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FuzzyWuzzyBear posted:Do you have garage space to work on your motorcycle? If not, getting a bike made before 1990 may be a gamble, especially because, at least in Connecticut, a lot of bike shops won't work on 80's bikes. Also, you won't need to spend anywhere near $5,000 for a used older bike. More like between $1,000 and $1,500, depending on the bike and the condition of it. Yep, the new apartment has a 2-car garage with an attached 10x6 ft storage area. There's plenty of room for my Legacy, my roommate's Miata, and a motorbike or two.
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Jan 2, 2010 04:06
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Overpriced Balloons posted:All of these reasons why I NEED a bike. No, seriously, there's no other alternatives. I swear. Man, you don't need to rationalize or justify the wanting of a motorcycle. You just want one, that's plenty of reason to get one  Something to consider: Bikes are, on average, more maintenance-intensive then cars, even if a lot of the stuff is pretty minor and the frequency varies greatly from bike to bike. Valves often need to be checked every 5k-15k miles, chains need to be lubed every ~500 miles and replaced every , tires will only last between 5k-10k miles, etc. Because of that, how much wrenching space and mechanical aptitude you have is going to be pretty important here. If you have a garage or shed or at least a covered area you can work on the bike in, you've got a lot of options. Or if you're willing to pay a shop to working on it, that's fine too, but gets expensive. If you really aren't interested in any maintenance, scooters might be the way to go. 150-250cc scooters should manage 60mph (with a tailwind), and due to their v-belt drives and lack of power are pretty l0w-maintenance. If you do want an actual bike, I find it hard to not say Ninja 250cc. Light, powerful enough for commuting and highway usage, excellent (~70mpg) mileage, tons of parts availability, and dirt-cheap. It's got the fairings and styling of a sportbike, but the seating position is actually pretty upright and standard. You can usually find good ones in the $1500 range, and if you really don't want the faired look, you could see about finding a naked one: http://media.photobucket.com/image/streetfighter%20ninja%20250/cardude100/Photo0031-1.jpg *edit* Even though it gets beaten to death here, figure on spending at least $500 on safety gear. Helmet, jacket, overpants, gloves and boots. If you're commuting on it, figure on rain gear and a second set of warmer gear as well (Although I guess that depends on where you live). And you ARE going to take the MSF course, right? To assist you in the not dieing? Tsaven Nava fucked around with this message at 04:33 on Jan 2, 2010 |
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Jan 2, 2010 04:29
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I would argue that I would much rather deal with the maintenance on a scooter than a car (edit: I see now you mentioned this). Scooters will probably go tens of thousands of miles on oil changes alone, which seem kind of intimidating at first for anyone who's never played mechanic, but take maybe 10 minutes tops after you've done it once. Cars have a ton more poo poo to worry about that is much more difficult to work on if you don't have the tools and experience. I likely as safe as anyone else here in terms of AGATT but I can't imagine wearing boots and overpants to ride 5 blocks to work. I'd recommend full face helmets and jacket/gloves, though, which are easy enough to take off and store somewhere. hayden. fucked around with this message at 14:48 on Jan 2, 2010 |
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Jan 2, 2010 14:45
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If there's a street that's such a pain in the rear end to cross that OPB doesn't want to walk or bike across it, I can't imagine *not* wearing boots and overpants.
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Jan 2, 2010 19:28
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Jabs posted:If there's a street that's such a pain in the rear end to cross that OPB doesn't want to walk or bike across it, I can't imagine *not* wearing boots and overpants. Do they have bullet and knife proof overpants now or something? The mental image of a crackhead with a knife chasing after a fully geared dude on a scooter is pretty funny though.
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Jan 2, 2010 19:36
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Overpriced Balloons posted:The place I work had to put up a barbed-wire fence because people's cars kept getting stolen or broken into. The murder rate is 3 times the national average and the neighborhood where my job is had at least 6 or 7 shootings that I can remember this year (because the police presence disrupted my commute). There is a welfare (or unemployment, I'm not sure which actually) office across the street, which often has a nice line of lovely people outside in the morning, and a park next to that which is a great place to meet a crackhead. Also, keep in mind that if they are breaking into cars it is a lot easier to just *walk off* with a motorcycle/scooter.
