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Taelrin posted:So, I'm going to Sturgis at the end of the week and plan on being there from the 2nd through the 6th. Has anyone been before and have any suggestions as to what to do/avoid? So far my plan consists of demoing a Boss Hoss and hopefully not dying. I went last year. Rode my Vulcan 88. It was pretty much completely awesome. It's like 99% Harley dudes and their floozies, and they are all huge dorks. You'll see some titties, LOTS of pasties. The town itself is a spectacle in during the rally. I think last year there were something like a half million people in the area for the rally. I stayed at the Buffalo Chip for three nights, and that place is a non stop party. Kid Rock and Lynrd Skynrd (sp?) performed, and even John McCain did a speech on the mainstage. They have a mechanical bull, and the drunk ladies put on a fun show there. Stuff to see / Do: - Devil's Tower - Body shots at One Eyed Jack's - Full Throttle Saloon (get a shot they "serve" it to you, hope for some fine honeys to get on the mechanical bull) - Deadwood (see Hickock and Calamity Jane's graves or catch a Cabaret show) - Rushmore faces (I didn't do this, instead we went to Devil's Tower) - Shoot some full auto weapons at the gun range - Watch the hill climbs - Explore the Black Hills area If you're coming from the west, make sure you stop through Cody WY on your way there or back, cool little town a day's ride away, they have a pretty awesome gun museum. Next year I'm going back, bringing the wife. We'll spend two nights on the Buffalo Chip in tents and one in a Deadwood hotel so we can get a proper shower and meal before hitting the road; the first hung over day back is pretty brutal. I don't know if there's anything I'd recommend avoiding, excepting Seattle cops. The whole point, in my opinion, is to go with an open mind and take it all in. clutchpuck fucked around with this message at 20:03 on Jul 29, 2009 |
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Jul 29, 2009 19:55
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MrKatharsis posted:It's easy. Put the sandal strap under the lever and press up. I did it all the time when I had a cruiser. <cue CA morality gear brigade> Hah, I do find that my chucks enable a bit more dexterous use of the shifter than my boots allow. You know what's the EASIEST way to shift with sandals? Heel shifter. dietcokefiend posted:Stupid question, but how the gently caress do you mount a bike that has luggage on the rear seat. During my trip out to WI with my little camera bag on the back I strained every time I mounted and dismounted, to not rip off the bag. How the gently caress do you get over the thing with your leg? I am a cruiser sort of dude with a low seat height, but I ran into this challenge last year on my trip to Sturgis, as you can see here  . My trick was to kick my right foot straight out in front and hop toward so my foot clears the seat, then pivot and slide on in.
clutchpuck fucked around with this message at 01:06 on Jul 31, 2009 |
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Jul 31, 2009 01:00
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Zool posted:That may have worked, but I bet it was pretty hard to make it look cool. It's pretty tough to look cool on a BUBF Kawi packed with camping stuff, wearing textile gear, all scrunched up on a bike that's too small. But you do what you can 
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Jul 31, 2009 17:55
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Methusulah posted:Without music it's just a slow spiral into insanity. The best music comes from the tailpipe!
