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New rider shower thought: I really want to take a cruiser out on a demo day ride. I only sat on one in my MSF-type course and wonder how different the ride experience is.
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Aug 7, 2020 15:18
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Martytoof posted:New rider shower thought: I really want to take a cruiser out on a demo day ride. I only sat on one in my MSF-type course and wonder how different the ride experience is. The basic operation is the same, but you'll get caught out if you're in a hurry. Like your feet will automatically go into the position they are used to, and the controls with be 6 inches or so out front.
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Aug 7, 2020 15:58
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I took a Yamaha BOLT out for a test ride when I was still a pretty new rider. It was a fun experience, even though it started raining a bit halfway through, which was terrifying. Honestly it wasn't all that different, except for the much lower redline. The riding position is different, but it's pretty comfortable even though it's hard to stand up over potholes and speed bumps. I also rode a Scout which was fun bc the exhaust note was so great. I was revving it all the time at stop signs and everything. No tach on that one tho which was disconcerting at the time.
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Aug 7, 2020 18:03
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captainOrbital posted:I took a Yamaha BOLT out for a test ride when I was still a pretty new rider. It was a fun experience, even though it started raining a bit halfway through, which was terrifying. Honestly it wasn't all that different, except for the much lower redline. The riding position is different, but it's pretty comfortable even though it's hard to stand up over potholes and speed bumps. Bolt's are pretty cool, my buddy just got one a month or so ago for his second bike and the thing owns pretty hard. It also seems very much appropriate for a more inexperienced ride, though I am not sure about absolute first bike material.
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Aug 7, 2020 18:14
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Martytoof posted:New rider shower thought: I really want to take a cruiser out on a demo day ride. I only sat on one in my MSF-type course and wonder how different the ride experience is. Cruisers have some fun stuff about them, chiefly that you can do sweet easily controlled slides, and that peg scraping becomes an every corner thing. But they do vary wildly, some are really really crap and others are surprisingly fun. I had to resuscitate an 80's vt1100 with the dumb custom styling and everything, and I expected it to be utter garbage to ride. It turned out to be this incredible, muscular bruiser; the engine had devastating pull from basically idle and a very engaging character, it had good enough ground clearance to be really fun and was just a super sorted bike all-round. I'd love to pick one up and strip all the garbage off it, it'd be a cheerful fun bike to go for rides with my slower friends, take kids on the back, have drag races with cars that I might actually lose etc I find when I ride fast bikes there's an internal pressure to go fast or I feel like I'm wasting the bike and cruisers don't have that issue.
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Aug 7, 2020 20:39
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Martytoof posted:I just realized that I think part of it is COVID. Last year I was doing 45 minute rides to go have brunch with friends, or to go sit at a patio somewhere. Now my rides all feel like A->B->A for the sake of riding. Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely times that I ride just because I like being on the bike, but I think the reason I got a bike in the first place was because it was more fun to go see friends and do stuff on two wheels than it was on four and that’s kind of missing right now. Same here. For the past couple months it's been ok, but now we're not supposed to do non-essential travel or visit friends and most shops etc are closed it sucks.
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Aug 8, 2020 04:03
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Holy poo poo new fairings are cheap for my CBR250.
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Aug 9, 2020 06:08
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New rider here. I started out shopping for some flavor of a BMW GS but found out that it didn't fit my stature... 5'6 and a 27-ish inch inseam the closest thing in a BMW I could find was a 310R but the local dealer to me had them on order for months, and Nashville had one and sold it. So I came back home and shopped around and ended up buying a 2020 Yamaha MT03 as it was the only small displacement bike that I could find locally. I was looking on cycle trader and facebook marketplace for used stuff but just about everything that I looked was similar pricepoint as the MT-03. Almost fully geared just lacking dedicated pants and proper gloves, but the gloves I have tried on I don't like the fit with the seams on the fingertips.
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Aug 18, 2020 06:40
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Nice, those look like a lot of fun. Do they all come standard with ABS? What gloves have you tried? Some gloves are tight but break in, but I don't think something on the inside that's rubbing you wrong is going to work out so you probably made a good call in skipping those.
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Aug 18, 2020 07:08
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I have/had the same issue with the seams on gloves, the only pair I feel OK in are the Held ones I got, but they still do have those seams.
