[Jeff in Kentucky]

from the third paragraph in the first post:

During the Great Escape movie filming in 1962, he had a TT Special 650 Triumph painted olive drab and made to look like an old wartime BMW- the old BMW rigid suspension and less powerful engine would not take the speeds they were running. McQueen played both the escaped prisoner and the Nazi chasing him on a sidecar motorcycle, with the scenes intercut. The big jump was done by his friend and expert rider Bud Ekins.

[Jeff in Kentucky]

Skinny tires equals less weight and more speed, if the engine power and weight are low enough to not break the tire traction in corners.

Here is a good article about 125cc 2-stroke MotoGP bikes, soon to be 450cc 4-strokes instead like a dirt bike race engine:

http://www.fasterandfaster.net/2007/06/ktm-vs-suzuki-125cc-gp-racer-vs-1000cc.html

[Jeff in Kentucky]

Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?

1. She’s the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?

1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of?

1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men’s bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?

1. We’re related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people’s mom like me.

What kind of a little girl was your mom?

1. My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don’t know because I wasn’t there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?

1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?

1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my mom eats a lot
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that mom didn’t have her thinking cap on.

Who’s the boss at your house?

1. Mom doesn’t want to be boss, but she has to because dad’s such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What’s the difference between moms and dads?

1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller and stronger, but moms have all the real power ’cause that’s who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friends.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine..

What does your mom do in her spare time?

1. Mothers don’t do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?

1. On the inside she’s already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I’d diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?

1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I’d get rid of that.
2. I’d make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

[Jeff in Kentucky]

Try buying most newer cars without antilock brakes and airbags, and soon without electronic stability control.

[Jeff in Kentucky]

For an expert racer, antilock brakes are not needed. For the rest of us, they help:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzmL6s4dK44

You can also find youtube videos about the Goldwing airbags, to help make a choice if you want to buy a Goldwing.

[Jeff in Kentucky]

No fuel injection for the 250 Kawasaki Ninja in the US, because they wanted to keep the price down, and because the exhaust rules are not as strict as in Europe that now has the fuel injected version. (My guess, and from my reading).

India also got fuel injection for the 2008 little Ninja, probably because it is considered a bigger, higher priced bike there, with a lot more people riding less expensive 50cc to 200cc bikes.

For racing, buy the Ninja. For everything else, I would buy the Honda with ABS brakes, although there might be some bugs during the first year of production.

[Jeff in Kentucky]

Some more about WD-40:

http://inventors.about.com/od/wstartinventions/a/WDFourty.htm

Note that WD-40 is good for cleaning a chain, but not for oiling a chain- for something cheap to oil a chain, this works a lot better:

http://www.webbikeworld.com/t2/motorcycle-chain-lube/dupont-teflon-chain-lube.htm

[Jeff in Kentucky]

Many people grip the bars too tightly at first. Even during a crash you want to stay loose and try to land butt first. I practiced this a lot when I rode dirt bikes from 8 to 15 years old.

For my long trips 2-3 times a year, I take an extended release ibuprofen or acetiminaphen (Advil or Tylenol are the more expensive brands) timed release pills designed for arthritis use, to keep my back from getting as sore.

A friend of mine rides an R1 on long trips and does computer maintenance for a bank (lots of keyboard work), and had to have surgery in both of his wrists for carpal tunnel- a sport bike is harder on your wrists than a cruiser.

It could be you just did too much in one day for being new to riding.

[Jeff in Kentucky]

Here is a taper braking article; even a sportbike that can lift the back wheel off the ground with the front brake stops faster using the back brake and the front brake. A lot of sportbike riders only use the front brake, except on gravel. People that started on a dirt bike like me tend to use the back brake too much:

http://www.markhodson.com/text/brktxt.htm

[Jeff in Kentucky]

The main drawbacks for the 250 Ninja is for a passenger, or riding 1,000 miles in 24 hours. People do it, especially when adding seat pads, but the little Ninja is not the best choice for this.

The little Ninja is a good choice for a beginner, but the dealers make more money on bigger bikes and try to steer new riders toward more than they can handle safely. I would also check out the new 250cc Honda sportier bike and the 250cc Suzuki cruiser- they both have fuel injection, or the older 500cc Ninja with carbs.

For shorter trips, the supermotos with their narrow seats are a good choice, or the 650cc Kawasaki KLR dual sport for long trips and tall riders with quite a bit of arm and leg strength- it has a single cylinder and about 34 horsepower, much safer for a beginner than a 650cc twin cylinder with close to twice the power and more weight.

For track days, the typical learning bikes are a 250 Ninja to a 500 Ninja to a Suzuki SV650 to a 600cc 4-cylinder.

[Jeff in Kentucky]

For other motorcycle forums i have spent time at, they get quieter during the summer when everyone is out riding, except for the people closer to the equator or in the Arizona desert who ride more in the winter when it is not too hot, and busier during the winter when people are home more after work.

Maybe this forum is different because it is set up more for beginners, who might not plan for all winter to get a motorcycle. Maybe it is partly from the slow economy this year.

It is surprising how little is now written about the severe recession in the early 1980s, similar to this recession. Three motorcycle dealers around here closed their doors this year:

“The Dunstall organisation became a victim of the sharp decline in the motorcycle market at the end of the 1970’s with its attendant drop in sales and profits. Paul leased out unused factory space to other businesses and finally sold the name in 1982. It died within 3 years.”

“In 1981, AMF sold Harley-Davidson to a group of thirteen investors led by Vaughn Beals and Willie G. Davidson for $80 million…In the early eighties with very low sales numbers, Harley-Davidson claimed that Japanese manufacturers were importing motorcycles into the US in such volume as to harm or threaten to harm domestic producers. After an investigation by the US International Trade Commission, President Reagan imposed in 1983 a 45% tariff on imported motorcycles with over 700cc engine capacity.”

[Jeff in Kentucky]

An old 250cc Honda Rebel or 250cc Kawasaki Ninja may be the least expensive bikes with lots of parts available for them and proven reliability, but they are best on 60 mph roads instead of 75 mph roads, for lighter and shorter people without footpeg and handlebar changes and stiffer suspension springs, and they are not that comfortable for a passenger:

http://www.ratbike.org/docs/296.php

http://pashnit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1145

[Jeff in Kentucky]

I used to ride with regular dirt bike tires in snow less than a foot deep- a foot or more messed with the steering and the back tire traction too much, and if you crashed the landing was somewhat softer.

When I was a kid, we would pour water on abandoned gas station pavement, and race around the pump island with regular bicycle tires on the ice. We could not afford to race motorcycles- too much money for all of us to have one and keep them repaired. Here are two guys that rode on lake ice, until one died while riding on the dirt:

http://www.snowmobiletrails.com/moto/index.html

[Jeff in Kentucky]

This dealer below in Tennessee has a 2009 Buell Blast like new with 300 miles on it for sale, for $3,900. You should go for quite a while before the headache starts for finding new parts for it, besides tires and brake pads. You will probably not have to ever replace the belt sprockets, and I would add an oil seal conditioner to the fork oil so the fork seals last longer:

http://www.abernathyonline.com/new_vehicle_inventory.asp?page=1

[Jeff in Kentucky]

You can buy tires made for snow and ice, to go with your heated grips and electric vest:

http://www.motorace.com/miva/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=M&Category_Code=M

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