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whatever7 posted:Hi guys, alot of good advise. Right now, the biggest issue is still getting the green light from my wife. I think I am going to retake the MSF, get the gears online first and then worry about bike shopping and my wife. Hi thread and also whatever7. I can speak to hauling stuff; I just bought my first bike (1981 Yamaha XS400 Special II with 2000 original miles!). My car is a 3-series wagon that I can't even stuff a regular bicycle into, and the bike was off in Clarendon, TX--being a two hour drive away. The way I got my bike home was by grabbing a friend-with-a-truck and buying a loading ramp (about $60 at home depot--look up the bike's weight and make sure the ramp you buy can support its weight). If you don't have a truck friend, you can rent them from U-Haul--the rate is like $20 and 60 cents or something per mile. I'd factor that into your initial bike budget. U-Haul rents out motorcycle trailers too out here. I don't know if you have a hitch on your CR-V, but that's also an option. whatever7 posted:What do you guy think about the 2015 CB300F deals on cybertrader like this one?. Think I will get a lemon if I don't check it? If it's coming from a dealer, you're usually paying a little more because they actually check stuff out on a used bike, but absolutely check it out even if only to see that any mods or bits fit your taste/body. If you're buying from craigslist, it's up to you to make sure it runs, the electrical works, the clutch isn't stuck anywhere, and the rubber hasn't turned to raisins. If you're mechanically-inclined, you'll know what you're okay with replacing and what problems you're going to walk away from. whatever7 posted:How do you check market price for used bike? Is there a Truecar app for bikes? I spent about two months picking a bike, and the closest to TrueCar I found was NADA Guides (it's like Kelly Bluebook). That, mixed with checking CycleTrader nationwide for the model you're interested in, seemed to me like a good barometer of a bike price. AveMachina fucked around with this message at 18:20 on Feb 28, 2017 |
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Feb 28, 2017 18:11
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I know we're doing gearchat now, but I have a couple of basic questions that have been on my mind. I took the basic MSF a few years ago, but I feel like I'll be retaking it pretty soon just because I'm not as confident on my bike as I want to be. I've taken my old XS400 out on a couple of delicate around-the-block rides, dropped it a couple of times: first time, had a brain problem and forgot to put the kickstand down as I got off; second time, I took a stupid-wide right turn , kissed the curb, did slow-mo belly slide onto a lawn (no harm, no foul, I was on the ground laughing my rear end off) and had a very sweet gentleman on a Harley help me pick it up while encouraging me not to give up (thanks Harley Guy, I won't!) I shifted on my own to second gear and it felt cool as hell, tiny as that is, I got that kid-on-a-bicycle-I'm-doing-it-on-my-own! feeling. The mishaps I've had have been more goofy than dangerous so far, and I'd like them to stay that way. Anyway, since I janked up that turn, I'm wondering what the best procedure is for turning from a stop. Like, say you're at the base of the T of a T-intersection--what's the usual protocol for turning there? I took a right turn really wide because I think I was either too close to the stop sign itself, or maybe I didn't lean in far enough to turn. I'm always nervous of throttle+turn maneuvers, since I know what brake+turn leads to. Also, as basic as it sounds, shifting down to a stop. I have to go from first to third to even get to tolerable residential-area speeds (1st tops out at 12ish mph, 2nd at 22 or so), so what I've been doing is pulling in the clutch, then the brakes, as I arrive at the stop--once I'm no longer in motion I shift down. Is this SOP for areas with lots of stop-go areas (ie, suburbs)? Or should I be straight braking and then shift all the way down, or shift down -> cruise a little, shift down -> cruise a little, shift-down -> stop? I'm going to admit that a lot of my anxiety comes from not having too much experience operating manual transmissions; I've driven automatic cars my whole life/been the transmission on a bicycle. I understand how they operate on a conceptual level, but on a practical level I still get nervous about how much throttle to give it when I shift from N to 1, etc.
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Apr 25, 2017 22:15
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Jack B Nimble posted:Maybe I'm misunderstanding this but are you turning the handlebars while stopped? You want to get them ready before you go or by the time you get done with letting the clutch out from a stop whoops you're going straight on what should be a turn. Nah, I keep my handlebars straight when I'm stopped. When I start to go, that's when I get the turn started, which is why I think I was too close to the stop sign/end of the street when I crashed (as in, I rode forward to get some speed, but too far before the bike actually turned, hence the wide turn). edited for clarity. AveMachina fucked around with this message at 22:32 on Apr 25, 2017 |
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Apr 25, 2017 22:26
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-Inu- posted:I'll guess with 99% certainty that you weren't "looking where you want to go". They teach this in the MSF (figure 8 is nearly impossible to do otherwise) and it's super, super important. You can practice this in your car by going into an empty parking lot, locking your eyes on some random object off in the distance (something that you have to turn your head to see), and don't take your eyes off it. You'll notice that you unconsciously will drive towards that object. You were probably looking at the outside curb when you crashed, and rode yourself right into it. Here's a really extreme example: Thanks all y'all, very much, for your advice both about the braking thing and the turns. -Inu- especially, I remember seeing a gas meter when I started thinking the turn was going bad and sort of focusing on it a little too hard. It's a bad habit I have in archery, too. I'm taking the bike out again this weekend, and I'm going to be eyes-on-endpoint like a laser. Being that it's an old bike, "this weekend" is due to fixing up a wompy turn signal (ate fuses, shut off the entire instrumentation illumination circuit). Turns out the LED headlight I installed to bring the wattage draw to something reasonable only barely cleared the turn signal mount threading, so both positive-lead wires tore their insulation open and completed their circuit on the headlight's heatsink.  A vise, angle grinder, bullet connectors and a rootbeer later, good as new. I can wrench on just about anything, but the riding part... AveMachina fucked around with this message at 14:33 on Apr 26, 2017 |
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Apr 26, 2017 14:29
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Fishvilla posted:snip I thought you meant one of these  until I realized you meant supermoto.
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Apr 26, 2017 16:35
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