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Guy comes up to me as I'm gearing up: "Nice bike, what size is it?" "125. Tops out at about 60 but it's good for getting to work and back." "Yeah, yeah. I was thinking about getting a bike. Probably an R1." "You sure? It's a big bike to jump onto first time." "Nah it's cool. Motorbikes are just bicycles with engines. I can get a bicycle around a corner at high speed fine so I won't have any problems with an R1."
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Oct 18, 2012 06:02
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Frankston posted:Guy comes up to me as I'm gearing up: Just sit back and let natural selection do its thing. 
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Oct 18, 2012 07:00
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I wonder what he'd say if you asked him to explain a moped?
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Oct 18, 2012 07:04
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When people come up to me looking at my bike and ask what size it is it actually kind of rubs me the wrong way, like they're trying to figure out how much of a man you are by engine size. When somebody asks what size it is it sounds like they're ramping up for a dick measuring contest. "Oh, you got a 6 incher there huh? Got me a twelver. Yup, it's pretty fast. Wanna get on the highway and have a jackin' contest? Bet I'd beat ya."
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Oct 18, 2012 07:31
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Sagebrush posted:Seriously? Who is he? Currently GATOS Y VATOS, and he's had cat avatars for the past while. http://forums.somethingawful.com/member.php?action=getinfo&userid=32423
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Oct 18, 2012 08:02
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Covert Ops Wizard posted:When people come up to me looking at my bike and ask what size it is it actually kind of rubs me the wrong way, like they're trying to figure out how much of a man you are by engine size. Everything is a dick measuring contest, competitiveness is instinctual. Men generally want to go full-bore, full-throttle and be bigger, better and faster than everyone else, in an effort to woo possible mates. Breaking down everything into numbers and statistics is an easy to way to "prove" your superiority. Just look at sports mags, any kind of gun talk or car review. Everything is broken down into easily-compared statistics. One car has 20hp more than another similar car, therefore it is 20 MORE BETTER! end of story.
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Oct 18, 2012 14:19
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So there's rumors flying around here about a car club that's targeting bikers and running them off the road. My instincts tell me that it's just another "don't flash your brights" thing, but everyone seems pretty worked up about it. Pretty much everyone I care about seems to be riding these days so I really don't need another thing to worry about. Anyone else heard about this poo poo?
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Oct 18, 2012 14:25
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KozmoNaut posted:Everything is a dick measuring contest, competitiveness is instinctual. Men generally want to go full-bore, full-throttle and be bigger, better and faster than everyone else, in an effort to woo possible mates. That's why I wear an Aerostich and ride a sport tourer. Measuring your dick in public gets the police called on you.
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Oct 18, 2012 14:30
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KozmoNaut posted:end of story. B-b-but my megapixels! 
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Oct 18, 2012 14:33
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Covert Ops Wizard posted:When people come up to me looking at my bike and ask what size it is it actually kind of rubs me the wrong way, like they're trying to figure out how much of a man you are by engine size. Agreed. I especially like the Harley guys that throw out the displacement scorecard and then walk into the horsepower/torque trap.  "How many CC in that Jap bike?" "850" "Heh. Can you even go on the highway with that? My Sportster 1200 . . .  " "So how many horses is that?" "Um . . . uh . . . 72, but I'm saving up to get the dealer to put her on a Dyno and tune it up to 75 when I pick up some more HD coffee mugs and zippo lighters. What's that Jap 850 put out, 50? 55?" "Stock is 78, but the pods, pipe and chain-drive probably bump it up. Maybe 80. Got no Dyno in my garage." 
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Oct 18, 2012 15:54
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Tamir Lenk posted:
I don't even understand the HP requirements. 30 HP from my heavy dualsport is sufficient for most highway riding. The 14 original horsepower produced by my ancient Yamaha 250 was anemic, but not dangerously so.
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Oct 18, 2012 16:05
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I get it in the other direction - people look at me like I am insane for riding a 1203cc bike. "My 600 makes plenty of power for me" Fact is, it's all tractor power. I am sure any CBR600 or R6 or whatever would walk away from the Uly pretty handily. Especially with the luggage on.
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Oct 18, 2012 17:55
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Hydraulic lifters tend to sap a lot of drivetrain power in exchange for reliability/less frequent maintenance. That said, tractors are awesome and I fully endorse the Uly. My bike has 1216cc's though and it's pretty much excessive in all regards.
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Oct 18, 2012 18:34
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Xovaan posted:My bike has 1216cc's though and it's pretty much excessive in all regards. I can imagine - the way to Sturgis we did roll-on sprints while we were alone on the interstate, and the stockish B12 pretty much swallowed the Uly whole.
