Do You Ride Motorcycles?

Yes, I ride Dirt and Street

3 (7.9%)

Yes, I ride Dirt

2 (5.3%)

Yes, I ride Street

7 (18.4%)

No, But I Wish I Could

11 (28.9%)

No, I have no desire to

15 (39.5%)

Total Members Voted: 32

[DogCow]

Why is my car's muffler too loud for street use, but a motorcycle can pull up along side me in traffic and rattle all my bolts loose and that's perfectly acceptable.  I'm not concerned with the law and state inspection. 

I like to drive a can that's whisper quiet. Some of those motorcycles are as loud as a rock concert.  I hate when they zoom past my house too.  I also hate those kids with their boom boom stereos that I can hear a mile before I see.

I'm just old.  I just don't think they should bother me while they enjoy what they do.

[Ecolitan]

It's not you.  I ride motorcycles and a great many of those assholes are.... assholes.  Especially in residential areas.  Same assholes who get pissed off about car stereos.

[Bill Brasky]

HOT!  And it's not a Harley so you're not a fag.

A Harley is not a fag bike.  They're a domestically built classic design.  If you prefer that shape, which I do, they're the benchmark.  

I would take that classic shape from any one of a number of jap builders.  Since I'm not hugely concerned with performance data - I just want it to run with some balls - the specs don't mean anything to me.  You have to ride like a retard to see those high-end numbers, and you'll be a stain in short order.  

Now, the lifestyle is where fagism comes into play.  If you sleep, eat, and breathe Harley, you're a fag.  Kind of like some other lifestyle involvements that are blown out of proportion, and they can't think of anything else productive to do with their lives.  I'm sure there are a few jackasses you could think of who fit the criteria of obsessive loser, a character flaw which has nothing to do with a specific outlet for their obsession.  

Rather, it has everything to do with self-image and a desire to emulate the characteristics of a group which represents their ideal.  A club, a sports team...  the "us and them" dynamic.  I think you know what I'm tactfully leaving unsaid.  

[Osborne]

I wouldn't call anyone a fag, but there is something seriously wrong with someone who would ride a HD when there are such a ridiculous number of similarly-styled and better-engineered machines out there at half the price tag.

[Sam Gunn (since nobody got Admiral Naismith)]

I wouldn't call anyone a fag, but there is something seriously wrong with someone who would ride a HD when there are such a ridiculous number of similarly-styled and better-engineered machines out there at half the price tag.

I pretty much agree with this.

I'm not really interested in cruiser bikes myself.  I might consider getting one as my fifth or sixth bike though. 

I like sport bikes because they are fast and turn very well.  Cruisers aren't fast and don't turn very well.  They aren't made to do that, they're made to cruise for a long distance in a relatively straight line relatively comfortably.

I have a sport touring bike because I like to go fast and rail the canyon roads, but also commute on it.  So I've got the comfort factor set and a speed thing set with that bike.

I've got a 400cc plated enduro bike for doing long trails that I need to connect with short highway jaunts.

I think my next bike will be an MX bike dedicated for track use, probably a 2-stroke 250, but a KTM 300 or 380 2-stroke would be sweet.  After that I'd want a dedicated sport bike, probably a Japanese 1000cc I-4 true sport bike, like a ZX10.  Then I'd want a Goldwing 1800.  And THEN I'd want a cruiser style bike, maybe.  Might want to get a dedicated trials bike before that though.

To each his own, they make tons of different bikes because tons of different people want to use them in tons of different ways.

[Ecolitan]

I wouldn't call anyone a fag, but there is something seriously wrong with someone who would ride a HD when there are such a ridiculous number of similarly-styled and better-engineered machines out there at half the price tag.

!!!

[KDus]

I'd still be riding 80 miles daily if I'd had a bike with loud pipes. When the guy changed lanes in front of me, without looking, my only chance was for him to hear me coming. Instead, I slammed into his rear bumper.

I felt more safe splitting lanes on the 405 in LA than I did around town. I split lanes daily all over L.A. freeways for a year. Twice, drivers ran into me without looking, and the 3rd time the damage was too much to recover.

I've put  about 1000 miles on a friend's Harley, all over So.CA. and it is by far, the most powerful, most comfortable bike I've been on. Very well crafted'

[BobRobertson]

I'd still be riding 80 miles daily if I'd had a bike with loud pipes. When the guy changed lanes in front of me, without looking, my only chance was for him to hear me coming. Instead, I slammed into his rear bumper.