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Aug 17, 2009 22:25
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I got my 07 Yamah- sorry, STAR 1300 back from the shop after its break-in service yesterday. Must say it rides like a different bike, the freeplay in the throttle before taking it in resulted in a big fat dead zone at the bottom of the throttle, so that even if I rolled on carefully, I'd get a big jolt when the engine computer finally got the message. The throttle/coast transition is still a little abrupt (they say its the nature of the beast), but I can actually finesse it properly now. New discovery: the bike DOES have a petcock after all. But it's one I'm not supposed to flip. Turns out the technician forgot to turn the fuel back on so once I was through the bladder under the saddle, the bike turned off and I thought I had gone insane cause it did exactly what a carbed bike would do when it's time to flip it to reserve. It's a good thing I was going in a straight line in 5th gear or it coulda been dangerous (the wife recently demonstrated what a low speed turn with the fuel off results in; a munched turn signal and a pulled leg muscle). On the upside, my tool kit got its first use. I had to undo an Allen bolt to to get to the petcock, hah. So 600 miles down, hopefully many thousands to go. Plan to ride out to Mt. Rainier this weekend. That should put me at around 900mi on the clock, after that only 100 until break-in is over! clutchpuck fucked around with this message at 21:15 on Aug 20, 2009 |
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Aug 20, 2009 21:09
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TEASE MY NECKBEARD posted:also: STURGIS STURGIS STURGIS My clutch cable for the Star 13 comes in this week. After I install it with a little reroute magic, change my oil, and check my drive belt tension, I AM READY AS HELL. Pee Wee Herman, ZZ Top, Motley Crue, and Bob Dylan are all performing at my campground, the Buffalo Chip. It will be glorious. The Forty-Eight looks like a Nightster to me with a more gaudy tank logo. You should test ride a XR1200
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Jul 20, 2010 07:17
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quote:haha I just looked, 25 inch seat height?? Jesus christ that sounds uncomfortable I see people talking up the lower seat height on the 2010 Vstar 1300, but by my personal experience on my 07 1300's <29" height, I don't see how you could want it lower. Must be a thing. quote:I either hit a very large moth or a bat riding home tonight. It was large and made quite the impact against my chest. Happens to me a lot. Butterflies, too, are like rocks. Every couple weeks I have to scrub down the front of my jacket. That goop is sticky. By the way, not much of a Sturgis crowd here, huh? I'm leaving Washington next weekend, and I've been looking forward to it since I got home from Sturgis in 08. Everybody who rides should do it. Even if you don't have a Harley (I don't!); if anybody gives you poo poo, point out how much your bike doesn't leak, the main drag in downtown is a loving slick hazard. And if you're within 1000 miles, ride here, do this, maybe 3 times: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=44.757217,-109.398937&spn=0.07521,0.138359&t=h&z=13
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Aug 1, 2010 05:11
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e: I suck at CA
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Aug 1, 2010 05:14
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Z3n posted:watching their head through their rear window can sometimes give you hints as to what they're about to do. A cue I've learned to look for on traffic coming off a sidestreet into my lane: Wheels. It's harder to gauge if a car is moving by looking at the body or the driver from 2 blocks away but if it's rolling, the wheels will telegraph that a lot longer distance. It's prevented a couple close calls for me.
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May 3, 2011 21:42
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lancemantis posted:I've never seen a bike that gives ambient temp thinking about it The K1300GT gives ambient temperature so you know when to turn on the butt heater.
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May 3, 2011 21:46
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It is often necessary for a semi or bus to go wide in a turn so they dont flatten a traffic light or chase pedestrians down the sidewalk.
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May 3, 2011 22:51
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Just a heads up, it looks like Autozone is running a sale on motor oil in May [this month]. It was discounted by $2/quart when the wife picked up her Mobil-1 for the beemer.
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May 10, 2011 22:50
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Here's something I've noticed: pretty much every dude who rides a metric cruiser I meet, has to trash-talk Harleys. I don't really get that. Harleys are good bikes, a lot of metrics are great, too. There doesn't need to be an us-vs-them thing. Motorcycles are all pretty awesome, even the poo poo ones.
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May 13, 2011 22:21
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I don't doubt that you'd survive the trip. I did Seattle-Sturgis-Seattle 3 months after getting my endorsement, and I could have gone way further if the bike hadn't fallen apart. Give yourself a lot of time, especially after burning man. I typically budget myself to 500 miles of slab a day, beyond that, I get hit by fatigue. 500 mile days are pretty easy, reaching 600 is a challenge. You'll hate interstate highway by the time you're done with the trip, too. I wouldn't bring a bike to the playa though, unless I wanted a new paint job.
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May 17, 2011 16:03
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I think you need to budget more time for traveling. Gas stops double as breaks so they take progressively longer as you fatigue and with the bike's limited range, occur more frequently. 7 days for essentially a coast-to-coast run would seem like a more reasonable timeframe to me. If you do it, you should get in touch with some goons along the way and log a Iron Butt 1000/24.