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Aug 18, 2020 11:00
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Oooops I think I’m someone’s “fuckin motorcycles” story today. Was exiting a parking lot, checked oncoming traffic but just before the parking lot exit is a somewhat blind turn in the sense that there’s a turn and a bunch of bushes obscure what may be coming around the bend. I did a check from stop and began to pull out but all of a sudden this old lady in a red Pontiac comes around the bend and just narrowly avoids me while laying on the horn. I definitely got a taste of my ABS as I slammed on front to avoid getting donked. In my mind I jammed on the brakes because I felt gunning it in an exit like that to beat her onto the road would have been an insta-lowside so I dunno, best of a lovely situation? I know it’s a blind-ish corner and if I don’t see anything coming I go but I can’t help feel like there’s something else I should have done. Realistically I’m not sure what it is. If I had waited a little longer at the exit I would have seen her but that’s literally chance since if she was two seconds slower I could have waited and still not seen her. I’m not really beating myself up over it and my takeaway is that I’ll be using the other exits from that particular grocery parking lot. On the bright side, going shopping on bike is an A+ fun excuse to be on two wheels 
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Aug 23, 2020 15:49
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Hedges and bushes are often cut for SUV drivers. I have this drat problem in my car. All you can do is proceed extra carefully. What is likeliest to happen if you rush is that you'll gun it to get in front of them, freak out and take the turn too wide and either cross into the other lane (right turn) or off the road (left turn). I may know this from recent experience.
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Aug 24, 2020 03:37
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You know I never really considered sightlines for different vehicles before I got a bike. My Dad has a Toyota Matrix and his third brake light was dim-to-nonexistent when I was tailing him one day. It looked like one of those christmas tree strand bulbs at half power. Made it really hard to see when he was braking in certain lighting situations (the situations being .. being behind him). I told him to get it checked out but then I got off on foot and looked at the light and it was bright as day. I guess the diffuser is just angled to be seen more from lower down or something because it was a night and day difference. I mean it's also possible that his brake light is just loose or something and isn't meant to do that but 
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Aug 24, 2020 13:53
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I have a semi comical, " I almost fell over and down the hill off my bike story" This past week my 9 year old got on the bus and realized he forgot his backpack. Thinking that his iPad for school was in it I decided to take it to school for him and thought what a great excuse to ride the motorcycle today. So I tossed on his Mario Brothers backpack with Toad lunch box attached to it on my back, put my helmet on then started out on my morning ride. Just a little bit foggy out but thought it would be fine. All is going well until my helmet face shield cooled down and it started to condensate on the inside and out... So up goes the face shield and I continue my ride. Living in Southern Indiana among the corn fields, trees, and twisty roads unexpected things happen from time to time. Someone's dog decided that he wanted to try to turn my tires into a chew toy. Then a few more turns down the road, a small herd of deer decided they wanted to cross the road and hang out but we kept out distance from one another. Then I come up to what I call Satan's intersection... Imagine if you will a 4 way intersection with a 2 way stop. and one of the stops I have to make. It is at the top of a hill that is roughly 45 degrees if turning to the right (the direction I needed to go) and it is a blind hill where I can;t see traffic from the left very well... AND it is approx a 35 degree incline. Ideally, I need to be on the rear brake to hold the hill while trying to look for traffic and making a greater than 90 degree turn. Only problem with this is I am short and putting down my left foot leans me and the bike over about 10 degrees to the left making a right hand turn an adventure at a minimum and possibly deadly at the worse case. Adding fog to the equation reducing visibility and evidently was a little cooler here because it was a bit more thick. I am stopped, leaning to the left and trying to get going up the hill from a left lean and trying to turn right. I managed to stall on the hill and in the process was already moving a bit and the weight was shifting to the right to make the turn and I have to catch myself and the bike from going over the hill that I just came up. But now I am holding the front brake with right foot down barely catching the bike and myself. Trying to get re-situated where I can get back to leaning the other direction again. but I cant touch the ground at all now with the left foot. To make matters worse my glasses had started to fog up on me so I move them down to the tip of my nose so I can see above them having to keep looking up with my head kind of down once I got going again. I manage to reposition where I am almost perpendicular in my lane but is a better chance to make the turn. I had to ease back down the hill and turned in a manner where I had a better angle all together to make a successful turn and less likely to get hurt and the pavement is at a better angle here. though visibility is no better. I get to the school and park walk up to where the school teachers are getting the car riders into the school and I drop off the backpack but notice that it wasn't zipped. I look in it and no iPad... drat I lost the iPad I thought to myself. I needed gas so topped off the tank. and went back the way I came and nothing. I get home and search the house. Still nothing. after looking for an hour and a half the wife messages from work to check on me, I tell her about my adventure in backpack delivery services. and she says, Oh he left the iPad at school yesterday.... /facepalm///... I rolled my eyes told her thanks for telling me now... and then go back to bed before having to go into work.