Ignoring the fact that from the front, loud-pipe bikes are just as quiet as everything else.

All they do is annoy the people behind them.

Statistical fact: People in cars do NOT change lanes, turn left, pull out, etc, in front of MOTORCYCLE COPS. Motorcycle cops ride very quiet bikes.

People SEE motorcycle cops because motorcycle cops are identified in the brain as a threat.

People who don't ride, or who simply don't care, honestly really seriously just don't see bikers around them even if they look directly at them.

I had a woman hit my bike, from behind, I was traveling 30mph, in the middle of a nice warm sunny California day. My back tire bounced off her front license plate (instead of being grabbed by her bumper) by sheer luck, throwing me straight forward instead of getting driven over.

The only damage was that her front license plate was torn off and thrown 20 feet or so.

We both stopped. I checked my bike, picked up her license plate, walked over and handed it to her. She was sitting in her car nearly apoplectic, stuttering "I didn't see you! I didn't see you!" over and over. Bright red bike, red leathers, etc. Yeah.

I told her to calm down and go home, and left her there.

[KDus]

I'd still be riding 80 miles daily if I'd had a bike with loud pipes. When the guy changed lanes in front of me, without looking, my only chance was for him to hear me coming. Instead, I slammed into his rear bumper.

Ignoring the fact that from the front, loud-pipe bikes are just as quiet as everything else.

All they do is annoy the people behind them.

Statistical fact: People in cars do NOT change lanes, turn left, pull out, etc, in front of MOTORCYCLE COPS. Motorcycle cops ride very quiet bikes.

People SEE motorcycle cops because motorcycle cops are identified in the brain as a threat.

People who don't ride, or who simply don't care, honestly really seriously just don't see bikers around them even if they look directly at them.

I had a woman hit my bike, from behind, I was traveling 30mph, in the middle of a nice warm sunny California day. My back tire bounced off her front license plate (instead of being grabbed by her bumper) by sheer luck, throwing me straight forward instead of getting driven over.

The only damage was that her front license plate was torn off and thrown 20 feet or so.

We both stopped. I checked my bike, picked up her license plate, walked over and handed it to her. She was sitting in her car nearly apoplectic, stuttering "I didn't see you! I didn't see you!" over and over. Bright red bike, red leathers, etc. Yeah.

I told her to calm down and go home, and left her there.

If you can't hear a Harley coming up behind you while splitting lanes, you might need your ears checked.
People don't get in the way of cop bikes because they see blue lights in their mirror.
I absolutely identify with not being seen. My crash bars had paint from several bumpers but the drivers never stopped; possibly never knew what they did.

[Sam Gunn (since nobody got Admiral Naismith)]

So I guess since this is the new de facto "bike thread" I figured I'd post some hilarious, yet excellent advice on how to conquer whoop sections in the dirt.

"Drive through them in a straight line like your trying to mow over some inconsiderate people in the line at a grocery store. Gotta stomp each one of those suckers on your way through. Every now and again one of them will throw something at you side ways, but you just have to grab a hand full more cart and keep looking at the check out finish line.

Get a good running start and tie your laces up on about the 4th notche so that no ones fat mother will slow you down half way though and make you land upside down with a carton of eggs on your face.

Learning to do it can be a hurdle, but you just have to keep focused on that bee line to your air conditioned car, and make it a point to rock, row, and push with your feet in a way that keeps the bike tracking straight."

Excellent!

[Sam Gunn (since nobody got Admiral Naismith)]

I don't ride ATV's, but this story has to do with dirt riders as well.  Honestly I don't like how ATV riders tear up the area and kick up so much dust, but I'd rather see ATV's out at my favorite riding spots than nobody.

This story is important for motorcyclists on the dirt.  Check it out:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-04-05-atv-parks_N.htm?csp=usat.me

Off-roaders in search of trails



A sign warns visitors at the Mountaintown Roadless Area near Mountaintown, Ga. in 2007.

By Laura Bruno, USA TODAY
The dustup between all-terrain vehicle enthusiasts and land conservationists is intensifying this year as more people go in search of places to ride and more groups race to protect large portions of public lands.

