[Zantosh]

They come with drums, you’re right, but there’s a disc retrofit that you can buy.

[Zantosh]

That’s what I feel – that it rides wonderfully. At 3000 rpm, it’s really hauling ass – not lugging at all. In fact, if I let it, at 3000 rpm, it’ll go 70 without any effort and then I’d have to shift. I’ve found that based on the engine sounds, this engine moves wonderfully without revving very high and I’m sure I’d be able to kill myself without much effort were I a total child!

Fortunately, I’m not trying to do anything fancy, just learn to ride, enjoy the sunshine, and go around the neighborhood.

Next lessons to learn – what to do when I have to stop quickly.

[Zantosh]

Buell Lightning XB12Scg

[Zantosh]

Actually Farmer’s market. That’s where I live. I know the one on 35 and Royal that you speak of, I went there on Saturday, with that British guy who speaks really fast. He seems cool.

I’ll check out Cycle gear – I think over Thanksgiving weekend, I’ll ride up with my bro and a friend to buy me a new helmet and a armored jacket, and perhaps some jeans.

[Zantosh]

I guess I’m not there yet … but slowly, I will, after I figure out what that means – at 7k rpm, what sort of power output is my bike at and what does that mean?

[Zantosh]

And what I meant to say was, at 7000 rpm, you could be at a lower speed, but in normal riding, would you be at that sort of rpm from a full stop to a relatively decent 50 mph?

[Zantosh]

Yea I’m glad I didn’t high side though I should point out that my rear wheel didn’t go out as much as it might seem … it felt like it would go out so I let go of the brake … sure – I’m still figuring out how all this works, but the forces, as I felt them on my body, seemed to indicate that I should allow the bike to keep going rather than try to stop it.

This is, as opposed to the first spill, where I stepped on the rear brake, it locked, and I stayed on it because it didn’t feel like I should let go of it – and perhaps correctly so.

[Zantosh]

Thanks. I bought the shoe that you guys had reviewed. I’m hoping it works out. I need to get a jacket. As it turns out, the helmet I use isn’t fit for my head – it’s a big large. So I’m gonna have to go helmet shopping.

Do you have brands that you’d recommend for helmets, jackets, gloves etc.?

[Zantosh]

I learned very quickly that you can’t hesitate in turns, and once you’re in one, go through it coz there’s no way out. So how do I handle turns?

1. I plan ahead and slow down to a speed at which I feel safe to lean
2. I tighten my thigh muscles against the body of the bike so that my lower body feels really part of the bike
3. If I feel I’m going too fast or haven’t slowed down enough, I say screw it and keep going straight
4. If my speed is within my safety limit, then I lean and give the bike some gas, while being ready to use the clutch to regulate the power I give the wheels
5. Most importantly, I look at where I want to go coz my body follows by leaning and the bike follows me
6. If you panic in a turn and don’t know what to do then definitely don’t touch your rear brake as the bike will probably go out under you unless you know what has to be done. If you do press your rear brake, and you feel the bike going out under you, it may be a very bad idea to let go of the brake – take the fall coz if you let go and you’re going too fast, you may be thrown in the opposite direction and that’s gonna hurt way more coz you might land into oncoming traffic.
7. Remember – your bike can probably lean up to 40 to 50 degrees – which is pretty steep – and you don’t even need to lean more than 5 to 10 degrees to do most turns at a reasonable speed. So your bike isn’t going to fall when you lean unless you hit the brakes.

Good luck.

[Zantosh]

Actually I started out with the MSF class and did pretty well in it – meaning that I quickly grasped whatever the dude was telling me, while many of the others were still hesitant etc. I have a couple of questions – I’ll put it in a separate post.

[Zantosh]

I have to disagree with the difficulties in riding a bigger bike at slow speeds. On my 1203 cc engine, riding at under 30 mph speeds isn’t hard, the bike handles well and it’s really more about clutch control than anything else … I thought it would be really heavy and therefore tough to handle but so long as you’re giving it enough throttle but using the clutch in the friction zone, I think it’s just fine.

[Zantosh]

Lie down on the side of the road and play dead … according to the video.

[Zantosh]

Take it. Take it just to learn to trust the machine if you don’t already. You also learn a lot of basics that you absolutely need – such as how to stop – important.

[Zantosh]

Thanks for your responses – I think respect is necessary to stay alive on the road – and with 1200 ccs, I respect that power a lot. I don’t think having a smaller bike would’ve made a difference in my two incidents because both were “learning processes” – in that I was still learning what the bike can do and, more importantly what I can do with it.

My priority is to have reasonable fun with it – and for me, that’s going for rides, not necessarily going too fast – I think I finished that phase of my growing up. Oh yea, that and also because it’s easier to find parking for a bike than for a car

Seriously though, I didn’t buy the bike for the same reasons that a lot of people would buy it – I bought a sports bike coz I like sports bikes but my riding habits would be more in line with someone who rides a cruiser. It’s like, I wouldn’t want to buy a cruiser coz I don’t like the styling of it, but I wouldn’t use a sports bike to race or generally get a speed thrill.

And I work within my comfort zone so that I can keep my mind clear on emergency circumstances – e.g. I stopped at a light in a bad neighborhood and found a pool of oil in the middle of the road so I was able to situate the bike so that my foot wasn’t on the oil … saved me there.

[Zantosh]

Got my bike – took a left turn, fixated on the kerb coz I didn’t want to hit it – bike went for kerb – I hit brake, bike laid down, I got a bunch of road rash on my knees and elbows. Fortunately it was at 10 mph and there wasn’t any damage to the bike, and only a few scratches to me.

I tell you one thing – I’ve learned to trust my bike – it can lean up to 50 degrees before falling – which is, as I visualize it, how low you’d have to lean at about 150 mph on a racetrack. So I wouldn’t even need to lean 10 degrees to turn successfully, so I now ride with a lot more trust that so long as I lean enough, my bike will turn and I shouldn’t hit the brakes. Rather, I gear down ahead of time, slow down, and look into my turn.

[Author]

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