Poll: Motorcycles

[Ron Wenrich]

Poll ends 5/21/07

Spring is here and they're rolling out the bikes.  Are you a biker?  Check all that apply.

[Haytrader]

I wasn't sure if mine was a highway cruiser or a sports bike.
What is the difference?

[Ron Wenrich]

Highway cruisers are what I would call a heavier bike, while the sports bike is a nice name for a crotch rocket.   :D

[Haytrader]

Ron,

That clarifies it for me. I definately DON"T have a crotch rocket.
;)
Mine is a Harley FXR.

[limbrat]

Ever see someone hauling a bike on a trailer on the kick stand? (and you just wonted to scream)
Ever tie a bag on the front tool box and boots on the back and go to work for the week?
Ever gone back to the wood to find pieces that you lost?
Ever choose hotels by ease of getting the bike in the room?
Ever left the bike up on the road and stood in the mud under a bridge cause it was hailing?
Ever kick a car door cause there pulling in on you, they dont see you and you have nowere to go?
Ever dressed till you sweat standing still and figure thats about right?
Ever carry a ice chest to bring your deer back in?
Ever had a dog that loved to ride as much as you?
Ever turn a mirror so you can soak up the smile beaming from the kid your giving the first ride to?
2000 Victory SC

[Raider Bill]

Ever see someone hauling a bike on a trailer on the kick stand? (and you just wonted to scream)
Ever tie a bag on the front tool box and boots on the back and go to work for the week?
Ever gone back to the wood to find pieces that you lost?
Ever choose hotels by ease of getting the bike in the room?
Ever left the bike up on the road and stood in the mud under a bridge cause it was hailing?
Ever kick a car door cause there pulling in on you, they dont see you and you have nowere to go?
Ever dressed till you sweat standing still and figure thats about right?
Ever carry a ice chest to bring your deer back in?
Ever had a dog that loved to ride as much as you?
Ever turn a mirror so you can soak up the smile beaming from the kid your giving the first ride to?
2000 Victory SC

Ever mount a petcock on the bottom of your downhill saddlebag?

72, 79 & 84 Shovelhead's
01 & 03 Twin cam's
At least enough parts for 2 more....... maybe 1.8 more

[sawguy21]

I over boogied into a corner and did a face plant with the Suzuki water buffalo on top of me. Kinda lost my enthusiasm after that.

[Mooseherder]

Traded my 1992 Fatboy for a 1959 Chevy Fleetside Pickup with a rare wrap around back window 5 years ago while in Daytona.  : The Bike had 28,000 thousand miles on it. I sold the truck 3 years later. The guy wrecked the bike. I keep trying to buy the truck back from the guy I sold it to.

[Handy Andy]

.I had motorcycles when I was young.  Then got a 175 enduro and used it to chase the cows till I got a 4 wheeler in '95.  Always got the fever every spring, used to go down to the mc shop and sit on them and look at prices, would think about it for a couple days, and decide I wouldn't have time to ride it and it would just be in the garage taking up space.  Now I have a bandmill, skidloader, 4 tractors, 5 trucks, and don't need one so bad.  Oh and I go scuba diving, get the fever for that.  Jim

[Raider Bill]

I'll probaley be trading a bike for a tractor. I got's bikes but no woods equiptment .... yet...

[Dave Shepard]

I had a '96 Suzuki DR650, which I really liked. We parted company one night in august of '04 at a rediculously high rate of speed. This was the beginning of the end for my landscaping business. I was able to work a little that winter, until I got sick and ended up in the hospital march of '05. This was the end of my landscaping business. I think about riding everyday, when the weather gets like this.


Dave

[DanG]

I always wanted one when I was a kid.  I finally got an old Honda 350cl when I was about 30.  It didn't last long, and I was glad when it was gone.  What a miserable way to get about!

[Jeff]

DanG, ya shoulda bought them Indians....

[Gary_C]

What a miserable way to get about!

