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Nobody wants to wave at me  .I recently bought a Harley Sportster 1200. I’ve wanted a cruiser bike since I was a child, and now I’m basically a child with a paycheck, so I bought it brand new. I love the poo poo out of riding, it’s so much goddamn fun, and every time I pass another guy on a bike, I can’t imagine that they aren’t having as much fun as I am. So I wave. But there’s a problem. Well, problems. Plural. Guys on Harleys don’t want to wave at me because they’re too busy grimacing and revving their engines. And I’m just some dude on a skirtster wearing gear and a full face helmet, so surely I’m not as badass as they are and don't even deserve a nod. Guys on sportbikes don’t wave at me because I’m on a Harley, I guess. Most of the guys around here that ride sportbikes do the whole cargo shorts, shelltoes, t-shirt, full-face helmet thing, so maybe it’s better that they don’t wave at me so they can concentrate on not crashing into the road. You only live once. Dudes on Goldwings and other giant touring bikes, they wave, because they seem like they honestly enjoy the whole experience. I always feel like I’m passing Robert Pirsig when I wave at those dudes. I waved at a guy on a scooter the other day, because I felt like he might know my pain, but he seemed honestly confused about the whole situation and didn’t wave back. I don't blame him. And as an aside, I get why CA gives HD riders a bunch of poo poo. Hopefully we can see past the logo on my bike and still be friends  .
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Jun 6, 2012 20:05
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NitroSpazzz posted:I bought my first bike shortly after moving out, took a picture of it in the back of my truck and texted it to them along with "My new toy". Dad loves it, Mom isn't a huge fan. When I told my mom I was getting a bike, her only response was "just be careful". Then she went on about how she's always wanted a motorcycle. My mom is pretty cool though, so others' results may vary. Everyone else in the world though wanted to tell me about their cousin/nephew/mailman/coworker that was torn limb from limb while riding and that motorcycles are death machines.
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Jun 7, 2012 19:10
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Snowdens Secret posted:I'm tempted to make a "bitch about cagers" thread just to collect all the stupid / inconsiderate poo poo I see people doing. The worst is getting tailgated by some rear end in a top hat in a giant SUV when you're already doing 10mph over the speed limit on a single-lane road. Actually, no, the worst is when someone like that is tailgating you and doesn't back off when you give the "please back the gently caress off" hand signal. I hate that poo poo. You SHOULD make a thread.
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Jun 25, 2012 01:40
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Just rode my bike on the highway for the first time. Not far, just about 10 miles or so, just because that's as far away as I was going. Holy poo poo was that windy. I felt like if I didn't lean forward and lift my chin, I'd be blown off the bike. It was otherwise, like all things motorcycle-related, fun as hell.
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Jul 17, 2012 17:46
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slidebite posted:I stay the hell away from any male under 30, because they are statistically more likely to cause and be in an accident than anyone else. I avoid every fourth person, because statistically, they have herpes.
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Jul 19, 2012 22:49
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Frankston posted:How do I join this motorcycle club? Well first you need to get a £20,000 Harley Davidson.
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Aug 5, 2012 02:18
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Pope Mobile posted:No one seems to understand my crushing case of MBS. I need more than one bike in the garage. It's not a matter of want. I don't care that my current, only bike is a jack of all (almost) trades. I need a cruiser for two up and/or relaxed rides, an efficient, small displacement for commuting and a sporty bike for having fun, at the least. I feel your pain. I thought I just needed "a motorcycle". So I got one that appeals to the child in me, but now I need so many more. I need a dual sport for driving like a dickhead doing a wheelie through the center of a rotary. I need a sporty bike for going zoom. I need a bike with a shitload of bags and big comfortable leather seats for driving across the goddamn country with everything I own stashed in a variety of strange plastic compartments while listening to the radio and drinking water out of a bottle kept in a cupholder. I need motorcycles. So many motorcycles.
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Aug 7, 2012 21:29
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epalm posted:With my visor down, a bee hit me in the chest, zoomed up into my helmet, hit the inside of my visor, and dropped in front of the mouth guard. Jesus Christ is right. Congratulations are in order for not driving the gently caress off the road.
