|
Pants - Wear jeans Long sleeve jacket - Wear literally any shirt or jacket with long sleeves. I'm pretty sure a mesh see through shirt would be ok Boots - wear boots Eye protection - wear sunglasses Gloves - wear literally any gloves you want. You shouldn't have to buy anything you don't already probably have.
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2014 20:00
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 16, 2024 23:29 |
|
|
For the sake of the course they don't mean riding grade stuff. Literally anything you own that matches the description will work. Pajama pants, high top sneakers, and gardening gloves will do.
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2014 20:01
|
|
|
You just have to be covered up, don't buy any real gear unless you're sure you want to ride. If it's up in the air then just do jeans longsleeve shirt and mechanix gloves or whatever the gently caress. I went in an underarmor turtleneck, gloves (actual gloves cause i was in it to win it), jeans and timberlands
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2014 20:02
|
|
|
rizuhbull posted:Great info, thanks. Is that a joke? Surely you own long pants and a shirt, Florida notwithstanding. Safety glasses and garden gloves are sub-10$ at a Home Depot. I can almost see maybe someone not having a pair of boots that cover the ankle, but again you could probably pick up a pair at Wal-Mart for cheap and then return them the next week, literally anything that covers the ankle and isn't a Chuck Taylor should do. I don't recommend getting a bike as your first vehicle because (even in Florida) you're going to have many points in your life where you'll want or need a car and the experience to drive it. A car is much more practical for running errands, much better for getting to work/school when the weather sucks (yes, yes, Florida) and if nothing else, a car will carry your crap when you eventually move out of Grandpa's place and a bike largely won't. A bike is going to have a variety of non-trivial expenses, including aforementioned safety gear. I don't know you and don't want to get too E/N but I think it comes down to who's paying for everything; if you're making fine money and just living with your GP to take care of him, it's one thing, but if he's giving you a roof over your head and feeding you at his table you really should let him make the calls until you can take care of life's basics yourself.
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2014 20:03
|
|
|
Hell, I don't know how cool your grandpa is, but maybe consider inviting him to the course. A good way to make him more comfortable is to demonstrate how safe and responsible you are being. My parents used to be the kind of people who would say "donorcycle" every time a bike passed them, but seeing the care and attention I put into my bike and gear really changed their outlook on riding. It is possible your pa would also react positively to that, plus it could be a cool little bonding experience, taking the MSF together.
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2014 20:05
|
|
|
rizuhbull posted:Great info, thanks. Just wear Jeans, a long-sleeve t-shirt, if you have some regular old boots lying around use those, any gloves will work too, try the closeout bin at your local motorcycle shop for a ~$20ish pair that fits you though. I would never recommend this for the street, but at a safety course you won't be going fast enough to seriously damage yourself, and with all the sitting around and idling you're going to do you're going to want to be cool, or you'll die of heatstroke. Get a decent DOT full-face helmet, the visor will count as your 'eye protection' Look at a company like HJC, Bell, AFX or Scorpion (on discount) for a decent helmet <$100 to start out. Motorcyclecloseouts.com, Revzilla.com and Bikebandit.com are good places to find cheap deals on last-year's models. FWIW, as awesome as motorcycle-specific boots and pants are, I wouldn't bother getting a pair until I was riding for awhile if I was trying to get into motorcycling on a budget. Sturdy jeans will keep you from loving your legs up too bad in a crash at sub-highway speeds, and leather boots will provide sufficient abrasion resistance, they won't help with ankle fractures though. I would never go anywhere without a decent helmet, good gloves, and a decent jacket though. This is just my opinion, I know some people will disagree with me, and more gear is always better. Edit: that post was the end of the page, not the last post before I replied, so this is all redundant 
Elviscat fucked around with this message at 20:11 on Aug 17, 2014 |
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2014 20:08
|
|
|
Elviscat posted:Sturdy jeans will keep you from loving your legs up too bad in a crash at sub-highway speeds No they won't. They're precisely as protective as a pair of dress slacks unless they have a Kevlar lining.
