|
Sort of posting-by-proxy here as I almost wiped out a biker this evening. I was in a car (had to travel for work so they provided one, I keep my TWO credentials), in the left-hand lane of a two-lanes-each-way road that's really narrow. Traffic was stopped on the right because of a car turning right (remember we drive on the proper side of the road in the UK) and I was slowing down because people tend to fly out to the left when they get caught behind people turning right. About three cars back in the queue in the left is a Harley with proper ape-hanger bars and highway pegs - I've never seen anything so ridiculous in traffic - being ridden by a woman in what looked like just "fashion" leathers. Anyway as she coasts up to a halt I don't know if she accidentally dumped the clutch or something broke or she just had a total brainfart - whatever happened, the bike suddenly lurches left, turning almost ninety degrees and then stops with the front wheel against the wall on the left side of the road. I slammed the brakes on and probably stopped a foot short but it felt like a millimetre, especially with the stupid low riding position meaning I could only see her head over the bonnet. She paddled the bike back, then rode to the front of the queue of right-turn traffic and turned right, all without even glancing over at me. Weirdest loving thing I've seen on the road in years.
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2013 23:20
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 5, 2024 06:16 |
|
|
Safety Dance posted:The best thing to do is to wheelie around everywhere until that's the "new normal", then just riding on two wheels will seem like a reasonable compromise. Every time I almost get my family cool with riding some dumb distant cousin always manages to wreck their Harley and run over their own unhelmeted face or some other nonsense and then post it all on Facebook.
|
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2013 23:29
|
|
|
M42 posted:My parents are visiting for a while and they are petrified by the motorcycle thing, so I'm not going to ride it while they're around. My mom never stops worrying about me on my bike. She's finally reached the "I don't like it but I just have to deal with it," phase.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2013 00:15
|
|
|
Snowdens Secret posted:Every time I almost get my family cool with riding some dumb distant cousin always manages to wreck their Harley and run over their own unhelmeted face or some other nonsense and then post it all on Facebook. My personal favorite is the story my dad told me about a guy he knows who went out to Atlantic City with his girlfriend (not his wife, who I assume did not know he had a girlfriend), spent a night gambling and drinking, then hopped on his Harley with said girlfriend at three in the morning for the two hour ride home. No gear, of course. A deer jumped out in front of him and he crashed, killing the girl and putting him in a coma. He ended the story with "Just goes to show, motorcycling is dangerous. You never know when that deer's gonna jump out in front of you." My rebuttal was it seemed to me being a stupid rear end in a top hat was more dangerous.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2013 04:47
|
|
|
So, did the wife realize that it was a girlfriend on the back?
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2013 08:41
|
|
|
Shimrod posted:So, did the wife realize that it was a girlfriend on the back? It's been a while but I think she figured it out. Dunno if she left him or what.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2013 19:16
|
|
|
I rode in to work today on the KLR, probably the farthest I've gone on the KLR all year (it was out of commission as of last December, and it took me a while to admit to myself that I wasn't going to get around to fixing it myself). I'd been riding my supermoto recently, so I wasn't used to how the heavier, higher center-of-mass, knobby tire bike handles. I turned in to a hard right, and the bike started leaning faster than I was anticipating. I had a brief "Oh poo poo" moment, because it really felt like I was falling over. Muscle memory counter-steered, the bike picked itself back up, and I completed the turn without incident. Hooray instincts!
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2013 14:14
|
|
|
Doing 80 in the HOV lane. HOV lane ends so of course the guy to my right decides he wants to mind meld with my bike and merges into my lane. I brake hard but there's not a lot of time as he quick merged. Luckily there was a HUGE shoulder so ended up on the shoulder still braking and focusing on not going down. Thankfully the shoulder was relatively clean and free of gravel although at the time that didn't even cross my mind. I get down to ~40mph, look back and merge into fast lane again. I was pissed but know that being angry just makes bad situations worse. Despite knowing better I sped up till I caught the guy and he was apologetically waving like "oops, sorry I almost killed you". I flipped him off, got some distance and took the next exit.
|
|
#
?
Apr 28, 2013 04:15
|
|
|
I nearly binned it this morning pulling off my drive. Put it in first and started to pull off then for whatever reason decided to close my visor with my left hand rather than my right. Cue the throttle snapping closed and the bike almost lurching to a stop, managed to catch my balance and get back on the throttle before it went over thankfully. So yeah, if your still in first gear don't take your hand off the throttle!
