[JackTrade]

Where I live (DC area) are brutal…usually mid to high 90s and 100% humidity. So it’s mesh jacket and pants for me from about May through September.

I too have the stuff that has heavy ballistic fabric at the hit points (elbows, shoulders, knees and butt), along with good fitting internal armor…makes me feel a little safer, and it’s better than what many riders wear during the summers here (i.e. tank tops/t-shirts and jeans, though I’ve already seen people riding in shorts!)

[JackTrade]

this winter here in the D.C. area.

Bunch of idiot hipsters decide to have an impromptu street-corner snowball fight during one of our big blizzards…sure enough, things get somewhat out of hand, and passing cars get hit with snowballs.

One of them contains an off-duty cop, who angrily jumps out, weapon in hand. Uniformed cops show up, with their guns out (since they’ve received reports of a man with a gun). It was not a pretty picture.

The District huffed and puffed about charging the snowball throwers (or something…not sure how they’d know who it was, given how many people where there), but once publicity and rationality took hold, they just quietly dropped it.

The Maryland State Police will, I bet, do the same I this case (I see they’re still mulling things right now). Otherwise the ACLU will spare no expense defending this guy (even though he’s a total nitwit) to get the “no taping” law struck down, forcing Maryland to spend tons of taxpayer money and keeping the spotlight on a case where the common-sense view is that law or no law, the police acted out of proportion to the situation.

[JackTrade]

Totally take the BRC…there’s really no substitute for having trained instructors teach you. And unlike simply passing the items on the test, they impart loads of other very useful stuff, some of which may save you life.

I can still remember the little but super-useful things my MSF coaches told us, like why to NOT hang your helmet on the handlebars, how much pressue on the rear brake is optimal, and the entire bit on countersteering alone was worth the cost of the class (and if you doubt that, go on the majority of motorcycle forums and see the shocking amount of people who think they steer their bike by leaning it).

[JackTrade]

Good for you; a manual transmission makes pretty much ANY car more enjoyable to drive, even the most base-model econo-car.

And yep, understanding the whole clutch-gearshift thing will definitely help during the MSF…one less thing to worry about. You’ll find a lot of your classmates won’t know how, and will find even the concept (much less the execution) somewhat tough.

[JackTrade]

I love the ’70s On-Any-Sunday vibe, not to mention everyone in open-faced-helmets and black leather, recommendations to turn your light on, and angry glares at the cowboy-hatted dude in the Mustang.

Funny though how the safety issues are pretty much the same then as now.

I’ve heard that there’s a ’70s MSF video that features Steve McQueen. I imagine him sitting on a bike, cigarette hanging out of his mouth as he tells you that you should avoid things like trying to jump barbed wire fences.

[JackTrade]

to bikes as I did, I’m constantly amazed at how much closer the performance-to-dollar ratio is with motorcycles. In the automotive world, world-beater performance is realistically available to less than 1% of the car buying public; but with bikes, it’s available to about 75% (maybe more).

The high price of performance cars is a built-in limiter to the death and desctruction factor, one that’s missing w/motorcycles. A rider friend of mine once observed that if your average car had the performance of your average sportbike, at the same relative price point, they’d be illegal. You can imagine the carnage potential of a 3000 lb, sub-11 second missile in the hands of anyone with a license and a little bit of cash/access to credit.

[JackTrade]

Depending on the model you bought, the vents may be designed for a certain riding position.

I have an HJC CL-15 (which I like…basic, but fits me well), and I’ve noticed that while riding in an upright position (like on a standard or a cruiser), there’s little difference in airflow with the vents open or closed. Around town, I do as Munch suggests and crack the visor…makes a world of difference.

But if riding in a more areodynamic position (tucked in, head forward), I can definitely feel the air flowing into the top vents.

Makes sense, as the CL-15 is designed as a sport helmet, for a sportbike riding position.

[JackTrade]

even have a special additional MSF class required if you ride a sportbike.

Apparently, they were losing more Marines to domestic motorcycle accidents than to overseas combat, and so worked with MSF to develop the new course.

Be cool if like other defense projects, it was spun off for the civilian world.

[JackTrade]

I kinda like walking around with my armored textile jacket after parking the bike…it’s obvious that you actually ride a motorcycle, whereas black leather motorcycle-ish jackets are a dime a dozen. I enjoy the stares when I’m in the grocery store in my jacket and pants combo (as pictured in my avatar). And it guarantees that if there’s another rider there, we’re going to talk…there’s something wonderfully surreal about standing around in the cereal aisle talking about motorcycles.