Three bills currently under consideration by Congress would grant wilderness protection to more than 34 million acres of land, and 13 million acres in 11 states are under consideration for new National Monument designation, says Department of Interior spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff.

If those proposals become law, motorized vehicles would be barred from lands in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

"Any closure is bad because it leads to more and more closures," says Jack Hickman, president of the Arizona Off-Highway Vehicle Coalition. "With more people buying vehicles and less land to recreate on it means more damage to the land."

The number of off-road vehicles grew 230% from 3 million in 1993 to 10 million vehicles in 2008, according to a U.S. Forest Service estimate.

Sites across the country previously open to off-road vehicles have been closed in recent years because heavy use or abuse tore up soil and plants or eroded roads leading to silt buildups in nearby waters. They include:

• About 55,000 acres of land in Arizona's Sonoran Desert National Monument were closed to motorized vehicles in 2008 to rehabilitate the natural landscape. Those lands will remain closed indefinitely while a land-use plan is completed, according to the Bureau of Land Management's Phoenix district office.

• The 16-mile Patterson Mountain ATV Trail System in Virginia was closed this year when the Forest Service found the poor condition of trails was hurting water quality in adjacent streams. The area is closed indefinitely, the Forest Service says.

• The 39-mile Upper Tellico Off-Highway Vehicle Trail System in North Carolina was closed permanently in 2009 because visible sediment from the trails was reaching the Tellico River, according to the Forest Service.

"This is exacerbated by ATV and off-road sales going up and up and up," says Ed Moreland of the American Motorcyclist Association.

While wide swaths of public land are open to ATVs — 33,000 miles of trails managed by the Forest Service and 206.3 million acres by the federal Bureau of Land Management — there are concerns that reckless riders continue to damage land, Moreland says.

Brad Powell, a former regional forester for the Forest Service who now works for Trout Unlimited, says concerns about land damage are legitimate and the explosion in off-vehicle use requires a re-evaluation of where it's appropriate to ride.

"They are far from running out of spots to ride," Powell says of off-road vehicle users. "I'm not opposed to OHV use, I want to find the appropriate balance that's been lost with the explosion of growth in vehicles."

Riders care about the land, too, Hickman says, using their vehicles to appreciate sites they could not reach on foot. While some lands should remain wilderness, others with existing roadways should not be taken away, he says.

A proposal for an ATV park in Florida's Everglades has local environmentalists upset. Miami-Dade County has proposed an ATV park in the Big Cypress National Preserve, which the Broward Group of the Sierra Club has opposed.

"To think of this place as a playground for recreational vehicles is not giving this special piece of land the respect and concern required," says Matthew Schwartz of the Broward Sierra Club.

One potential victory for ATV riders is in the works in New Jersey, where there are no public lands currently open to off-road vehicles.

A law passed in January requires the state to find a public site for riders in order for the state to collect registration fees and penalty fees for illegal riding.

A public site is long overdue for the riders of an estimated 250,000 vehicles in the state, said Dale Freitas, president of the New Jersey Off-Highway Vehicle Association.

"The vast majority want to do things responsibly, but the only way to correct the problem is with facilities where people can come and take safety training courses," Freitas says. "Make it a quality site and people will want to come back."

Bruno reports for the (Morris County, N.J.) Daily Record.

[BobRobertson]

People don't get in the way of cop bikes because they see blue lights in their mirror.

That is not what I'm talking about. No lights. No siren. Just cops on cop bikes cruising.

People see them. Statistically speaking, cop bikes just don't get turned left in front of.

California state advanced motorcycle safety course materials. Defense lawyers kept trying to use cop bike statistics to prove that no one turns left in front of bikes unless it's the biker's fault. So obviously their client can't have done it.

I absolutely identify with not being seen. My crash bars had paint from several bumpers but the drivers never stopped; possibly never knew what they did.

Case in point.

[mikehz]

Deer hits are very common around here. I could not imagine hitting a deer on a motorcycle.

My first vehicle was a little Honda bike. I was 18, and working as a busboy at a coffee shop. I was debating with myself whether to get a bigger bike, or a car. Then, on the way home from work one day, I hit a puddle of water and the rear wheel slipped out from under the bike. I made my decision before I hit the ground. "I'm getting a car!"

[Rillion]

I want a Vespa.

[Osborne]

I want a Vespa.

Try one of these. So sexy.


Aprilia Scarabeo 500