Motorcycles

Originally Posted by j

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Get one, they rule.

Great bikes. I got to ride an R69S once. Loved it.

Originally Posted by limping_decorum

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My inspiration for the box of XS650 parts I have.

Please post some progress picks once you get started. That bike looks killer, and I hope to make a bratstyle one like this when I get some time and extra cash...

English bikes anyone? http://www.arrow.it/img_news/Speed_triple_poster.jpg http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/photos...rontsquare.jpg http://www.motorbike-search-engine.c...ikes/961ss.jpg

I rode a Speed Triple 1050 and it scared the hell out of me. I'm not quite ready for 130 HP @ 415 lbs. I casually looked down on the freeway on the test ride and I was doing 120 or something. Call me whatever, I live where it rains and I don't want to die involuntarily. Maybe after I get used to a 92HP twin I'll start thinking about the S3 again.

The Norton I believe was posted earlier in this thread, it's gorgeous, but it never happened and may never happen. I heard they refunded all the deposits.

Originally Posted by j

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The Norton I believe was posted earlier in this thread, it's gorgeous, but it never happened and may never happen. I heard they refunded all the deposits.

I skipped page 2 but had a look through again. Why would they do that, didn't they sell out of those real quick??

They never made any. Took deposits on the project, made a cool website and an amazing looking prototype, and couldn't follow through on production. Vaporbike, unfortunately.

When I meant they sold out of it pretty quickly I was referring to the fact that the deposits on those bikes exceeded expectations and they stopped taking deposits.

Matchless used to make great bikes as well.

I am currently riding my 2007 Yamaha R-6




I am planning to buy the 2009 Ducati Monster 696

^ Awesome bike. My first bike was a Yamaha YZF R1. I loved that bike! Unfortunately, I couldn't take the pounding on my wrists after riding for long periods.


If I was made of money I'd have a sport bike in addition to my cruiser and a sport tourer. Then, I'd have my bases covered...

^ I agree prolonged periods of riding do take a toll on the body.

my motorcycle is below. It turned 30 this year (i'm not the original owner) but it still runs great.





the red vespa is also mine - ride the vespa in the city and the honda in the "country"

^^ Sweeeet!

My new baby just got her first checkup and came out with a clean bill of health. I put a 14 tooth front sprocket on tonight (stock is 15, so this is ~7% lower gearing) and it smooths out the low speed work a lot, along with making it pull a fair bit harder and allowing me to use 6th gear. I still haven't pulled it near redline but maaan it's quick enough anyway.

Almost 900 miles in so far and no regrets whatsoever. The only things that could be considered negative are that everyone wants to talk to me about it when I park, and I'm paranoid about leaving it unattended in certain areas. I need to get a pager alarm for it or something.

BTW, re: sport bike pain, my new bike is pretty aggressive in terms of position but it hasn't been much of an issue. One thing people seem not to know/do is clamp your knees onto the tank and then use your lower back muscles to hold yourself up. It only takes a few hundred miles of doing this before you get used to it and suddenly your hands are freer and your wrists aren't taking weight almost at all. If your tank is slippery get tank pads - I got Techspec Ice Grip and have yet to put it on but it's just clear tacky vinyl that you can cut to shape for the knee area of your tank, and makes it much easier to grip onto the tank and hold yourself up.

Originally Posted by mylesmyles

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my motorcycle is below. It turned 30 this year (i'm not the original owner) but it still runs great.

the red vespa is also mine - ride the vespa in the city and the honda in the "country"

Do you have any problems having a bike in NYC? I figured if I ever move there I'd have to get rid of my bike.

Originally Posted by j

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BTW, re: sport bike pain

I was talking to someone at work about this yesterday and he pointed out that he has very padded handlebar grips and a device that lets you turn the throttle with you palm instead of gripping the throttle with your whole hand. I've never heard of anything like this but I would imagine it helps.

Originally Posted by Tck13

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I was talking to someone at work about this yesterday and he pointed out that he has very padded handlebar grips and a device that lets you turn the throttle with you palm instead of gripping the throttle with your whole hand. I've never heard of anything like this but I would imagine it helps.
Yeah, that might help a bit, but it's kind of kludging around the problem, which is that there is weight on your wrists at all (bad). Weight on the handlebars means bad handling and also more dangerous riding, because the bike has resistance to the natural righting ability of the gyroscopic forces of the front wheel along with the trail built into the suspension geometry. Also, putting weight on the front shortens the trail, which means quicker steering but less stability. Add a hard braking maneuver and you can easily reduce the trail to near zero, meaning the front wheel has no reason to want to go in any particular direction. All these added up mean a bike that's less safe and can't be controlled as well as one that is set up properly so there isn't rider weight going into the bars.

I recommend the book "Total Control" for anyone who rides - there's a good section that covers this along with other ergonomic issues with setting up a bike properly.

Re: the throttle paddle thing, I could see that being nice but I'm going to drill and tap a hole in my throttle housing and then use a nylon bolt that will ride on the throttle cam inside. BMWs had this for years and called it a cruise control, and after getting used to it I find it silly that more bikes don't have something like this. (Probably for liability reasons, of course.) They want to sell you a Throttlemeister for $250 or something when a $1 thumb screw does the job better.