But yeah, point taken…I suppose one’s girlfirend/wife wouldn’t want one to be handing a brightly-color ICON jacket to the coat check girl at the nice restaurant. And I just bought a black leather jacket for exactly your reasons.

[JackTrade]

I wonder though if beginners have to get steered toward the “wrong” bike (would that this wouldn’t happen, but you know how we are here in the U.S.), if it’s not better they get steered to a heavy, relatively slow cruiser, rather than a superlight, superpowerful sportbike.

That said, what strikes me as odd about the article is that for all its talk about competitiveness and the market, the author doesn’t seem to see that when it comes to HD, the market IS working.

HD’s not tricking people into buying their bikes…people are seeking them out…otherwise, HD would be out of business.

Seems like what the author is mostly upset with is other people’s preferences.

[JackTrade]

But you’d actually wave to those of us who don’t have the same logos, right?

[JackTrade]

Depends on what kind of riding you do…me, I’m mainly an after-work/weeekend pleasure rider, so I don’t need waterproof, but I do need something that I can wear off the bike. Also, where I live, it gets downright steamy in the summer, so I need something that I’ll actually wear when it gets bad.

I orignally started with Cortec riding jeans (CE knee armor for hard impact, perforated leather at major points for abrasion), but the problem was they were too baggy…I had no confidence that the armor or the leather would stay in place in a fall.

So I moved to Fieldsheer mesh overpants w/CE knee armor. Much better fit, and I wear them over my regular jeans, so I just take ’em off if I’m off the bike for an extended period of time. Downside is mesh isn’t as protective as something enclosed, but they seem well-built and in the summer, they breathe.

[JackTrade]

…but a big question in these sorts of things is whether the person taped had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the given situation. It’s a fair question that holds private citizens and public officials to the same standard.

To my thinking, being on a public road brandishing a firearm doesn’t meet that criteria. If he had turned on the lights, or if he was even wearing a uniform, that would change everything. Also, the rider didn’t do anything but back himself up…if he had taken off or jumped off the bike, I think things would play out very differently.

I totally agree there are times when there’s a good reason for not being taped (undercover work, etc), but me, a traffic stop on a public road is the antithesis of that.

This particular situation is sadly one of those train wrecks where both parties didn’t think, and b/c of that, there’s headaches to go around. I hope it works out with MD dropping the charges and making sure officers don’t do this sort of thing anymore, and the guy paying his fine and thinking twice before making videos of himself breaking the law.

[JackTrade]

And like Eon said, don’t worry about what other riders think of you. But you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how 85% of other riders will respect you, no matter what you ride. It’s that you DO ride that counts.

Sure, you’ll have the odd suburbanite Brando-wannabe on his Harley or the urban sportbiker in his matching factory-logo outfit who’ll not return your wave, but they’re a definite minority.

And what’s most impressive re motorcycles is SKILL. Anyone can buy a bad-ass bike, but not everyone (in fact not most) can ride it right. Take the courses, read the books, hang out here, etc. and be the guy that can effortlessly thread his way through a crowded gas station without a problem, while the guys with the impressive bikes awkwardly walk theirs around.

Among good, real riders, nothing will get you laughed at more than a skill-level/bike-level mismatch. So do the right thing, start reasonable, then work your way up. It’ll go quickly.

[JackTrade]

…but I think that procedure for any sort of arrest is that one has to identify oneself IMMEDIATELY AND CLEARLY as a police officer, otherwise as others have stated, you have no idea who this jacked-up guy pointing a weapon at you is/what he intends.

This cop didn’t…immediately would have been hitting his lights, which it didn’t look like he did. So at the least, he didn’t follow procedure.

Also, it seems pretty clear based on the squid’s interview (he acknowledged he deserved the ticket, and was ready to pay it) that they only went after the taping violation AFTER they saw it on the internet, which makes it look more like the department was more concerned with bad publicity rather than public safety.

If the cop had told him right then that it’s illegal to film people w/o their knowledge, I highly doubt squidly would have posted it on the internet as he did.

In a lesser vein, where I live (D.C.), we’ve been having this sort of public debate with our public transit system right now. It’s been sliding downhill in service for years now, and there have lately been a number of high-profile accidents, and the issue of operators texting (!) while piloting these vehicles has reared its ugly head.

Some people have used their cell phones to catch texting train/bus drivers, and posted the videos to youtube. This enraged the transit agency…at first, they tried to block this, threatening legal action, etc. but the bad PR overwhelmed them and now they seem to be taking action to stop employees from texting while operating these vehicles. But their first instinct was to say “how dare you monitor us!”

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