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I’ve got the oppertunity to hit up indy moto gp this summer in august- I don’t think I’m going to be take it on the bike b/c I’ll be needing 2 extra hotel rooms- its a 10 hr ride from me…. and I won’t do that in one day

so I’ll probably be lame and throw sophia in the truck and ride when I get there… but the thought totally has crossed my mind and was super tempting.

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think there was a question about biker paws… but I’m not sure…. I’m all confuuuused!

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dual sports are awesome but I wouldn’t buy one to really ride in the city much. I reeeaaaaaalllllllllllly want one to go eff around in the dirt with but I stick to my sport bike for now.

400/500 will be just peachy.

Lucky you with your garage- I’m fighting the wind on a daily basis cause it keeps ripping my cover off. Can’t wait to have my own garage!

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+1 on MSF….

best decision ever- I’m looking to take the experianced one next summer. That or a track day- but you can’t ever have to much professional help… pun intended

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can’t comment much on the too big CC’s based on the fact I went with 600cc sport and its not easy for a first bike for sure. I love mine and I’m committed to my parking lot practice as much as I am to getting out there and riding. I’m pretty sure riding a 250 would have been easier- but I’m stubborn as hell and I wasn’t going to buy a bike twice.

BUT if you don’t know how to drive a manual transmission in a car I totally suggest you learn that and then learning a bike won’t be a big deal cause you can focus on riding not the mechanics of shifting. (girl in my safety class didn’t know how to drive a manual or any of the side issues that present itself with one (i.e. starting on a hill etc etc) so she struggled a little bit more. But you can learn just out of the MSF what you need to get you through.

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“Only women care if they are a size 2 or a 6. Who cares? If you think you’re a large, start from there. I wear a Large in a Shoei and an XL in an Arai. I’ve worn a XXL in a Bieffe…doesn’t matter.”

hey now… thats so not entirely true!!!! play nice!

and yes chopping hair off will make a huge differece- its like anything else- try on as many as you can. when I went saddle shopping for my horse when I switched disciplines I kept an open mind (saddles are sized by the ‘seat’- although it really has more to do wtih the length of your thigh bone but people get REALLLLLY wicked bent about it …I digress)… don’t look at sizes and numbers- starts where and work up and down with different brands- you will know the right one when you get it- there is no fussing and figeting you put it on and go… ‘ahhhhhhh’ (then you start fussing with it)

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<"But again, we're talking about stopping in a straight line, and not using a proper trail braking technique where big bikes are down right squirrely!" THAT’s it. That’s why I see sportbikes rock the brakes at the track. Their suspension, build geometry, etc. allow them to carry trail braking safely up to corner apex, giving the appearance of later braking than some other, less-steeply-raked bikes…good call.>

yeah you start changing the environment in which braking conditions change then yes each bike will brake differently. And sport bikes will invariably perform better on the track for braking and well all else- they are built for that. The comments I made were/are made under the premis that all circumstances being equal for braking purposes only.

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oh you fixed it! cool usually I just copy the [IMG]part and the picture appears…. I failed on that one. lol thank you.

The probblem is they do a super shoddy job of removing it off the road to prevent the freeze/thaw ice from melting all over the road as with any big storm. We are going to have sheets and sheets of ice tomorrow.

once we get enough melted away so there isn’t much snow I’ll ride- the cold doesn’t bother me for riding- ice does!

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Hi and welcome I got nothing for height issues (we dealt with short as the roomie is a solid 5’5″- I’m 5’8″ though so pretty average) but listen to all the good advice here! I’ll happily repeat sit on as many bikes as possible. Since your in SoCal you can probably wait just a tad longer seeing as they struggle more in the spring with ice/rain issues than in january…. but start looking and look and sit as many bikes as possible.

I am starting on a 600 CBR and its a big bike even though people say its ‘only’ a 600… its got ass and I have a tremendous amount of respect for it and even 2 months later I’m still very comitted and dedicated to my parking lot practice so I learn as much as possile about her and me… its not easy and most poeople won’t bother to spend the time doing that and especially here they won’t recommend a bike that bike at all for a first bike but I have super limited resources and I weight my options and I have a good friend who I ride with and we keep each other in check to make sure we ride as close to our skill level so thats what I went with but i can tell you a 600 sport is NOT easy to learn on so make sure you are COMPLETELY honest about what kind of person you are and if you are willing to do that.

And yes there are girls here- at least 4 that I’ve figured. bikes aren’t for boys only.

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didnt even know they had these!!! I really want a dual sport to do dirt riding… I can totlaly see riding becoming a big addiction on all surfaces…. hellafun. another thing for the to do list!

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very cool…. Sonoma is really pretty and some awsesome wines come out of there. we have two not far from where I live- they just finished building the Motorsports park of NJ (I actually got to work on that for my job) and its really nice- the roomie and I got to go watch sport bike championships there and that was AWESOME. I’ll be excited when they do track days and stuff I think the California SBike School came out here and did a thing there, thats a goal for next year get to take one of those schools that comes and visits.

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ha ha ha yeah I suspect thats pretty limited for around the house applications. Thats pretty much how i narrowed my major to begin with- whats most practical and what can I actually do. I’m constantly suprised at how much I do actually use in random locations (the bike stuff coming into play big at this point is pretty fun)

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my brother and I were driving home and almost straight T-boned someone who randomly braked (back country rode in the desert- so straight for miles and deer are NOT our biggest concern) a little bit and we went to pass and he turned left- I think we were going like 55 or 60 it was nerve wracking.

The two issues I’ve had are seams on long asphalt patches that run parallel to how you ride- which create kind of edge trap and the friggin concrete drainage that runs between the road and the driveways and things- its bigger than I thought and needed to be hit more perpendicular than at a smaller angle. Apparently matching asphalt with curb/drive edges is NOT the pavers first priority. lol

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same thing happened to my truck recently- had all the makings of a shot slave cylinder but the dealership dropped the tranny and said the transfer case (think thats waht they said- it was 3 weeks ago)
and the cluster gear were shot and the whole thing needed to be replaced.

Usually if you can engage the clutch but can’t get it into gear its a tranny issue rather than a clutch issue- if the clutch is going it gets spongy then usually just sort of goes- it won’t let you into or out of gear at all.

I’m not a bike mechanic but usually the basic mechanics of how a clutch/tranny interlock are the similar issue so I would say tranny before clutch- but thats a limited knowledge… although I totally agree Gary here riding it is a baaaaad idea.

my truck was still ‘running’ and functioning in theory (R was impossible- 1st was tough I did do a number of starts from 2nd just to get me home)… but I don’t want to get stranded and I didn’t want to damage anything further or put more strain on an older engine (174xxx) so it went straight into the shop- good thing cause it was shot to hell and needed replacing immediately. Now if they would only efffing actually fix it!!!!!

when things go mechanically wrong usually its best to have them checked out right away- waiting often damages more parts and with your life depending on your baby I’d get it fixed asap before trusting my life to it- but I try to accept as little risk as possible so thats my moto to keep me as unstranded as possible.

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I was going to ask where you were- looks like willow springs and I grew up around there… but you said bay area so that can’t be it. but thanks for sharing thats totally awesome…

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