Poll: Motorcycles

[Tom]

I think that, rather than discouraging motorcycle riding, the youth of the country should be encouraged to ride.  They should be started off on dirt bikes in a big field of soft sand, piles of rocks, holes and told to go fast.  They should learn what is like to have to put a bike down.  They should learn what is like to have a bike put down when it wasn't their aim.  They should be on a dropped bike, in a situation that isn't life threatening for the realization of just how quickly loss of control can happen.  It's a great teacher of loss of control in slow motion, before the same thing happens on a paved surface where the time line is decreased to thousandths of seconds.

My sons have given me flak about riding without helmets when they were young.  "We're not going fast", they would say.  My response was "walk briskly into that wall with your nose stuck out".

Kids can be trained in an entertaining environment and have an experience to remember for the rest of their life.    We adults already know it all and start at the top of the learning curve.  You really have to watch that first step, it's a long one.

[tcsmpsi]

Let's see...my first owned scooter, was one of those 3 cylinder, 2 stroke Kawasakis.  I had come in off the road for a while,  was working 'local' loads (N.Dak, Wyoming, Montana, S. Dak) and living in Spearfish, SD.  I had gone in to the dealer, made the deal, then had to take a load up to Montana.  I had one of the packers go and pick up my bike and leave it at the agency.  I got back around 4am, pushed out the bike, found the owners manual (utilizing my trustworthy zippo), and versed myself in the basics of how to ride the thing.  Fortunately, back in those days, Spearfish was pretty dead that time of day.   :D  Those things were pretty radical.

Since then, have had and/or ridden most things available.  Waited six months for California Side Car to build me a side car once.  Had a LOT of fun taking folks for a ride in that rig.   ;D

Flipped a Bultaco down a mountain in the high desert out around the old mercury mining settlement of New Idria, CA.   I remember kicking the bike away from me somewhere in the air, and when I hit the ground, being puzzled I was conscious, then the bike hit me, bounced on down the mountain.  Seems I had managed to stay on a ledge...or, was it, ground into the ledge?  One of the times a helmet helped.  A lot, as it was in several pieces.  There were some folks watching it.  Said it was all quite impressive, but weren't in any hurry to get down to me.  No way I could have possibly been alive.

Unlimited time road trips, day to day commuting to work, rain, hail, sleet, snow, etc.
Been broken, lacerated, etc.  I've built them, rebuilt them, zoomed them, even worked on them for a living.

Sold my last one around '90, and haven't been back aboard since.  And, have gotten quite used to enclosure vehicles.  I've put over half a million miles on the two (three) wheelers.  With today's traffic/drivers....not the proverbial chance.

I remember when I went to get my license for my newly acquired bike up in Spearfish.
Actually, had to go to Belle Fourche for that.  The motorcycle driving test, was in a parking lot full of thick, small gravel with pylons set up.  One had to maneuver the pylons, turn around, come back through the pylons.  Without touching ones' foot to the ground.  Would have been challenging enough, but the throttles on those 3 cyl 2 stroke 750s were....exciting.  If I remember correctly, they redlined around 12,000 rpm.

OWW

I had a Tiger.  Also, when I lived out in CA, I had a '56 650 BSA Wasp mountain climber, that I put a detachable seat on for riding on roads.   ;D

[TexasTimbers]

Ron you must sit around all day hinking about the next poll you are going to post. Are you sure you don't work for Gallup and are getting paid to collect all this information? :D

In 80 and 81 I rode a CX500 (Honda) sort of a touring sport bike and a Kawasaki KZ1300 a purebred crotch rocket. I mean I had an image to uphold I was the drummer for probably the most popular rock band in north Texas I had to be cool. :

I have too many stories from just that short time but siffice to say I have not and will not buy any of my kids road bikes. My wife is an accomplished dirt bike rider and can ride circles around me, and on our first time to ride dirt bikes together in 1976 she did exactly that literally. i had only been on a dirt bike at that time (no road bike experience at all yet) a couple of times and her family was a dirt biker family, and she was like a cartoon action hero on her 250 riding wheelies and terrorizing me while I was just trying to stay on the silly thing over hills and bumps and bottomless pits.
Women have an edge dirt bike riding they don't have certain things slamming against the seat when they take a hard landing.
We have talked of getting a few dirt bikes but I don't want to be himiliated all over again. I want another crotch rocket. She says no. I have never had the penchant for a Harley. I have always been a fan of rice burners. Un-American I know but speed is my thing. 150MPH with my hair on fire as they say.

