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Sagebrush posted:Yeah it isn't a highway bike. You could go down two teeth on the rear sprocket if you're okay trading acceleration and low-speed putterability for lower RPMs at speed; the CL came with +2 stock versus the road-oriented CB. But I wouldn't bother because the main problem is that the suspension and brakes are not suited to those speeds. Your front brake is maybe better than the standard drum, maybe not (those early discs weren't great) but the suspension is still a pogo stick and the frame is a swingset and your tires are 3 inches wide. It just isn't fun at modern freeway speeds. Does it have the tilting solid caliper operated by a cable? Genuinely undecided if I like the one on my 125 more or less than the front drum on a cub. E:ffs snipe Slavvy fucked around with this message at 07:42 on May 4, 2021 |
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May 4, 2021 07:40
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Not sure what type that would be. My CL350 has the standard 9 inch (or whatever) cable-operated drum in the front, T-Shaped's has a different front end from something else with a hydraulic disc but it still looks fairly early.
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May 4, 2021 08:09
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Behold, one of the fastest learner bikes your can buy: You can see the front brake caliper there, the single piston is operated by a cable and has a ratchet to take up pad wear. The other side of the caliper is solid, so instead of both pads moving only the piston pad moves. The entire caliper is on a vertical pivot that parallels the fork leg, so when the piston actuates, the whole caliper rotates slightly to the left. Pads for them come pre-slanted, and they are only better than a drum in terms of feel, pretty sure stopping power is less than even a small drum.
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May 4, 2021 08:36
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lmao so i was supposed to take the MSF class this weekend but the school sent me an email saying "delayed a month, also we haven't actually been running classes since the beginning of the year even though we keep advertising them and accepting enrollments and money lol" which really does not sit well with me. I'll probably let it ride and if they do the same thing in June ask for a refund then.
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May 4, 2021 13:43
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that's pretty sketch
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May 4, 2021 15:53
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Slavvy posted:Behold, one of the fastest learner bikes your can buy: That's bonkers. My 75 CB360 had the single pot single disc hydraulic front and it sucked. Better feel than the drum but did not feel like better stopping power.
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May 4, 2021 16:25
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Midjack posted:lmao so i was supposed to take the MSF class this weekend but the school sent me an email saying "delayed a month, also we haven't actually been running classes since the beginning of the year even though we keep advertising them and accepting enrollments and money lol" which really does not sit well with me. I'll probably let it ride and if they do the same thing in June ask for a refund then. That sucks. I'm sorry. It was a bit annoying to get everything in order here to ride. My MSF class was an hour and a half away, because the local school is subject to covid restrictions at a community college. They were booked through August. Getting into the DMV took a lot of effort too, they are also completely booked out for the year here. Had to keep refreshing for cancelled appointments for a couple weeks. Motorcycle sales are through the roof the past year. I know a ton of people riding without any paperwork. The guy at my cycle shop laughed when I said I was taking a class and asked if they sold bike carriers or if I should rent a u-haul carrier. He said no one gets a license just ride. I was weirded out. Ultimately I bought from a different shop because they didn't have what I wanted anyway. They were trying to talk me into a Triumph Tiger 800. I'm like that's a lot of bike for me haha. SSH IT ZOMBIE fucked around with this message at 17:31 on May 4, 2021 |
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May 4, 2021 17:27
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Sagebrush posted:Yeah it isn't a highway bike. You could go down two teeth on the rear sprocket if you're okay trading acceleration and low-speed putterability for lower RPMs at speed; the CL came with +2 stock versus the road-oriented CB. But I wouldn't bother because the main problem is that the suspension and brakes are not suited to those speeds. Your front brake is maybe better than the standard drum, maybe not (those early discs weren't great) but the suspension is still a pogo stick and the frame is a swingset and your tires are 3 inches wide. It just isn't fun at modern freeway speeds. Didn't mention - previous guy did a shock swap about 5 years back, so it's not running on the originals (although I do have them outta the box-o-parts he tossed me). Similarly the sprocket is now only +1 since he did a swap at the same time. The front brake is a CB750 disc but as far as what my riding was, it didn't really have any issues for right-lane parkway cruising. Idle was really low when I first got it which made it love to die at stop lights or at the first shift of the day, but I reset the mixture screws and it's fine hanging out at around 1.1-1.2k at idle now. Tempted to throw the scrambler bars & mirrors back on, but I've been getting used to the lower ones + bar end mirrors.