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Oct 18, 2012 18:59
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Errant Gin Monks posted:500 bucks for a headache that needs 2000 worth of repairs. And if not that 500 bucks plus 50 in just liability insurance a month, plus 50 a week to fill up the tank, plus high registration fees, plus way more oil per change and other fluids plus...  My previous daily driver was a 1985 MR2 that I picked up for $1500 and lasted me nearly 5 years with nothing more than oil changes and new brake pads & tires. With the cost of my MSF class, endorsement fees, buying a helmet/gloves/jacket/etc, I've already spent nearly the cost of that car, and haven't even bought my bike yet. And every bike I seem to find locally in the ~$1500 range is a complete basket case needing way too much work to be worth it. Maybe it's area-specific.It's just the result of the US being such an automobile-centric society; everyone has cars, and everyone wants to sell their old ones eventually, so the market is just a lot more saturated and broad than the used bike market. Parts and service are also cheaper and more widely available here for cars than for bikes, making for slightly inflated prices for anything bike related. That said, I hate cash-for-clunkers with a burning passion. Way too many good/rare/collectible cars have been killed by that poo poo program.
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Oct 19, 2012 16:25
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Safety Dance posted:I don't even understand the HP requirements. 30 HP from my heavy dualsport is sufficient for most highway riding. The 14 original horsepower produced by my ancient Yamaha 250 was anemic, but not dangerously so. What's really funny is that HD won't include the HP in its bike specs. I don't actually care much about HP for my bike, since I ride like a big pussy anyway and never really tap into whatever power is there. It's just fun to troll the Harley guys that are pumped up after overdosing on Audio-Viagra (i.e., revving their loud pipes to maintain an erection) and wanna do some dick measuring against that "fag on a Jap bike/rice burner." The other fun yet tedious encounter are non-riders that ask about my bike, like co-workers, casual conversation. "What do you do for fun?" "Got into motorbikes recently. You know, mid-life crisis, etc. Spend a lot of time working on an old bike, riding, etc." "Cool. Did you get a Harley? My uncle/buddy/mailman/wife's adulterous lover has one. It's so badass. . . . " "Nah, mine's an old Suzuki." "Oh . . "I chuckle when they deflate because my bike is not a Harley.
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Oct 19, 2012 18:05
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Honda and a handful of other manufacturers don't include HP in their specs either. It's not a great metric for power and it tends to be held higher than it needs to be of comparing one bike's performance to another with different weight and transmission. As a result a lot of manufacturers don't bother, opting instead for torque and weight and other metrics to give a more comparable model-to-model stat sheet. That's not to say it's meaningless. It's just not the only number that counts and when it's listed on spec sheets it tends to be the only number people look at. Halo_4am fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Oct 19, 2012 |
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Oct 19, 2012 21:49
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I was talking to a co worker about him getting a 250R for his first bike because he never rode anything bigger than a 50cc moped and since we're in Hawaii the speed limit doesn't really allow us to go over 65MPH anywhere on the island anyways. One of my buddies who is a squid comes up and goes "No man you need to get a 600. You'll get sick of the power. I started on a 600 and I learned just fine." I asked him how many wrecks he's been in since he started riding over 6 years ago and he said 4. But it wasn't due to the power of the bike he said. It's because of either someone else or because he was riding like an idiot. Nothing to do with the power being too much.
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Oct 21, 2012 14:31
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I always wonder. I've had 4 "crashes" in the 6 years I've been riding. Most of them have been someone else's fault, but I did something stupid in response. I say most of them, I remember 3 of them, and I remember hitting the ground after number 4 thinking "that's number 4" but I've completely lost track of #3. I wonder what sort of idiot has to jump on a bike, even with 'only' 50bhp (or my 125 with it's 9) and think "this blatently isn't fast enough". I also wonder what sort of incidents I didn't have because my bike wasn't powerful enough to rip the rear wheel free of it's traction when I accidently sneezed. I also wonder how much I'm biased towards small bikes because I learned on one and it was my only transportation for 2 years. I did 600 mile road trips on that thing, top speed of ~55mph (depending on how low I crouched, and 6'3" doesn't crouch rather well) and restricted to non-motorway roads. Hmm, Stockholm Syndrome anyone? For actual content, my brother in law is about to pass his big bike test. His fantasy bike is an S1000RR, but he's terrified of getting on my DR-Z400SM. Could be linked to my sister 12 o'clocking it in front of him.