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Aug 30, 2020 06:56
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MomJeans420 posted:Nice, those look like a lot of fun. Do they all come standard with ABS? Yes they are standard with ABS and $4599 price point new. I saw one for 3899 with 500 miles on it earlier today. I really enjoy mine so far. It shares a lot of the styling from the MT-10. Only real issue I have is I am fairly short. I would probably still tip toe a Grom... Though I have not tried that yet... Other than having my confidence questioned by a country road intersection this week I think once I get the skills refined that will have this for a few years. I am going to do some mods to it to make it a bit more adv friendly as I really wanted a BMW GS but again height limited me to where I am currently. MomJeans420 posted:What gloves have you tried? Some gloves are tight but break in, but I don't think something on the inside that's rubbing you wrong is going to work out so you probably made a good call in skipping those. I went to Cycle Gear and started trying on everything that they had in stock at the time. Some was better than others but its been a couple week sand don;t remember. I know the Bilt, Alpinestars and a couple other brands they had on hand. I am using a pair of mechanics gloves I have had for some time its better than nothing but doesn't have the same slide protection but again still better than bare hands on asphalt for the moment. I may look into some boots for the height issue. My boot of choice now are my Combat boots I had when I was in the Marines many moons ago.
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Aug 30, 2020 07:22
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tikka_zamayid posted:Yes they are standard with ABS and $4599 price point new. I saw one for 3899 with 500 miles on it earlier today. I really enjoy mine so far. It shares a lot of the styling from the MT-10. Only real issue I have is I am fairly short. I would probably still tip toe a Grom... Though I have not tried that yet... Scoot your butt over on the seat when you put your foot down.
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Aug 30, 2020 12:39
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tikka_zamayid posted:I went to Cycle Gear and started trying on everything that they had in stock at the time. Some was better than others but its been a couple week sand don;t remember. I know the Bilt, Alpinestars and a couple other brands they had on hand. I am using a pair of mechanics gloves I have had for some time its better than nothing but doesn't have the same slide protection but again still better than bare hands on asphalt for the moment. I may look into some boots for the height issue. My boot of choice now are my Combat boots I had when I was in the Marines many moons ago. I'd invest in a pair of gloves first. Having the correct padding and slide support could make the difference between keeping fingers or not in a crash. Even barring a crash, you'll get a lot less hand fatigue while riding with decent gloves, at least in my experience.
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Aug 31, 2020 07:50
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I did my first nighttime ride that wasn’t just putting around the city. I could feel my confidence was impacted by the lower visibility. I was always worried there was definitely a patch of gravel I couldn’t see. My headlight actually throws light pretty well, but the twilight period just after sunset was actually the hardest to see. Once it was dark it was way better. I noticed my vision being impacted by oncoming traffic way more than in a car, even though I’m sitting much higher. In a car, I tend to look at the white line to the right if it’s too bright, but I am a little wary to do the same on a bike, especially if I’m turning left, so I think avoiding the headlights was a little more difficult. Not sure what everyone else’s experience is or if you have any advice! I also found myself coming in hot more than once. I wonder if I was misjudging my speed and/or the road because I was taking in less visual information.
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Sep 6, 2020 19:11
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I don't like to ride at night because I am already paranoid about anything on the road surface and also my headlight is fixed to the frame and doesn't swivel woth my handlebar so lighting around turns is not that great. I have no good reason to ride at night anyway, so I just don't do it.