[Daren]

  We adults already know it all and start at the top of the learning curve.  You really have to watch that first step, it's a long one.

I couldn't agree more,and not just about this situation because it is topical for me. I am guilty of "knowing it all" more than I care to admit even to myself some times. It is safe to say I feel I know it all most of the time. Quite often to find out if I did really know it all I would have known that I didn't know it all  ???

[johncinquo]

Not enough spaces to vote!  Currently I have a 2001, Kawasaki ZRX 1200.  Kinda old school, naked street bike. Fun to blow out the kids on their 600s all decked out like power rangers.  1998 Honda Valkyrie 1800.  Big fat monster cruiser, rides like a barca lounger.  Great for rolling burnouts in 2nd gear.  Big comfy seats and windshield.  2002 Yamaha YZ 125, that I am probably more danger to myself than anything else.  Its up for sale.  Just sold a KTM 250 EXC.  Again, dirt and 2 wheels is bad for me.  Though, I am looking at getting a KDX, or KLX, or maybe a TW200.  Something I can take down some dirt roads and 2 tracks, and whip to the store for a gallon of milk. 

I've gone through about 18 bikes in the last 3 years.  Buy em in the fall or winter, fix em up, ride em a few times and sell them in the spring for a few extra coins.  Keeps me out of the taverns, sometimes... 

Ones I want to own, GPZ 750 TURBO, light and fun.  RZ350, 2 stroke, blue smoke, and ring-a-dding-ding fun.  Late 70s- early 80's honda 750 or 900, chopped, soft tail, stretched, raked, straight pipes.  No chrome, just blacked out.   I also want to take a goldwing, strip everything off, and make a cafe racer out of it.  Extremism is kinda fun.  An 1800 cc giant beast, with nothing but a engine, seat, and set of wheels. 

Helmets and gear, all the time! 

[crtreedude]

I have own so far 3 motorcycles which I have never driven (ridden as a passenger a few times though). On our rocky roads, dirt bikes (or a bit stronger) are much better than a SUV. One of these days I will get my license.

[Engineer]

I stopped riding my Honda 700 Sabre after I hit a Deere.....  :-\

[Raider Bill]

I gotta admit, for the long road trips, them Goldwings are hard to beat.

[tomboysawyer]

I stopped riding my Honda 700 Sabre after I hit a Deere.....  :-\

Really? That kinda Deere?

After a cold, grueling, spring ride (2 hours from Rutland), I drove our BMW K100 into our Jeep (tight turn on a grassy uphill - a little throttle and the rear wheel spun and made me go straight instead of right) at about 5mph. Never put in a claim though - and years later we found the head bearings were shot in that bike.

But you get back on and ride again. Even if your spouse does grumble the entire time he's doing body work to both vehicles.

(Yes, I do wear a helmet. This was a promo photo I took in my driveway for my publisher.)

[jbeat]

Old bones couldn't take the Harley anymore. Now ride a Kaw. 1500 Nomad Cruiser. Been taking 100 mi. rides the past month to get the backside toughened up for the trip to Sawlex. Hope the weather is favorable.

[jon12345]

Had a moped and mini-bikes when I was younger, they were fun but couldn't ride the moped after it rained  :D

I wanna get a crotch rocket but I kinda wanna be around at least til my son gets a little older.   Yes there is the confidence I need  :D

[sawguy21]

tcmpsi, I scared the everliving crap out of myself on one of those Kawi 750 triples. Nothing like being on the centerline scraping the pegs and facing a Kenworth at over 100mph. Life was grand when we were young and bulletproof.