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Jan 2, 2010 20:39
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schreibs posted:Also, keep in mind that if they are breaking into cars it is a lot easier to just *walk off* with a motorcycle/scooter. Well yea, but the barbed-wire fence does a good job keeping them out. It's far from impenetrable, but there are other businesses nearby with open lots, so I assume they just go there. As for gear, I was planning on wearing boots and pants and such because I'm kind of paranoid about both safety and my clothes. I tend to spend a lot on clothes so I really try not to get them messed up. I've been doing normal maintenance on my cars for a couple years now, so I don't think I'd have any problem doing a bike, and I do have a garage. Tsaven Nava is probably right, though. I got the idea of getting a bike into my head and I would probably find a rationalization to support it no matter what. I am trying not to get zoned-in on one particular thing, though, since I tend to do that and then regret not exploring my options later. That unfaired ninja doesn't look too bad, I'll try to see if I can find one to look at in person. Thanks for all the input, I will have to seriously consider exactly what it is I want and then when I have some specific questions I'll probably come back.
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Jan 3, 2010 04:33
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Overpriced Balloons posted:As for gear, I was planning on wearing boots and pants and such because I'm kind of paranoid about both safety and my clothes. I tend to spend a lot on clothes so I really try not to get them messed up. If you think buying normal clothes is an expensive hobby wait until you venture down the dark path of motorcycle gear.
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Jan 3, 2010 05:24
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kylej posted:If you think buying normal clothes is an expensive hobby wait until you venture down the dark path of motorcycle gear. Unless John Varvatos and Pure Blue Japan make motorcycle gear, I kind of doubt it will be more expensive than my normal clothes.
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Jan 3, 2010 05:41
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Overpriced Balloons posted:Unless John Varvatos and Pure Blue Japan make motorcycle gear, I kind of doubt it will be more expensive than my normal clothes. As far as quantity goes, no (you can get by with one set of gear usually). But you can easily drop well north of $500 on each main piece (helmet, pants, jacket) depending on what you buy. I think I've seen someone here that has a pair of boots that are like $800 new? I know that is still pretty ho-hum in fashion clothing terms, though.
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Jan 3, 2010 06:07
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Overpriced Balloons posted:Unless John Varvatos and Pure Blue Japan make motorcycle gear, I kind of doubt it will be more expensive than my normal clothes. Yeah there's no way that'll happen
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Jan 3, 2010 06:12
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If I were to have my pick of the litter in terms of gear, I'd probably wind up wearing over $2000 on my body.
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Jan 3, 2010 06:17
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Those prices are roughly inline with my normal clothes. I would probably spend a little more on a Varvatos suit, but then I don't wear anything on my head Admittedly, I'm not really planning on getting a $1500 jumpsuit for riding my used motorcycle down the street. I was figuring maybe ~$500 for a decent jacket, the same for the helmet, and then probably going a little cheaper for the pants and boots.I do hope I can find things that look much less flashy then all of that stuff. edit: I was really excited when I first saw your post, because I thought you were going to link to fashionable designer bike gear. Oh well. Panoplied Platypus fucked around with this message at 06:32 on Jan 3, 2010 |
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Jan 3, 2010 06:26
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buildmyrigdotcom posted:If I were to have my pick of the litter in terms of gear, I'd probably wind up wearing over $2000 on my body. Yeah close to 4-5K for me: Sidi Crossfires - 500 Lee Parks Deer Sport Gauntlets - 130 Kilm Adventure Suit - 2300 OR BMW Trailguard Suit - 1000 BMW Carbon Dual Sport Helmet - 650 Fancy Motorbike socks - 30 Wicking underwear - 30 Not to mention other stuff for various seasons/conditions: Full Heated Gerbings Suit - 560 Alpinestars Bionic Neck Brace - 560 Asterisk Knee Braces - 600
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Jan 3, 2010 06:30
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Overpriced Balloons posted:Those prices are roughly inline with my normal clothes. I would probably spend a little more on a Varvatos suit, but then I don't wear anything on my head Yeah if you're thinking about an older BMW or a similar retro look you could wear some de-branded Triumph gear or Hein Gericke stuff. You're in the right ballpark price wise for that gear. I'd recommend a pair of overpants for starting out as well. I love my Hein Gericke Paris Dakar jacket. Edit: You might like this stuff more. PlasticSun fucked around with this message at 06:42 on Jan 3, 2010 |
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Jan 3, 2010 06:33
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Psh. http://www.dainese.com/us_en/motorbike/g-montone.html?gender=2&destinazione_uso=44&cat=12
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Jan 3, 2010 06:39
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kylej posted:Psh. http://www.dainese.com/us_en/motorbike/g-montone.html?gender=2&destinazione_uso=44&cat=12 I don't think this is out yet but I think it'll be close to the single most expensive piece of riding gear when it goes on sale. http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=530695 $2400 1-2 piece suit with integrated neck brace. I think there's a few Dakar Rally riders wearing it this year.