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Sep 6, 2020 19:41
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After going down at 65-70mph at night because of a semi tire tread that I didn't see, I'm incredibly gunshy of night riding. (That tire was flung at me so I couldn't avoid it anyway maybe). Night riding is good and fun, though, so that's why I don't skimp on headlights. Something like a Cyclops 10000 lum bulb, that works well with your reflector is a must. On top of that, I like to run aux lights triggered by the high beam circuit, so I can get 20000 lum or so on command. YMMV
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Sep 6, 2020 20:38
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Say you've entered a highway clover on-ramp that you expected to be one radius, but beyond the initial 1/4 turn the radius suddenly becomes much tighter than you anticipated. What's the proper way of handling this, assuming your rate of speed was comfortable for the radius you anticipated but is beyond your comfort zone for the turn you are quickly encountering? Is the answer just applying more lean angle while not adding any additional controls? Every other control I can think of would seems like it would be bad: Braking would either wash the tires out as I've experienced, or stand the bike upright guaranteeing that I kiss the outside of the on-ramp. Sudden deceleration would probably be panic-jerky enough for me to lose traction. I'm guessing it's the lean angle, which would probably still be outside of my comfort zone, but logic-ing it out it's out of my comfort zone because I'm not used to it, not because it would necessarily cause me to go down. I do this little thing in my car where no matter where I'm driving I think about how I'd handle this road/turn/whatever on two wheels, and today I popped onto the highway and encountered this weird clover on-ramp that decreased in radius .. drastically, I'd say .. after the first 1/4 turn. In my car it wasn't even a thing, I just turned the wheel more, but it made me think that on my bike I wasn't immediately sure what I'd be doing here so I may have wiped out.
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Sep 6, 2020 23:24
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Martytoof posted:Is the answer just applying more lean angle while not adding any additional controls? Yep Unless you're a MotoGP racer, chances are good that what you consider a steep lean is actually only like 50% (or less) of your tire's actual available lean angle. Crank your head around, look way deep into the corner, and put your chin on your inside hand. Do not look down at the road or at the outside of the turn. You'll make it. And next time, be aware that turns can suddenly decrease in radius like that, and never outride your sight lines.
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Sep 7, 2020 00:05
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100%. I feel like I'm Rossi scraping knees when I'm really like five degrees off centre so this is the truth. Thanks for the thought-check.
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Sep 7, 2020 00:07
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Hard parts not touching the ground? You can lean more. This is why cruisers can be dangerous if you're reasonably skilled but only ever ridden normal bikes - you run out of physical ground clearance long before you hit the mental barrier and that's how you end up in a ditch.
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Sep 7, 2020 01:34
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Slavvy posted:Hard parts not touching the ground? You can lean more. I nearly hosed up in the opposite way the other day because I was leaned hard enough to just barely not scrape peg on the intruder and I needed to lean further and "knew I couldn't"... but I was on the DR and managed to unfuck my brain in time and lean more.
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Sep 7, 2020 04:09
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Really, if your options are "try and lean in and maybe lowside" versus "try to stand the bike up and potentially highside", the former sounds a lot better.
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Sep 7, 2020 04:51
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Or depending on the turn, "lean in and maybe lowside" vs. "stand it up and smash into a car or go off the edge of a cliff." You can always push the bars harder. There's almost never a situation on the street where it's the wrong answer.
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Sep 7, 2020 05:48
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I was taught to stand the bike up, brake hard, then lean hard.
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Sep 7, 2020 06:22
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The problem is 'stand the bike up' also means 'widen your line by 3-4 feet'. I'm of the opinion that if you have the time to stand up, brake, then turn, you aren't really in danger at all and could probably deal with the situation in any number of other ways, because at that point you've hugely widened your line and gone off on a tangent for a bit as well, which means you're likely on an air field or race track. Leaning in further is the only reliable way of getting out of the overly fast entry trap. If you have the space to stand up and brake, great do that but know that next time there might be a car or ditch in the way.
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Sep 7, 2020 06:38
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I'm not ashamed to admit that because I'm only riding once a week, before I ride I go to an open parking lot and practice turns to remind myself how much I can lean on the bike.