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May 17, 2011 16:26
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Z3n posted:It really depends on what kind of roads you hit. 500 miles flat out across Kansas or whatever, chances are you're just going to die from boredom. If you're not a relatively seasoned rider though, 500 miles of twisty roads will leave your brain as a pile of mush. Not to mention expect that 500 miles is going to take you at least 11 hours a day. It's interesting how fatigue affects the end of your day. For me 500 miles of interstate is an easy 8-9 hours and a good nights sleep afterward. But then a 600 mile day poses a challenge to stay alert and safe for the last hundred or so, breaks become way more important throughout the whole day, and that stretches the time budget out. clutchpuck fucked around with this message at 18:25 on May 17, 2011 |
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May 17, 2011 18:22
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Slim Pickens posted:Another backfire in Ballard this Wednesday the 18th, anyone interested? What is this? I googled the website but it doesn't really make it clear what specifically is going on.
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May 17, 2011 20:47
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I have a cheap plastic clip-on throttle boss I use for interstate hauls. I can take my fingers off the throttle and wrest my palm on the boss, it does wonders for wrist strain.
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May 17, 2011 21:47
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After a rainy 500 mile I5 schlep, the good news was my buffalo hide jacket is pretty much form-fitting. The bad news: all of the glue in my boots dissolved.
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May 19, 2011 23:11
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Oh man, the Indian with the suicide shift is sick as hell, I love old Indians. The wife just barely made it to Ride West last night, for a couple new beakster pieces, before the whole staff bailed for Backfire. I'm going to have to check this out next month when I am not busy. Looks like fun.
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May 19, 2011 23:16
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Uthor posted:the last accident doesn't really sound like his fault It's always the rider's fault. I always berate myself when I have to react to a driver; I should have seen them and been proactive about not being in close vicinity.
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May 23, 2011 17:20
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Mcqueen posted:Must have been something in the water today in Seattle. Merge onto the freeway and 4 bikes materialize behind me. Leading the pack to work another 2 are in the area. It's a good feeling to be surrounded by people that give a poo poo about what's around them at 7:30am. Plus, 2 of them were 'BMW Riders', so with all that PIAA lighting and fancy gear we must have been seen. If you are coming from the north end, the black R1150R with the annoying flashy headlight was probably my wife or something. I passed the Rocket III dude again on my way to work this morning. His triple makes my beautifully-tuned oversquare v-twin sound dumpy :| And he rides it way deep into turns
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May 24, 2011 17:40
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ReelBigLizard posted:Hmm, I guess the fact that I can't flat-foot my bike (KTM 690 SMC / 5ft 9ins) probably has something to do with it. I feel far more unstable pushing with my toes than just having hold of the bike standing next to it. I've never felt like I was going to drop it. I have a 700 lb chrome lump with a low cg. It would be exceedingly easy to lose balance and drop it while standing next do it. Though sometimes I do move it like that, especially in the garage while conducting maintenance. TheCosmicMuffet posted:That's also the emergency braking procedure for a cruiser! There is a lot of clowning on cruisers, and after riding a Shadow 750 around for a couple miles, I now know why. Talk about a dumpy chassis! After that ride, I'm upgrading my Vstar's nickname from "c-student" to "b-student". clutchpuck fucked around with this message at 20:36 on May 24, 2011 |
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May 24, 2011 20:32
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Something about Subaru drivers and poo poo driving ski- oh hi Slim, I see you've got a Subaru in your carport there. Friend of mine was assaulted by some dude in a B9 Tribeca on I90 last year and since then I've given all Subies a wide berth. It's paid off a few times so far, and only since last August. In 1500 miles of riding. Kind of uncanny. It's not fair to judge you on your cage though I suppose. Do they have real big blind spots or something?