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Oct 21, 2012 15:01
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Orange Someone posted:For actual content, my brother in law is about to pass his big bike test. His fantasy bike is an S1000RR, but he's terrified of getting on my DR-Z400SM. Could be linked to my sister 12 o'clocking it in front of him. Well ya see, the S1000RR has traction control while the DR-Z400SM does not. For the record, I've had five "crashes" (incidents where the bike was unexpectedly and unceremoniously lain down at >5mph on the street or in a parking lot, or incidents that caused serious injury) in five years of riding, and all of them have been solidly my fault (four occurred in the first six months, and were on a 25 year old Yamaha 250).
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Oct 21, 2012 15:40
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 I've wrecked twice in 8 years and one of those was at the track. Maybe you guys should re-think your riding and traffic strategies.
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Oct 21, 2012 16:24
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invision posted:
My traffic strategy is fine, it's my ham-fistedly grabbing at the brakes that is the issue. #1 I'd been riding my XR125L a month. Ridden to an exam, which had gone horrifically and came out to find I'd got a parking ticket. Went home, got my kit and went out to clear my head in the pissing rain. Two 90* bends, right then left. Went in about 50 yards behind a grren volvo. Came out about 5 yards behind to find him massively on the brakes. Grab the front, washes out on the mud-coated road at 30mph. Banged up my hip and shoulder as well as bending a lever or two. #2 Just passed my big bike test. Pissing rain. Halfway through a 250 mile trip back from seeing my gran. Riding through the suburbs with far too much water on my visor and I see a T-junction with a car rolling up to it from the right. About 10 yards off, I realise it's not a T-junction, it's a mini-roundabout and he's already entered it. I grab the front brake, think the back came round, and slide about 30 yards on my MX boot. Stand the bike up and turn it off. Rash on boot. #3 Who knows #4 On my way to the last chance interview to ever be able to join the Navy. 2 mins from home, following a car over a humpback bridge. Below freezing weather, cold tyres, car in front slams on his anchors, comes to a halt and then indicates right. I'm not concentrating, thinking about interview answers, see him too late, lock up the front in the cold. More rash on same boot. Stand the bike up, ride the next 30 miles to the interview. Replace brake lever later. All were due to my shoddy braking, all were slow, all were mitigated by full kit, all had dodgy traction, all had concentration issues. I've now learnt to pay attention to traction, not ride when I'm out of it, wear my kit and to spend more time in the car park practising braking. Guy at work "Hah hah, I think I found your 400 in my tread last week". Yes, I know you have a litre bike, I don't feel the need to laugh at your ludicrious insurance and tax brackets, why laugh at my displacement? *edit* gently caress me, I think I was channeling z3n there. Apologies.
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Oct 21, 2012 17:17
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invision posted:
Mine have a lot more to do with rider inexperience than traffic strategies. #1: First time ever on a bike, my friend has me doing parking lot exercises. He has me doing figure-8s as tight as I can, and I dropped it. He later told me that he wanted to see how I would react to a mild crash, and that I passed the test by hopping right back on the bike. (2008) #2: Second time ever on a bike, I managed to 12 o'clock a 25 year old 250 that produced 14 hp when it was new. The friend I was borrowing it form has no idea to this day how I managed that. (2008) #3: Having ridden for several months at this point, I went on a camping trip. Loaded the Yamaha 250 (that I since bought from the friend) down with camping gear, was riding along a country road, and braked for a turn. I braked too late (combination of being heavier than I was used to and lovely drum brakes), hit a patch of gravel, bike went down. No injuries. (2008) #4: On the interstate, trying to get up to speed on the 250. Heavy traffic came to a sudden stop, I panicked and grabbed a handful of front brakes. I don't think I locked up the front, but I didn't manage to stop before hitting the car in front of me. Sprained wrist, totaled bike. (2008) #5: Riding on a dirt trail, I lost traction over a rut and the bike went down. Broken leg. (2011)
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Oct 21, 2012 17:59
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I've never crashed but every close encounter has been related to people actively trying to kill me or because of an unavoidable situation where the other driver was completely and utterly reckless and had I had a GoPro they'd be in prison (like a Mustang approaching me from behind at 130mph on a freeway in traffic and nearly clipping my girlfriend and I as he careened into the breakdown lane, nearly causing about twelve cars harm as well. I actually called 911 on this one)
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Oct 22, 2012 00:01
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In 6 years of riding I haven't had any really close encounters with traffic or crashes on pavement. I don't know how I'd count off-road come-offs; when I am on the street I do not anticipate crashing, but when I am off road I fully expect to eat mud and collect injuries.