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May 4, 2021 18:16
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Midjack posted:lmao so i was supposed to take the MSF class this weekend but the school sent me an email saying "delayed a month, also we haven't actually been running classes since the beginning of the year even though we keep advertising them and accepting enrollments and money lol" which really does not sit well with me. I'll probably let it ride and if they do the same thing in June ask for a refund then. chargeback those mfs a marathon in NC did a similar thing to me this month lol I was pissed after training endlessly for it so gently caress em
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May 4, 2021 22:50
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right arm posted:chargeback those mfs Their June dates actually work out slightly better for me so I'm going to accept their reschedule this time but if they try to push into July or later then I'm done with them and will go elsewhere. Apex Cycle in the DC metro area if you're curious, and I'm only going through them because the local community college discontinued their MSF program last summer.
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May 4, 2021 23:34
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Midjack posted:Their June dates actually work out slightly better for me so I'm going to accept their reschedule this time but if they try to push into July or later then I'm done with them and will go elsewhere. Apex Cycle in the DC metro area if you're curious, and I'm only going through them because the local community college discontinued their MSF program last summer. The june dates of the place that's straight up told you that they're lying about having classes? This seems like a bad plan...
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May 4, 2021 23:53
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builds character posted:The june dates of the place that's straight up told you that they're lying about having classes? This seems like a bad plan... They've already had my money for a few months and another 30 days won't make it any harder to recover so it's value neutral for me at this point. They came highly recommended by a number of other people who have taken their class before both on SA and in real life; I'm willing to give them a little benefit of the doubt given the circumstances here but eventually will cut bait.
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May 5, 2021 00:13
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So i've been out a few more times just buzzing around my neighborhood, getting comfortable with the stopping procedure, shifting etc. Everything is already a hundred times smoother than the first time out, including throttle control in first gear. I also picked up some SMX6 boots from my local Cycle Gear and I don't know if i'm just getting better used to operating the shifter but it's considerably easier in the moto boots - as is the intention i'm sure. Plan to rack up another 3-5 hours of this same type of thing before venturing out to bigger roads. One funny observation I had this week is that 20mph on a motorcycle feel very fast at this point. Whereas I was rolling along at 18-20 on my bicycle with a friend and it feels entirely normal and safe.
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May 5, 2021 02:55
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Midjack posted:Their June dates actually work out slightly better for me so I'm going to accept their reschedule this time but if they try to push into July or later then I'm done with them and will go elsewhere. Apex Cycle in the DC metro area if you're curious, and I'm only going through them because the local community college discontinued their MSF program last summer. Sorry to hear they're jerking you around. I took the class with them last October and it went smoothly. It was a bit far from me but they were the only ones offering classes during the panini.
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May 5, 2021 03:26
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How do you know when you are ready for major roads or a longer trip? I took the MSF. I rode around the block for a few weeks. Then I started pulling into a larger road to get to like 40-45mph and get comfortable. A week of just looping the neighborhood and then a larger road to the start, I started going on coffee runs via back roads last week. The anxiety is still going down, but I am noting errors I am making. I was crossing a very major intersection, the wind pushed me to the edge of my lane. Still within but my intention was to stay in the middle. I noticed the right lane end when I was in the middle and I didn't know what was on my right because I was mostly scanning in front. Nothing was there but what if? My takeoff is a little slow but not slowing traffic. It's just a matter of gaining more experience. I sorta wanna do an exit on the expressway soon.
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May 8, 2021 22:54
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I’m not sure how you know you’re ready but one day you’ll just do it, be terrified, and then when nothing happens you’ll stop worrying about it. I was terrified when I had an hour ride home on my new bike from the dealer and then I got on the highway and five minutes in I was still weirded out but no longer really terrified. I was doing the speed limit and parked myself behind a truck in the slow lane so it’s not like I was feeling ready to do stealthy weaving in traffic but I was more worried about the fact that it was really cold and my arms were starting to go numb on the controls than I was about the actual highway experience itself. The thread title is very apt for this question IMO. If you’re worried about traffic or volume, go out on a Sunday morning when it should be fairly quiet. You probably won’t have to deal with fighting to merge onto a crowded highway, and people who want to sit on your tail should have plenty of opportunity to hop into the fast lane to pass you. Find a highway around you with a short distance between exits. Hop on and plan to exit at the very next exit if you’re not feeling comfortable. Or take two exits if you are feeling better about it. Or three, or ride out ten minutes, get off and back on in the other direction and ride home. That said I still hate highway riding and prefer back streets whenever I have the opportunity.
