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Where are you? Pros and Cons
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May 20, 2009 at 2:29 pm #2860WeaponZeroParticipant
So, name where you live and list the pros and cons of living there from a motorcyclists’s perspective.
Pittsburgh, PA
-Pros
More winding roads than you’ll ever need.
Beautiful scenery once you leave city limits.
Weather-Just the right temperature for riding when not in winter.-Cons
Cobblestone roads are more common than I would like.
Roads within city limits are poorly maintained, with potholes EVERYWHERE.
Weather-Winters suck and the fact that it rains every other day in the spring really only leaves 2 seasons for nice riding conditions.May 20, 2009 at 2:39 pm #18739BuddhaDogParticipant* Pros
Easy (2 hour) access to the mountains.
Easy (2 hour) access to the beach.
Nice country roads when you get away from the city.
Warm weather throughout much of the year.* Cons
Crazy drivers influenced too much by NASCAR (“just racin'”)
Bigass streets with too much congestion.
Hot, humid summers; this will be my first season riding, and I’m dreading wearing the gear in August.All in all, not a bad place to have a bike.
May 20, 2009 at 2:54 pm #18740megaspazParticipantPros
Twisties everywhere
Drivers generally aware of motorcyclists at least in the respect of lane sharing.
No winter
Good scenery and beaches
Big motorcycle community with a lot of variety and history.
Several race tracks for trackdays. 5 within the not-insane-to-drive-to distance.Cons
Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco… homocidal drivers as well as high rate of bike thievery.
Cops.
Hi volume of clueless, squiddly riders.
Hi volume of clueless drivers who always insist on taking away your right of way.
Hi volume of cyclists. Most not clueless, but when you get a huge gaggle of them, they’re slow to move out of the way.
Wildlife. While I like wildlife in the scenery, they tend to be on the road every now and then and are unpredictible as hell.
Roads are sporadically maintained. A lot more crappy road conditions now than before.May 20, 2009 at 3:27 pm #18743roborabbitParticipantPros:
Close to everywhere; NY, NYC, the beach, PA, Deleware.
An overabundance of motorcycles and dealerships; easy to find a reasonably priced bike.
2 Race tracks within an hour ride.Cons:
It’s NJ
Soccer Moms in what would be considered, by any sane person, light armored assault vehicles. Hummers everywhere, with lil’ women who’s noses barely reach above the steering wheel and think the drivers seat is a place to multi-task.
Geese, they like to cross the streets single file when they are in groups of 100+. Honking your horn just makes them head toward you…
Said geese somehow occupying every road that has a curve in it.
Said geese being considered a protected species.
High population density. And everyone seems to have a LAAV.
Corruption and beautification projects, instead of maintaining roads and highways politicians spend money for themselves or on useless projects like cobble stone cross-walks. As a result there is atleast 1 pot hole every 10 feet and it takes about 5 months for them to even patch it. Also, roads don’t get paved unless they have an avg. of 10 pots per 20 sq ft of road.
Highways, they all converge in central NJ and when an accident happens on one all the rest are affected. (I once sat through a delay on 287 because someone got in an accident 10 miles away on the Turnpike; my avg speed was about .5 MPH, my 2 mile commute home took me 4 hours. Should have walked)
The fact that driving with your windows open on the Turnpike during rush hour for an hour is considered equivilant to smoking a pack of cigarettes.
The fact that swimming at the jersey shore is likley to give you an ear infection (and that’s getting a bit lucky aswell.)
The fact that if you dig in any empty lot in NJ you are likley to find either an old Asbestos factory, agent Orange, medical waste, or some combination of the afore mentioned.After writing down the pros and cons…. I’m seriously wondering why the hell I still live here..
California here I come.
May 20, 2009 at 5:40 pm #18750briderdtParticipantPros:
* Away from major metropolitan areas, but not a long drive to get there.
* Several decent motorcycle stores within a 45 minute drive.
* You can ride a good long ways and never touch a highway.
* Lots of group rides, just hook up with PNWRiders and find a group.Cons:
* The area is growing. A LOT. So traffic is slowly getting worse.
* “Twisties” is a bit of a misnomer here, but you can find them, if you look hard.
* Rain… We’re just northeast of Tacoma. Wanna know when the rain will stop? July 11th. It’ll start up again in early September.May 20, 2009 at 6:32 pm #18756CandiceParticipantPros:
Close to country roads for a nice Sunday ride.Gas is cheaper than in Chicago (50 miles away).