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Oct 22, 2012 18:33
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I've been riding for 8 years, one crash that was definitely my fault due to overconfidence/lack of skill & experience/ straight being dumb. But I've also only done maybe 14k total miles in that time, and an awful lot of that was plain vanilla commuting in good weather. There are people who do more than that in a year, ride rain sleet or snow and do it in road and traffic conditions I avoid whenever possible; I'd expect them to have more accidents simply by playing the odds. Also offs in the dirt don't really count. Except maybe the cases where you totally found yourself in the wrong scenario for your bike (i.e. sportbike in mud) and motored through instead of turning around.)
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Oct 22, 2012 22:05
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Was adjusting my chain yesterday while waiting for the ferry and another biker came up to me. "What're you doing?" "Oh, I'm adjusting my chain. It needs to be tightened a little." "How do you do that?" Rather than just  at him, I showed him where the nuts where (heh) on my bike along with how to adjust it. He rode a DRZ. I'd like to think I got him to at least open the manual and look it up.
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Oct 24, 2012 15:43
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Pope Mobile posted:Was adjusting my chain yesterday while waiting for the ferry and another biker came up to me. "What're you doing?" Well, being a DRZ, his chain is supposed to look like its almost hanging off.
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Oct 24, 2012 16:41
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You should have told him you need to move the motor forward to adjust it.
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Oct 24, 2012 17:32
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dYMvrc4nUE Thread: http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=416171 So good.
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Oct 29, 2012 22:32
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At least most people are telling him that he's the moron. I DY pass but the point is to do it where it's safe (no blind turns or cars) and where you can complete the pass quickly. He put his bike in a stupid place then got upset when he got dinged. I'm not even sure the truck knew he was there.
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Oct 29, 2012 22:45
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quote:if i was on my liter bike, the pass wouldn't have been an issue, even with the oncoming traffic.
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Oct 29, 2012 22:53
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Yeah, reading thru the thread it seems like a slower bike just brought out the guy's bad habits. "what the hell is this crazy truck doing?" lol nsaP fucked around with this message at 23:22 on Oct 29, 2012 |
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Oct 29, 2012 22:56
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Seriously guys, did you not know that the area of road between the double yellow lines is actually a designated motorcycle lane?
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Oct 29, 2012 23:57
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nsaP posted:He put his bike in a stupid place then got upset when he got dinged. I'm not even sure the truck knew he was there. Yeah, that's what I think too. Not only is he hanging out in a really bad place (who expects there to be a bike a foot from their left rear quarter panel on a two-lane no-passing road?) but he's smack in the middle of the truck's blind spot to boot. Stupid. e: quote:"Some lady did that to me but I had race rails on my bike. When she hit me, my bike dipped to the right and my right race rail ripped off her front bumper as I speed up to get past her. Sadly, I pulled over to yell at her. When I ask her why she hit me, she said cause "I'm not allowed to pass her", amazing logic people have! Too bad I wasn't filming so she could have gone to jail for attempted man slaughter, but no, instead I was found at fault for passing too close." Yeah, those drat cops, finding him at fault in the accident for passing on a double yellow! Pigs! Sagebrush fucked around with this message at 01:01 on Oct 30, 2012 |
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Oct 30, 2012 00:58
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The gently caress is a race rail?
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Oct 30, 2012 11:50
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 These crash cages that I've only ever seen on stunt bikes.
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Oct 30, 2012 14:00
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Just now: outside a bike store in Guelph, packing stuff away on my Bandit, checking bungee cords, etc. Guy in a minivan pulls into the next space, and he & his kids pile out. I hear a young voice saying "That was a nice Hayabusa!", so I start looking out to the road where a big group of riders just left. Then the little kid says it again, looking right at me. He means me!  So I look over at him and say "Thanks", and he smiles and goes into the store. That was awesome 
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Nov 11, 2012 20:02
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It's beautiful in PA today, so lots of stupids on their garage sofas, dragging their toesies through turns and generally being lame dicks. Well, at least it'll be sub 50 degrees again before we know it 
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Nov 11, 2012 23:40
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Covert Ops Wizard posted:It's beautiful in PA today, so lots of stupids on their garage sofas, dragging their toesies through turns and generally being lame dicks. Well, at least it'll be sub 50 degrees again before we know it Yeah, while I appreciated this nice day to wash and work on bikes, I don't mind the cold. I only just started waving to other riders again the other day when it was in the 30s.
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Nov 11, 2012 23:45
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