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2014 20:54
|
|
|
HotCanadianChick posted:No they won't. They're precisely as protective as a pair of dress slacks unless they have a Kevlar lining. This^. I went down doing 15 and it still cut through my riding pants and exposed the kneepads. I can't imagine what it would do to my jeans.
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2014 21:03
|
|
|
I went down doing about 25 in jeans and they weren't the nicest pair but in the contact areas they just vaporized.
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2014 21:13
|
|
|
HotCanadianChick posted:No they won't. They're precisely as protective as a pair of dress slacks unless they have a Kevlar lining. They'll limit damage to minor abrasions below 20ish MPH, which is about the speeds you'll see in an around-town crash. Anything faster and they'll be useless, I agree. They also obviously lack any sort of impact protection, which is why I'd skip Aramid-reinforced jeans entirely and go straight to leather/textile or high quality textile overpants. I've been down in jeans ~20mph, and they shredded and left me with road rash on my knee and hip, however, I've gotten more severe rash falling in shorts just loving around with friends on pavement. Additionally, the jeans held up far better than my NWU uniform pants did in a much slower and gentler slide. Elviscat fucked around with this message at 21:21 on Aug 17, 2014 |
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2014 21:17
|
|
|
So what about noise? Is it largely a non-issue?
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2014 21:50
|
|
|
I can't recommend enough getting a couple of packages of Hearos (or something similar) earplugs. At anything above about 25MPH you're going to get noise, especially if you buy the aforementioned cheaper helmet. If you're doing any longish trips (15+ miles or so) at highway speed without earplugs, it's doing damage to your hearing and it frankly seriously sucks to have that much noise. It starts to wear on you very quickly. I used earplugs for a while, then I switched to noise-cancelling earbuds so I can talk to my husband when I ride with him, and listen to music when I'm by myself. More expensive, but a good pair is a solid investment, and they can be used anywhere, so you're not stuck with some useless thing if you aren't riding.
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2014 22:00
|
|
|
You don't need hearos for MSF, you're not going to be going faster than 15-25 mph. On the street they are a godsend though
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2014 22:03
|
|
|
Sorry. I meant to say will the noise issue bother other people? I'm thinking about my neighbors who have small children. Assuming I do try riding and want to eventually get a bike. Obviously I wouldn't be riding at obscene hours, but still. I also wouldn't be breaking 25mph in my immediate area, which are the only people I care about disturbing.
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2014 22:10
|
|
|
You sound like me, don't worry about all of that. Concentrate on getting through the MSF to make sure you enjoy riding and feel confident you'll do it safely first. Then you can figure out what sort of bike you want and, if noise ordinances are a thing where you are, you can figure that out at that point. If you really want to blow some money now, buy a decent book on riding (like Twist of the Wrist) but the MSF Basic Riding Course is pretty great.
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2014 22:18
|
|
|
Fortunately many motorcycles are extremely quiet (most even, with stock exhaust at low RPM), and even if you picked a used one with a ridiculously loud baby-waking exhaust on it, you can probably sell the aftermarket exhaust for more than the cost of a replacement stock exhaust.
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2014 22:53
|
|
|
rizuhbull posted:Sorry. I meant to say will the noise issue bother other people? I'm thinking about my neighbors who have small children. Assuming I do try riding and want to eventually get a bike. Obviously I wouldn't be riding at obscene hours, but still. I also wouldn't be breaking 25mph in my immediate area, which are the only people I care about disturbing. Who gives a poo poo gently caress em bro
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2014 23:04
|
|
|
Snowdens Secret posted:I went down doing about 25 in jeans and they weren't the nicest pair but in the contact areas they just vaporized.
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2014 23:18
|
|
|
Oglogoth posted:This^. I went down doing 15 and it still cut through my riding pants and exposed the kneepads. I can't imagine what it would do to my jeans. I think that might just be poor-quality trousers and/or a particularly unlucky impact - fabric in proper riding trousers on impact areas like knees really shouldn't be wearing through at that low a speed.