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Sep 8, 2020 02:22
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Cooler weather is here and bike is one kilometer shy of 2k. A lot LOT less than I was hoping to put on the bike in my first full year but it’s not been without its highlights. Things have been crazy and I’ve had some severe anxiety over unrelated things which have kept me mostly off the road, but I’ve got probably a month left before it’s too cold (for me) to ride so I’m going to try and make the most out of it without comparing my progress to anyone else’s. A little early to start planning for 2021, but nevertheless next year I’m aiming for these things: 1. Re-take our beginner MSF-type course in the spring, at earliest convenience I think this is one of those things where I want to be in the right frame of mind going into the season, and I really enjoyed the confidence boost coming out of my first training even if I did end it on a sprained/broken foot thanks to a lowside in class. 2. Do at least one 3-500km all-day trip, Forcing me to get comfortable (or at least accustomed) to highway speeds. I know it’s probably statistically safer etc etc but once I go to 90+kph my unease starts to creep in. It’s just a factor of speed that I’m not used to, and I remember it slamming me and then quickly fading once I rode the bike home from the dealer on the highway, so it’s just getting used to long stretches in the open. 3. Really, just more riding in general if I can swing it. Life tends to get in the way for me, and I’m really not a “just take your bike everywhere” kind of guy — I really enjoy driving and walking so for me riding the bike is a thing I have to want to do, and until now I’ve found excuses to not do it as often as I should. Part of why I got a bike was to go to coffee shops with friends, to go do things with friends, to see stuff, but not just for the sake of riding. COVID kind of boned me there, so hopefully 2021 brings opportunity to go outside with friends with less worry about the hyperdeath. ALL that said, I still really enjoyed my 2020. I don’t want to talk about it like it’s over because it’s not, but my fun 2020 bike memories: - Day trip to Niagara Falls and Niagara on the Lake. A fun ride I did with a friend last year and it was neat to do again this year solo. Some great sights and fun lakefront riding, even if the ride home was mostly bland farmland which tends to attract gale winds. - Coffee runs along the Oakville lakefront every few weekends, when COVID first started easing. Just love cruising at a nice speed along the water. It’s my ideal “this is why I have a bike to go places” picture in my head. - First time I rode my bike a few towns over to show my friend what I’d bought — I don’t know why this one is special, we just had a great time talking about it 6ft apart and then chilling out in his back yard. - Putting my 250 back on the road and realizing — REALLY realizing — just how much lighter and nimbler it feels than my 650. - Realizing my other friend and his SO are both into bikes and she wants to learn, so possibly gifting them my 250 next year to learn on
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Sep 18, 2020 23:42
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Why not look up some more advanced riders course? Explain them where you're at and what you want to achieve, rather than going into a one-size-fits-all class, aimed purely at getting you past the MSF? I took private lessons with a riding school instead. They've never had a single dropped bike, yet you heard about people dropping bikes/crashing at every single MSF/MST weekend course. Sure. it cost about 4x more, but my main concern was not getting the licence, but being as safe as possible. (As safe as you can be with ~4-6 hours worth of experience).
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Sep 18, 2020 23:55
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That’s not a bad idea at all. If I can find something I will opt for that. I’ll check to see if the guys that run our MSF-equiv have something they can tailor or do individually.
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Sep 19, 2020 00:07
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I'll echo that call to find something beyond a MSF Basic Rider Course or equivalent. I dont regret re-taking it last year at all but that was more about confirming my comfort level on a motorcycle after a decade than actually developing skills. They spend so much time in that class on absolute no-experience basics that I don't see what you could get out of it even after a winter off
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Sep 19, 2020 15:45
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You’re in Canada, right? Aren’t there trials bike courses you can take up ther?
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Sep 19, 2020 16:48
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I'll 2nd the above and repeatedly toot the dirt bike/trial horn. So so good for skills and confidence boosting
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Sep 19, 2020 19:24
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builds character posted:You’re in Canada, right? Aren’t there trials bike courses you can take up ther? Yep, but literally nothing in my immediate area that I’ve been able to find. Courses, I mean. I’ve been making inquiries but so far nothing. I see a lot of offroad bikes in garages over the summer while I jog, so surely they’re being used SOMEWHERE, and unless everyone is just learning by trial and error there HAS to be something.
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Sep 19, 2020 21:35
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Rode for 3 hours today, all over- freeways, twisties, main roads. Got within 15 feet of my house, accidentally let off the clutch lever too fast and nearly fishtailed. Learning is fun.
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Sep 21, 2020 00:15
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I took the ERC/BRC2 last year after 12 years of riding, and because there were only three of us the instructor dialed up the difficulty a bit and put us through some pretty rigorous low speed skills and braking practice. It was well worth it and I learned a lot about the limits of my bike and myself.
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Sep 22, 2020 03:16
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I haven't done any advanced rider courses (yet! no later than the spring) but always got the impression they were way more advanced and personal than the BRC
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Sep 22, 2020 04:51
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