… your local dealer generally isn’t in business to “rip you off.” They value your continued business. I often find gear at the local dealer that is within the same price range as I can find it online. If there is a difference it is usually made up in shipping costs from the online vendor. Generally speaking I find prices within $10-$15 so. For that small a difference I will support the local dealer, plus there is the added advantage of being able to try it on at the dealer, which can be a big advantage. A recent example was some Sidi boots for my wife. I checked a few places online before looking at the local shop. Price at the local shop was going to be $11 over the average online price (+shipping). She went to the shop to try them on, didn’t at all like how they fit and purchased something different anyway. Now of course when I do find the occasional huge price difference the local shop can’t match, or if it is an item my local deal simply doesn’t carry, I don’t hesitate to make an online purchase. There is no doubt you can find some big bargains online that the local shops can’t always match, particularly on closeout items.
I also agree with your comments on local dealers supporting the MSF classes. They do around here as well, and a handful of them have an arrangement with the training companies to offer gear at discount prices to MSF graduates. My wife and I went to a local Honda dealer (because it was the closest one), but they sell their stock of jackets and helmets at a 50% discount if you show the MSF card you get when you pass the BRC.
Which brings up one last point, there is a lot of markup in a lot of gear. It can never hurt to talk to your local dealer. Let them know what prices you found online and see if they can come down a little in price to be more inline. They may not be able to come down all the way to the online price, but often they have enough wiggle room to make you comfortable with the local purchase.
… I love the versatility of a textile jacket as far as changing weather etc. goes, but for walking around town I find the leather much more subtle. Particularly with some of the riding jeans available. There are a *lot* of really nice armored leather jackets out there which are much more fashionable than the “fonz” type motorcycle jackets. Some of them are awfully hard to even tell they are armored.
… on my Bonneville is they love to sit there at gas stations, traffic lights and the like revving their engines to let me know how much noise they can make compared to mine. One guy last week sat there the entire time I was fueling just revving his engine while looking at me. Seriously?? All I could think about was the South Park Episode…
I still have the stock pipes on it .. and yes I will admit it sounds a bit like a scooter, but come on
I will probably put a set of Norman Hyde Classics on it. It gives it a nice exhaust note without being obnoxious. I live in a rural community where everyone seems to be in bed by 10PM LOL.
… folks were posting all kinds of equations that just made my head spin.
Reminds me of one I saw that had to do with determining the optimal focal length for your DSLR camera for portraiture based on sensor size. Something along the lines of … determine the length and width of the sensor. Square each number. Add the two results and then find the square root of that number. Whatever that number is double it and that will give you the correct focal length to use with your camera for portraits. Seriously? Who thinks up these things? Do they just wake bolt upright in the middle of the night with some kind of epiphany? LOL
… I didn’t read that list bit carefully and was relating it more to the discussion on the other forum where people were trying to determine speedometer error percent, by comparing it with what the GPS said their speed was. Since GPS’s can have their own inaccuracies, it probably isn’t the most exact method of speed calibration.
But even relating it to Odometer. My understanding is, the Garmin Zumo 600 for example, has an accuracy of 10′. From what I understand that to mean is that is there is a circle of confusion of 10′.. more or less a 10′ bubble that the GPS has determined you are somewhere within. Granted you may be up to 10′ ahead of where it thinks you are, or 10′ behind, so it likely averages out over a long ride.
You sound like you have definitely done your homework along your route though and did a lot of double checking and fact checking, but because of that circle of confusion and other factors that can affect GPS accuracy, I think you would have to do that same homework on every route wouldn’t you?
The reason I ask is I have seen similar posts about GPS accuracy where people using them on cars, bikes, motorcycles, and marathons claim they are not always 100% accurate. The consensus, from what I can gather, is about a 2% error. I am not sure how that compares to the average error on most odometers.
I think part of the discussion on accuracy had to do with that circle of confusion and the clock rate of the unit determining how often it takes a reading. Some talk about whether GPS accurately accounts for frequent lane changes and how much those add up over a long trip, etc. I admit, I am not a statistician, and my eyes kind of glazed over after so much of it.
.. of someone backing up a motorcycle. If someone jumped out of a plain car with gun in hand I think I think the “fight or flight” response would kick in and backing up the motorcycle really isn’t an unreasonable step. Certainly the cop never thought to ask him if the camera was on and recording and he was never asked to turn it off. I think under the circumstances the last thing going through the riders mind was that he should turn it off. I am certainly not a lawyer, but I think the officer made a number of miss-steps and they are probably going to end up looking foolish and dropping the case in the end.
.. and supposedly in the US a 1997 Federal Standard allows for a 5% error, but aftermarket modifications such as tire sizes, wheel sizes, different differential gearing can cause further error.
Also apparently there can be variances plus or minus due to tire wear and tire diameter variations from temperature, tire pressure, weight load, etc.
As far as GPS goes, they are by no means 100% accurate either. Wikipedia has the following to say about GPS accuracy:
“As the GPS is an independent* system, its speed calculations are not subject to the same sources of error as the vehicle’s speedometer. Instead, the GPS’s positional accuracy, and therefore the accuracy of its calculated speed, is dependent on the satellite signal quality at the time. Speed calculations will be more accurate at higher speeds, when the ratio of positional error to positional change is lower. The GPS software may also use a moving average calculation to reduce error.”
I wouldn’t necessarily depend on GPS reading as a source of determining speedometer error. In some cases your speedometer may be the more correct.
.. You can likely get a seat custom fit for your GF for less than a Corbin seat, which still may not fit her correctly. I have included a link to a place near me called Bitchn Stitchn, so that you can get an idea of what they do. But, you should be able to find something similar in your neck of the woods.
… I am not sure why I didn’t think about them. I think mainly because I was locked in at the time trying to find some hard luggage options for my bike in order to carry some camera gear. I don’t think Givi is an option for the Bonneville unless there is some sort of custom bracket that would work. My brain kind of locked in on Norman Hyde and Hebco & Becker
I am not sure the Caribou stuff would work either, which is too bad. I love the Pelican cases for carrying gear.
I am trying to thing about how it applies to how I brake. I know I definitely rely on my front brake 70% or more as you suggest. I tend to keep my foot off the rear brake until I feel the weight start to shift forward, then tend to apply just enough rear brake to counter the forward shift.
I have only had to make one emergency stop so far and luckily it was on dry pavement. Generally everything went well with the exception of jolt at the end. I am guessing a little too much front brake at the very end. So probably if I had to self evaluate I think I am not using enough rear brake in quick stops? I know thats the one hit I had during the MSF course as well. Did a little bit of a “stoppie” on the emergency braking from not applying enough rear brake.
At least not through Suzuki. Know of any 3rd party options that look good and function well? Something that doesn’t look like you slapped some odd fitting 3rd party make shift bags? They look appealing, but for her needs need the side bags and top box to carry her gear, clothes, etc.
… if you live in an area with a definite winter “no riding” season. Luckily we have fairly moderate temps for the most part in Denver. Sure we get our cold spells and snow spells, but we get spells of sunny weather in the mid-40’s and higher all throughout as well. I think maybe 10 days due to a heavy snow around Christmas was the longest I had to go without riding. The main streets were fine, but they don’t plow our streets
But anyway, purchased a lot of gear over the winter. Everything fit well and functioned well so no problems knock on wood.