[Amoryl]

now this is Wisconsin, land of no helmets, but… NEVER in all of the scooters I’ve seen on the road, with both male and female riders of all ages from young to old, have I seen a single one of them wear a helmet, or any safety equipment whatsoever. not once. not even a bike helmet, not even one of those helmets that the weird kid always had to wear for when he had an “episode”
nothing! heck I’ve seen little old senior citizen ladies scooting around on these things without anything on their head.

like I said though, this is Wisconsin, and on average my count is somewhere around 1 in 8 at best wearing a helmet regardless of what type of bike they’re riding.

[Amoryl]

Welcome to BBM!

personally, I don’t have any experience with either, but if you’re taking the MSF (and you really should be) there’s a decent possibility they’ll have one or both there, I’d reccomend taking the course before you buy and trying out a couple different ones.

that being said, there’s very very few here who have anything bad to say whatsoever about the ninja.

[Amoryl]

yeah the only harm I can imagine with a normal key ring would be the other keys swinging around and potentially scratching something, weight wise, I don’t see it.

[Amoryl]

you’ve got to have a pretty huge number of keys on your chain before you start causing damage to the ignition, I believe the Car Talk guys figure near enough to a pound of general weight. that’d be like an entire skyrise maintinence man’s keyring. or a league’s worth of crap connected to it. not saying SOME people don’t have all that…but most people don’t

[Amoryl]

wow, how much does the valve check usually cost?

[Amoryl]

weird…I didn’t even know this forum had a PM function. I glanced around for it once or twice, but never saw it. so…I guess I won’t be missing anything

hope no one sent me a PM (can’t imagine why they would…) and then was upset that I “Ignored” them

[Amoryl]

really, for a first bike, used is best. I can understand a bit more people who buy a new 250cc, because they’re really only like 3k new, but $5k-6k or more? when you can get a used one only a couple years old for nearly half that.

[Amoryl]

where the heck was that? man everyone was driving like crap!

[Amoryl]

and really, how many car accidents are really put in the news? I’ve never personally seen a motorcycle accident, let alone a serious one, I’ve seen DOZENS if not more car accidents, including ones that resulted in fatalities. there are far more cars than motorcycles, true, but there’s also far more accidents.

that being said, some idiot today on his sportsbike cut me off on the highway, and almost caused me to hit his rear tire. probably would have had I not heard the high pitched whine coming up my side, and eased off the gas. anyone know how difficult it is to go from 60-45 in moments in a cargo van? I’ve gotta wonder, if you take the Squids out of the equation when figuring out how many serious accidents happen on mortorcycles, how much safer would it look?

[Amoryl]

I only read my book at train crossings when I get caught at the beginning of a slow moving freight train

in reply to: Im so confused…. #8937

[Amoryl]

a big part of my job is driving my ’97 ford e250 cargo van to customer’s houses often 40+ miles each way on both highway AND city, and (rarely) into downtown chicago. it’s got blindsides up the wazoo, it’s slow to accelerate, it’s bouncy and loud, and for such a huge eyesore, it’s darn near invisible to soccer mom’s in their Lexus SUV’s (the winner of my most hated vehicle on the road award) who’ll happily cut me off, ride up my backside, stop in my blind spot, I’m usually bigger, tougher, and much less valuable than these $50+ k status symbols, but my work van is my lifeblood, If it’s in the shop, I’m not making money, if I’m not making money, my van doesn’t get fixed, resulting in not making money….so I drive like everyone is actively trying to kill me every moment of the day. and I’ve found I’ve become a MUCH better driver. I’ve slowed down long before a “sudden accident” because I could see what was likely to happen, I’ve had trainees stop playing the “bet you a dollar that mini van’s going to cut me off” game, and I’ve gotten out of blockages that’d almost certainly caused huge pile-ups, time and time again. I couldn’t imagine trying to learn all this on a bike…

[Amoryl]

how are you liking it? it’s top on my list of bikes I’d like to ride/buy.

[Amoryl]

I can actually understand the helmet argument. not for everyone, but some people do suffer from visibility, not because the helmet really blocks vision that much, but because some people develop “tunnel vision” while wearing them. I play paintball and there are several masks that while they provide quite decent angle of view, I hear lots of complaints about how people can’t see around them (a common complaint about the goggles I wear, though I have no problem seeing around me) I can however attest that I experience a bit of disassociation while wearing my paintball goggles, and that it’s largely due to having my face covered (that, and paintball goggles don’t always have the best ventilation) that being said, it simply forces me to concentrate on being more connected to the real world, and not allow myself to phase out. other people may not have the will…

[Amoryl]

yep, I’ll be moving late spring, early summer ’09, gf’ll get her BS, and then off to Berkley (or stanford…) for her Dr. she grew up in the bay area, so after moving out to chicagoland so I could “go back home” I conceded the next move would be her choice. and after talking to my buddy who was watching out cats while we spent christmas, while standing out in the street in a t-shirt, and him telling me about the snow and freezing cold they were suffering from…well…it was easier to agree only thing is, she needs to finish the school here first.

[Amoryl]

hey welcome to the site, I’m pretty brand new myself, sadly for me I’m a good year away from being able to get a bike (big move across country in a year, not feasable to buy a bike now) so make sure you let us know how you’re doing once you get yours. I’m also looking at the 250’s, though I’m aiming more for a cruiser (virago, rebel, etc..) than a sportbike. but everyone else here seems to love the ninja 250.

good luck

[Author]

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