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Good stuff sage.-Inu- posted:I'm wondering if I'm gay if I want to ride a scooter. Thoughts? I worried about this until I rode a burgman; now I just embrace the gay. Feels good and, despite some bad PR, amazingly comfortable for your rear end.
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Feb 20, 2017 22:48
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Ripoff posted:To expand on this, skills you pick up on a dirt bike will translate to street riding. If you can handle a 250-cc thumper off-road and aggressively get around dirt trails, you will find street riding to be incredibly easy. This is a personal belief but I think that experienced off-road riders can "skip" the beginner bike (experienced meaning you can tear rear end down a trail, push the suspension to the limits over washboard trails and are considering your next brap to be a CR500). Several reasons, like: Being able to wheelie over the kerb and around the SUV Getting tyre-melting sideways in corners that make sportbike riders whinge about cold tyres and stiff suspension Wanting to go faster than 60km/h without feeling like you're gonna die
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Feb 21, 2017 03:53
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ess-vid posted:Fair enough. And yeah, I'm aware they wouldn't be Toyota level reliable (I guess the bike equivalent would be Honda?). I was more wondering if they were more Sportster "mostly gets the job done but make sure to give everything a thorough once-over often and be handy with a wrench", or more Ducati-Desmoduro-oh-god-this-costs-HOW-much territory. If you want a car analogy a sportster is like a run-of-the-mill ford or gm product: mostly decent but has the occasional stupid poo poo, poor quality on some of the details and isn't really very good compared to a japanese equivalent, but that's simply because the bar is set so high. A guzzi is like a rusty fiat from the 80's. TheNothingNew posted:This will happen every time you ride, everywhere, no matter the bike. Get past it, let them smoke you from a stoplight, none of it matters. Let go. Also this. Also even a ninja 300 is faster off the line than the majority of cars (or drivers, at least) that will try to race you so really what's the problem here?
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Mar 8, 2017 04:41
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What you need to do is stop giving a poo poo about the dumb fucks in their cars (they'll be there and be dumb fucks regardless of what you ride) and just follow the OP, buy a good normal beginner bike and actually learn What The gently caress instead of trying to extrapolate into the future on the basis of gently caress all. You aren't the first car person to stumble into this forum and you won't be the last, and one seemingly universal thing about them is they all feel like they were massive idiots after riding a slow bike for a few months.
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Mar 8, 2017 07:08
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cursedshitbox posted:Take on a night job and wear a skirt. works for me. Just the second one will do ya in most places, Dick Burglar. No need for the added stress of two jobs.
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Mar 9, 2017 03:41
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Pooper Trooper posted:Nice OP! They're good but the yuuge rear tyre makes them handle kind of weird. Honda take on the same thing: 
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Mar 11, 2017 00:38
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A Loud Fart posted:I did my MSF on a TW, it's a cool looking bike with big fat tires that you don't see that often. The most modern thing on it is the electric start. I did my test in November in a freezing wind so learning how to use the choke was mandatory. I loved how light it was, It ran over the 'bumps' you're supposed to stand up for like it was nothing. If you get on the throttle it will lift the front tire, but way slower than the the Yamaha dual sport others were riding. You'd love a duke 640. All the comfort of a MX bike with one of the most punishingly shaky singles I've ever seen. 250's are a pleasant tickle by comparison.
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Mar 16, 2017 06:07
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I fondly remember the first time I got down the street and around the corner, opened the throttle, then immediately turned around and went home to check if the balance shaft and god knows what else were all still the right way around. They feel genuinely broken even by thumper standards.
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Mar 16, 2017 07:53
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A ninja 300 is not a sportbike in any respect. It's a normal everyday bike with sporty looking clothes on. 500 miles on a genuine sportbike is pretty punishing. Swapping a seat on a sportbike in the name of comfort is probably one of the most futile things I've heard of.
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Mar 20, 2017 04:38
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TBH all the things I used to think were hard and fast rules are more like stern guidelines so you don't gently caress up too badly and when you know what you're doing you can take that poo poo with a grain of salt... ...except looking where you want to go. Nobody who ever rode a bike in the history of man was exempt from that.
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Apr 26, 2017 09:05
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That's just the deposit on the Ben Spies suit.
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Apr 30, 2017 08:32
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Pilot activs last a loving long time but have garbage grip if you're really pushing it. They're like the definition of a solid commuter tyre with no sporting aspirations. Much more important is if they're square or not and their age.
