[eon]

When I press the start button and nothing happens I sometimes think my bike does have a sense of humor. Getting me back for calling it fugly (although more often than I not I notice I have bumped the kill switch by mistake, doh!!)

What happened to Christopher Reeve is my worst nightmare. I guess that was a head injury and not a back injury though? Would have to go look that up. But I thought it ironic that mothers everywhere worry about their sons buying motorcycles while sending their daughters off to horse lessons.

[eon]

I agree with everything ranette says. I have now have 7500 miles and have not dropped my bike and I intend to keep it that way. I spent many hours on the MSF range practicing my slow speed skills so that these parking lot drops would not happen. I took my time and slowly pushed my envelope to minimize my risk. I came close a few times but I never did drop it. To say that it is inevitable is being lazy in my opinion. I worked hard to minimize (not eliminate) the risk.

The Guzzi is a brand that certainly has emotional appeal. I went with on a ride with the owners of the local Guzzi dealership and they were on a pair of Breva’s. I had not considered Guzzi before but it certainly got my attention. No, servicing is not going to be as easy as the ubiquitous HD dealerships but if you have a local shop then I don’t see the problem. I would think anyone who owns a Guzzi shop is a fanatic and is not in it to make a fast buck.

[eon]

I have the Tourmaster Flex pants and they have been very ‘flexible’. I’ve wore them in the winter and I’ve worn them in 90′ heat. Plus on my scoot I don’t get much wind at all and I have been fine with them stripped down to the mesh level.

I also just bought the latest incarnation of the T-Pro Forcefield back protector. Been wearing it for a few days now and I love it. Very comfy. I was going to write a full length review on it but those damn webbikeworld guys beat me to it. Review here
http://www.webbikeworld.com/r3/back-protector/forcefield-pro-sub-4/

Worth mentioning that this version reduces a 50Kn force to less than 4 (hence the name). CE Level 2 only requires less than 9 so this is Level 2 and then some. Apparently <4Kn is a requirement for horseback protectors (who knew riding horses was more dangerous than bikes?) but this is the first motorcycle protector to achieve that.

[eon]

You are not being elitist but you tell us how scooters are inferior?
You are not being elitist but you get to define who is worthy of your wave?

[eon]

Not sure why you think a gray band around your helmet makes you more visible during the day. Not unless where you live everyone is required to have headlights on during the day?

A word of warning. The Halo band will lose its stretchiness over a period of a few months and will start to fall off your helmet and wrap itself around your neck. Not a pleasant thought so the 2nd time I found my halo around my neck it was time for it to go. Some people have glued it to their helmet, I replaced it with SOLAS tape. This is a reflective tape that is required to be on every life jacket. If it is good enough for that application, it is good enough for me. My helmet is now ghetto as hell but it is plenty reflective.

[eon]

I think a discussion of bicyclists behavior warrants its own thread in the off topic forum as I’m sure it would get heated pretty quickly
I will just say as a life long bicyclist (whose parents met in a bicycling club and grew up surrounded by bikes), the cyclists in this country drive me crazy. I would not have believed there could be so many arrogant SOBs. Ok, I’d better put my soap box away as this is a topic that gets me worked up

[eon]

desertrat: I think the short answer is the 250 would handle your needs easily.

bjonesre: Put some clothes on! Too much pale white flesh there. Reminds me of me
The smaller the engine the better the gas mileage. I don’t know that there is a huge difference between similar size bikes but if gas mileage is your main concern then any 250 would do you fine.

[eon]

If it’s a street legal dirt bike then I think that’s a great idea. You learn the basics of riding and you learn to ride safely on the streets. And once you do move up to the Buell this learner bike is worth keeping as it opens up a whole other world of riding for you. I am seriously considering doing something similar myself.

[eon]

International Playboy

[eon]

I think the stereotypes are very much true. I have seen young guys (complete squids) cut through traffic and do wheelies on the interstate. I have seen cruiser riders wobble round corners much too close together with NOGATT.

On the other hand, I have also seen examples of great riding by both camps. I think a large part of the problem are the people who are drawn to riding by the image. Whether you want to be a power ranger or a pirate don’t matter, if image is the only reason you are riding your riding skills are probably questionable.

Oh how I long for the winter days when it was only serious riders like myself out on the road. I knew then I could wave at fellow riders knowing they were worthy of my respect.

