[Clay Dowling]

Especially if you’re taking off while headed up hill, working the friction zone is important. There’s a respectable slope coming out of the local grocery store’s lot, and it’s tripped me up before. I’ve stalled it, and once I nearly came to grief when I let the clutch out just a little too far and came within a foot of blowing the turn right into the side of a chevy truck.

[Clay Dowling]

I put a flyscreen on mine, and it took care of the wind problem. If you haven’t seen them, it’s a tiny thing that won’t stick up above the handle bars, and looks a bit like a bishop’s mitre.

[Clay Dowling]

I’d go with something tried and true. You don’t want your first foray into bikes to be something that brings more misery than joy. Any of the smaller Japanese bikes will be good, and they’re abundant on the used market.

[Clay Dowling]

There’s a big Honda dealership on the way home from work (this is probably a bad thing). There is always a salesman near the front door, ready to greet you. They’re polite, not pushy, and there is never a problem getting help. If you sit a bike, there will be somebody along pretty soon.

It’s a good thing there isn’t a HD or BMW dealership on the way home with a similar policy, because it would get a lot more expensive in a hurry.

[Clay Dowling]

Although I’m not seeing a lot of grace in that little beast.

For what they’re going to ask, you can buy a new 250, which will be better able to integrate into traffic and suitable for most roads. Given the fuel efficiency of bikes like the v-star 250, I think the PUMA will be a very hard sell.

[Clay Dowling]

Very cool bike. Definitely looking forward to pics.

[Clay Dowling]

getting the good weather. The 50 degrees was cold when you account for the fairly stiff wind. Not as bad as Friday, when it wanted to blow me all over the road, but it wasn’t my favorite. I definitely needed my waterproof layer in my gear to keep the wind off.

[Clay Dowling]

When you’re more concerned about how you look than how you ride. Mostly I want to be warm, dry and visible.

Most of the comments in the linked article are generally “lay off the biker crap, it’s the stupidity that’s the problem, not the bike.”

[Clay Dowling]

Just to make sure they noticed me. And they eventually did, although I was about 2 seconds from going for my escape route.

[Clay Dowling]

You already know what it is, so I’ll leave it unsaid. Just mention that I had a very nice 50 mile ride to and from my parents house yesterday on my 12 year old Honda Magna. No maintenance issues at all.

[Clay Dowling]

There’s a certain charm to them. The bike visually says that you’re not about image. You’re not riding it as a status symbol. You’re riding it because you’re a biker and you don’t have time to waste dealing with bullshit and poseurs.

[Clay Dowling]

Around here we had a lot of ice on the roads on most any day where it dropped below freezing overnight. A lot of that probably comes from the fact that I leave right around sunrise, which is the coldest part of the night. Typically the temperature is still dropping when I leave the house.

[Clay Dowling]

I think it’s a great program. Give guys a chance to play in a controlled environment, get them some training so they don’t have to learn hard lessons in less forgiving places. Looks like a win for everybody. Besides, who wouldn’t like the chance to open up a race bike when you’ve got a gorgeous riding surface like that?

You aren’t going to get them to forgo risky behavior. You’ve specifically selected a population that is not risk-averse. So showing them how to control the risk is a very good option. And fun.

[Clay Dowling]

Don’t walk into a dealership. Stay way clear of them. They just love to see young guys with an enlistment bonus burning a hole in their pocket. They’ll sell you something shiny and fast that will cost you too much. And they can smell you coming from a great distance.

My sister’s brother in law is a very successful recruiter, and he sees young guys get sucked into this all the time. They buy fast cars and fast bikes, they’re the king to their friends and there’s always a girl or two around. And pretty quickly all that money is gone and they’re back on hard times.

You might want to check on your school’s policies about reservists called up for duty as well. Some schools are good about it. They’ll refund your tuition and won’t count the time you miss against you. I’ve heard of others that aren’t so good about it, and you’ll get screwed for doing your duty. Might want to consider a transfer if your school doesn’t have a good policy.

[Clay Dowling]

Gloves were my biggest struggle. I improvised a lot at first. Finally I broke down and purchased a pair of decent cold weather gloves on line (Alpine Stars PolarTex).

Gauntlet style gloves that go over the sleeve are ideal for riding in temps below 70, which where I live is most of the year. A shorty glove will let air run up your sleeve, and that gets cold pretty quickly.

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