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Aug 21, 2012 23:09
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Cycle Asylum: come for the motorcycle discussion, stay for the facts about bees.
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Sep 10, 2012 16:28
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It's gotten pretty chilly up in MA, especially as the sun sets or rises, so I've had to put the liner in my jacket. Which is good, because it makes me appear larger and more intimidating to potential predators.
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Sep 11, 2012 03:10
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kenny powerzzz posted:The thing that scares me the most in the list of things that have changed is drivers on cell phones. Fortunately there's fewer people checking full-sized fold out maps while driving.
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Sep 12, 2012 04:34
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I saw this yesterday on the highway near Foxboro in MA. I don't even know what the hell to do with this image. What is going on here.
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Jun 14, 2014 17:33
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Not related to the splitting discussion, because I live in Massachusetts and nothing is legal here and conversations about it just make me envious, but what do you guys do with your helmets when you park? I was having a conversation with a buddy recently about locking our helmets to our bikes. I generally just leave it on the handlebar or sissy bar unless I'm in an unscrupulous area, in which case I'll either use a lovely little Kryptonite lock or just carry it with me. My buddy brings his helmet with him everywhere, because he's paranoid someone will steal it. My theory is that people probably won't gently caress with a motorcycle. His rationale is that it would be super easy for someone to totally ruin his day, by putting him out a few hundred bucks and making it so he can't ride his bike home, so people are more likely. So - ever had your helmet stolen?
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Aug 30, 2018 22:48
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I was going to post this in the crash thread but fortunately that’s received so little content as to be dead now. Going up the highway on Thursday, I was on a two-lane interchange to another highway in the left lane going highway speeds. In the right lane about a car length ahead of me was a dump truck. Truck hit a bump, some poo poo bounced out of the back, and it went right for the front wheel of my bike. Immediately lost control. Wasn’t even like an “I had to layer down” situation because it was like I drove 60 mph straight into a curb. So the bike went down, I went with it, and slid a good 50yds. The bike slid a good bit further. Once I was done sliding I realized my foot was pointing in the wrong direction. Other than that, I’m almost completely fine. I have a bump on my left elbow that was protected by a CE rated piece of armor, so I assume that would have broken. My jeans were Kevlar Tobacco jeans, and the rear end of the pants wore through a bit but the Kevlar was fine. And my gloves held up, but the heat transferred by the slide gave me a heat blister on my thumb. I also had on a Shoei RF1200 that was fine other than completely covered in the oil that (I assume) came pouring out of the hole in my primary, but I’m going to replace it anyway. i had surgery a few hours later to put my leg back together. I had broken clean through the fibula/tibia, but my ankles were protected by my armored boots. I now have a titanium rod in my leg screwed into the bones, but hey, you’re not a real motorcyclist until you had metal somewhere in your body. I’ll be fine in a few months, but the weather will probably be poo poo by then (Massachusetts).     And no the truck didn’t stop. Didn’t even slow down. Some nice people stopped to halt traffic and call 911, but they were more worried about me than the truck.
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Aug 13, 2019 02:08
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Carth Dookie posted:Bummer about the truck, but not really surprising. I try to assume the best about people so maybe he just didn't realise he was involved? That’s kind of what I’m hoping, but I don’t know how he could have missed it, it was super loud and right in view of his side mirror. Even if he did notice, he’d be facing losing his job, his license, maybe jail time, so I wouldn’t expect the dude to come forward. The folks that stopped to help and call 911 really restored my faith in people, but the guy who slowly drove by filming me with his cellphone while I laid on the road kind of crushed it a bit. The state trooper screamed at the dude and made him pull over, so that was fun, but I lost track of the situation while the EMTs struggled to cut my pants off. “What the hell are these made of? I can’t cut through them.” “Kevlar. That’s kind of the point.”
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Aug 13, 2019 02:31
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Sagebrush posted:Well I'm now totally sold on a pair of those jeans and you should send that anecdote to their marketing department. Some kind of blackened 10x10” cube shaped object and like a foot long rod, with a bunch of bits. Kind of looked like demo debris from a fire. It was too fast to really rationalize what it was. Can’t recommend tobacco enough. Best part is their jeans look really good. I think they were my best looking pair, they just happened to be Kevlar. I wore them a lot even when I wasn’t riding.