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2013 13:15
|
|
|
ReformedNiceGuy posted:I nearly binned it this morning pulling off my drive. Put it in first and started to pull off then for whatever reason decided to close my visor with my left hand rather than my right. Check your left and right. Throttle is right hand.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2013 14:32
|
|
|
ReformedNiceGuy posted:don't take your hand off the throttle! Ever. With debatable exceptions of at a complete stop and cruising an empty highway with a throttle lock. Otherwise, keep your control hand on the controls so that you can control your bike at all times.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2013 16:04
|
|
|
Then how am I supposed to check instagram?
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2013 18:48
|
|
|
SMH-10 + Siri
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2013 18:50
|
|
|
Safety Dance posted:Check your left and right. Throttle is right hand. Oh God what utter fail. It turns out I should also avoid posting as well as riding before my first coffee of the day! Halo_4am posted:Ever. With debatable exceptions of at a complete stop and cruising an empty highway with a throttle lock. Otherwise, keep your control hand on the controls so that you can control your bike at all times. I never normally would, like I said utter brain fart on my part! ReformedNiceGuy fucked around with this message at 19:20 on Apr 29, 2013 |
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2013 19:15
|
|
|
M42 posted:My parents are visiting for a while and they are petrified by the motorcycle thing, so I'm not going to ride it while they're around.
|
|
#
?
Apr 30, 2013 02:23
|
|
|
Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester posted:Have they seen all your gear? And you took the BRC, right? Most non-bike people (and sadly most bike people too) have never heard of that poo poo, and I think if you show them the lengths to which you've gone in the pursuit of safety, they'll be impressed. Might change some minds. "Why would you willingly put yourself in a position where you have to wear head-to-toe abrasion resistant armor?" This is the question I can't answer aside from "It's fun!"
|
|
#
?
Apr 30, 2013 02:30
|
|
|
Safety Dance posted:"Why would you willingly put yourself in a position where you have to wear head-to-toe abrasion resistant armor?" Moar mpg's?
|
|
#
?
Apr 30, 2013 02:32
|
|
|
Safety Dance posted:"Why would you willingly put yourself in a position where you have to wear head-to-toe abrasion resistant armor?" this, basically http://vimeo.com/59919849
|
|
#
?
Apr 30, 2013 02:38
|
|
|
I never thought anyone would be this petty, but some douche just tried to slap or grab my face/helmet because I split past his stopped in traffic pickup truck to go down an alley. People are jealous, vindictive and insane. Thankfully I caught the movement out of the corner of my eye, leaned to the left without moving the bike and was able to maneuver around the car in front of him and get away from that psycho before one of us tried to kill the other. Scary though.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2013 20:48
|
|
|
So. Arbitrary got to learn about carb engines and why you warm them up! I bought a Harley a few days back and, among other stupid embarrassing things I have been up to I have thanked the lucky stars that my bike came with leg savers. Not because I have been at risk of harm but because oh god my Sportster is falling over. First day I bought it, at night, decided to ride it around my little area (I live in the Texas hill country) and in 50 degree weather let my bike warm up for a good 30 seconds or so before calling it good and just revving through any sputtering figuring it would take care of itself. Cue me trying to go up a hill and the bike's engine seizing up in the middle of the ascent because I didn't let the engine warm up properly less than a quarter mile from my apartment, falling over, and just kinda sliding on the bar most of the way down the hill. Luckily it was a left side fall so the exhausts were fine and nothing is wrong with it but that road is normally pretty busy, so I'm glad some drunk college kid didn't come flying over the hill and hitting me while I got the thing back up and into the adjacent parking lot. Lessons learned: My bike likes to be nice and toasty and will hate me forever if I don't let it wake up. Also: Fuel injected engines are very different from carb engines. On a related note, anyone know an inexpensive way to get rid of scratch marks on chrome? 
