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5 Common Wear and Tear Items on Motorcycles
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chipshotParticipant
When I hit the 18-wheeler, it was stopped. The SUV just started moving over while I was next to it. Not much I could do at that point except try to squeeze through as best I could. I couldn’t tell if they were doing it on purpose or not, and I didn’t want to stick around to find out. I try to stay away from those big ones as best I can, and pass them quickly when I have to.
I’ve never had my mirror tapped, but now I probably won’t hold it against them too much if it does happen. Just one of those things.
chipshotParticipantI don’t go over 30 mph, and now I watch mirrors very closely, so I’m probably much slower at this time. Once I don’t see any more brake lights, I will line back up. When it slows down to the point where I think I’m going to have to put my feet down, I’ll split off again.
chipshotParticipantI second Munch’s opinion on learning on the 900. I am currently riding an ’07 900 Custom and have over 1K miles on it now. I had absolutely no riding experience before either.
First, I absolutely love my bike. I ride it everyday, to from work, errands, and fun on the weekends. I don’t regret getting it in any way whatsoever.
However, be prepared for a much steeper learning curve, and be honest about your skills and confidence before you decide to go with the 900. I aced my MSF test, and I still crashed my 900 on my very first ride. I took a left turn from a stop, but I went way too fast and right into the curb on the other side of the street. As the bike was going down, I tried to catch it quickly and ended up pulling my hamstring quite badly. The bike was okay, but I had a bad limp for the next couple of weeks.
For me, it is the weight of the 900 that causes me the most anxiety. I’m at the point now that I can do turns and u-turns at will, but it took a great deal of dedicated practice to get comfortable. In the MSF course, I had almost no real anxiety about that stuff at all, because I could really manhandle those bikes.
So, I’m not anybody to tell you not to get a 900 for a learner, but I just want to let you know that it is going to be more difficult even if you feel supremely confident in the courses. At this point though, I’m really glad I did, because it has a number of really nice features, and handles like a dream on curvy roads. I have to keep myself from scraping pegs now because I love how it handles so much I tend to lean more than I need to. Anyways, I could go on, but good luck on your choice, and go in with your eyes wide open! I would have gone with the 500 Vulcan if I had found one.
chipshotParticipantI also have a pair of the Shift Torque, and a pair of the Cortec DSX jeans. I wear one or the other whenever I ride.
I rarely drive on freeways, and avoid them whenever possible. So for my daily riding to/from work at ~35 mph I like them better than regular jeans. Maybe they aren’t that much better for abrasion, but they are better, even though I haven’t tested them myself yet (kow). Another benefit is when my seat gets wet, the moisture doesn’t soak through, so that’s another bonus.
But the fit of the Shift jeans is quite disappointing while riding. They are plenty long enough, they cover my boots completely while standing and then some, but when riding they ride up over the top of them pretty bad. A plus is that they are relatively lightweight so you don’t sweat very badly in them even on hot days.
I tried the knee armor in the Cortec jeans for about 15 minutes and then ripped them out for good. But I like the Cortec fit much better, they don’t ride up near as bad as the Shift jeans, but they do ride up some. They are quite baggy (as JackTrade pointed out), so you need to like that fit if you want to wear them.
Overall, I say go with it if it comes down to wearing those or just regular jeans. Something is better than nothing, in my opinion.
chipshotParticipantWay to stick with it owlie. And yes, you are crazy for doing so, but it sure is satisfying when you get it right isn’t it! Damn addictive if you ask me, but that’s not a complaint .
chipshotParticipantI’ll check that video out. Thanks!
I heard about that technique from a friend at work, he’s been riding for a very long time. Since before I was born in fact! He gives me his Cycle World magazines after he has finished reading them. Today at lunch, I was sitting with him and two other fellas who also ride, and told him how I had tried that and it really seemed to work. The other two fellas had no idea what I was even talking about. They’ve been riding for years as well, but had never heard of using the rear brake at all for slow driving.
In fact, my MSF course didn’t even cover it. We practiced the slow speed drill and the pause, but they never said anything other than just use the friction zone. Actually, when they discussed slow speed driving and u-turns, their advice was to just power walk and drag your feet. They said that we had to do it right for the test, but in real street driving just walk it around so as not to risk dropping the bike or running into something.
chipshotParticipantThanks Munch, owlie and eon for the welcome! Forgot to say that before…but I hope it’s never too late to say thanks!
So today I rode into the DMV with my learner’s permit and MSF certificate, and left with my full M1 motorcycle license. That means freeways, night driving and passengers are all legal for me now. Of course, “licensed” and “skilled” are two completely different things, but it feels good to have that done. As far as I’m concerned, if I never see a freeway on my bike, that’s just fine with me. As for night driving, I guess that’s okay, but I’m not that interested in it. At least I won’t feel the pressure of having to get home at sundown anymore.
I did some parking lot practice on Sunday, and having a heavy bike like the 900 definitely makes the learning curve steeper. If anything, it’s just the newbie anxiety from thinking about having to pick it up. But I already crashed once on my first ride a few weeks ago, and I don’t want to replay that. I just started out really wide and easy with my u-turns getting tighter as I grew more confidence. I also worked on leaning more until my peg feelers touched a little. I have one turn on my way into work that’s just like the 135 degree turn in the MSF course, and my pegs have touched twice while doing it, so I wanted to get comfortable with that. This particular turn is bordered by curb on both sides, which is a heck of alot different than cones, so I thought it would be good to work on that without the extra distractions. Last week, someone even honked at me right before it because I had slowed down so much. All I could think was “Thanks! Because that’s just what I need right now! More pressure!”
