[Munch]

“”3. Predisposed historical prejudices – I know this will be controversial but here goes. Cruisers in general were associated with the Harley Davidson motorcycles, and were considered very “American”. Opposed to sportsbikes which are mainly “rice-burners.” Case in point when I pulled up next to a HD rider he was all nice to me until he found out I had an Asian built bike; then he told me to get a real bike LOL. On the other hand, I seen Sports bike Riders call any Cruiser Rider as a “Honkey Tonk Confederate Flag Yielding Whiteboy.””

This one around my parts has more to do with everything then anything. You have to consider first that there is a huge leap between generations of riders on the road now and the mentality along with them. Most riders used to be of the baby boom generation that got brought up in a time where there were just 2 wars fought overseas. In an era of racial tension no matter which race got pegged for it anything Japanese got nosed at. Remember Pearl Harbor ….. Vietnam etc. These harbored alot of hate for the senior members that lost brothers, fathers, friends and everything in between. The kids of these parents passed that behavior on to their kids.
Enter the Gas crises in the 80’s I think?(probly wrong but hey… I spend to much time around auto chemicals anyway). Before that you were almost labeled a commy if you had anything but American, and HD was the main builder of motorcycles at the time. No real sports bikes to be found. As they started popping up (again speaking from my area of location) they were really all foreign models..or aka rice burners, jap traps etc. When the oil crises happened a lot of old ideas went wayside for the sake of being able to go further for longer times. Toyota pick ups and Honda cars were becoming popular, add in the peace loving generation now getting older and more tolerant the foreign bikes now had a chance to survive. However with the faster and more agile you also got the younger crowds wanting to “boost their ego and prove it” . Nothing un common. Look at the marketing and who they target. See any teenagers or even 20 year olds depicted in a magazine pimpin’ a Boulevard….no….surprised?
Of course then you enter the news media…as the targeted market (kids) were going faster and getting bolder with every incident the news people much like today jump at the chance to report it. Not helping the sport bike riders at all.
Motorcycles enjoy the same marketing/stereotyping that cars do… are you young…want something stylish and fast…try the new Camaro, Mustang, Miata, B’mer and so on and so forth…for the older more distinguished try Buick’s luxury land yacht or the newest bells and whistle laden Caddy. Same thing for bikes… young, fast , agile…get a Ninja… or Katana…or Busa the naming of the bikes themselves lend more to the targeted riders and even to drive the emotion and point of view on the product. Cruisers…. want to just get away from it all…take a scenic route through the mountains to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city…or newest cruiser style/ touring type motorcycle is just what you need with it’s relaxing riding position and it’s gentleman’s like handling… see what I mean.
General public that’s not riding buys into it hook like and sinker…. even a good portion of the riders buy into it themselves. When I was shopping for my V900 I heard some beefed up ‘roid monster walk by the cruiser section look at his friend and make the comment… ” you don’t want to go over their that’s the old man section”.
Look through history and try to understand the attitudes, thoughts and emotions of the generations and it’s not hard to comprehend the gap. Luckily that gap is no where near as wide as it once was.

[Munch]

One thing you have to bare in mind also…. you are asking people that have the luxury of assessing the situation for about 5 mins then critiquing. Arm chair quarter backs as I like to call us will always have very different “rational” answers. It’s different when in the very situation with mere seconds to process, evaluate and execute.
Like Elwood said… you took all the appropriate steps, it paid off, end of story. Right or wrong is really moot.

[Munch]

Get them to take the MSF… read sites like BBM… as far as parents go.
Sites… leatherup.com, Cyclegear.com ummmmmm brain fart………

[Munch]

Kick off your shoes and stay a while. Great thing about BBM is we all come from different experiences…have different views but rarely get into useless flame wars ( knock on wood). You are sure to learn something about everything.

[Munch]

Congrats! Make sure you keep the practices up that you learned in MSF to help you along with your riding progress.

[Munch]

you are correct about the mpg on the V500…. that is about how much I got on mine. Rode it everyday for a while mostly highway.

[Munch]

looks nice. If I hadn’t ventured for a new jacket already I would seriously consider it

[Munch]

As for my opinion I would have done the same thing….it’s easier for the kids to get out of the way then it would have been for you should you had stopped suddenly and had the car crawl up your rear.
Only thing I may have done differently would have been to beep my road runner style horn to grab their ( the kids) attention.

[Munch]

Hey Safety…. update thus far… I just ordered the combo today. The gentleman was very nice and cordial and helped as far as sizing goes. Definitely call them before ordering to get a better fit. It is shipping out today so hopefully next week I will be able to give you a review.
The biggest things that impressed me so far is the customer service. Seems like it’s a smaller operation mainly built off of racing suits and the like and he is branching out to a more “private” section to help keep the finances up. Asked him about it and he said he is really booming..which from the commotion in the back ground….sounds like he is right.
Can’t wait!!

[Munch]

The STAR group I hear is one of the best to get into. Unfortunately I work wayyy to much to be able to enjoy this aspect of riding. STAR is the only group I have found that isn’t consumed with the 1%’er mentality or overly religious.

[Munch]

The 250’s should be fine up there. Being near the BRP I am sure you know where Deals Gap is…hang out at the tail and watch all the different bikes that show up. I don’ thtink there’s anything that could look out of place around that area.

[Munch]

My first…. was letting my boss ride my bike home for me…then after waiting for him to leave I did dough nuts around my yard….. 7 miles worth. Then after negotiating the exit to my up hill gravel driveway ..I got out on the country roads that I live on…. took me 2 weeks to work up the courage to hit the slabs.
My first 5 mins on the bike….. alot of clutch play before moving…. then got 3 to mph through the yard….first huge challenge… relaxing my throttle hand… I had to make a hard left to turn around and yup handle bars went left and my over stressed and tense arm just rolled the throttle more. A quick reminder of what the clutch does saved me from having the bike climb a tree without me. Turned it off… calmed down then got back on.
Are there any schools in your area that you can get to even on the week end to practice in a more open area?

[Munch]

ok let me clear one thing up. The MSF certificate really doesn’t matter. It’s a certificate of achievement.
What you need to do is once acquiring it is to go get your permit or if the state recognizes it as a substitute for the ridden test, your license and then get that transferred to which ever state you reside in.

[Munch]

Grats!!! right there with ya at a total between the 500 and the 900 right at 13K total. Would be more but we do have some winter months and nasty t-storms. Keep it in the wind man…if your travels bring you to saner territory …. like NC… give me a hollar.

[Munch]

Well there you are. Huge task you have chosen. With the “charm” you have it’s do able. The chasm isn’t so big. You will find that aside from some of the 1%’s most everyone really don’t mind. My lead tech was a die hard Harley person and he has since sat on my 900….needless to say he is rethinking his opinion. He also has been rethinking the whole sport bike attitudes to since one of our other techs is a sport bike person. We been working on him. Your fight is a bit tougher as you got the guys from areas like 5th ward clashing with people from the likes of Humble. Good luck!
The bikes looking good! You ought to come round more often and share some of your adventures….oh yea pics are good to!

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