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May 27, 2011 22:25
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Less exhausting, more boring; riding a cruiser is easy-mode. THAT SAID, after riding a Shadow 750 around for a few miles, I totally know why folks bag on cruisers: they haven't rode mine! Edit for non-contrary content: I had a friend up from San Antonio last weekend and while I had him on my Vstar, I got to use the wife's R1150R while she was sick. That's a pretty fun bike to ride, with all the character and drama of a Miata I noticed pretty quickly that if I blip the throttle with the clutch in, to rev match a downshift for example, the longitudinally-mounted R motor wants to torque over right. With that in mind, I played with right hairpins. Coordinating the turn with a quick downshift and a blip of the throttle did a pretty good job of assisting with the lean-in. The effect is way less pronounced with the bike in gear (crank is accelerating slower that way) so it doesn't really help straighten up following a left turn. Pretty fun stuff. Different bikes are different. clutchpuck fucked around with this message at 20:05 on May 31, 2011 |
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May 31, 2011 19:57
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Armyman25 posted:Dismantling the carbs on my bike is a bit more than I wanted to take on. For what it's worth, getting to and dismantling the single carburetor on that engine is a fairly straightforward operation. And I think you're on the right track with a Harley shop. They would surely have a clue on this. The engine is either a off-the-shelf S&S or an off-the-shelf H-D Powerplus, which I am certain they see lots of.
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Jun 13, 2011 16:53
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Z3n posted:Or, you know, buy gear. That Mobil 1 synthetic and the tires that get eaten up in a year aren't cheap either. It's a good myth though.
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Jun 13, 2011 21:21
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Getting your wife into the lifestyle really balloons the cost, too. Between the two of us, the car gets considerably better gas mileage.
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Jun 13, 2011 21:40
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I AM SO BUMMED! Went to the Backfire-moto meet last night in Ballard and went home with a huge goddamn nail in my 1000-mile old 180-width ME880, and it's not exactly a slow leak. Now I have to go through the bother of taking the wheel off, bringing it to a shop for a patch, and crossing my fingers it doesn't need to be replaced, because it wasn't a cheap tire.
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Jun 16, 2011 16:02
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Gnaghi posted:Killboy has some really amazing Harley pics. That's a Kawasaki! Notice how it isn't crashing (?)
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Jun 16, 2011 23:42
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the walkin dude posted:Douchecanoe encounter yesterday, in a no in-lane passing state. Unsettled me, on the way into work. No surprise it was a Subaru! Subarus are my enemy. I usually ride in the left track before turning right to defend my lane position from go-tards like that, and to widen the turn so I have room to react in case I need to. edit to not stack replies: Unzip and Attack posted:Any opinion as to the comfort level of the Suzuki vs. the Shadow? I've sat on both at the dealership and both seemed fine, but I've never driven either, much less for 10+ miles. The M50 seems to have a nice wheelbase, but no idea how it handles. I rode a Shadow 750 Aero around for a little bit recently and I can't say I enjoy the chassis dynamics at all, especially on slow tight maneuvers, and it is definitely a gutless pig. There's an S83 in your area which would probably be a lot of fun, too. The 50 has keep-up power, the 83 has blast-off power. http://oklahomacity.craigslist.org/mcy/2452294382.html My first bike was similar (a BUBF Vulcan 1500) clutchpuck fucked around with this message at 23:46 on Jun 21, 2011 |
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Jun 21, 2011 23:34
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Bikes make idiosyncratic noises... I've noticed my vstar kind of sounds like a Jetson's car. The gear-driven balancers make kind of a "weeweeweeweewee" noise as I go down the road. My friend's Buell with the Drummer muffler sounds like a P-47 Thunderbolt, executing evasive maneuvers. The wife's BMW R bike... sounds like a sewing machine. What does your bike sound like? [catch: for the purposes of this discussion, it can't sound like a bike!]
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Jun 22, 2011 23:45
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For our 3-year anniversary this weekend, the wife and I are riding slab to Missoula and back and documenting our Iron Butt Saddle Sore 1000. Both bikes are running great, we've got a collapsible cooler to bring in the wife's city bag which should keep all the road food we'll need, un-melted. Not going to need a whole lot else. I'll bring a change of clothes just in case, but aside from food, oil, and emergency toolkit, we're packing really light. I wanted to get new handlebars and grips before we leave but they only just arrived yesterday and I don't want to use a timed distance attempt as a shakedown run.