[Corley5]

I had a 125 Yamaha Enduro as a kid and traded up to a Honda CR125 Elsinore dirt bike as an older kid.  It blew up when I was a young adult.  Probably a good thing.  I think I'd like a Harley ??? but a 4 stroke Jap street legal trail bike of 500 or so CCs would probably be more practical considering where I live.  On the other hand toys that move things, process things, etc are more my style right now  ;D

[Don_Papenburg]

Tomboysawyer , The way He spelt it the Deere had to be Green with Yellow wheels.

[Justin L]

My tools have taken up the money I could buy another bike with... But after splitting a deer in two (on an 1100 Sabre- coincidence ?), then missing a curve going over 100mph(also an 1100 Sabre) with no helmet. Should I buy another bike?

I grew up on dirt bikes so I knew how to ride, and crash evidently...I just had trouble following the rules. With three boys and a girl maybe they can learn from my mistakes.

[tomboysawyer]

Tomboysawyer , The way He spelt it the Deere had to be Green with Yellow wheels.

The way he spelt and capilalized it... yeah. I know.

But deer move much faster than Deere and a Deere/motorcycle accident usually happens in a driveway. I knowd engineer has a Deere of his own, but now I'm wondering whose Deere his Honda hit.

[tcsmpsi]

tcmpsi, I scared the everliving scrappola out of myself on one of those Kawi 750 triples. Nothing like being on the centerline scraping the pegs and facing a Kenworth at over 100mph. Life was grand when we were young and bulletproof.

You know, I never did find the top end on that thing.  I quit SD, and took an unlimited sabatical in the desert southwest.  It would peg the speedometer fairly early in its power band.
It was pretty wide-open territory on I-10 after 10pm back in those days.

I do remember leaving Tucson right at dusk one day, and arriving in Houston before dawn.   ;D

[Carries-Mom]

my hubby and I ride when we can.  I get my sister to watch Carrie and we go to the flea market or something.  We own a 2005 midnight roadstar yamaha.  When we bought it, it aleady had all of the chrome you could handle.  It is very relaxing as long as you're watching out for the other people that don't pay attention. smiley_bandana

[Engineer]

I was wonderin' who was gonna ask first.  :D

I was out for a Sunday morning ride.   This was seven, eight years ago, one of those rare times when I didn't have to be "somewhere", just decided I'd cruise.  I was not half a mile from home, came over a little rise in the road, and there was a guy on a fairly large 4wd Deere tractor, in the middle of the road, backing up.  He was mowing both sides of the road with it, I had no way of knowing which way he was heading after he was done backing up, and I had no room to get around him anyway (small rural gravel road).  I wasn't even going fast, but the idiot gave me no time to react.  He's just lucky a truck wasn't flying over that rise, he would have gotten nailed hard.   I went down with the bike and managed to wedge it under his rear tires just as he stopped to move forward again.

There's even a more fun part to the story.  I got up, had it out with the moron for a few minutes (he of course thought he was perfectly justified backing a farm tractor up the center of a public highway), got back on the slightly dented bike and rode to the ER.  I had somewhat turned my left elbow into hamburger.   So I got there, helmet in hand, got into a treatment room, and this ugly old moose of a nurse came in.  She sat down and started cleaning me up and proceeded to tear into me, full blown lecture, about the evils of riding a motorcycle.  I got mad, told her to stop what she was doing, get the %(&^ out of the room and send in someone who knew how to do their job in a professional manner.  The look I got was, as they say, priceless.  

I rode for quite a while after that but I eventually sold the bike, had better things to do with my time.

[johncinquo]

You don t have to go big, or fast to have fun, really.  My son has a XR "50" with a 125 in it, and I am putting together a 110.  We chase each other around the yard and back through the orchards, and have more dang fun than you can shake a stick at.  I enjoy playing tag with him on bikes more than the 45 minute ride into work.