Does anyone use the rear brake while doing slow speed driving? I tried it while doing my slow driving practice and I think it works out pretty well. Use the friction zone, and open the throttle a little more than usual and ride the rear brake slightly. The bike feels considerably more balanced at slow speeds when I do that. Then I just let a very little bit of clutch out if I need some more speed, and then come back in and gently ride on the rear brake if I need to slow. I still need quite a bit of practice with it, because it’s another thought experiment right now, but I can definitely feel my balance improve. Of course, starting out with a lighter bike would have been ideal for all of this practice.
Anyways, I’m going to head out for a celebration ride around the bay and some dinner. Later!
chipshotParticipantHi Munch, how do you like those Kuryaken ISO grips? They look really nice.
Also, how long did it take you to de-baffle the pipes?
chipshotParticipantWoke up early this morning and took a ride up the coast highway from San Diego to Oceanside. It’s a really easy ride, no twisties, but lots of stops through the coastal towns. It was actually pretty educational, because of all the stop and go, my gear shifts became totally automatic. They used to be a bit of a thought experiment, but by the end of the ride it all became muscle memory. The road goes right along the coast at some points, then heads into the towns for a bit, and back to the coast, and you ride right by Torrey Pines Golf course at the end in San Diego. I probably spent a little too much time looking at the water, but man that was fun. Felt like, well, I don’t know how to describe it, but I know I had an ear-to-ear smile the whole time.
I’m also playing a game with manhole covers in the streets where I swerve around them, but I don’t do it in traffic. At one point, I was swerving around one and came upon a large spring in the road mid-swerve. Swerved around that too! I got the idea from one of my MSF instructors who says he does that to keep sharp. Also said it saved his life one time when he swerved around one in Mexico that didn’t have a cover! Yikes!
I love motorcycling.
chipshotParticipantI agree, it is larger than I wanted to start on. The weight difference from the 125’s and 250’s I learned on is substantial. However, the throttle is really easy, so I don’t feel like the bike is just going to take off on me. That, and I haven’t felt cramped at all, so overall I’m really happy. After I had to rule out the 250’s I saw the Vulcan 500 review and looked for one of those, but they can’t sell them in California! The closest used one was 100 miles away in LA. So I looked at some other Vulcans and the custom was a nice fit at a really nice price. $5000 with only 2000 miles on it and no damage. I do wonder how that skinny tire is going to track in grooves, but I haven’t tried to find out.
So, I took my first ride to work today, and had one driver try to run me off the road. I was in the center lane on an overpass, and there was an off-ramp from the freeway merging into the right lane. A school bus was merging over, and it had a trail of cars behind it. The SUV immediately behind it and next to me swerved right over and into me in my lane. Probably suffering road rage from having to follow the slow school bus. I braked hard because there was a line of cars on my left and I didn’t think I could swerve over. I even tried hitting the horn, but I pressed the blinker instead, so my horn was late. The driver looked back and waved to me, then shot ahead in front of the school bus and immediately turned right! They couldn’t wait the extra few seconds behind the bus. Oh well. At the very next light, I was still thinking about it and stalled on my start (I never do that). The drivers around me probably thought I was a goner and soon. High drama on my first ride to work. I hope that doesn’t happen every day. Next time I’m going to move all the way over to the left lane before I hit that overpass.
I’ll get some pics, but I don’t have a working camera at the moment, and the ones I took with my cell phone aren’t coming out well enough to post up. I’d love to show it though. I really like that blue color.
chipshotParticipantSorry to hear that you crashed, but I also did on my first ride. I wasn’t going nearly that fast, in fact I was making a left turn from a stop. I was in my neighborhood on a street with virtually no traffic (thankfully). The street I was turning onto was kind of narrow and cars were parked along both sides. I hit the throttle too hard during the turn and I target fixated on the car and curb that I was rapidly approaching. Luckily I went into the curb instead of the car, but I tried to save the bike by putting my leg down and really pulled my hamstring. Didn’t make the save either, but the footpeg kept it from going all the way down, so I got it back up and turned it off just before I puked on the side of the road.
I sat there for about 15 minutes trying to figure out if I had torn my muscle or not. There were two ladies across the street that saw me do it, and they quickly turned and walked away. Thanks for asking if I was okay!
Anyways, I gathered myself and got back on. I almost went straight home to ice, medicate, and wash the taste out of my mouth, but I turned back around and did the same corner again before going home. I knew I couldn’t carry that memory or it would weigh too much on my mind. This time, I took it slowly, looked where I wanted to go instead of at the cars and curb, and made it just fine.
I’m kind of glad it happened. It really deflated that initial enthusiasm, so I’m far more careful now than I would otherwise be. I remember thinking just before my crash about how confident I felt even though I’d only ridden a total of 10 hours on a motorcycle at that point, and not in any traffic or intersections. Then…BAM! Really brought me back to reality in a quick way. I’m hoping the pain in my leg stays around for awhile, because it’s a good reminder for me to be careful everytime I have to throw my leg over. Take care, and I hope your ribs heal up soon!
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