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The “Five to Survive” Rule & Why You Should Use It
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roborabbitParticipant
I’m goofy tall person aswell and the Rocket 5.0 jacket (LG) and Pheonix 2.0 Pants work well for me. My measurements 6’2″ tall 36 Inseam 32 Waist. Both have C.E. approved armor and are releativley cheap. Got the jack new for 145$ and the pants for 120$ at a honda dealership. You can prob find them for a bit less online. With the liners they are both waterproof and warm but with the liners out they are nice and cool. Spent a whole day in a parking lot with both on when it was sunny and 85 degrees f out and it seemed as if I were wearing a tshirt and jeans. At about 30 mph on a bike I was actually starting to feel a bit cold.
roborabbitParticipantDon’t trust the patch kit / sealant goo. It’s a temporary fix to get you home or to a bike shop to get the tire / tire and tube replaced. I’m assuming it’s the same for bikes as it is for cars. I’ve used the stuff on my car tires once and figured everything was fine and kept driving on the patched tire. 50 Miles later the tire had a really bad blow out on a local highway. (Going about 40-45 mph). Got lucky that it was the middle of the night and the highway was empty. So the moral is don’t trust an “AS SEEN ON TV” product with your life. Get the bike home(or to a bike shop) and get the tire replaced.
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Btw a tip for saving money on tire replacement. Take your tires off yourself, it’s fairly simple and all the directions are in your M.O.M. Since you won’t have the tools for replacing the tire yourself this is one of the only ways to save on tire replacement (the tools for peeling / putting a tire on a rim can run into the thousands). So take the tires off yourself and bring them into a shop. It can save you about 50-150$ depending on the shop. It’s also way faster. No waiting while the guy who strips the rims goes through his work pile.
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Almost forgot, if you do remove the tires yourself make sure your bike is extremely secure. Coming back home with a new pair of tires and finding your bike laying on its’ side is going to suck.
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Some tips from a novice who’s still waiting for his MSF -_-;;
roborabbitParticipantIf you get a charger / tender be sure it has a setting that matches your batteries. Sometimes you’ll find a charger that looks nice and is at a good price but then find out that the Volts / Amps/ Ampers / MaH don’t match your batteries’ specs. Also, one with jump setting is nice! Going out and trying to start your bike and then finding out the battery is dead sucks! What’s worse is that with a charger it will take atleast 2 hours for the battery to have enough power to turn the starter over! Having a charger with a jump setting is the perfect solution for this, just uncover the battery, attach the leads, set the charger to “Jump/Start” and start your bike. But make sure you’re going to run the bike for atleast 30 min to give the battery enough charge to start up again. (1 hour to be sure if you have the time). The downside to using a chargers “Jump” setting is that if you stall out on the road, you’re going to have to walk or call for help. So to get rid of the battery problem all together have 2 batteries and keep one in the bike and the other on the charger/ tender. That way you’ll always have a spare. Or you could put your battery on the charger/tender every time you pull it into the garage, but let’s face it everyone is forgetfull and sometimes you just don’t feel like doing something. There is nothing worse than finding out you have a dead battery, on a car or bike, when you have to leave for some place in 15 min.
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Btw, I can’t see any point to bringing a charger / tender on the road with you. Unless you’re taking a road trip and plan to juice your battery whenever you stop at a hotel. And as bride said, a battery dying while you ride is prob not going to happen. If it does that’s because it isn’t getting charged while you ride and that is a whole seperate problem that having a tender/charger isn’t going to solve.
roborabbitParticipantNJ DMV doesn’t accept out of state MSF course completion cards sadly . I’m in central NJ and if i felt like going to the boondocks (1-2 hr drive) I could be taking the course as early as June. Sadly I really don’t feel like waking up that early when they’re going to be 8+ hr days. Also, I picked the longest running and best reviewed MSF in NJ that I could find. It just happened to be right next door to me.(about 3 mi away).
roborabbitParticipantThose triumph sporties lack the appeal of the bonnies , the sexiest thing about the bonnies (for me anyway) is the 180 degree seat…. it just looks so classic and sexy. If it wasn’t for the placement of the exhaust on the Scrambler it would probably be my favorite bike… but the exhaust looks extremely uncomfortable seeing as how it’s placed directly under the right thigh…
roborabbitParticipantSign up ASAP for the MSF they get booked up real fast. It’s a 3 month wait for one here in NJ.