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Jan 3, 2010 06:46
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Let's see, if you take MSRP on all my gear: Helmet 600$ (Suomy Spec1R) Leathers 2400$ (Helimot Customs, and cheaper ones) Boots 600$ (Daytona Sports, their midrange boots) Gloves 200$ (Helimot H20s) Back protector 150$ (Helimot TLV) Custom Earphones 220$ I spend too much on my hobby...sigh. And that's not counting the textile/leather commuting gear, the extra helmets, dirt gear that I need to buy,  Still, wouldn't trade it for the world.
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Jan 3, 2010 18:52
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PlasticSun posted:Yeah close to 4-5K for me: drat, how much are your bikes worth vs. your gear? That is a lot of stuff. I have a bunch of gear but it was almost all bought on sale off NewEnough, I don't have anywhere near as much money sunk into gear as you guys. I guess I don't count the UnderArmor either since I didn't buy that specifically for biking.
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Jan 3, 2010 19:14
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I'm a somewhat experienced rider (grew up with dirt bikes, took the MSF) who is considering a bike to commute on with with some longer rides every once in awhile. I've been trying to figure out what the lowest emission bikes are (with little success). I want to commute on something that not only gets better mileage but produces less emissions than my car. I've been watching e-bikes for awhile, but obviously they're not quite there yet. Price isn't that important. I was looking into scooters a bit but then read how some of the cheaper engines produce even more emissions than a car.
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Jan 3, 2010 23:10
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Oakey posted:drat, how much are your bikes worth vs. your gear? That is a lot of stuff. I have a bunch of gear but it was almost all bought on sale off NewEnough, I don't have anywhere near as much money sunk into gear as you guys. Don't actually have all of that it's just my dream list. I think my gear closet has about 3K worth of stuff in it, most of it bought on sale save for the BMW Rallye 2 Pro which has been well worth the money even with the crappy BMW zippers.
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Jan 3, 2010 23:24
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eeenmachine posted:I'm a somewhat experienced rider (grew up with dirt bikes, took the MSF) who is considering a bike to commute on with with some longer rides every once in awhile. If all you're interested in is emissions, your best choice is a Prius or a Smart or some other little horrible-to-drive car. My understanding is that the majority of bikes, even the most modern ones, have emissions that are middle-of-the-road at the best.
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Jan 4, 2010 02:47
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Bought this: http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=531794 Picking it up on Tuesday. 
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Jan 4, 2010 02:47
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Tsaven Nava posted:Bought this: http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=531794 Congrats man! What amazing and zany adventure do you have planned now that you actually will have something that's (somewhat) meant to go offroad?
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Jan 4, 2010 05:12
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eeenmachine posted:I'm a somewhat experienced rider (grew up with dirt bikes, took the MSF) who is considering a bike to commute on with with some longer rides every once in awhile. Bikes produce more emissions then a car, due to less restrictive emissions standards as a result of the lack of ability to slap a bunch of emissions crap on them. If you look at a picture that's a little bigger than emissions, though, bikes are much more environmentally friendly, after all, they're smaller with less parts, lighter and thusly cheaper to ship, and if you fix up/ride a used one, you're saving a lot of overhead that comes with building a new bike.
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Jan 4, 2010 05:36
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Tsaven Nava posted:Bought this: http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=531794 So - Ya gonna rent a van, or did you find someone to drive your car back?
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Jan 4, 2010 06:50
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Z3n posted:Bikes produce more emissions then a car, due to less restrictive emissions standards as a result of the lack of ability to slap a bunch of emissions crap on them. If you look at a picture that's a little bigger than emissions, though, bikes are much more environmentally friendly, after all, they're smaller with less parts, lighter and thusly cheaper to ship, and if you fix up/ride a used one, you're saving a lot of overhead that comes with building a new bike. Never thought of it like that! In general though will bikes with fuel injection be much cleaner than those with carbs?
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Jan 4, 2010 07:12
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Z3n posted:Bikes produce more emissions then a car, due to less restrictive emissions standards as a result of the lack of ability to slap a bunch of emissions crap on them. If you look at a picture that's a little bigger than emissions, though, bikes are much more environmentally friendly, after all, they're smaller with less parts, lighter and thusly cheaper to ship, and if you fix up/ride a used one, you're saving a lot of overhead that comes with building a new bike. Greenhouse gas emissions generally go with fuel economy though, considering a reasonably well running motor. So while they may produce more particulates and smog causing stuff, the CO2 emissions will generally be less than for cars.