Highway driving is not as scary away from the city.
No earthquake problems
Cons:
Lots of trucks causing bad road conditions (Wal-mart has a distribution center so there is a walmart truck that gets off at my exit every 19 seconds, gravel trucks from the gravel pits, other 18wheelers for all the industrial parks on the edge of town).Trying to avoid above mentioned trucks.
Horrifying Winters.
No twisties and lots of TWISTERS.
Too many drunk drivers, well, I think they are drunk, they drive like they are.
May 20, 2009 at 6:38 pm #18757sleepr24ParticipantPRO’S:
-great weather
-tons of other bikers
-loads of history
-basically everythingCONS:
-well traveled highways can be bumpy at times
-motyorcycle jackings
-yeah, that’s it.May 20, 2009 at 6:47 pm #18760bigguybbrParticipantPros:
-Equal Distance to Both NYC and Boston (in the middle of the greastest sports rivalry of all time, GO SOX)
-Lots of well maintained rural roads with 55mph speed limits. Makes for a ton of fun rides where you may not see a single cager.
-Not too far from Laconia or Americade
-Easy to find seldom traveled roads while learning
-A very friendly 2-wheeled populationCons:
– Weather: Don’t expect it to stay constant for more than 5 mins.– Highways, they were designed by crazy people. If you stay in one lane too long, you just accidentally got on another highway. All highways seem to converge in a 100′ span right in the center of Hartford.
– Stupid bikers (SQUIDS) – on any nice day, there are a bunch of inner city kids racing down the only straight stretch of 84 east coming out of Hartford. They only cultivate 2 skills, cutting people off, and doing wheelies at 100mph, with no gear on. They don’t work on their cornering skills so they cause quite a few accidents.
– Lots of trees, they block everyones views, especially at intersections. Also CT loves to stagger intersections so they don’t line up.
– Cell Phones: no one can seem to be bothered with getting a headset or waiting till they get home to call people, rather than driving and not paying any attention.
May 20, 2009 at 7:23 pm #18754WeaponZeroParticipantFigured I’d also do one for the city in FL I moved here from.
-Pros
Warm, sunny weather year-round, and rainstorms that you can see coming from a mile away. The weather never sneaks up on you.
Well-maintained roads everywhere you go and nary a pothole to be found.
The sawgrass expressway – a toll highway where speed laws are NEVER enforced and you’re often the only car on the road.
The beach is nearby.
Wonderful sights to see along the way if you’re riding from the east coast to the gulf coast.-Cons
All the roads are perfectly straight. The road map reads like a grid, making sportbikes totally pointless to own. Cruisers are the only bikes worth owning here.
The streets are densely populated with elderly people who lost their ability to see and to hear a long time ago, yet still have drivers’ licenses.
Laws are not motorcycle friendly, and an abundance of one percenters in the Miami and Ft. Lauderdale areas mean that everyone on 2 wheels has to suffer the consequences for their stupidity.
Warm year-round can also be read as “hot and humid” with temperatures going into the 90s and humidity upwards of 95%. Mesh jackets are the only kind of riding gear that isn’t unbearable in the summertime.May 20, 2009 at 8:21 pm #18764Clay DowlingParticipantI actually live outside of Flint, in a quiet suburb, but I’ll cover the whole area.
Pros
- – Friendly to anything with an engine, so no bad biker vibe.
- – Lots of bike shops, because of previous point.
- – One hour to Saginaw Bay/Lake Huron, which is great for beaches, boating, fishing and hunting.
- – Criminals are considered a game animal here.
Cons
- – Economy sucks. We’re always mentioned in the news for a reason.
- – High crime if you go into Flint proper. There’s a reason it’s easy to carry a gun here.
- – Roads suck. It’s not unusual for large stretches to consist of nothing but hot patch (in Lansing, the Capitol, there are whole streets that are nothing but hot patch).
May 20, 2009 at 11:23 pm #18765MunchParticipantI live in Wendell grew up in Apex and bounced around the three county area….
Pros:
Weather is suitable for 90% of the year riding.
History… Civil war, Revolutionary, Native American…. Native American decendants, Lost colony… you get the idea
Beautiful scenery from both Twisty back roads and Highways
Home to the biggest lil redneck cities around
More to list but to many to stay focused on….
Cons:
Implants…. I don’t mind people moving to my home state..but for heavens sake quit bringing the dumb ass laws with you that made you want to move in the first place.
