[briderdt]

When I was looking to buy my bike, I was pretty set on the sport bike genre, thinking that my bicycle racing background would make the sport bike position more comfortable. Well, every time I threw a leg over a sport bike in the store, something felt wrong. My feet found the pegs naturally, but they all (including the GS500) felt WAY low and forward.

Then I had a breakthrough…

I put the GS500 on the centerstand and got on the bike with BOTH feet on the pegs. Dramatic difference. Suddenly the bars didn’t feel too low, in fact they felt too HIGH. When you only have one foot on the peg and one on the floor, you can’t use your core properly, and you’ll have a LOT of weight on your hands. And it’ll feel wrong.

At the very least, have the shop floor guy hold the bike up for you so you can put both feet up. Your eyes will be opened too.

I did this with a couple guys I work with (one of which has been dead set on a Vstar), and he went from “I’d never want a sport bike” to “Hey, this is really comfortable.”

[briderdt]

The 696 was used in several basic rider MSF courses… Ducati used them as an intro, and had a lot of press folks there. But yeah, they used DUCATIS in the BRC! Check out some of the mags from, oh, last October or so.

[briderdt]

Ear plugs that simply bring the noise level DOWN are not illegal. But if you’re sporting in-ear headphones, yes.

[briderdt]

When I had my stock exhaust on, and ear plugs in, I couldn’t hear jack of the engine.

Cut about 9-10″ off the exhaust, but kept the baffles… Wasn’t appreciably louder, but it was a LOT lower tone. Now I can hear it “over” the traffic noise even with ear plugs.

[briderdt]

It all depends on the beginner.

Your moniker “badboi4life” doesn’t give me any kind of warm feelings to the fact that you might have a decent amount of self-control with the right hand, or that you’re overly endowed with a lot of “common sense” (which I find increasingly UNcommon).

That you took the MSF class is one good thing going for you.

So… Not knowing anything else about you, all I can say is “it depends”.

[briderdt]

I won’t ride without earplugs. It’s not that my bike is loud (it’s not, but the unwashed masses always assume so when I mention wearing them), it’s the constant wind noise. It was an eye-opening experience the first time I rode with them…

[briderdt]

Full racing suit is the best way to go if full protection in a slide out is your goal. But as for being the best riding gear… Well, “best” can have many interpretations. and ride2die is all about trying to tell people motorcycles are death machines and if you throw a leg over one, you WILL die. Whatever.

Remember, safety is what you do BEFORE the unscheduled get-off. After that it’s all about damage control.

I wear a mesh jacket as well (and just a couple days ago it was actually cooler NOT moving — strange), leather goves, canvas pants (Rigg’s Wear Ranger pants — cordura, double layer front, cargo pockets) with Fox knee/shin armor under them, and short riding boots. Yes, I have an armored cordura jacket, armored overpants and full racing boots for when the weather turns cooler.

It’s choices. You have to choose what you feel comfortable wearing. For some, that’s a tank top, shorts and flip-flops in the summer. For me… see above.

[briderdt]

I got them at the local motorcycle shop, but I’d imagine they’d also be available at any auto parts store as well (know the drain plug diameter though).

[briderdt]

And that’s not me, I’m just passing on what he told me…

When you change the oil, ALWAYS swap out the crush washer on the drain plug. People have a tendency to over-tighten the plug to get it to seal again, and that steel bolt in the aluminum case doesn’t take a lot to strip out… the case. Repairing that gets REALLY expensive. The crush washers are, what, $.50 max? Sounds like a cheaper alternative to me.

[briderdt]

…but anything ’06 or earlier on the SV650s should go for well under $5K. I bought my ’05 last October at KBB value for $4500. Unless you’re dead-set on going through a dealer, you should be able to find a SV650s to fit your budget no problem…

[briderdt]

Various companies will classify them in different ways. Mine (Safeco) goes almost completely by displacement, and are pretty forgiving until you get up to 1000cc. Have you asked your insurance company directly about this? And are you willing to switch insurance companies in order to support the one that actually uses real data instead of ignorant thjinking like “the ‘R’ means it’s a race bike”?

[briderdt]

The 250r is NOT a race-tuned bike, and is NOTHING like the GSX-R’s, either in displacement, tuning, or even ergonomics. Don’t let the “R” in any bike designation scare you.

[briderdt]

Deserved or not, the Blast had a reputation for having a lot of vibration. I think that in itself turned a lot of would-be buyers off. It’s a business decision. They’re going higher-end, which is unfortunate for the American market, but it is what it is.

The biggest unfortunate part is that there now is only one America made sport bike under 900cc — Fischer — and it uses the Hyosung engine.

[briderdt]

Go to Cycle Gear and spend $2 on a finger squeegee. Slips over your gloved finger and acts like a windshield wiper. Add the Rain-X, and you’re good to go even in the misty rain.

[briderdt]

‘Busa. Get the extended swing arm, too, to keep the front end down when you really open up the throttle.

Anything else is just a poser-mobile.

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