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Jan 4, 2010 07:32
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eeenmachine posted:Never thought of it like that! In general though will bikes with fuel injection be much cleaner than those with carbs? Sort of. If you're concerned about emissions, you need to look at the years that they changed over from the older standards to the newer ones. I think 2001 may have been one of those years. In general, though, you can assume that FI bikes will be better than carbed ones. tzam posted:Greenhouse gas emissions generally go with fuel economy though, considering a reasonably well running motor. So while they may produce more particulates and smog causing stuff, the CO2 emissions will generally be less than for cars. I wasn't aware of how they are computed, but I guess that makes sense. IMO, emissions are kind of a short sighted way of evaluating things. Mainly because they fail to take into account a lot of factors that go into running a vehicle. I do know that they have done a shitload of good, and I'm glad we have them, but that's something where it's really hard to say if it's better overall for the environment to have a brand new bike with the most up to date emissions, or an older one that you've brought back to life.
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Jan 4, 2010 07:56
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eeenmachine posted:I'm a somewhat experienced rider (grew up with dirt bikes, took the MSF) who is considering a bike to commute on with with some longer rides every once in awhile. http://www.myersmotors.com/buynow.html
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Jan 4, 2010 07:59
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Zool posted:http://www.myersmotors.com/buynow.html AKA the Corbin Sparrow
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Jan 4, 2010 08:25
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Tsaven Nava posted:Bought this: http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=531794 Congratulations and welcome to Strom Club The first rule of Strom Club is that you do not talk about Strom Club
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Jan 4, 2010 08:29
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Z3n posted:I wasn't aware of how they are computed, but I guess that makes sense. IMO, emissions are kind of a short sighted way of evaluating things. Mainly because they fail to take into account a lot of factors that go into running a vehicle. I do know that they have done a shitload of good, and I'm glad we have them, but that's something where it's really hard to say if it's better overall for the environment to have a brand new bike with the most up to date emissions, or an older one that you've brought back to life. Really it depends on what you think is worse: global warming or smog/air quality issues. Older bikes will probably produce emissions more harmful to air quality than newer ones, but running one (in decent condition) probably isn't going to produce that much more greenhouse gas emission than a newer bike, and of course, it doesn't need to be built again. I don't know how the numbers stack up though, emissions due to construction vs. emissions due to running the thing. Bikes don't really contribute very much to either problem due to the fact that there are far less of them than cars anyway. In Australia, they're held to more lenient emissions standards than cars (euro 2 vs euro 4 I think).
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Jan 4, 2010 08:32
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Jabs posted:So awesome. Got a couple people offering to drive a car back, but I might not need it. A couple years ago, my dad bought a trailer hitch for his mini-van but never installed it. If I can get it installed, I can borrow a trailer from a friend and use it to get the bike. If not . . . it is going to be one hardcore cold ride.
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Jan 4, 2010 08:41
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Phy posted:Congratulations and welcome to Strom Club Is it that we're still trying to come to grips with the funny looks of our bike?
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Jan 4, 2010 08:42
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needknees posted:Congrats man! What amazing and zany adventure do you have planned now that you actually will have something that's (somewhat) meant to go offroad? Weirdly, not many. I'm probably going to have to work for most of the next year to replenish my bank accounts after that summer trip, so most of the miles on this bike will be commuting and general around town stuff. At least for 2010. 2011 will hopefully see me back in Antarctica for a while, and then perhaps up to Inuvick. Eventually I want to go across Russia, to Norway, but I that's a number of years off.
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Jan 4, 2010 09:45
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Tsaven Nava posted:Bought this: http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=531794 I want that bike (for that price!)
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Jan 4, 2010 20:16
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Cheesemaster200 posted:I want that bike (for that price!) And I got it for $3400, with hard bags  To be fair, the suspension is quite soft, the fork oil has to be changed and the rear shock is due for a replacement. I'm thinking of going with a Ricor rear shock, and then their Intiminators for the front forks.
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Jan 4, 2010 22:23
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If the SV650 second gen Intiminators will work in the Strom (I have no idea), I've got a brand new set I'll sell you for $150 plus shipping (what I paid).
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Jan 4, 2010 22:28
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Would I be an idiot to not jump right the hell on this for ~$1000? (I've got ~$600 free today, and payday's Friday. I could probably show up with $700 cash in hand.) http://advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=11789335&postcount=3391 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdhZXvvHc9A
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Jan 4, 2010 23:14
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