Traffic… came with the implants
Unresitricted growth… my home and 45 acres that I grew up in Apex is now a huge apartment complex… the pond I fished in…now the parking lot.May 21, 2009 at 2:29 am #18778owlieParticipantOkay, so I don’t ride yet, but I can imagine…
Pros:
Mountains with twisty roads
Looonng days. At the summer solstice, dusk never turns to dark.
Even if you don’t bike, you probably know several people who do.
Rush hour typically doesn’t turn the highways into a parking lot in the summer.
It gets warm, but never what I would call hot. (People start complaining about the heat when it hits the upper 70s).Cons:
Tourists. Yah, we like the revenue, but the RVs are another story since most of our major highways are two lane.
Road trips aren’t nearly as fun as in the lower 48.
Dusk. It extends forever and makes it harder to see motorcycles.
Winter seems to start in mid October and end in early April. Spring doesn’t arrive until May.May 21, 2009 at 3:44 am #18781gsmurfetteParticipantKodiak, AK
Pros:
no stop lights, no traffic to speak of
no highways
decent curves
mountains/sea within 30 seconds of each other
LONG summer days!
Get on a 9.5 hour ferry to Homer and have all of the mainland to ride
not too hotCons:
only about 60 miles of road one way
major grooves from studded tires
potholes galore
tourists! they cross anywhere in the town thinking that we don’t know what X-walks are (cruise ships)
no road trips, unless you call a 2 hour ride a road trip!
semi-short riding season, once winter gets here, I’m not getting a bike! That’s from about October-early May
rain…..love the “rain-forest”
EXPENSIVE AS HELL!
Prices on everything jacked up, shipping to the island is jacked up too!Sequim, WA
Pros:
mountains and sea within about 5-10 minutes of each other
can ride west for awhile and not have to deal with freeways
lots of twisties, any side road!
people seem to be scared of motos, they almost drive off the road to give you spaceCons:
Tourists! (RVs, people from Victoria-they go like 100 down the road, and they’ll plow you over)
Potholes
old people galore! Shouldn’t there be a driving test annually after you’re 60?
rain! Western Washington loves rain
my allergies acting up big time here, can’t ride because I feel like crap on nice days right now
Only one bike shop around……that I’ve found anyways
too hot for meMay 21, 2009 at 11:15 am #18795eternal05ParticipantObviously this is for motorcycling purposes. I love Seattle in just about every other respect.
Pros:
– Great places to ride as soon as you get out of the city.
– When it’s clear, it’s freaking beautiful and perfectly temperate (picture 75 degrees, sunny, with a cool breeze). Summer is fantastic.
– uhhh….Cons:
– It’s never clear. Ever. No seriously. It’s overcast/drizzly/rainy from October to late April.
– Tons of BIG hills. Then again, I did just move back from San Francisco…
– Really weird roads in some parts. Intersections can be confusing. This is a problem for the idiot drivers that almost kill you as a result, more so than for you as a rider.
– Traffic. I’ve lived in Los Angeles, so I can’t say it’s THAT bad, but it’s still really bad.
– Pardon the french. THE SHITTIEST ROADS ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. I swear to God. I’ve ridden or driven in LA, San Francisco, Berkeley/Oakland, Palo Alto/Mountain View, Boston, New York, Wellesley, Pittsburg, Portland, Phoenix, and on and on, and I’ve never seen a city with roads so systematically crappy as Seattle’s. Specifically:1) Every single road I regularly ride needed to be repaved ten years ago. They’re all ridden with gigantic potholes, cracks, tree root damage, and phat ruts where car tires go (I’m talking 4-6″ deep, compared to the center of the lane). There is virtually no smooth asphalt anywhere.
2) We had a “bad” winter here (aka there was a bit of snow) this last January. Every idiot and their mother was out on the road with snow chains on, long after the snow melted. As a result some roads are so destroyed that they’re literally unrideable (unless of course your family jewels are made out of impact-resistant material).May 21, 2009 at 8:40 pm #18816davidmdahlParticipantRiding a Vespa LX150 in Beaverton/Hillsboro area of metropolitan Portland.
Pro:
– great riding weather whenever it is not raining
– relatively mild winter
– lots of areas with twisties
– delicious spring fresh air
– great views in the rural areas just outside of town
– courteous drivers, the occasional jerk of course, but as two-wheel aware and friendly as you can hope for in the USA
– roads in excellent conditionCon:
– lots of rainy days -
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