I agree. I can still remember cars without air conditioning where the wind pounded on you all the time.

Couple of years ago I met a logger from Wisconsin that took two weeks off one spring to ride out thru Yellowstone with his dad on their Harley's. After two weeks and over a thousand miles on the road, they were 30 miles from home when a small black bear jumped out in the road right in front of his dad. Hit the bear dead center and almost killed his dad and did kill the bear.   :(

[Dave Shepard]

A coworker of mine almost met his end after hitting a woodchuck. The woodchuck did. Squirrels are the worst, with dogs not far behind


Dave

[sawguy21]

I rode without a visor... until I met an oncoming bee. Thought I had been shot.

[woodbowl]

Got my first motorcycle in 78, it was a 250 enduro trail bike. Then it was a Kawasaki 500 street bike. I seemed to get away with taking chances on the trail bike, but not on the street bike. I was leaning into a left curve in the other lane when a car met me head on. I had to over correct to the right to miss the car and it whipped me off the road and straight toward a big pecan tree. The only choice I had was to lay it down on the left side and when I did, my left hand was between the handle bar and the ground. It broke two metacarples and twisted my back. Thank goodness I had on a helmet. I decided it was too dangerous for me so I sold both bikes and got an ultralight aircraft.

What I don't understand are these Florida laws. An adult can ride a motorcycle without a helmet, but a child can't ride a bicycle without one.  

Question: Who knows which side of the road a chicken wants to be on just as you pass by on a bike?

[Daren]

This is a very timely thread for me. After 10 years of not really wanting my wife to get a bike, I relented. The first picture is her new bike (5/4/07). The second picture is after her first solo ride (5/5/07)...and trip to get stitches. That is all I have to say about this subject really.

[Daren]

That is all I have to say about this subject really.

I said that is all I have to say on the subject...but I have been saying that for 10+ years and it didn't work :D. My wife Lisa's middle name is Evette, she really has never liked the name. She does laugh now when we call her "Evette Knievel". I will have to say her wipe out was an impressive site (if it was not so horrifying, I had bad dreams for 3 nights). She freaked out and climbed a pretty decent pile of logs on a street bike, it was the coming back down that got her. The bike was almost totally unscathed, one itty bitty dent on a back shock.
This saga is not over : I have a FOR SALE sign already made for it. She insists the tetanus shot was the only part that hurt and she claims "I am good there for a few years, you only need them once in awhile"
I have the keys to the bike, at least till these stitches come out.(which by the way don't really match her business suits. She had meetings all day yesterday and everyone would glance, then look away. She offered no explanation, just to make them uncomfortable I think) What is a guy to do  ??? . She is crazy as a pet 'coon, she was walking around the house this morning going "Vroom, Vroom" and cranking back an imaginary throttle. My stomach hurts now, I am done typing on the whole subject.

[tomboysawyer]

This is a very timely thread for me. After 10 years of not really wanting my wife to get a bike, I relented. The first picture is her new bike (5/4/07). The second picture is after her first solo ride (5/5/07)...and trip to get stitches. That is all I have to say about this subject really.

This is why my hubby doesn't want me to ever ride without a full helmet.

I've been riding for 18 years. I bought the first bike. Learned to ride it first, but hubby was never far behind. I'm not that great driving a car, but scored perfect on my motorcycle test (a point I love to rub in when I get jabbed for my poor driving skills). Now we have our own bikes. Him: '04 BMW R1200CL. Me: '93 Guzzi California III.

Guess its all about life choices. Dropping trees is very dangerous too - or many of the other things talked about here on FF. But if I'm doin' what I love, death is always a possibility.

I'm more likely to die from the fat behind I develop with not exercising and working on the computer all day than on my bike.

[Raider Bill]

What I don't understand are these Florida laws. An adult can ride a motorcycle without a helmet, but a child can't ride a bicycle without one.  

Question: Who knows which side of the road a chicken wants to be on just as you pass by on a bike?