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2013 23:16
|
|
|
ArbitraryTA posted:So. Arbitrary got to learn about carb engines and why you warm them up! God drat that's awful. Is that normal behavior for a Harley? "Warmed up" on my Kawi means "I've ridden slowly out of the parking lot." Just hit the leg savers with some bedliner and save yourself headache in the future.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2013 23:51
|
|
|
Do you not have a choke 
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2013 23:54
|
|
|
I have a choke. I was just stupid. Very, very stupid. Like, it has been a week or two or so now and I am looking back going "The gently caress?" at how I was doing things when I first got the bike. Also re: Kawi warming up. The Harley runs a carb engine not an FI engine, so it needs to be warmed up for a minute or two for the oil/gas to work properly for me. When it's like 70-80F it's more like 30 seconds to a minute but it's been pretty cool recently.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2013 00:36
|
|
|
Your choke should have a half cocked setting that will allow you to ride on it while it's cold.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2013 00:44
|
|
|
Z3n posted:Your choke should have a half cocked setting that will allow you to ride on it while it's cold. I've been letting the bike warm up completely with slow pulling in of the choke over 2 or 3 minutes before I get on but I might start doing that instead.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2013 00:46
|
|
|
Not warming up causes engine seizing? does it get cold enough over there to turn your oil into treacle or something? I didn't ever warm up my wreckers deluxe ZZR and it never gave me a problem. but it never gets below like 10C or 50 of your American degrees here.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2013 01:06
|
|
|
ArbitraryTA posted:Also re: Kawi warming up. The Harley runs a carb engine not an FI engine, so it needs to be warmed up for a minute or two for the oil/gas to work properly for me. When it's like 70-80F it's more like 30 seconds to a minute but it's been pretty cool recently. My KLR has a big, carbureted, 650CC single. Every day, it's half choke, press button, go. If it's below freezing, I have to run full choke for about 30 seconds or it will stall out at idle. It just seems really strange to me that
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2013 01:40
|
|
|
Yeah, something's funny here. A bike like a Harley siezes from overheating, not from being cool. Otherwise you'd never be able to start it. Do you mean it just stalled? E: to be clear, siezing is when you don't have lubrication between the piston and the cylinder and they jam together. This usually happens because everything's expanded from being too hot and usually means permanent damage, at least on a 4-stroke engine. Stalling is when it coughs out and dies from insufficient fuel / air / spark for the load, like when you don't give it enough choke when cold Snowdens Secret fucked around with this message at 02:36 on May 3, 2013 |
|
#
?
May 3, 2013 02:32
|
|
|
Covert Ops Wizard posted:I never thought anyone would be this petty, but some douche just tried to slap or grab my face/helmet because I split past his stopped in traffic pickup truck to go down an alley. People are jealous, vindictive and insane. Thankfully I caught the movement out of the corner of my eye, leaned to the left without moving the bike and was able to maneuver around the car in front of him and get away from that psycho before one of us tried to kill the other. Scary though. I was about to say I can't believe that, but then I remembered this: A few months ago, one of the Campbelltown's delightful meth-heads blocked me from lane splitting through stationary traffic past her beater by trying to ram me - as in, saw I was going to pass, slammed on the accelerator to deliberately come out of her lane to ram my bike. She missed by maybe a centimeter because I grabbed the brakes in time. She then got out of her shitbox car and started to scream at me - in mid-day traffic - that I should "wait my loving turn you dumb oval office." Someone moved their car to let me get around her before it got any worse. I was about a foot taller than her and seeing red, so thank God that ended how it did. A couple of weeks after that, my girlfriend and I were riding through Parammatta when a guy in a performance ute saw her go past and decided that no women was going to ride a sportsbike in his town. Again, another deliberate ram. I'm sure he just meant to scare her / show off and pull away at the last minute, but he lost control of his bullshit lowered douche-wagon and instead of swerving away, started fishtailing out-of-control into her bike. By sheer luck, he missed by gnat's dick. I was so shocked that it happened that I just stared (I was behind them both). I didn't get his license plate, snd besides, I'm not sure what I could have done except complain to the police that Sydney's western suburbs are full of white trash sacks of poo poo. For those of you lucky enough not to know, Campbelltown and Parramatta are where Sydney keeps its cretin supply. Sadly: also where the best Polish delis are. Oh man they sell good pickles. Anyway, I'm glad your psycho missed too.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2013 03:03
|
|
|
Snowdens Secret posted:Yeah, something's funny here. A bike like a Harley siezes from overheating, not from being cool. Otherwise you'd never be able to start it. Do you mean it just stalled? Yes, sorry. Stalling. I've been up for over a day and my word choice isn't always the best at this time of day.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2013 03:11
|
|
|