[Fla._Deadheader]

  :D :D :D :D :D I'm sorry, I just GOTTA do this.  :D :D :D :D :D

 

She sat down and started cleaning me up and proceeded to tear into me, full blown lecture, about the evils of riding a motorcycle.

  Sounds like the little old lady that had GareyD by the butt, in the Cafeteria, at the Sawlex show.  :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

  It got so bad, for a spell, that Jake "Customsawyer", beat an exit, stage right, and diddied outta there.  :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
  Poor Garey, he had that "Deer in the headlights" look.  :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

  I'm laffin so hard, I gotta wipe the tears outta my eyes.  :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

 
  But MAAM, we only did 100 MPH for PART of the trip"  : : : :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[Fla._Deadheader]

  Ahhh yes, Murdercycles.  Used to ride with a buddy, on his Dads '47 Harley. Never would let ME drive  : :  He used to see how fast he could go, before I  tapped out  : :  No helmets back them.  : :  Lots of bugs at night, along the Jersey shore.  : :

  One night I had enough, and, when he wouldn't drive sensibly, I grabbed both his elbows and started shaking as hard as I could. Scared HIM way more than me.  ;) ;) ;)

  He quit taking me, and about a month later, he had a road rash from ankles to ears.

  I recently bought a Goldwing suspension swingarm, and plan, one day, to build a Diesel Cruiser.  ;) ;)

[sawguy21]

Hmmm, that would be an interesting project.  ;)

[james]

lets see me and a buddy , back when we was young and stupid(er) took a pair of 1100 Honda's and raced a porsche 911 from mount vernnon wa to okanogon wa 175 miles of twisting two lane he took 1hr 45 min we took 1 .5 hrs or so  like i said dumb i remember hitting 175 mph on a couple of straightaways that couldn't have been a mile long
james

[tomboysawyer]

There's even a more fun part to the story.  I got up, had it out with the moron for a few minutes (he of course thought he was perfectly justified backing a farm tractor up the center of a public highway), got back on the slightly dented bike and rode to the ER.  I had somewhat turned my left elbow into hamburger.   So I got there, helmet in hand, got into a treatment room, and this ugly old moose of a nurse came in.  She sat down and started cleaning me up and proceeded to tear into me, full blown lecture, about the evils of riding a motorcycle.  I got mad, told her to stop what she was doing, get the %(&^ out of the room and send in someone who knew how to do their job in a professional manner.  The look I got was, as they say, priceless. 

I had Marsden in North Bennington pull me over for my first and only time in 18 years of riding claiming I had run the stop sign at the Old First Church. He nearly hit me. Pulled me into the museum parking lot and started lecturing me on the dangers of motorcycles - how his son had died, how he nearly died hitting a piece of retread while he himself was speeding. I was SO POed at him for being a dang jerk (not how I usually describe him). Mark didn't believe me what a jerk he was - but he happened to have the day off that I had to go to traffic court. Judge Mook tried to get us to both delay and get a different judge. Marsden made up a story about where he first saw me - traveling west on Elm I think he said.

"Your honor. I was riding at a very leisurely pace on this 90 degree August day from SVC to my pool hall downtown. As you know, there is no way that would have me traveling west on Elm Street."

I had photos of five different spots on Monument with Mark's Jeep sitting at the stop sign where all you could see was his spare tire - in October with no leaves. Marsden said "there are only two or three trees in that triangle - I could see her."

Then his evidence that I had not stopped for the stop sign was that his radar (as he was going 40 mph around that right hand corner from the church) read 8, 10, then 11, then 13 mph.

"Judge Mook, all that means is that I accelerated away from the stop sign. We all know I did that or I'd still be sitting there!"

Judge Mook: "Officer Marsden, you really aren't going to submit that as evidence are you?"

Anyway, of course my ticket was dismissed, because I had stopped for the stop sign. With my car it is a different story, but with my bike, I just don't take any chances.

I feel for your nurse story. I really wanted to say that kind of line to Marsden.