[eon]

I would say yes. Any extra skills you learn cannot hurt. One of the most common accidents is to lose it on a corner and they can certainly help you with that on a track. I have this penciled in on my to do list in the next 6 months.

[eon]

The US Supreme Court used the term “not politically correct” in 1793.

It seems you are linking political correctness to Stalin in an attempt to discredit it. Obviously, anything associated with the biggest mass murderer in human history is not going to look good. Making false claims does not win debates

Both sides of this argument can be taken too far. Personally, I make a distinction between someone having a point of view I find offensive and someone deliberately trying to offend . The first I will ignore, the second I will punch in the throat

[eon]

It is misleading and frankly wrong to say PC was coined under Stalin. When used in communist states its meaning is taken more literally. i.e. the party line is the politically correct line. The more usual interpretation of minimizing offense to minorities by limiting free speech was invented right here in the good ole USofA (mainly by a certain grand old party). Can’t say Stalin was particularly noted for concern for the feelings of minorities.

[eon]

I haven’t had much of a problem with my Halo yet but I have a windshield on my bike that deflects most of the wind. It has lost some of its elasticity since I bought it (it has fallen off a couple of times when I took my helmet off). I was thinking of moving the back end of it higher up the helmet so it fits tighter but I will wait till I need to. I may have to get some reflective tape eventually.

The xinglet thing was designed for joggers. It is really light weight, adjusts to many sizes and easily fits in a pocket. I have mine pretty tight so that it does not flap around. I got it at REI but I think you can order it direct from the company’s website. Note that there are two versions, one has a pocket in the front and that one costs a few bucks more.

[eon]

Messed up my link. Try this

[eon]

You might be interested in reading this document. It talks about weaving at intersections in order to increase visibility.

[eon]

For your helmet you might want to consider a Halo reflective band. For my jacket i bought an Amphipod Xinglet which was only $21.

As far as intersections go, if I am concerned about a car not seeing me I will do one weave AWAY from the driver.

[eon]

LOL…the Broons. Ah, those were the days….

[eon]

Thanks guys, I will go out today and get some RainX. I think I maybe overstated how bad things were on Friday night. It was just that my first real rain riding had to be in the dark and I know that that can be dangerous. I should mention I am from Scotland where it rains every other day (makes Seattle look good) so I have plenty experience driving in the rain. I think as I gain more experience in the wet I will be fine. Hope so as I’m going to get plenty experience in the next 4 months.

[eon]

An emergency stop is part of the UK driving test, though not at highway speeds. The procedure is to hit the brakes only, no shifting gears involved. You also leave the clutch alone, you only engage it at the last second to avoid stalling. This is different from what was taught in my MSF class (where I was told to engage the clutch immediately) and I specifically asked about it. My MSF instructor said there was negligible engine braking. Not sure if this is due to differences between cars and bikes or just a different teaching philosophy. And to conclude the emergency stop test, you engage first gear, look over both shoulders and then pull away. Stalling the car of failure to look over both shoulders is an automatic fail. Wow…amazing I can remember all this crap…I took my test a long time ago.

[eon]

If you were to drive a car like that in the UK (where everyone drives a stick) you would fail your test. I was taught to downshift through all the gears, one at a time. I forget the exact reasoning behind this but I think it was that when the clutch was in the car was coasting and you were not in complete control. This was quite a difficult to feat to master as a learner but it soon became second nature. Have to say it resulted in better control over all as you became an expert at changing smoothly. If had a bike today (remember I went down the scooter route) I would downshift one gear at a time.

[eon]

WZ, I think you need to spend more time on match.com

[eon]

This thing is not for me but I appreciate companies that try something new. It’s always good to have choice.

[eon]

There was a study done in the UK about SMIDSY’s (Sorry mate, I didn’t see you) to try and understand why there so many of these accidents. Basically, our brains are not good at seeing a small object moving directly towards us. They are good at seeing movement but if you are heading directly towards someone, there is no movement to see and their brain filters you out and puts you in with the background. It is not until they move out that suddenly you move relative to the background and they register you and then freeze in shock right in front of you.

Moral of the story is you need to expect this to happen, even if they are looking right at you they literally may not see you.

[eon]

I’m not the best person to ask about the Ninja’s. I’m sure some others here can give you more accurate info…but with that said. Dealers add on numerous fees. Most of them are legit and sometimes some of them are padded. It does not really matter to you, all that matters is the price Out The Door (commonly referred to as OTD). That is the money you have to pay to drive away. If all he is adding on is $400 then that sounds very reasonable. This summer when the Ninjas were in super hot demand I was quoted $4500 OTD (this was $1000 above MSRP, Kawasaki jacked the MSRP up to $3999 for the ’09 model). So $4400 for an 09 sounds like a good deal. But, he is not kidding about the demand. Last time I checked the Ninja boards there was still a lot of demand for them and no-one was quite sure when they were coming. Note that they no longer come in green if that matters to you. It sounds like you are not planning on riding over the winter months so the delay may not matter. I think the general expectation was they would start hitting the dealers in volume around January.

Maybe someone can correct me here but I think the 08 model (the 09’s are identical) has a slightly lower seat height than previous years. I’m sure if you read a review you can confirm if I am correct in that. Sounds like that extra inch lower could really help you.

Hope that helps some. I understand your dilemma, I agonized for weeks over what to buy.

[Author]

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