Hahaha yeah that sounds like Parramatta, I'm in an office in the middle of it and seriously all you hear are police sirens all the time. or all the beatniks/junkies filthin it up in the park or around the hungry jacks. Never had anyone try to ram me here though.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2013 03:13
|
|
|
Man you guys are making me feel a lot better about only having to deal with dumb college kids and/or guys with BIG HUGE LIFTED TRUCKS WHO OWN THE ROAD. I don't know if the latter is better or worse than dealing with psychopaths just due to sheer prevalence of trucks in Texas.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2013 03:16
|
|
|
ArbitraryTA posted:Man you guys are making me feel a lot better about only having to deal with dumb college kids and/or guys with BIG HUGE LIFTED TRUCKS WHO OWN THE ROAD. Where in Texas do you live? I also hate lifted trucks when I drive out to my parents lake house outside of Marble Falls, from far away I think they hiave their high beams on, some times I'll flash mine at them and they hit me with full on high beams and aux light and I can't see ANYTHING.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2013 03:28
|
|
|
prukinski posted:I was about to say I can't believe that, but then I remembered this: Kudos to both of you for letting cooler heads prevail. Being the bigger person is really the only way dumb poo poo like this ends well. When my wife/then girlfriend and I were first learning to ride she got seriously hung up on speed limits (riding them exactly, no more, no less) and around here at least... there are certain single lane roads that the speed limits are viewed as mere suggestion. I was ahead of her by a semi's length when I see in my rearviews a guy speed to get around her and cut her off before it went down to a single lane. I heard her tires chirp from stopping so hard and I got livid instantly. A lot of dumb road rage poo poo happened for the next few minutes, and it ended with us all pulled over on the side of the road. I was off the bike marching over to his minivan, while he was scrambling to get out of his minivan but getting pulled back in by his wife in the passenger seat, and crying child in the backseat. Before anything got worse his wife convinced him to drive off, and he parted with a middle finger that was responded in kind. A bit later after I calmed down. I realized I was moments away from getting bludgeoned, stabbed, shot, and/or imprisoned for some dumb poo poo that didn't leave anybody any worse for wear initially. Those are the only ways that sort of thing ends. It's far better to do exactly what you guys did - leave, and maybe get a plate for a report.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2013 03:35
|
|
|
Pokey Araya posted:Where in Texas do you live? I also hate lifted trucks when I drive out to my parents lake house outside of Marble Falls, from far away I think they hiave their high beams on, some times I'll flash mine at them and they hit me with full on high beams and aux light and I can't see ANYTHING. San Marcos. College town 30 miles south of Austin. It's all hills and more hills. Makes for some fun riding on a cruiser lemme tell you. So I get the combination of dudes in big trucks and stoned/stressed/distracted/drunk college kids
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2013 03:37
|
|
|
Halo_4am posted:When my wife/then girlfriend and I were first learning to ride she got seriously hung up on speed limits (riding them exactly, no more, no less) I'm not going to comment on the general philosophy of this (and Halo I see you're using past tense here) but if you're gonna be a stickler for limits, be aware many bike speedos are off by 5-10% high, and constantly driving under the speed limit in traffic is a surefire way to generate road rage.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2013 04:51
|
|
|
prukinski posted:I was about to say I can't believe that, but then I remembered this: I wouldn't believe that stuff either if it didn't happen to me, the first time I did it even. On a wide 4 lane road there was a lot of traffic, and a lot of car drivers not paying attention. A light would go green and because no one was looking only a fraction of the line made it thru the light. The first time I sat thru 2 cycles and still didn't go I decided I was filtering to the front of the light. I did this on 3 or 4 more lights. The road ended in a highway on ramp and a short way down the highway a guy in a truck caught up to me and was yelling at me out of his window. I cracked open the throttle but it was one of my first times riding a little 250 and the throttle did nothing. I ended up trying to put a few cars in between us after he swerved at me and eventually he hosed off. People have a weird view towards it. In a facebook group for my friends I posted a youtube vlog from a country where lane splitting was legal and the rider was doing it a lot. My friend didn't know it was legal and called him an rear end in a top hat and said it was "disrespectful".
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2013 05:11
|
|
|
That's something gopros are really useful for... having evidence if poo poo really goes down.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2013 05:13
|
|
|
It made me want to carry an asp if he followed me till I stopped. Someone here suggested mace. I was just cruising past the cars at 5mph at a red light but you'd have thought I was kle621 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn7Iappgjp0&t=120s ed: (watch a 2:00 to 3:00 at least) nsaP fucked around with this message at 05:59 on May 3, 2013 |
|
#
?
May 3, 2013 05:39
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 5, 2024 06:16 |
|
|
nsaP posted:It made me want to carry an asp if he followed me till I stopped. Someone here suggested mace. I was just cruising past the cars at 5mph at a red light but you'd have thought I was kle621  How is this guy not dead yet? Jeeeeesus.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2013 06:32
|
|