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Aug 13, 2019 04:13
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Razzled posted:lol tobacco is a fuckin scam, their poo poo is way overpriced for just kevlar jeans I’m the kind of person that would buy a $200 pair of selvedge denim jeans for non motorcycle reasons. I couldn’t find similar protection without crazy stitching all over the pants, so it’s reasonable to me.
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Aug 13, 2019 11:09
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captainOrbital posted:Glad you survived almost mostly intact. That is some scary poo poo. Surprisingly I didn’t feel any fear. The only emotion I recall was overwhelming, abject anger. My helmet is only damaged because I took it off and threw it before screaming at the sky. In retrospect I should have left it on, I know. Also another note regarding Tobacco, I’ve been in touch with them and they agreed to send me a replacement pair. Now I just need to get boots from RSD.
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Aug 13, 2019 20:29
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Yeah in my MSF (9~ years ago?) they definitely didn't teach clutching through a turn. They made it a point to talk about braking/downshifting before a turn and accelerating through the turn. It probably took me about a year of riding to really unpack all the lessons they taught in the course, it's pretty dense if you've never ridden before.
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Aug 21, 2019 12:35
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Leather and armor plating is all well and good but have you perhaps considered reinforcing your bones from the inside? Went today to get the bandages and staples and stitches removed. Four more weeks in a reinforced boot before I can walk without crutches.
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Aug 22, 2019 23:21
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HenryJLittlefinger posted:You got some big ol calves boy. The calf raise machine at the gym is a lot of fun.
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Aug 23, 2019 09:14
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Imperador do Brasil posted:The fibula fracture is high enough that it likely won’t cause instability in the ankle. The small fragments aren’t really “fixable” in and of themselves, you would just basically have to bridge them if you were going to plate it. I’m actually looking forward to physical therapy. I hurt my back about a year ago, and spent a few months going to a place near my house for PT. All the therapists there are super nice and did a great job, so I’m just gonna go to them. In the meantime I’m basically just lying on the couch living vicariously through others’ YouTube motorcycle videos. Counting down to 9/20.
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Aug 24, 2019 00:27
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In the states (New England, at least), you can't even start the pump without swiping your card. So I don't get off the bike, and don't even lift my visor. If the gas hole is in the middle of the tank, I'll straddle the bike so it's balanced, so I can get maximum gas. If I'm in one of those weird areas where the attendant has to pump your gas, I stay on the bike and just gesture to the gas tank, like "fill me up big boy." So far I haven't had one not let me do it myself.
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Aug 27, 2019 13:34
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The Bananana posted:I was trying to put a non-negative against the bike reason for selling it. I think it's a fine price for a Street 750, but while I'd agree that removing the wife bit (and maybe even adding the starter motorcycle bit) is a good idea, I think the trouble might be that it's a Street 750. Those typically don't sell well even with Harley boys, as they'd rather buy a Sportster as a first bike. Or, hell, a Road Glide. But like Jim Silly-Balls said, drop in some manufacturer stats and info on any mods you've done (or not done), remove the wife line, and it'll sell eventually.
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Sep 4, 2019 13:17
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The Bananana posted:Shes got just 8000 miles. It's a normal amount of miles for the time you've owned it, I don't think anybody would blink at that. Bonus if you can show when it was serviced.
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Sep 4, 2019 13:29
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I picked up my new bike a couple weeks ago, the same day I was cleared to stop using crutches. Riding it home was kind of precarious, since I had to kind of lean it to the right every time I stopped so I'd be putting weight on my good leg. The muscle in my leg has returned considerably since then, and while I'm still in an air cast, I can at least put my foot down when I need to and walk without a cane. The problem though was that without being able to bend my ankle, I couldn't bring my kick stand up. So I tied a shoelace around the front of the air cast, and I use that to hook onto the part of the kick stand that juts out.  I don't know what that is on my garage floor that looks like blood. Might be blood.