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May 2, 2017 06:12
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I don't know the intricacies of pilot activ grip limits vs a ninja 500's potential mechanical grip, but I can safely say if you're brand new to this the only thing you're likely to overwhelm in a corner is yourself. Even a mediocre bike with mediocre tyres will corner way, way faster than you think is even possible. Keep them pumped up to the right pressure and look where you want to go, if you fall over there is 0% chance that the tyres will be to blame.
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May 2, 2017 07:31
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SeaGoatSupreme posted:I'm looking to take the msf in the next month or so, and after nosing around for a bit (~5 months) I've become enamored with a white/red cb500f. How stupid would it be to get something with a bit more power than a ninja 300 and what looks like a ruler flat torque curve for a new rider? I daily drive a manual so I'm used to thinking about a clutch all the time, but I know that's not the same at all as a motorcycle. You'll be fine, just be aware that the 500 is a lot heavier and this may or may not matter to you depending on how big/strong/tall you are.
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May 9, 2017 02:33
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SeaGoatSupreme posted:also that shadow spirit's passenger seat is only there to make lawyers happy. I swear there's still a rectangular dent in my rear end a decade later. No one should subject someone to that drat seat unless they know what they are getting into. Let me tell you about a little something called italy.  Note the passenger pegs.
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May 9, 2017 09:34
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spouse posted:So, a big thanks to everyone in this and all the threads here. I just officially hit one month of having my own bike, 1st month of riding, 1700~ miles in, and only one drop (lost the front wheel pulling into a gravel driveway too fast), and one already lost license plate (motorcycles vibrate a lot more than I thought they would and threadlocker is your friend). Keep doing what you're doing! What kind of bike have you got?
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May 28, 2017 05:35
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Now to tempt myself daily browsing cycletrader, and try as best I can not to trade up to a poor lesson in risk management.
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To add to the above: you do have a master link, it's just a rivet type instead of a clip type. Look for the one with slightly different looking pins. If not then you have the extremely rare factory endless chain but I've only seen those like twice.
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Jun 1, 2017 06:19
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Just get a ninja 250.
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Jun 12, 2017 06:05
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Sagebrush posted:It could be fine, or it might not be. My 350 starts on the first kick every time, except when it doesn't. Realistically, that bike appears to be in decent shape -- certainly better than the average bucket of parts "cafe racer" on Craigslist. But it's still a forty-year-old motor vehicle with everything that entails. Just get a ninja 250.
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Jun 12, 2017 06:15
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Did you guys not get an efi 250?
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Jun 12, 2017 06:52
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The headlights on the first one are triggering my fuckwit alarm really badly. Second one looks way nicer.
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Jun 16, 2017 04:24
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theKGEntleman posted:Passed my M1 and on to purchasing my first bike! Thoughts on this 95' ninja for the first 6-12 months? Those tyres look suspiciously old and poo poo so budget that in but otherwise looks ok. Can you really pick up a tidy ex500 for $1500 over there? Seeing poo poo like that makes me want to kill myself.
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Jun 20, 2017 03:24
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Also don't think too hard.
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Jun 21, 2017 06:54
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How about instead of spending money on a bigger dick you could instead spend money on some super sticky tyres and some springs and valves for your bike and realise just how loving fast 50hp can really be while also improving yourself as a rider?
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Jun 22, 2017 20:42
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You're a teacher so you do good carrot but I only know stick sorry.
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Jun 23, 2017 00:34
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TheNothingNew posted:This, man. Reorient. You don't replace the whole computer, you find out how it works and what's holding you back, then upgrade that. (Note to my past self: it's the hard drive. Stop messing with memory timing multipliers and splurge on an SSD.) I went from working on cars for a living to working on bikes for a living and believe me they're more fun for everyone. Also I really, really like narrow tyres. 190 section rears make a bike feel like a loving truck. On the road agility, sure-footedness and gently caress-up-forgivingness trump outright grip/contact patch. It takes a lot of effort to get temperature into the tyres on a modern 600/1000 sportsbike and you have to go so fast to get to the threshold of being able to feel what the tyres are doing that there's no point and it isn't fun at all. Nursing the thing over every mid-corner bump at 1/4 throttle is just frustrating and terrible IMO. spouse posted:Thanks for all the advice Your mind will boggle. Pair that with a new set of the sportiest tyres you can find (for an ex500 that won't be very sporty but still) and you'll realise you've been using like 20% of what it can actually do.