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May 8, 2021 23:57
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I spent 2 weeks puttering around town, but I had to take 45 minute highway trip to get anywhere at all, and I could ride gently curving back roads on the way home. So because I was feeling ok with that after a month, I rode a 5 hour trip with a one hour mountain segment and I was not ready for it and scared the poo poo out of myself but then I was fine. My big hangup was riding in the city and urban freeways. Took six months for me to even try it, and it wasn't like I could bail out because it was four hours from home. Shat myself the whole time the first time, half the time the second time, and then it still wasn't fine but it's something I could do if I had to. Honestly, busy suburban roads are my least favourite thing now and definitely feel the most dangerous. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 00:17 on May 9, 2021 |
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May 9, 2021 00:12
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The highway riding is the easiest in some ways because there's less to do. It is kinda scary to be stuck behind a long caravan of highway-speed traffic with sporadic oncoming traffic, because you will need to bite off several cars at a time when you get to an unbroken line. You have a little bit more incentive to do this on a bike versus a car because of the smaller footprint. Don't feel tempted to overtake the whole thing at once because at high speed you will not have enough time before oncoming traffic forces you back into your lane. Good throttle control is the most important here, because its the throttle that will allow you both to accelerate quickly to overtake, and then carefully roll off to match speed with the traffic that remains in front. The better you learn to do this the smaller your footprint relative to other traffic. Keep your head up, watching what the other traffic is doing, in particular pay attention to the body language and indicators of anyone that looks like they might also want to overtake, and don't forget to check your mirrors before entering the overtaking lane. You can lane-buffer to indicate to other drivers what you want to do, and to give yourself a peek around vehicles that might be obstructing your view of the road ahead and oncoming traffic.
antipope fucked around with this message at 00:59 on May 9, 2021 |
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May 9, 2021 00:48
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Elector_Nerdlingen posted:Honestly, busy suburban roads are my least favourite thing now and definitely feel the most dangerous. This is my view too. 50k suburbs are the psychologically safest, least attention-needing place to drive a car so most people are already staring at their phone, plus a lot of them are just driving the same street they do hundreds of times a year so any novelties like a bike pulling out are ignored. On the motorway everyone is going in mostly straight parallel lines, very few variables to cause chaos despite the increased speed and high incidence of phone staring. Country roads most people are paying attention because they have some dim awareness that making a mistake in that circumstance might lead to discomfort, people tend to pull over lots, you tend to have lots of space to create distance, most car drivers don't have the stomach to do bike corner speeds so it's possible to escape psychopaths easily.
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May 9, 2021 01:16
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SSH IT ZOMBIE posted:How do you know when you are ready for major roads or a longer trip? I took the MSF. Just continue to be thoughtful and try to improve even after you feel comfortable and you’ll be just fine.
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May 9, 2021 03:16
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Slavvy posted:This is my view too. 50k suburbs are the psychologically safest, least attention-needing place to drive a car so most people are already staring at their phone, plus a lot of them are just driving the same street they do hundreds of times a year so any novelties like a bike pulling out are ignored. Not disagreeing with any of that but it's the multilane 60-80kph middle to outer suburban roads that scared gently caress out of me. All the same zoning out to autopilot and people pulling out as the suburban streets, but faster and with lane changes.
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May 9, 2021 03:33
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Elector_Nerdlingen posted:Not disagreeing with any of that but it's the multilane 60-80kph middle to outer suburban roads that scared gently caress out of me. All the same zoning out to autopilot and people pulling out as the suburban streets, but faster and with lane changes. Right I see, this is a matter of circumstance I think. What you're describing only barely exists here and is mostly by industrial areas, airport etc. The rule seems to be if it has a sidewalk it's 50km regardless of how many lanes. 60-80km limits used to be for a variety of circumstances like industrial outskirts, narrow country roads, multilane highways with no center barrier, but are rapidly disappearing in favour of blanket 100/50km regardless of the road as a brute force way to reduce deaths (as in less people die for a given number of crashes, not less crashes). It didn't occur to me that in other countries, roads like that are super common. Roads that were like that 20 years ago are now 50kmh rolling jams here, but I can think of about 4-5 and I can see how they'd be terrifying., I just never got the chance to ride there when learning.