roborabbitParticipantI won’t have to worry about helmet hair in a few years…. Going bald happens early in my family -_-;; my unlce went bald at 23, granfather at 26, and father at 27. I’m 23 and my hair is allready making a tactical retreat towards my neck.
roborabbitParticipantin a few years you’ll be going bald and this will no longer be a problem for you.
roborabbitParticipantIn order to ride on a public street with a permit there must be a licensed motorcyclist riding near/with you. Don’t know how this works with PLP. Wonder if a licensed rider standing nearby would be sufficient…
roborabbitParticipantThe 2-tone Lime-Black has to be the best look for a 500r.
roborabbitParticipantAs a fellow beginner I can tell you this: start on a smaller bike and be bored, it’s better than going out and buying some 80+ bhp monster that will, most likely, scare you into leaving it in the garage. Ignoring the fact that it will more than likely leave you in a full body cast, having a bike that can get you up to 40-50 mph while still in first or second gear is not going to be a confidence inspiring affect on you. Also from a financial stand point it’s a more sound idea aswell. Why go out and spend $9k+ on a bike that you are going to drop; also factor the insurance in. If anybody is willing to insure a beginner on a 600+ cc bike it’s going to cost you alot. Probably 900+ / year (just called a broker and asked for a quote for a beginner on gixxer, he laughed at me and said “sure I can get you insurance, for about $1,200 / year”) with a $1,000 deductable and the lowest possible comprehensive coverage available. So yah, it doesn’t make sense even from a financial stand point, unless your dad is Donald Trump or Paris Hilton is your sugar momma. Add to it the fact that you will have no where near the skill level needed to control a beast like that, even after 1 or 2 years of riding. And also the fact that you even considered wheelies and stoopies possibile and all I can do is stare stupefied at my computer screen and wonder if we’re even on the same planet, much less that we’re same species. So, honestly, if you’re dead set on getting some 600 cc 4 inline cylinder sportbike after only 3 months of practice then all I can ask is this: will you put me in your will? Hell even after 3 months you’ll still be having trouble counting gears (was that 1 down 4 up or 4 down 1 up? will probably go through your head many times). Just like any other sport, skill, craft, or hobbie, in motorcycling practice makes perfect and this goes doubly so when the fact that you lack practice will most likley mean your death. So, even if you don’t value your life, respect the fact that you will leave others in pain both physically and emotionally if you start out on a bike more meant for the track than the street and bite it. Imagine the pain you will cause your parents both financially and emotionally if you bite it at 70-80 mph by crashing into a driver or pedestrian. Since you will most likely have only minimal insurance coverage, guess who will get left with the bill for the lawsuit and funeral costs? Your parents. They bought the bike, they still have you down as a dependant on tax forms, and they raised you; so, at the least (exagerating a bit), that’s a case for negligence in a criminal court and a multi-million $ pay out in a civil court. Also, think of others, imagine the pain, anger, sorrow, and strife you would cause to the family of the person you murdered (yes it would be murder, so even should you survive you would end up in jail for 30% of your life at least). Also imagine how much of a back-step it would be for the riding community, the headlines “Motorcyclist kills 2 injures 4 while attempting to do a wheelie at 70 mph in a busy intersection” would pretty much destroy the positive image the riding community has gained after decades of being considered outcasts and outlaws. These are not exagerrations; these are the things every motorcyclist needs to consider every time they flip up the kickstand. And it is an immense responsibility, but it’s one that I and every other person when we are considering learning to ride and buying a motorcycle. I’m roughly the same age as you (I’m 23) and I’ve just decided to get into motorcycling aswell, heck we even live in the same area. And, while I don’t have a Superman syndrome, I do still have the armor of youth that we all wear around this age. While I wouldn’t consider myself Superman I do, sorta, align myself with Flash Gordon. He wasn’t invincible and he knew it, he considered the risks to himself and to everyone else every time he took action and that is what we need to do if we are to be considered responsible motorcyclists.
So everytime you get on a bike ask yourself these questions:
1) Am I rockin’ the gear?