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2014 23:18
|
|
|
Elviscat posted:They'll limit damage to minor abrasions below 20ish MPH, which is about the speeds you'll see in an around-town crash. Anything faster and they'll be useless, I agree. They also obviously lack any sort of impact protection, which is why I'd skip Aramid-reinforced jeans entirely and go straight to leather/textile or high quality textile overpants. No, they won't. Testing: quote:Tear and Abrasion Strength by the numbers If your jeans held up, you got lucky. And none of this speaks to the possibilities of your jeans causing the rash directly while remaining undamaged. If you want cheap protection, throw kneepads on, they'll help avoid serious knee injury far better than anything else.
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2014 23:55
|
|
|
I've gone down in the same pair of jeans twice (35mph and 55mph) and while I was pretty much fine, my left knee (which gets hosed up every time I get injured, no matter what I'm doing. It has more scars than the rest of my body) got cut up. The knee didn't tear the first time, but it still rashed my knee and made it bleed. Last spill it tore the knee and rear end (wallet saved my buttcheek) and my knee got a couple holes in it. I'm honestly surprised that was it, because I fell on my hip and got a massive bruise but the fabric held fine. It's been two months since my last crash and my knees still hurt if I get on my knees, even on the bed. Walking and everything is fine though. Get something with kneepads, hip pads are nice too, that bruise hurt. I have kevlar jeans I try to wear most of the time now, but they're falling apart without even crashing so I got some leather pants on the way! Back to earplug chat, I got a Sena SMH10 now so I'm riding without earbuds. gently caress wind noise. I picked up some ear plugs earlier, and while they're great, it blocks out the Sena a lot. Too much if I do say so. I had to really turn it up and I don't wanna blow the speakers in it. Will the hearos be better?? I don't want to ride without ear plugs, gently caress that. Also: sena bluetooth rulez
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2014 00:27
|
|
|
Get the Sena baseplate for headphones.
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2014 00:28
|
|
|
Schroeder91 posted:
I've only ever ridden with my sena at max volume and it hasn't had any noticeable effect on the speakers, just turn it up and use ear plugs.
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2014 00:49
|
|
|
Z3n posted:Get the Sena baseplate for headphones. Baseplate?
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2014 01:25
|
|
|
Z3n posted:Get the Sena baseplate for headphones. A neat option that gives you the flexibility of keeping speakers in for around town or something, but earbuds for longer trips, is getting it modded: http://www.plugup.com/sena_stereo_earbud_adapter_p/ad-sena10.htm Or doing it yourself via something like this: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=828750 or http://waggies.net/Ken/Sena/ Although I would probably figure out a way to have the plug not in my helmet itself. The speaker quality of the Sena is severely lacking, because there is basically no way for it to create bass sounds, so I like mine for just riding around town. For longer trips I really prefer my Shure earplug/earbuds so this is a key mod.
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2014 01:47
|
|
|
Or you can just buy the one that sena makes for 30 bucks.
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2014 04:12
|
|
|
Z3n posted:Or you can just buy the one that sena makes for 30 bucks. That replaces it with headphones, and you don't get to keep the speakers available. That's the advantage of having a switching jack wired in.
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2014 04:14
|
|
|
I need to do some work to my rear wheel. The big honking staked nut on the swingarm side of the axle needs to be tightened to 120 ft-lb, but my torque wrench only goes up to 100. I do have a 24" breaker bar. What's the best way to handle this?
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2014 20:08
|
|
|
Sagebrush posted:I need to do some work to my rear wheel. The big honking staked nut on the swingarm side of the axle needs to be tightened to 120 ft-lb, but my torque wrench only goes up to 100. I do have a 24" breaker bar. What's the best way to handle this? Get a better torque wrench or just guess, they're pretty much your only options.