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May 9, 2021 03:53
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Never underestimate an australian state or local government's ability to absolutely gently caress something up beyond repair. Here's an intersection I had to negotiate on the way to work every day for five years. The arrows don't show half the horror of it, like if you want to follow that long blue top-right to bottom-left arrow, you wait for a green light, proceed to just before it makes that sharp turn, and there's another set of traffic lights just to control that turn. Not to mention the top left, bottom right, bottom left, and left buildings are all shopping centers with carpark entrances and exits. I have ridden it twice, at peak hour (thankfully I live several hours out of the city now) and it was scarier than any amount of going as fast as possible in twisty roads or sitting at 20 over on a busy freeway  If anyone wants to google street view it, it's here. The best thing about it is that it's not one of our inconsistently signed three lane roundabouts, and that the building to the top right is, conveniently, a funeral parlour. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 07:50 on May 9, 2021 |
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May 9, 2021 07:46
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Hahaha what the gently caress that is nightmare stuff 
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May 9, 2021 08:18
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May 9, 2021 11:37
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That brought back memories of living in Florida. None pleasant.
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May 9, 2021 12:48
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It's punishment for living in Melbourne.
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May 9, 2021 13:30
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Elector_Nerdlingen posted:Never underestimate an australian state or local government's ability to absolutely gently caress something up beyond repair.  Central San Francisco has two different grid plans which intersection along a street running at a ~45° angle. This does not result in just some gentle right/left hand turns like you would imagine. I mean, it occasionally does, but what you end up with is a dozen or so intersections that look like this  It's now illegal to drive your car down the eastern half of this road. The western half is still open, which honestly isn't much better. This is an 1000' stretch near where I live. 
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May 9, 2021 16:01
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Passed the MSF today! Now I gotta figure out what bike to buy. Assuming I can even find something to buy given the current state of the market.
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May 10, 2021 00:23
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May 10, 2021 00:56
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ordered some more gear from a website called Leather King  getting the new tires put on the bike this weekend, and turns out the battery wasn't in great shape either. charges and starts fine but after a week it became reluctant to start. trickle charged it and fired up right away.
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May 12, 2021 21:28
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numberoneposter posted:ordered some more gear from a website called Leather King I bought some leather overpants from LEATHER UP DOT COM in 2018 and I still get a quarterly catalog that’s 90% shirtless dudes wearing chaps and ladies in leather bikinis and chainmail.
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May 12, 2021 21:33
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moxieman posted:I bought some leather overpants from LEATHER UP DOT COM in 2018 and I still get a quarterly catalog that’s 90% shirtless dudes wearing chaps and ladies in leather bikinis and chainmail. 
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May 12, 2021 21:39
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numberoneposter posted:ordered some more gear from a website called Leather King Keep it on a tender till you replace it.
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May 12, 2021 21:41
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Steakandchips posted:Keep it on a tender till you replace it. be careful with this advice make sure you end your ride where there's a trickle charger
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May 12, 2021 23:41
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I had my third riding lesson today so I'm the very definition of a newbie. How long does it take until I no longer feel like going to sleep after riding for an hour?
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May 13, 2021 15:17
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You need a different set of muscles for riding than other activities. It’s much more about legs, core and arms. You’ll get used to it Also make sure you aren’t death gripping the bars and your body isn’t locked up solid. New riders tend to be really tense and rigid. That’s exhausting, stay loose.
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May 13, 2021 15:34
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This wasn't covered in MSF Downshifting - If you downshift from a high gear to a low gear you can redline the engine or burnout. That was covered. If I am in normal traffic, I shift up and down as needed. If I am say turning left or right, I might be going 50mph. I have been coasting with the clutch in and downshifting to like second for the turn. Is that really bad? I do have a slipper clutch. And it seems like it isn't causing a problem as long as I am at an appropriate speed before releasing the clutch. 2nd gear seems pretty appropriate for a 90 degree turn onto a side street. A friend always downshifts through each gear and we were talking about it. A few times I will go from like 6th to 3rd intentionally, just have to rev match before releasing the clutch. It seems pretty natural. For a red light I just coast with the clutch in down to first. Tl;Dr is coasting with the clutch in and dropping several gears at at a time bad for some reason with downshifting, as long as you don't release the clutch at an inappropriate speed? SSH IT ZOMBIE fucked around with this message at 16:14 on May 13, 2021 |
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May 13, 2021 16:11
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As long as the clutch is in it's technically fine. It's still a better idea to shift down gear by gear as your speed drops, though. If you shift into third going 140km/h and accidentally drop the clutch that's going to end badly both for you and the bike.
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May 13, 2021 16:24
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It's also better to be in an appropriate gear in case you need to do anything in an emergency while coming to a halt, like the dude behind you not realizing you're slowing down. I've been guilty of coasting to a halt with the clutch in too, though. It's something I try not to do but every now and then it's just something I find myself doing.
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May 13, 2021 16:38
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