[Clay Dowling]

We had all kinds of different backgrounds in my group, and it was a pretty supportive group all around. Being a rider means you’re a member of a self-selecting fraternity. It’s pretty awesome when you can walk into a room full of people you don’t know, and just because you’re wearing your riding jacket they all come up and talk to you.

And what’s this 0800 crap? Man, I can’t even sleep in that late. If my cats don’t wake me up by 0700 my bladder will, and 0600 is the norm. If I raised chickens I could sneak out and scare the rooster.

[Clay Dowling]

were starting to give the people some pretty serious looks. That one he passed when leaving didn’t look very happy.

[Clay Dowling]

“My question is, The guy who comes and stands over him, what the heck is he doing?”

He’s checking the dude’s wallet to see if it has any money, and then the idiot’s boots to see if they’ll fit him.

[Clay Dowling]

But if you stay off the limited access roads it would actually be pretty good. I don’t know if I’d go 300 miles on a bike that age though, or that small. The small bikes are great for a lot of things, but 300 mile trips probably aren’t among those things.

[Clay Dowling]

Something like the 500cc ninja. You’ll get the bigger performance without being overwhelmed. But overall I’m inclined to agree that you shouldn’t experience any real problem. You’re already adjusted to bike issues.

[Clay Dowling]

That’s gonna make me go out and practice my u-turn. I want to be able to whip one of those out very quickly and head off in the other direction in the event that local buffalo feel as strongly about motorcycles as those do.

[Clay Dowling]

Man, that stuff is little. This morning it was a deer (fortunately with my cage), and yesterday I had the option on a buffalo. When you live in Michigan, you just don’t expect to see buffalo roaming around on the back roads. Somebody took out a bear on I-75 a couple of years back, where it passes through Flint.

[Clay Dowling]

Last week I found myself with a few miles of open road in front of me on a nice day, so I decided to see what happens on a Honda Magna when you do twist the throttle all the way around in 5th gear. The answer was very surprising.

First, it didn’t lurch and try to launch me into space. Now, being a paranoid bugger I didn’t make it a sudden twitch. But what I got was a very smooth acceleration up to 90. At no point did it feel uncontrollable. There wasn’t any sudden spike in the power and it was actually extremely unexciting.

The bike is supposed to go over 100 without any troubles, but I would have needed another mile of clear visibility before I was willing to go there, and I didn’t have it, so I backed it down to legal speeds.

[Clay Dowling]

We were told that anything less than lightening wouldn’t keep us off the course. We rode our second day in light rain. Wasn’t really a problem, you get used to it pretty quickly, especially if you’re properly geared up.

[Clay Dowling]

that would let you do that, but I don’t know if Ben has it installed.

[Clay Dowling]

That’s what I took my MSF class on. Small, but fun to tool around on.

[Clay Dowling]

I live and work in very low crime areas. I take the ignition key with me and call it good. I live next to Flint though, which is one of the most crime-ridden cities in the country. When I go into Flint I chain the wheels using a cable lock I picked up at Home Depot. I could spend a lot more on a lock if I wanted, but there isn’t a lot of point. Somebody wants to steal my bike, they’re going to get a couple of big guys and lift it into the back of a truck. The cable lock is just there to annoy them and make them consider lifting the HD parked next to it and leave my 12 year old Honda alone.

[Clay Dowling]

Wet roads are definitely more slippery. This morning that was a lot of water on the roads but none in the air, and when I put my foot down at one stop it kept sliding out from under me. The big thing is to slow down so you are reducing the force needed to keep the tires from slipping. Good rain gear is also important, because if you’re wet, you’re wet in very high winds on a bike.

I ride to work every chance I get, and I work in an office. My boss rides, so he isn’t a real bear about showing up with riding boots, but I have my own standard for how I should be dressed at work. If a corporate customer shows up, I don’t want to be seen sitting around in leather pants.

I have small soft bags on my bike. Shoes, rain gear and when the weather is variable spare gloves ride on one side, my lunch on the other. For a sport bike, you might look at a tail bag. It’s like a tank bag, but rides behind you.

[Clay Dowling]

I think their idea of cold in San Diego is probably different than my idea of cold here in Michigan. Cold here means below 40 degrees. Which means I should zip the waterproof liner into my riding gear. This morning it was in the 50s, and quite comfortable. When I got off the bike I had to get the gear off pretty quickly to keep from overheating.

[Clay Dowling]

A co-worker is riding an ’83 CB400 as his daily commuter in the summer, 50 miles each way. Thing is still rock solid (and aside from the 80s red pinstripe, looks pretty similar). A shame they don’t sell them here in the U.S. any more, I know of at least one person who would like to buy one.

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