[eon]

Hmmm…I have a different opinion of some of those brands. I thought Alpinestars was a quality brand (though I have seen a wide price range in their products) and my opinion of Joe Rocket is that it is designed to appeal to the masses (good enough protection, good enough style and good enough price). This is all just opinion though, I don’t own anything from either of those companies. The best place I ever found for reviews on gear (practically the only place) is webbikeworld.com Most products they review get good reviews but you can get a feel for the differences and what appeals to you within your price range.

My favorite sites for buying stuff are http://www.motorcyclesuperstore.com and http://www.newenough.com. NewEnough has great pictures and comments from the seller. I have also bought from a few other sites (bikerhighway and johnsonleather) and had no problems. Motorcycle gear seems to be very seasonal so you can get great discounts on last seasons stuff if you are quick enough (it’s always really small and really large sizes left when I go browsing).

There are some really expensive helmets out there but you don’t need to spend a whole lot to get the most expensive part, protection. All the other bells and whistles you can live without if money is tight (and getting started in this business is expensive). There was a thread on here a few weeks back about Snell v No Snell. Dig that out and read it. You will learn a lot.

The one most important thing you can do is to take the MSF class and get in the mindset of learning to ride safe and continually trying to learn (maybe that’s more than one thing ) Lot’s of material out there that teaches you how to be safe. Proficient Motorcycling by David Hough was what I learned from. Others here have used Twist of the Wrist (I think that’s what it was called) and Ride Like A Pro dvds.

The fact is crashing on a motorcycle is much more dangerous than crashing in a car. No point trying to pretend it is not. But, I honestly believe my odds of crashing on the bike are much less than when driving. Why?
1) I am higher up and so have a better field of view
2) I have greater all round vision as there no pillars in the way
3) I can move around in my lane to see past the car in front of me
4) In the event I need to take avoiding action I have more options on the bike
5) I am much more focused on what is going on around me. With no air bags or steel cage around me I am very aware of my own mortality. If that does not help focus the mind nothing will.

The last point is something that took me by surprise when I started. Your mind is on high alert and it is exhausting but it is also part of the enjoyment. You live very much in the moment.

Good luck convincing the parents but hopefully that comes second to making an honest appraisal of the risks involved to yourself.

[eon]

I’m not sure there was a right/wrong option in this case. Each choice had good/bad things going for it. If stopping meant it had to be a sudden stop then I would have kept going also. I might have braked if a gradual slow down was possible where you could keep an eye on the car behind and if I had an escape route if he was not slowing quickly enough. Advantages of this are you slow that car down and prevent him from hitting the kids.

Disadvantages to speeding up? If the kids had sped up would you have had a way to avoid them? In general I try to avoid speeding up to avoid incidents. Your available options tend to disappear rapidly as speed increases.

But I would have got on the horn quickly and early. Since I started riding I tend to use it the way it was intended, as a means of alerting others to your presence, not as a sign of displeasure.

[eon]

Is this bike gig your full time job now? I forget if you mentioned that in the past. If it is that would be awesome. And good luck uniting the sport bikes and the cruisers. Sounds like a Herculean task. But don’t forget about the dual sporters (they tend to look down on everyone else )

[eon]

This STAR group sounds pretty good. You might also try http://www.meetup.com to see if there are any motorcycle groups near you. I have been going out with one near me and it has been fun. These types of groups are obviously very dependent on who runs them and how they run them but you might find one that is a good match for you.

I’ve been extremely lucky in that a guy who runs a local online bike mag also organizes group rides. These are much more sporadic than the meetup groups but they are much more fun. This guys philosophy is much closer to mine and that makes a big difference in how much I enjoy it (simple example, slow folks go to the back. That suited me when I was the slowest and it suits me now that I am faster).

Good luck!

[eon]

Hmm…i’ve been from WA to GA and back to WA and never had a problem with drivers licenses. I simply went and paid the fee, took an eye exam and then was issued a new license. I thought this was the case between all states? I would not want to try and transfer a MSF certificate between states as it really is nothing more than a piece of paper printed by your local school. I’ve also retagged my car in each state and that was straightforward. Pain in the ass but straightforward.

I would love to take a cross country bike trip but I don’t think it is something you should be planning on from day one. Seems like too much too soon to me. You could do it but I doubt you would enjoy it. One way out of this would be to buy the used Ninja 250. As you say they hold their value so it may not depreciate at all over the course of a few months. Sell it before you leave and you may not be out much at all and have had several months worth of riding.

[Author]

Posts