2) Is this motorcycle right for me?
3) Is it properly maintained?
4) How well do I know this bike?
5) Do I know my limits?
6) Do I know how to handle most, if not all, dangerous situations that could arise while riding this bike?
7) Do I have the ability to handle them?
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If you have answered “No” to any of these questions then you are going to be a danger to yourself and others and should:
1) Always rock the gear.
2) Get a bike that will fit you and won’t scare the crap out of you.
3) Follow the M.O.M.’s advice and keep your bike in the best shape possible.
4 & 5) Take your bike out to a deserted parking lot with little to no obstructions and practice, practice, practice, and then practice some more. Don’t stop practicing till your left forearm is the size of Pop’ eyes’.
6 & 7) READ. Buy every book, magazine, and guide about motorcycling. Read them till your eyes bleed. Then take what you have memorized out to the parking lot and again; practice, practice, practice.
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These are all the rules that I could think of and I plan to follow them like a madman. Hopefully you will follow them or something similar.
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Btw, sorry no one will tell you what you want to hear. But what you need to hear isn’t often something you’ll like.
roborabbitParticipantWelcome and best of luck to you! I’m sorta jealous of you in S. Africa since you probably have a better selection of small cc bikes to start with than we have here in the States .
roborabbitParticipantOf course I do, however, I just got my permit a few weeks ago (can’t even take the road test yet– in NJ you have to until its been 20 days since you’ve gotten your permit) and I’m signed up for a MSF.
roborabbitParticipantwill lock up especially when new. Since they aren’t properly adjusted and need time to ‘bed in’.
Atleast that’s what people tell me.
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Good job rockin’ the gear .
As of right now I have more riding gear than experience(don’t even have an endorsement yet) and plan to keep it that way. Skill and experience make poor armor when you’re racing toward the pavement headfirst at any speed.
roborabbitParticipantIt was a long fight between me and that 650 lb(dry) monster. I was rolling it towards the back of the garage and hit a mass of tubing(air compressor hose piled about 4-6 inches high) which turned the front wheel. When I noticed that it was about to fall and after an unsuccessfull attempt to straighten the front wheel and keep it balanced I gave up took my right hand off the handlebar and got my leg out of the way. What ensued then (probably a comical sight my left hand/foot stilll on the handle bar/peg and my right leg pushing against the wall which the FJR seemed to want to hug) was a three-way battle-royal between me, gravity, and the laws of inertia. So, after a 30 second crash course in bike physics, I realized that even if I managed force the bike back to a standing position it would just fall the other way and I wouldn’t be able to get out of the way. Then I resolved to let it down as slowly as possible (which seemed successful at the moment but the bike probably hit the floor faster than it seemed at the time) and only ended up with a scrape on my right ankle (from a nail in the wall) and a hell of alot of muscle strain. Which is pretty good considering that if I hadn’t been as lucky as I was I could have ended up with a broken leg (which still would have been lucky) or pinned against a concrete wall with my hips shattered if I had gotten off in the opposite direction. I can tell you this, if Goliath had decided to just sit on David he probably would have won quite easily. Oh and the scratch on the muffler is gone thanks to the liberal use of chrome polish and a right angle grinder + buff pad.
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About the 250r insurance, these numbers are all from online quotes and I know I could argue them down atleast 40% (State Farm, Progressive, and Geico). But even taking that into account the insurance on a ’08-09 250r is still going to cost a bit more (prob more like 250-350 / yr) than a 500r (just called and got a quote from my local insurance broker for 190-260 / yr for ’00-09 models). This is most likely due to the fact that a 250r has full fairing where a 500r has half and also because being a much sought after new model the 250r is probably considered a high-theft risk. Also, this is NJ where insurance companies hold more sway and power than the state executive, legislative, and judicial bodies combined. If ever there was a Monopoly that needed to be broken up and brought to court it’s probably the auto insurance industry.
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About the Nighthawk, after searching high and low for one and not finding a single one within a reasonable driving distance (30-60 miles) I’ve pretty much put that idea to the side. Now I’m just wondering whether this is a really nice bike and no one wants to resell it or if it’s just a case of manufactuers not believing there is a market for it because the Ninja 250r seems to have every starter hypnotised.
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