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2014 20:17
|
|
|
Sagebrush posted:I need to do some work to my rear wheel. The big honking staked nut on the swingarm side of the axle needs to be tightened to 120 ft-lb, but my torque wrench only goes up to 100. I do have a 24" breaker bar. What's the best way to handle this? Buy a $20 beam type torque wrench from Amazon, torque to 120 foot pounds. Or just tighten it tight as gently caress.
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2014 20:37
|
|
|
Oh, ha, duh. I entirely forgot that I still have my old beam-type wrench sitting in the box of "less-used tools." Scale on that goes up to 150. Derp. (Gotta say that this split-beam dial-in clicky one I splurged on was totally worth it though)
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2014 20:43
|
|
|
Does the nut on your bike preload the bearing, or does it just hold the wheel to the hub? If it's the latter I'd just crank the poo poo out of and apply some blue Loctite.
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2014 23:23
|
|
|
Sagebrush posted:Oh, ha, duh. I entirely forgot that I still have my old beam-type wrench sitting in the box of "less-used tools." Scale on that goes up to 150. Derp. Since you've got the wrench: Learn how the threads feel when you hit the torque spec, then try to replicate it with the breakerbar. Check it with the wrench and enjoy being able to get with the spec range without a torque wrench. What do you guys use to waterproof a cover? The same stuff to waterproof a jacket?
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2014 23:39
|
|
|
Snowdens Secret posted:I went down doing about 25 in jeans and they weren't the nicest pair but in the contact areas they just vaporized. Yeah, I may as well have been naked when I crashed in jeans at about 35.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2014 01:49
|
|
|
Where is the best place to get replacement fork seals? Can I replace the seals without a front stand, or is it a huge pain? This would be for a ninja 250.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2014 02:14
|
|
|
Suspension question: I really like the idea of two damper circuits so it can be stiff under braking but softer on bumps instead of vice versa on a single circuit damper. Many rear shock come with high/low speed compression adjustment, but does the lack of adjusters mean that there is a single damping circuit? Or will a higher end shock / cartridge fork have two circuits for compression damping even if it might not have external adjusters?
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2014 14:52
|
|
|
brotastrophe posted:Where is the best place to get replacement fork seals? Can I replace the seals without a front stand, or is it a huge pain? This would be for a ninja 250. Look into cleaning your fork seals: http://sealmate.net/ You can improvise this tool as well. Always worth trying before you do the seals. The best way to lift a bike without a proper stand is to lift it using ratcheting tiedowns (the only time you should use ratcheting tiedowns with a bike) and tie them to a rafter and lift the front from the bars. Lots of info on how to do this on this search website called: https://www.google.com.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2014 14:58
|
|
|
Ola posted:Suspension question: I really like the idea of two damper circuits so it can be stiff under braking but softer on bumps instead of vice versa on a single circuit damper. Many rear shock come with high/low speed compression adjustment, but does the lack of adjusters mean that there is a single damping circuit? Or will a higher end shock / cartridge fork have two circuits for compression damping even if it might not have external adjusters? lack of external adjusters does not absolutely indicate a lack of high and low speed valving. IIRC the GSXR shocks I've used only have adjustment on the low speed circuits. Most aftermarket shocks have enough adjustment to get you into trouble though..
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2014 15:36
|
|
|
I'm paying much closer attention to lever tension and cable slack these days. When I squeeze and release my clutch lever, it doesn't quite extend to the most open position that it could, it falls about 1cm short. In this position, I don't think it's affecting anything (clutch seems to be fully engaged). I can manually push it the rest of the way open. Is this a problem I should fix?
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2014 19:27
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 16, 2024 23:29 |
|
|
What does your manual say about clutch cable slack? I've always adjusted it to have a couple mm or so of slack. Too much and you don't open the clutch enough and drag it between gear changes; you'll hear/feel it a lot more like a clunk or a clack. Too little and just turning the handlebar can pull on the clutch mechanism.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2014 19:36
|
|