[eon]

There is something about the sweeping lines of a Nighthawk that really appeal to me. And that’s a fantastic looking model you have there. Sounds like you got yourself a bargain. Enjoy

[eon]

I have no facts to back this up but it stands to reason you are more visible wearing retina burning outfits over black leather. The observations above seem to confirm this. Bright or white helmets are regarded as being an important aid to being seen. Something to do with being the highest point on you.

Be careful over the eye contact thing. Common advice is to ignore it. People can look straight at you but are in fact looking past you. You think they have seen you, you relax your guard and then bang, “Sorry mate, I didn’t see you” (google smidsy). Part of the problem is you have a small horizontal profile and you are moving directly towards them so you are not moving across their horizontal field of view. Our eyes&brain are wired to pick up movement so they literally do not see you despite looking straight at you. A quick weave in your lane can help them see you as you are now moving across their horizontal field of view. I read somewhere that advanced car driving classes have you roll forward at an intersection to force this movement.

Also, camouflage works by breaking up the outline of an object so you want an anti-camouflage jacket. In some ways a black leather jacket would be better on a sunny day than a jacket with many colors and stripes.

Lots of things to consider. I’m all for being more visible but at the end of the day you should still ride as if you are invisible.

[eon]

I have the EXO400 and not had any problems but I seem to remember webbikeworld complained about the odd smell in new Scorpion helmets. I think mine had that odd smell but it was over a year ago so I cannot really remember now. Perhaps whatever causes that smell is causing your reaction?

[eon]

Was definitely an hour long high production glossy advert brought to you by the motorcycle industry of Northern Italy. Still, was pretty to look at. I’m now starting to drool over Ducati’s again.

[eon]

Well now, I don’t know I ever proclaimed I would ride forever without dropping it. I just get annoyed by that statement “there are those who have and those who will”. Seems to be a crutch for those who drop it to then say, oh well, not my fault, everyone drops it. Truth is it was your fault and you know it, that’s why you are pissed. I take that to be a good sign. I had the exact same feeling of disappointment/frustration but it went away after a while and I was left with just the experience. Somewhat bitter experience but it will stay sharper because of that. Now hopefully I am not dumb enough to make the same mistake a 2nd time

It sounds like you were slightly distracted with the new surroundings and did not notice whatever went wrong. Riding two up you wouldn’t have much time to catch the bike so overall it sounds like a small mistake. I’m just glad it wasn’t a crash as I feared when I started reading this thread.

And kudos to your wife for being so supportive.

[eon]

After 9000 miles I have not reached the end of my learning, not even the beginning of the end, but it is the end of the beginning.
Sorry, couldn’t resist a little Churchillian plagiarism there.

There is no line in the sand where you cross over and leave the learning stage behind. Whether you want to label yourself as a beginner is up to you, does not change how much experience you have.

[eon]

Ah, but we are the best beginners!

[eon]

I’m not really up on all the ins and outs of motorcycling racing either but here is my understanding of it. That course was part of the professional world championship circuit up till sometime in the 1970s I think, and was regarded as one of the most prestigious ones to win on. It was then dropped due to safety considerations (for obvious reasons they were not able to comply with tighter safety regulations).

Watching this years race it struck me the competitors were ‘professional amateurs’ if that makes sense. These were not your media friendly hot shots on the MotoGP circuit. But they were dedicated individuals with serious sponsorship behind them. For some of them this one race is their entire season and dedicate everything to being successful there. There were also plenty of one-man-band type outfits but they were outclassed by the bigger ‘teams’. Will stick my neck out here and say it might be a bit like NASCAR (not really sure how NASCAR works so I could be way off here but it always struck me as being professional amateurs). There are also different classes, one of which is the supersport bikes you could buy in your local dealer. In the top notch class the bikes are customized with the all the best racing equipment and cost over $250,000 each (I think).

The professional racers do not compete on this course (as far as I know). They really have nothing to gain and everything to lose. It would take them forever to learn all 37 miles to be able to compete with the guys who race here all the time. Weigh up being made to look stupid by a slower rider against risking a career ending injury and there is not much incentive there. Valentino Rossi was on hand to present the trophy to this years winner but he did not venture out on the track as far as I know.

[eon]

Not sure if scooters are directly comparable or not given where the engine sits, but my scoot is a thumper and the vibration is very minimal. Everything does vibrate at idle but soon as I give it some gas that goes away. At speeds I cannot feel much apart from a faint rhythmic pulse. Of course, given that the engine is way down by the back wheel and not between my knees that could explain a lot.

[eon]

I’ve watched a lot of it. They hit top speeds of 160+ and average 130mph around the course. Totally mental.

[eon]

Seems like odd advice to walk the bike in U-turns. I can honestly say all the PLP I did really paid off and I’m now completely comfortable pulling off a u-turn in a gas station or busy street in front of packed coffee shop. I don’t even think twice now about those things, I just whip it around and I’m on my way.

I think in my BRC they mentioned the use of the back brake but did not want you to use it at the time. It would probably have been too much for everyone. And in my IRC on the slow cone weave the guy in front of me was told off for using it. Basically there was no need so he was using it to make life easier for himself when he should have been able to manage without it.

[eon]

…you won’t listen to my advice anyway , but it does seem there have been a few threads on here recently around the V-Star 250, Vulcan 500 and S40. You might want to trawl through the recent threads and see if there is any useful information in there. I do not believe there is a search facility yet so you will have to use the click and peck search method.

[eon]

I’m glad to hear someone else’s helmet makes the same noise. As I said, I’m 99% sure my helmet did not touch the ground but I started having doubts when I heard this creaking. I’ll probably get myself a new lid anyway as I would like something a little more flash but its nice to know I don’t need to do it before the weekend. Plus it’s safe to keep this one as a backup.

[eon]

Heh heh, it’s a good feeling when you stop making the dumb mistakes. I think everyone gets spooked by cars appearing on the scene when you are in mid-corner. You just have to train yourself to ignore them and continue on as you were (or at least, while you evaluate them as not being a threat you don’t mess up your line).

Glad to hear you are sticking with it and progressing.

[eon]

Do you like the Gladius? I think it is a sweet looking bike but I’m just not convinced on the practicality of a naked bike. And while that windshield looks practical I don’t think it adds to the looks of the bike.

[Author]

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