Cruiser or Crotch Rocket what do you ride.

[Brutus57]

Last bike I built, A Yamaha XS 650 that pretty much everything is hand built

View attachment 269987

Monster, I think I have seen this bike around Auburn.

Brutus Out

 

[IronMonster]

Monster, I think I have seen this bike around Auburn.

Brutus Out

Seems reasonable, since my shop is in Auburn.

 

[BBQ Guy]

At the end of the road up in the hills above Winthrop a few years ago.
By far one the best bikes i have ridden. I have slowed down in the last 8 years or so. My long time riding buddies notice my slower pace after my daughter was born. I still hit the top end of it from time to time on long straight desolate stretches. I also love hearing my pegs scrape in the twisties.

 

[rdb241]

Modified street bob. The front end is from a new dyna low rider. The saddle is a regular Harley "two up" type so I can throw my saddle bags over it so it doesn't mar the fender.

not true without pics.

 

[rdb241]

At the end of the road up in the hills above Winthrop a few years ago.
By far one the best bikes i have ridden. I have slowed down in the last 8 years or so. My long time riding buddies notice my slower pace after my daughter was born. I still hit the top end of it from time to time on long straight desolate stretches. I also love hearing my pegs scrape in the twisties.

View attachment 270194

There is not another bike on the planet that says lean angle like a sportbike. I have had my sport bike over this far to scrap pegs. I even cut the end of the pegs off to get more lean angle. As you lean the foot print of your tire on the pavement gets smaller and smaller the more you are leaning.

 

[Roger65]

Get on youtube and look up some videos posted by user "rnickeymouse" or just do a search for "Mulholland Snake".

Absolutely crazy videos of people riding sportbikes, Harleys, you name it, dragging elbows, highsiding, lowsiding, all on one corner above LA on Molholland. Crashes, Jay Leno on his jetbike, hotrods and customs beyond imagination, in one video LA county sheriff set up a speed trap by hovering a helicopter with a radar gun on a blind corner.

Hours of winter entertainment for those of us that hang it up when the rain starts.

 

[rdb241]

I have sen those videos many times. Also have watched most of them crash. Especially on Molholland ave.

 

[BBQ Guy]

I dont necessarily hang it up. I ride most of the year, including in the snow and ice if i am forced to. If you recall the nasty freezing rain and ice storm Portland had about 4-5 years ago...I rode to work on the bike, because i didnt believe it would happen. I called from the parking lot at work to tell the boss i needed a few minutes to un-pucker from my seat.
Electric gear is the best. I have a jacket liner and gloves.
The jacket liner i use a lot, the gloves are bulky and see use during the coldest of months.

 

[Roger65]

Yeah I find the crashes very instructional. Like, what did they do wrong and how can I avoid it. Lots of target fixation, and plain old squid behaviour.

 

[Roger65]

BBQ Guy- Ouch! Last time I rode a two wheeled vehicle on ice was my BMX bicycle in 1979. I was riding to the mall to drop off a roll of film for developing. My most vivid memory of the incident is losing it and sliding down the road on my back, the bike on my left and the roll of film on my right, just sliding down the road. Of course I was only 13 so I lacked the skills to ride in ice. But I am pretty sure I still lack those skills.

 

[rdb241]

When I was racing. We called that "rider fixation". If somebody went off the track and you were looking at them. You had a tendency to follow them. So If somebody went off, you had to look somewhere else. And we called the novice riders, "street squids".

 

[Roger65]

It's true. When I'm riding in the twisties, I just put my eyes where I want to go, and it feels like the bike rides itself through the corner.

 

[BBQ Guy]

BBQ Guy- Ouch! Last time I rode a two wheeled vehicle on ice was my BMX bicycle in 1979. I was riding to the mall to drop off a roll of film for developing. My most vivid memory of the incident is losing it and sliding down the road on my back, the bike on my left and the roll of film on my right, just sliding down the road. Of course I was only 13 so I lacked the skills to ride in ice. But I am pretty sure I still lack those skills.

I kept it up.
The whole ride there was 90% covered in ice.
At the time we were a 2 vehicle household...My motorcycle and her car. She needed the car to get the kids to daycare.
Looking back, it was not one of my brightest moments in my riding career. But now i can say i have been there done that.

As to rider fixation sight issues. I have seen it.
We left a bathroom break stop. We had 3 groups of riders: fast, medium, and slow.
A guy decided to hop into the fast group i was leading. It was above his skill level and tried to keep up with me. He fixated on a tree on the side of the road. He left the road in a left hand sweeper. Went down the 8 foot embankment, missed a T post, contacted a tree at some point, got some serious rash on his helmet, screwed his back up, and did not destroy his bike.
Looking at the crash site and what went down he was very lucky to be walking, talking, although doing it in pain.
As a ride leader i am very adamant that people do not ride above and beyond their skill and comfort level. Afterwords he admitted it was beyond those 2 things.
However he accepted responsibility and knew he made a bad decision that almost cost him his life. He now rides but doesnt push it.
You can warn and tell people to be careful but it is their decision. I am grateful i didnt have to recover his body that day and make that call to his wife.

 

[PaulB47]

This was my first real motorcycle, a Norton N15, bought new in 1969 for $1285 (not this one specifically, but looked about like this). It was a Norton/Matchless factory hybrid, a 750. At the time I believe it was the fastest production bike available, outside of a few oddballs like the Vincent:

Yes, that is a single leading shoe drum brake up front!

I also had a '71 Norton Commando for 25 years. It was like an extension of my body...

I had a Triumph Adventurer that I liked a lot recently, but at my age was getting a bit big and heavy to handle. So I sold it and got this, a Kawasaki Super Sherpa:


I call it a girl's bike, but at my age it is just about right for me (although I have been drooling over those Honda 500 twins lately).

 

[Roger65]

Another oddball thing to watch for is getting insects in your helmet. Like for example, a hornet. I was on a ride one time and noticed my buddy wasn't in sight. I stopped to turn around and just then a car drove by and told me he was a mile back and had to stop suddenly but was okay.

Turns out he was riding with his visor open. Hornet or yellowjacket got in helmet and stung or bit him five times. Just walked up his skull biting and stinging. He kept it together and stopped okay. I always keep my visor all the way closed now.

Except for last summer, short ride around town up Skyline. Visor fogging so I open it. Big insect impacts my forehead with a "poink" sound. I stop immediately and look through my helmet. Nothing. Then from inside the lining, a big bumblebee slowly flies straight up and away. My lucky day.

 

[No_Regerts]

A guy my size cant ride motorcycles. I would look like I was floating around with a roller blade crammed up my arse.

 

[BBQ Guy]

Bugs do some weird things.
I know a few guys that do not ride in shorts anymore(they should not have been in the first place, but that is another story). Directly due to having biting/stinging insects ending up their shorts and either stinging/biting their nuts or very close to their nuts. Which resulted in emergency stops.

 

[BBQ Guy]

A guy my size cant ride motorcycles. I would look like I was floating around with a roller blade crammed up my arse.

I have a friend in CA that rides Runes, and he loves the bikes.
He is a very large dude both in height and physical stature.
He makes a rune look like a mini bike. However he throws that bike around like its a toy. It is amazing to be behind him on a spirited ride through some twisties.

 

[Brutus57]

One time I took bumble bee right between the eyes! It came under my trooper style helmet visor and just over the top of my windshield on my VTX 1800. Didn't sting me but it left a nice welt at 60MPH!.

 

[No_Regerts]

I could only imagine taking a june bug to the throat....