Motorcycles

Like many other things (homes, guns, cars) deciding on which motorcycle is a trade-off. Whatever you decide on will be a compromise. I have a great commuting bike. Ninja 650. Sadly I can't tour or off road with it, or even ride it for longer than an hour and a half, as my arms go numb. The good part is that every bike has an element of fun!

MSF safety course and continually learning about the physics of riding is a MUST!

No matter how long anyone has been riding, they can always learn more. Part of the problem is that we pick-up bad habits. Learning from the mistakes of others is also very important.

Good luck.

Glass I don't have any advice on motorcycles for you but I thought this video of people who love to ride might be of interest to you. The Sturgis Rally is a bucket list destination for a lot of the riders in this country and some come from countries around the world. Several hundred thousand riders will show up for a couple of weeks during the summer in this region where I live.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmZ6jX4eXfQ

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Originally Posted by ArgenteumTelum

I rode for over 25 years before having to convert my scoots to tractors. My rides were a 76 BMW R90S (Sport/Touring) and an 86 BMW K75. The 90 was sold with nearly 200,000 miles on it and I never really fell in love with the K and the triple engine. Too much like a rice burner. Although I had numerous long distance trips (member of the Iron Butt Club), most of my riding was with a dedicated group of buddies screaming along country twisties pushing ourselves and our machines to limits. All kept the rubber on the road, but there were certainly a few hair-raising moments. Nothing like the throb of those twin jugs...
AT

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I have completed 3 Iron Butt rides, a Saddle Sore 1000, A Bun Burner 1500 and a Saddle Sore 2000 all on Harley-Davidsons. On the Saddle Sore 2000 my riding partner and I rodé from Reno, Nevada to Fort Collins, Colorado. He was riding a new Harley Ultra Glide. I was riding my 1997 Road King. On the return leg cossing the Bonneville Salt Flats I realized I had lost my partner. I pulled off the road waiting to see if I could see his headlght. I tried calling, but had no service on my cellular phone. After what seemed like a long wait I was about to go back looking when he arrived in a car. His bike had quit running. We rodé double into Wendover, where he hired a tow truck. We rodé double all the way to Boomtown just western of Reno to get our miles. We had minutes to spare to be in the 24 hour time frame. We sent our paper work in. I received my certificate, but Jere didn't. He was disqualified because he didn't complete the ride on his own bike. Jere had the motorcycle taken to Reno Harley-Davidson, It was repaired under warranty. The electronic ignition module had failed. That ride was in the summer of 2003.

ah.. so there are lots of riders here. Nice. Love the bikes. Palani, really? Looks like a tonka toy. But I actually remember those. I'm pretty sure some one I knew had one of those. I remember riding something similar. Defnately SHTF capable.

+1 on the advanced skills. Big believer in that. Even been thinking about doing it for the car and I've got a few decades driving experience already. I saw a tv show about the training and it looks very useful for any level driver. Listening to local CB, bad news about bike riders comes through fairly regularly but I haven't heard any bad news in maybe a month or so, so that's a good thing. IT's a worry though but everythings a risk. Commuting changes the odds I think.

Going for a long drive to nowhere is something I enjoy doing. Doing the same on a bike would be fun. In good times, laid back cruising is ok by me. In SHTF times something more urgent would be better. I'll get the learning out of the way and deal with the other stuff later. Winters on it's way. We seem to be getting lots of rain already this year. Could be an extra wet one. All you need is a bit of sunshine to get out there. We're pretty lucky, winter is usually mild and short. Plenty of chances to get out doors.

I spent a week or so searching the web... a lot. Looking at lots of YT's. There are some amazing bikes out there and some amazing places to ride them. The cross country stuff looks fun. I see you guys have a lot of biker pillgrimages over there in the US. I was looking at one, very big one. They get tens of thousands of bikers in for the event. Can't recall the name or the town. I think it's Sturgis.

http://www.ratestogo.com/blog/motorcycle-rallies/

I got this bug to cross the nullabor. I haven't done it driving. A family member want's to drive across but probably won't happen this year. I see a lot of people do it on bikes. There is a season to do it in and there are plenty of roadhouses for fuel on the way now so you can get across on a bike no trouble. I think I'd need a couple years on a bike before doing that but you never know. I could go all tourist stupid and have a go at it.

I really like those big tourers like the Honda and the BMW. Nice bikes. Amazing the amount of fruit they cram in. Budgets not going to get to that level without a bit of help from lotto.

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Originally Posted by JDRock

thoughts....a cycle that is confined to the white lines of the highway is totally USELESS.....i mean, WHY? just get a small car! better gas mileage and you can drive it in the rain.
Now, if we choose a dual purpose bike, then we have the best of both worlds! I always rig a kill switch to the lighting system including brake lights....for discrete get aways ; )

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I was reading about you just last night. hehe.. Someone was talking about rigging a switch. There's only 4 or 5 billion people on the internet so it must have been you. Did you go multi switch? Rewire on the hot wires or go the neg/ground wires on your kill switch? Did you include the instrument cluster like someone else suggested?

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Originally Posted by Glass

I spent a week or so searching the web... a lot. Looking at lots of YT's. There are some amazing bikes out there and some amazing places to ride them. The cross country stuff looks fun. I see you guys have a lot of biker pillgrimages over there in the US. I was looking at one, very big one. They get tens of thousands of bikers in for the event. Can't recall the name or the town. I think it's Sturgis.

http://www.ratestogo.com/blog/motorcycle-rallies/

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Glass the video I posted is about the Sturgis motorcycle rally that takes place in western South Dakota and Northeast Wyoming every year. It's a big one and is a bucket list destination for a lot of riders. People are drawn to the area because of the variety of scenery in the region, the party and entertainment that's provided.

yep watched the vid now, thats definately the one. For sure. thanks. amazing number of bikes. We never saw many of those big tourers like the goldwings down here. Don't think they were very popular for a long time. Seeing more of them now. I think the population is aging and some of the older bikers are going for more comfort. Big bucks though. They can go $40K easy. Sports tourers are popular. Then there's Harleys. Lotsa those.

I've been looking at some videos and I'm starting to think maybe I need one of those Harley's. I live nearby this rally but usually try to avoid it. They tour the area during the day and party at night. They book the top music entertainers in the country to entertain during the rally. I was watching a series of videos of some people heading west on I-90 to the rally and I think they are pretty good so I'll post them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MF0SaAZNEc



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWjQw2qtM30



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTCIwECaHNI

just got a new bike out of a barn a week ago . old pan head

Day 4

<strong><em>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTCIwECaHNI



Day 5



<strong><em>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZAV50mAUvY