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Jun 23, 2017 03:56
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Pilot streets are, as far as I can tell, a sporty looking tread pattern/profile from an older generation tyre with the finest chinese rubber on the outside. S20's would be a quantum leap from there but you would only really get the benefit when your skill is up to scratch and your suspension isn't laughably undersprung. How old are the michelins? Also as mentioned before, do all your engine maintenance stuff but also worth having a check of your head bearings and swingarm bearings as they can have a huge effect on how the bike corners. I know it seems overkill for a lovely learner machine but in reality it'll set you up for knowing what to do on basically any bike you buy, plus give you a baseline idea of what a working-condition bike feels like so you can form an accurate impression when buying in the future. This rabbit hole has no bottom so be prepared for that too. Hope you don't like having other hobbies!
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Jun 23, 2017 04:48
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Sagebrush posted:Either of those tires would be fine, but I don't think you can get them in the proper size for your bike? Look this up yourself to be sure, but the data I'm finding says that a 1995 Ninja 500 has 110/70-17 front, 130/70-17 rear. Those are skinny high-profile bias-ply tires -- particularly in the rear -- while the radials you're looking at are made for more powerful modern sportbikes with fatter wheels. Do not ever buy contigo's, they are rock hard and utterly gripless at the slightest hint of moisture.
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Jun 23, 2017 20:00
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Razzled posted:I have not ridden one but I don't see the appeal of VFRs, they look very heavy for what they bring to the table Like many, many other bikes they're significantly more than the sum of their parts and looking at specs on paper tells you nothing about them. They're just a really well sorted package in every way.
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Jul 17, 2017 20:44
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Just get a sex change, all the serious riders do it. Either you're commited to the ride life or you aren't.
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Jul 18, 2017 05:36
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Communist Walrus posted:Compel your nads to shrink through sheer force of will Maybe a sports bra would help?
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Jul 18, 2017 20:49
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Two up on a ninjer 250 even if both of you know what you're doing is agony at best, a bunch of luggage doesn't remotely compare to the way a human being affects handling. Passengers only don't suck on roadbarge bikes with low COG's that can't corner that fast to begin with so you don't miss out on anything. Stability at basically any cost. Also kind of fun on the big BMW's which are so heavy and well-adapted that they feel almost normal with two people. On every other bike it's made me feel really, really nervous because the performance envelope shrinks so badly. The ability to evade road hazards especially, because you have to do poo poo so slowly to avoid destabilizing the bike. In that sense I guess you can't really gently caress it up because if you stay away from huge bikes as a learner, you also automatically stay away from pillion riding because it sucks so hard.
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Sep 16, 2017 05:08
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FAT CURES MUSCLES posted:Are you trying to tell me relationships are built on trust and compromise???? Almost all of them are built on five minutes worth of decision making followed by months/years worth of rationalising that initial choice. People get into relationships for downstairs-related reasons and by the time that's worn off and they realise they're hosed, it's too late to disengage because of marriage/kids/whatever.
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Nov 20, 2017 20:47
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I just say what I see around me, maybe you americunts have a fundamentally different approach 
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Nov 20, 2017 20:59
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I never said any of that stuff but ok.
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Nov 21, 2017 00:12
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You couldn't be hosed understanding what I'm saying so why should I bother?
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Nov 21, 2017 18:55
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Sagebrush posted:please do not argue in the newbie thread, this is a safe space Shut up mom!
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Nov 21, 2017 21:45
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That chain kit is fine. For your rear disc, which does sweet gently caress all work, I'd get the cheapest one that fits. To set your cable play properly, loosen it off completely at the lever, then set them adjustment at the perch to have a little bit of slack, then at the lever. The knurled knob at the lever is just for fine tuning the slop, the main adjustment is down on the case.
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Nov 22, 2017 19:02
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Yeah that's a good point I forgot to mention, you absolutely need some wobbly slack at the end of the travel or your poo poo will slip. People use clip master links all the time and no disasters happen, it's not exactly a powerful bike. I'm basing my judgment pretty much exclusively on DID stuff though.
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Nov 22, 2017 19:24
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DID chains like what you'd buy for a 600SS are what they use in motogp so I dunno about cheap. Good value more like.
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Nov 22, 2017 20:56
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