Motorcycle Riders?

[melensdad]

 

[chezuki]

Tell the lovely Mrs that my bike has laid down in my gravel driveway more times than I'd like to admit.

Thats why we have crash bars, bark busters, sliders and protected corners on the Trax cases, right?

I had never dropped a bike until I bought the Goldwing… the day after, I dropped it with the Mrs. on the back… in her parents driveway… in front of her parents.

That was the first time, but not the last. I’ve now made a habit of practicing technical low speed maneuvers. My previous bikes could all be muscled around to some degree. This one, at 1000 pounds, is not very forgiving of poor technique.

I’m now certain I could pass the riding test on this big ass bike if I needed to.

 

[tv1217]

Other than the big boomboom last summer and skidding on an oil slick while coming to a stop at a light once, all my other bike falls have been from forgetting to put the kickstand down lol

 

[JCSR]

I missed the tail of the dragon trip this year with several friends. One friend went down. He is OK. His bike not so much. View attachment 146955

That road takes a concentration level like no other I can think of. Some people just don't have that level.

 

[JCSR]

Pretty cool stuff here.

 

[Indyhd]

Never forgot to put the stand down, but I have dropped my bikes on several occasions.
once on a group ride I was leading and at a photo stop went to put my foot down and was right next to a catch basin in the road that happened to be about 6" low. By the time my foot hit I was too far over and so sudden it and I went over. Another time last Sept on my trip to Texas stopped and went to push backwards into a parking space and gravel under my foot caused my foot to slide and down we went. I'm too old now to pick up a 950 lb bike so had to get my buddies to help.
Then there was the time on a rutted up road at Hogrock Biker rally and slow traffic and two topless gals on my bike and I did a slow motion over onto the the side of the road, then...oh well I have never wrecked one.

 

[melensdad]

Couple more observations about my SPOT X satellite communicator.

The satellites move across the sky, from horizon to horizon.

Near as I can tell the "check in" and "messages" take longer to send sometimes than others. I can only presume this is based on the location of the satellite when I hit the send button. Just guessing but if the satellite is higher in the sky I'm thinking the transmission is much faster than if it is lower in the sky. I've had some signals send, and then received back to my cell phone, in mere seconds. Others took 5+ minutes to send and another couple more to receive.

I've spend a few days riding in almost completely "open sky" with very minimal tree cover and mostly farm fields and suburban houses around me and the send/receive times seem to change from fast to slow to fast to slow over the course of travel. So I am thinking it must be related to the location of the satellite.

Given my travel path over the past few days I think I was in cellular coverage for 95% of my recent rides as none got too rural. At this point I'm really just testing the unit to prove reliability.

 

[melensdad]

Oh, and it is normal for these small handheld satellite communicators to take a few minutes to send out a message so I guess my experience are all within the range of "normal" transmission speeds.

So far I have NOT experienced a failure to send a message or check in point.

I have had at least 1 or 2 "breadcrumbs" fail to register on my map but that was on a ride when I had the SPOT X inside my pocket. While it has been bike mounted the "breadcrumb" tracking has been flawless.

 

[tv1217]

One of my kickstand fails was definitely a case of outright just forgetting to put it down but I suspect the rest were me failing to push it down all the way and either springing back up or only half engaging and when I went to set it down, it hinged back into the up position. All on the Shadow, which was just light enough to get back up on my own, but still heavy enough to be difficult. I haven't done it on the CB yet but it's also about 150 lbs lighter so it should be easier.

 

[melensdad]

. . . I haven't done it on the CB yet but it's also about 150 lbs lighter so it should be easier.

But you are older now

BTW, what type of back armor are you running in your new jacket?

I'm looking to upgrade a D3O CE Level 1 back armor to a Dianese CE Level 2 back armor. If you need a new piece of back armor later this year I might have one for you.

 

[tv1217]

It's a First Mfg. one. The other D30 one you gave me is too long for either of the leather jackets that I have(also FM) and I don't know if you can trim them and retain their integrity, so that one lives in my Joe Rocket one which rarely gets used. The FM ones are CE Level 2

First Manufacturing Back Protector | 25% ($5.00) Off! - RevZilla

CE Level 2 certified back protector from First Manufacturing. Impact-absorbing PU technology is pliant, perforated and conforms to the body for comfor…

www.revzilla.com

 

[CindyE]

That road takes a concentration level like no other I can think of. Some people just don't have that level.

It's definitely a mental and physical workout. Someone we talked to went down when we were there, and got the t-shirt that says, "sometimes the dragon wins".

