Forum Replies Created
Honda Grom: Beginner Bike Profile + Owner Reviews
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Jay TParticipant
Buell in a Redneck Engineering frame… Hmmm. Ahhh. Ooooooo.
April 8, 2009 at 5:13 pm in reply to: Vented Mesh Jacket or Cooling Liner Under Leather Jacket #17611Jay TParticipantI have been riding with mesh for the past couple of years and I LOVE it. I even crashed in a HD mesh last year and it protects about as well as denim.
Jay TParticipantAnother instructor built a custom Sporty and gave me his stock parts. I want to build a little CB4 custom out of the parts. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the looks of this little Rebel. I really want a metric bar hopper. Guess I will have to start with an inexpensive metric. I believe it will be a rat. NO chrome, Rustolium hammered metal paint, blackwalls. I also found a guy at the Denver swapmeet that is making parts that fit CB4 frame and HD parts. Unfortunately he is not doing “business” so he doesn’t have a website. He did pass off his email. I will dig around to find it, if anyone here is interested. He built a really cool triple tree and had HD Super glide forks on his 750. I think it would be VERY cool to customize a 750 Nighthawk.
Jay TParticipantI love to ride them for demos. It seems that they allow me to emphasize the points of the exercise that I need to. The front dips under hard front brake and you can hear the engine noise better than the street bikes. That way the students can tell when I am rolling on and when I am engine braking. I LOVE riding these dual purpose motorcycles. I am just under 290# and I would have one for round town and off road. I really like the KLR 250.
Jay TParticipantHonda CBs have been very dependable for years. Make sure that you put stabilizer in the tank if it is going to sit for months during cold weather. Start a couple of times a month while it up while it is resting (during cold weather). Keep the oil changed and keep up the service intervals. If you don’t have a service manual already, get a Haynes or Chiltons. These Hondas are dependable as the day is long (IF you take care of it).
Jay TParticipantThinning the gene pool
Jay TParticipantIf it is gravity fed check fuel filters if it is vacuum or fuel pump, have a shop check for vacuum leaks or bad pump.
Best way to tell the diff is; look at fuel supply valve. If it has on/off/res it is gravity fed. If it has on/pri/res (pri is prime), it is either vacuum fed or has a fuel pump. If you are an ok wrench, get the (Haynes or Chiltons) manual. If you are not, find a good certified shop.Jay TParticipantWe either we embarrassed this guy off (would feel bad about that) or it was an early April fools (not feeling so bad about that). Fool me once…
Jay TParticipantSometimes it is a real bugger to insure something with a salvage or rebuilt title. It is even worse to sell. That sort of stuff shows up on Craigslist all the time. A lot of it is bogus. If you decide to follow through; 1. Make sure the seller is local (not asking for shipping info). 2. Want that motorcycle enough to be willing to hold on to it for a lot of years to come (or be willing to give it away cheap when you put it back up Craigslist).
Jay TParticipantWe have had sport bikes for class cycles on and off over the years. They usually only get used if a student says they already have a sport bike or one of our regular trainers is down. They usually don’t get used much because of the price to replace the extra plastic. The trainer bikes are loaned and we have to pay to have them repaired when we give them back. Most of the dealers mark the motorcycles (as to who loaned them) when they loan them out. Make sure you visit these dealers and thank them for the loan.
Jay TParticipantGot your behind strapped to a motorcycle and hit a bump that makes the newly enforced airbag go off and break your neck. At least you can have an open coffin. This is supposed to be the land of the FREE. I should have the right to choose. These laws are getting as bad as the law suits filed by ambulance chasers. Maybe it is all coming from the same place. No need for me to get political here. Just what I said before, a law with no points but a fine (even a tiny little one) or a law to save the Chillllruunnn, will usually become a law that is “good for everyone”. I just don’t need someone who barely ever held and honest job telling me what is good for me. I can see requiring med-pay so the rest of the world doesn’t have to pay for something I am choosing to do. Then it is a cost of my transportation. Nuff said.
Thanks
Jay T.
http://www.ridesafe.today.comJay TParticipantI would rather ask them to show me that 20 years of receipts and a maintenance schedule for the time that they were riding the motorcycle. Why are you looking on Ebay? I only look there if I am looking for a specific motorcycle (eg…1978 Honda CB750K). If you are looking for just any motorcycle 600cc or under, look at your local Craigslist and newspaper. Ebay sellers generally make their motorcycles look WAY better than they are. If you want to purchase an older motorcycle to restore (2-5 year project), that is a good place to start. Have a top price you will pay for a motorcycle on Ebay and DO NOT get stuck in the outbid trap. If you are planning to ride a motorcycle this season and you don’t have $3-5k extra to get it rebuilt this season or you are not a master mechanic/machinist, buy local. If you are looking at Ebay for reference (what things are selling for), look at the sold motorcycles not the open auctions. If you buy local and there is an absence of receipts or maintenance records, up to 5k miles a year is average in colder environments (like Colorado).
Jay TParticipantIf you are riding with your wrist high, you will also over rev while braking. Most folks freak out because of the over revving and forget that they are trying to stop the motorcycle. LET IT OVER REV, IGNORE THE NOISE, KEEP THE CLUTCH SQUEEZED, STOP THE MOTORCYCLE. After you are stopped a good instructor will step over and let you know about your wrist position. I have seen students try to figure out how to stop the over revving and let the clutch out. That usually stops the over revving with the student and the motorcycle on the ground. The big point here is ignore the over revving until you are stopped and then just know that your wrist position is too high. Better yet just be mindful of your wrist position and the rest of your posture to begin with.
Jay TParticipantSign up for the first available class. Show up every weekend on the first day of the class, early. Let the instructor know you are there. When someone cancels out you are right there to take up the slot. I have seen people get in several weeks earlier than they were signed up for. If the company has more than one site, have the instructor check the other sites if all the students show up to the site that you are at. They will probably have you do the first day (if they are doing a Fr, Sa, Su schedule) at the site you are at and go to a site where they don’t have a full class the next day.
Jay TParticipantTake the class. Then buy a motorcycle. How you ride in the class will be a factor in determining what you want to buy after the class. If from the class you determine that more around the neighborhood and parking lots for a season is what you need, get a little 300cc or less motorcycle. (Sometimes that is the best idea for the first 1/2 or full season, anyway.) If you do really well and think you will be ok to do the Ca. trips on 2 lane, you may want to consider the larger motorcycle (up to 600CC). Take the class first.
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