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Sep 28, 2019 19:23
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Slide Hammer posted:Just be extra careful that that shoelace doesn't hook onto anything else! Or you might be in for two titanium rods. Yeah I thought that too. Before the first ride I tried to hook it onto anything else or get it into anything and it’s too short to get in the way.
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Sep 28, 2019 23:04
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Horse Clocks posted:I thought the same about my boot laces. How could they get caught? The loops are maybe 5cm long max and are covered by my jeans... I don't want to be the recipient of a posthumous "told ya so," so I found it's actually quite easy to tuck the lace back under the velcro strap after I pull the kickstand up. Slavvy posted:Heel shifters, explained. I was leaving Chipotle yesterday with my gear on, and a guy walked up very excited to ask "I just gotta know man, how do you shift?" Yep. Heel shifter. Can't wait to take it off honestly.
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Sep 29, 2019 21:54
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I just went looking for pictures of the Akira bike and found this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ael7gKPw8BA That's.. really something. Oh my god there's more. He has a cosplay shipping crate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubdd5duliMU Strife fucked around with this message at 16:45 on Oct 4, 2019 |
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Oct 4, 2019 16:43
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Martytoof posted:I can't stand driving next to other vehicles in my CAR, so this instinct is strong for me on two wheels as well. I'm not sure how cars can't see motorcycles directly next to them, but I've had people nearly absentmindedly merge into me when I'm in my car. I drive a bright white Dodge Challenger, so I can't really rationalize that one beyond "some people are never paying attention." In leg news, I just spoke with my doctor, and somehow between snapping my leg and being cleared to start putting weight on my foot in an air cast, I also broke my ankle. An X-Ray (and subsequently a CT scan) showed a crack that wasn't on the original images when I first went into the hospital. So now I have to decide between having another screw put into my ankle, or just leaving it alone and letting it heal on its own. Per the doc, the screw would take 15 minutes to do and not impact my recovery, which involves taking this air cast off in about two weeks. Not doing the surgery would necessitate keeping weight off it for another 4 weeks. Riding motorcycles in two weeks or not walking for four? I'm leaning screw.
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Oct 9, 2019 23:14
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Verman posted:Here's a dumb question that indicates that I've never had any major surgery/injury requiring hardware... Short answer: if they need to. My surgeon told me that if there aren't any complications, they can stay in there forever. A buddy of mine broke his leg when he was younger, and had a titanium rod inserted in his femur. He wound up having his removed because he entered the military and apparently they wouldn't let him enlist with metal in his bones, so they took the rod out. I guess once it heals to a certain point they can remove them, but they probably significantly aid with the recovery. I already have two screws in the top of the bone and two in the bottom connecting it to the rod they inserted in my tibia. I assume metal or not, it's always going to be a little hosed up.
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Oct 9, 2019 23:59
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Jim Silly-Balls posted:Just get a hayabusa with a car tire on the back I thought all moto riders were issued a hot purple busa with a fat rear tire and kanji decals upon moving to FL?
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Oct 18, 2019 18:09
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 Up to five screws. Looks like a curtain rod installed by an 8 year old. Yeah my fibula is supposed to look like that. I wore this shirt to see my surgeon today:  So I'm finally out of the air cast and can ride again without anyone getting mad at me, but woke up this morning with an intense cold. Hopefully I can avoid breaking anything else before it clears up/starts snowing.
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Oct 30, 2019 17:44
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Slavvy posted:Wonder if you'll get emf interference from the stator... It's all titanium so I wouldn't think so. Edit: Here's a neat journal entry on interactions between titanium and MRI fields. I guess if it's safe for an MRI, it should be fine. There's a curious line about alloys though, which makes me wonder, just what kind of metals am I made of?? Strife fucked around with this message at 20:59 on Oct 30, 2019 |
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Oct 30, 2019 20:55
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Finger Prince posted:Yeah I'm kind of with you. I want to like it, and I reserve judgement until I've actually ridden one on the road, but I "rode" a Livewire strapped to a dyno/rolling road and it was really an annoying sound. Of course that might be on purpose, since it is a Harley. From what I've read, the Livewire actually pumps out an artificial sound. Loud electric bikes save lives, I guess.