Never forgot to put the stand down, but I have dropped my bikes on several occasions.
once on a group ride I was leading and at a photo stop went to put my foot down and was right next to a catch basin in the road that happened to be about 6" low. By the time my foot hit I was too far over and so sudden it and I went over. Another time last Sept on my trip to Texas stopped and went to push backwards into a parking space and gravel under my foot caused my foot to slide and down we went. I'm too old now to pick up a 950 lb bike so had to get my buddies to help.
Then there was the time on a rutted up road at Hogrock Biker rally and slow traffic and two topless gals on my bike and I did a slow motion over onto the the side of the road, then...oh well I have never wrecked one.

At just under 5'2", I've had some of those oopsies, plus one forgotten kickstand drop at a gas station. We used to go to Hogrock, those roads can be tricky, especially if it rains.
I'm also getting older, and found I wasn't wanting to ride much anymore. I love bikes, but it was becoming stressful. Decided to sell both of my bikes and get a trike. It has taken some getting used to, but I'm enjoying riding again, and don't get anxious about taking off by myself now. Not putting my feet down and having reverse is so freeing!

 

[melensdad]

It's a First Mfg. one. The other D30 one you gave me is too long for either of the leather jackets that I have(also FM) and I don't know if you can trim them and retain their integrity, so that one lives in my Joe Rocket one which rarely gets used. The FM ones are CE Level 2

First Manufacturing Back Protector | 25% ($5.00) Off! - RevZilla

CE Level 2 certified back protector from First Manufacturing. Impact-absorbing PU technology is pliant, perforated and conforms to the body for comfor…

www.revzilla.com

I'm looking at this one, it is the most ventilated I can find and it is a CE 2

They make it in 2 sizes, I have the large size in another jacket, I need the smaller size for this jacket

 

[tv1217]

Having reverse on even regular bikes would be nice. Even at 5'10 I can't totally flat foot my bike so just the little hump between my driveway and garage I sometimes have to get off the bike to back over it

 

[melensdad]

I'm barely at 6' and just comfortably can flat foot mine, but there is virtually no air gap between me and the seat; probably just enough space to slip a dollar bill between the seat and my pants. Such is the nature of the ADV-Touring style bikes. They tend to be tall in the seat, even the most docile of the ADV-Touring bikes is "tall" in the saddle and if you look at the new H-D PanAmerica offering it actually has a hydraulic lowering option to bring the bike down when you come to a stop!

 

[melensdad]

 

[Indyhd]

I'm barely at 6' and just comfortably can flat foot mine, but there is virtually no air gap between me and the seat; probably just enough space to slip a dollar bill between the seat and my pants. Such is the nature of the ADV-Touring style bikes. They tend to be tall in the seat, even the most docile of the ADV-Touring bikes is "tall" in the saddle and if you look at the new H-D PanAmerica offering it actually has a hydraulic lowering option to bring the bike down when you come to a stop!

The BMW GSA I just sold was really tall. Fortunately it only weighed 400 lbs so even being tall it wasn't too bad. The Goldwing has a walking forward and reverse so it makes it so easy to move around.

 

[Indyhd]

That road takes a concentration level like no other I can think of. Some people just don't have that level.

It can, but the Devil's Triangle in Tennessee and up the winding switchbacks of Pikes Peak were a bit more difficult for me. Plus going up Pikes Peak I had a buddy's wife on the back and being a plus size gal definitely made the uphill switchbacks a real adventure.

 

[Indyhd]

It's definitely a mental and physical workout. Someone we talked to went down when we were there, and got the t-shirt that says, "sometimes the dragon wins".

At just under 5'2", I've had some of those oopsies, plus one forgotten kickstand drop at a gas station. We used to go to Hogrock, those roads can be tricky, especially if it rains.
I'm also getting older, and found I wasn't wanting to ride much anymore. I love bikes, but it was becoming stressful. Decided to sell both of my bikes and get a trike. It has taken some getting used to, but I'm enjoying riding again, and don't get anxious about taking off by myself now. Not putting my feet down and having reverse is so freeing!

I thought about a trike, but at this point I still like going fast and leaning over.

 

[JCSR]

It can, but the Devil's Triangle in Tennessee and up the winding switchbacks of Pikes Peak were a bit more difficult for me. Plus going up Pikes Peak I had a buddy's wife on the back and being a plus size gal definitely made the uphill switchbacks a real adventure.

I'm hoping to get to the Triangle and the Moonshiner 28 this year. Both good rides I'm told. I think the thing about the Dragon is it never lets you rest. The curves keep coming!