bike at all, but what kind of mileage would you get if you shifted at 6500 all the time?

hahaha. all but 1 of my crashes were at the track, and the vast majority were on the 100. How often are you getting close to out-of-shape on the Vulcan?

I understand what you're trying to get at here, but I think you're over-simplifying it quite a bit. Plus there is a huge gap between knowing what to do, and being able to execute it. I've crashed 20 or 30 times probably, and I've never gotten up and not known what I should (or shouldn't) have done.

engine braking on a street bike seemed to chew up my rear tire a lot. When you're not getting the rear wheel light, it's actually got some stopping power.

why would thehy give a 451 lbs bike a single front disc? otherwise, the reviews make it sound pretty ideal for 90% of riders.

that's a strange looking pickup truck.

it's a scooter.

throttle lock woulodn't have cost him $2k... I'm not at all suggesting that an EX500 is the ideal bike for the application, but at the $2,000 price point, I think it's one of the more viable options.

with a $2k budget, I think he's going to have to look at cheap bikes and then make them tour-worthy. Buy something reliable that will eat up miles, and then spend the extra cash on a Corbin seat, hard luggage, and a bigger wind-screen. maybe a throttle lock if he's really eating up highway miles. People did those mods to their EX500 and logged 2,000 mile trips pretty easily. You don't need a big bike to tour.

i keep my ears immaculately clean. I don't "re-use" ear plugs per se, but I will use the same pair all day. I found a clean pair in my range bag this morning. Wearing them to shoot at lunch today. No idea if they're new, but if i can't tell, my ears won't notice.

The answer to that is "thinking too much."

who wants to loan me a bike?

Just looked at the results, and i didn't see any names I recognize. Has everyone stopped racing? seemed like we had 5-10 riders from here registered for every round a few seasons ago. No Brandon, no Jinu, no Craig, no Ron... I know Steve 'officially' retired and Matt sold his bike while he's finishing law school, but what gives?

if she's only on the back for 1.5 hours, go with the fastest bike or rent her a bike of her own.

Did Adam look at it? I want this thing taking some parade laps at CRP!!!

Unless it has to do with Ninja Turtles and pizza, "radical" anything is bad. Islam is no sillier than any other religion.

or electrical issues due to the rain? I know a buddy's 675 quit working during a wet race once and had to dry out before it would start again. Either way, one bike suddenly slowing and others colliding with it from behind at least explains how things got crazy.

...but are we really having this debate? Either you find something entertaining, or you don't. I find women's soccer entertaining in the same way that I find the KTM 390 cup entertaining. No, they're not the biggest or fastest competitors. They're not the most skilled competitors - but they're evenly matched, so it's good competition. I can't say the same about women's basketball though. The game loses some physicality that I miss. Plus who wants to watch women who are taller than you?

I wouldn't take too much stock in those stats. What do the US women have to gain from winning scrimmages against high school kids? I just don't buy that they're playing that hard. I would guess those are 'tune up games' to get the women acclimated to the teammates they barely ever play with, and to give the non-starters some playing time.

you're only looking for cash, yes?