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Jun 24, 2011 16:36
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Finished the IBA Saddlesore 1000 with the wife for our 4 year anniversary together-time - Everett-Missoula-Everett, Sat-Sun noon-noon. Had to get out pre-dawn yesterday to make it, apparently she couldn't even tell her grip warmers were on high. Temp was 30f near Lookout Pass on I90 so we had to waste a half hour waiting out the dawn so my fingers and feet would work right. Speaking of Lookout Pass, the Montana interstate out in that area is really worrisome. Huge 2" wide cracks running in the general direction of travel like to really grab your tire and give you a shake. Not so hot when you're at board-scraping lean angles. We are evidently very good at time management because we made it back to the finish with SIX MINUTES to spare. Cut that one pretty close, started getting worried when we hit traffic in Issaquah. Now I am a little worried about my documentation, we did a loop around Missoula when we arrived but my receipts are all from the west part of town, so going by that, according to Bing maps we only did 998.7. After 500 miles of I90, receipt strategy wasn't my foremost concern, but it should have been. Still sending it in, if they reject it I'll just do another! e: Oh yeah, and pics? We were going to take a portrait at each stop on the way but at our first gas stop in Ellensburg WA, THE CAMERA STOPPED WORKING. We've only had it since last Wednesday! clutchpuck fucked around with this message at 00:36 on Jun 28, 2011 |
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Jun 28, 2011 00:25
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Ola posted:Wow, well done! I did about 500 mi the other day in 19 hours, which included long breaks, 2 hrs waiting for ferries, detours etc etc. I wonder if I could do 1000 miles in 24 hours in Norway. It would take me up to an area I want to visit this summer, but I would obviously be physically destroyed the day after. We did mini gas stops on the road and had a 5ish hour sleep at a motel in Missoula. I think our greatest ally on this was the interstate. No stopping or waiting unless WE needed to, the whole way there and back. I am really looking forward to our Yellowstone trip in July, if only because 1900 of the 2500 mile itinerary will NOT be on the interstate. I'm about done with slab for a while... probably until Sturgis '12.
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Jun 28, 2011 01:23
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orthod0ks posted:On a sort of related note, he recently bought a brand new Heritage (yea, he's nuts), and made me ride it in a parking lot we were stopped at. It handles worse than my car. It handled worse than your car or you handled it worse than your car? A parking lot really gives you a rounded objective impression of how it handles? I think more likely you are not used to a large machine.
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Jul 1, 2011 16:39
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I am helping my friend shop for a first bike, so I've been scouring CL for these worthless UJMs he has his eyes on... this one struck me: http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/mcy/2471517554.html Ridiculous asking price for needing considerable work aside, can we all get a little chuckle from the backward clubman bar? I certainly did. If any Seattle-area folks have a lead on a good first ride, UJM-style, with less than 4 cylinders, asking price $1500 or so, give me a heads up. I've been given "not too choppery and not too sporty" as a guideline. He's looking for a standard.
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Jul 1, 2011 17:06
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n8r posted:The less than 4 cyl requirement is kinda strange, but I'd look at the surrounding area CLs. I have found Wenatchee - where I live tends to have decent deals on old UJMs all the time. It's mostly a simple maintenance thing; less engine parts and carburetors, less potential problems, less expensive bike to own. It's not a strict requirement, more of a preference. We looked at a Nighthawk 650 [four] last night that was a pile of garbage. Looks like we'll be checking out a XS650 today.
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Jul 1, 2011 17:53
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orthod0ks posted:I'm sure it was due to lack of experience with a boat-sized motorcycle. To be fair, I drive a Corolla, so that's a lot to live up to. To be fair, the Corolla probably handles parking lots better than a Murcielago.
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Jul 5, 2011 21:13
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Boards are the cruiser equivalent of knee pucks.
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Jul 5, 2011 21:28
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