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Oct 31, 2019 13:58
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Phy posted:Whenever I read about vehicles that do this I'm reminded of a short story I read once: The answer is, of course, to ride two-up with a band kid. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwaXjtRybhI
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Nov 1, 2019 17:58
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Generally it's good to be able to walk away from an accident but I don't think he's gonna recover from that one.
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Nov 25, 2019 16:29
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Long post incoming. I wrote this to summarize "what I learned" from my accident in August. There's not a ton that I did learn, but maybe the few things I did can benefit someone. ---- As you may already know, in August of this year I was in a serious motorcycle accident on the highway. Getting onto RT 95/128 from 24 N, I was in the left lane of the interchange with a dump truck about a car length ahead of me in the right lane. The truck hit a bump, and a bunch of debris from its load bounced out of the back and scattered onto the highway. Included in the debris was an object roughly the size of a 4-slice toaster which went right at the front wheel of my bike. It’s difficult to rationalize exactly what happened in the short timeframe in which it did, but near as I can tell, the front wheel of my bike went up, came down at an angle, and took me off the left side as it listed and careened into a guardrail. Being pulled off the bike sheared off my footboard and broke my leg, but when the bike hit the guardrail it apparently flipped and spun. I went sliding down the highway approximately 50 yds with my bike ahead of me. According to my speedometer, which froze at some point, I was going at least 55. Other than the broken leg, I was unhurt. The dump truck did not stop. The bike was completely destroyed. The front wheel, tire, forks, gas tank, primary cover, both foot boards, air intake, exhaust, right side bag, rear fender, oil cooler, and the frame were all damaged beyond repair. I was taken by ambulance to the closest trauma center (15 minutes, thanks Massachusetts), and had surgery to install a titanium rod in my tibia with 4 stabilizing screws. Later, I had another screw put into my ankle.
After the crash I also learned things like your standard run of the mill pair of crutches loving suck, and you can buy better ones on Amazon. Also, I have no idea how anyone who doesn't work from home could financially survive a motorcycle accident, because I would have had to miss a poo poo ton of work for doctors appointments, physical therapy, etc. In summary always speed around dump trucks. Thank you for attending my TED Talk.
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Dec 3, 2019 20:25
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Nfcknblvbl posted:Jeez that sucks. One time while riding on a freeway, a pickup truck in front of me had a loving blanket fly out of its bed straight towards me, I had to dodge that poo poo so fast. God knows what would have happened to me if I had gotten wrapped up by that damned thing. That is terrifying. At least with a mattress or a ladder in the road, you can swerve around it. When it's flying through the air, you could find yourself swerving into it when you'd have avoided it going straight, or vice-versa. Kind of just a "Jesus take the bars" situation. Edit: I don't know if I posted any of the photos on SA, so check it out: Before:  Note, that front fairing was never recovered. After:     A buddy of mine went and took those photos. The owner of the shop it was towed to very hesitantly asked, "..did he live?" My buddy goes "yeah he's fine, just broke his leg." He also grabbed the tank decal and put it into a shadow box for me, which was nice. 
Strife fucked around with this message at 23:13 on Dec 3, 2019 |
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Dec 3, 2019 23:04
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bsamu posted:To clarify, you're saying that the Personal Injury Protection that I pay for in MA isn't valid for motorcycle injuries? I carry $5k of medical payments coverage as well but I figured that was a stopgap to help cushion the blow of whatever costs were sent my way after health insurance. Yep. Now, I don't know if that's a Geico thing or if it applies to other insurance companies, but while laying in a hospital bed I had a woman tell me that Geico would not be paying my medical bills, as my motorcycle insurance does not cover personal injury. Apparently it says so if you hover over the policy details. Apparently you need to be minding your own business and struck by an oncoming motorcycle for that to pay out. Geico posted:Personal Injury Protection does not cover owners or operators of, or guests upon, motorcycles who suffer bodily injury while operating, or riding as a guest upon, such vehicles.
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Dec 4, 2019 00:28
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