Actually this is something I know about unlike most topics posted here. The Florida helmet law was repealled due to legal dealings that originated right here in LA [Largo Area] A local cop went to motor school and when he got out decided he was going to wage a one man war agianest bikers so he started giving out tickets for shorty helmets. I got one along with 2 others. I belong to a Motorcycle righs orgainization [MRO] who has a Attorney as a member. He took the tickets and started fighting them. Eventually he won based on legal rulings concerning the DOT stickers on the helmets.
He then told us that he thought he could beat the whole thing if we brought him tickets for no helmet at all. this was back in 98 or 99. Several of us went out one sunny Sunday and after several attempts we got 3 tickets for no helmets. He took those to court even getting to the 2nd district cout of appeals where he also prevailed. July 2000 Jeb Bush signed off on the helmet law in Florida.
Basically the whole reason was that the law said you had to wear an State approved helmet but the approved list was last revised in 87. Non of those helemts were available anymore and nobody wanted to for 2 reasons 1, spend the $$$ to make a new list and 2, nobody wanted to accept the liability for the list.
That said, I ended up with 2 tickets and a bunch of court time to beat the Florida Helmet law but
I WEAR MINE ALL THE TIME. Let's face it they work. It's my choice and I chose to wear a real helmet not a shorty.
Knock on wood but the only times I have gone down was due to over indulgeance and stupidity on my part. Locally we have had a rash of biker deaths this year alone. Most would have been averted if they had been wearing a helmet.
Stats say the 80% of bike accidents result in injury or death while only 20% of car accidents result in the same.
For the record I bought my first Harley in 74.

[Daren]

Guess its all about life choices. Dropping trees is very dangerous too - or many of the other things talked about here on FF.

Where have I heard that before  ??? :D She was a cigarette smoker and quit last year and even presented me with statistical data on smoking death/ailments vs. motorcycle death/injuries. Along with the $ numbers she saves by not smoking a pack a day, showing it was cheaper/safer to own a bike than smoke. Of course my argument was run the numbers on not smoking AND not riding a bike, I bet they are better all around  :D.
I have always had everything I wanted (a few fast drag race cars mainly that would pull wheelies) with 100% support from her. I have no right to tell her no. I just worry about her, I think that is understandable. The title is in her name, I can't do anything about it anyway. She is signed up for a safety class, there is just a waiting list. I feel partially to blame. I have ridden some over the years and was riding "her new bike" and she wanted to do the same. I should have left it parked until she took the course. The doctor did a real nice job on the stitches so the scar will not show, she is laughing about the whole deal...but gained a TON of respect for motorcycles. I reckon learning even a small bike and one little lapse of good judgment can hurt you is a lesson best learned right off the bat.

[Raider Bill]

She is signed up for a safety class, there is just a waiting list. .

Those saftey classes rock! I took one a few years ago on a whim [the basic class] and learned many things I use everyday that I wouldn't have known about.
Here in Florida I ride the scoot more than I drive my pickup on a daily basis. It is getting bad here though, too much traffic which brings me to my decision to move to Tenn.
The pix I posted was taken last year in Columbus Oh while I was on a 5 week 6000 mile bike ride. 8) I'm itching to go again.............. We live in such a beautiful country and to me it's a thrill to enjoy it from the back of my American made bike.

[Weekend_Sawyer]

Those safety classes are the BEST. Biased opinion, I used to teach the Maryland Motorcycle Course.

I have been road riding since I was 18, 29 years now, and I have never dropped a bike on the street. Part good luck, part good riding skills, part watching out for the other guy. I have had some pretty good wipeouts in the dirt tho.
Jon

[OneWithWood]

Like Jon, I used to teach the Motorcycle safety courses.  Great experience and I know I saved some folks some hard lessons.  Saved some of my own hide too 
I have had many motorcycles in my life.  A couple Hondas, Yamahas, Kawasakis, Indian Scouts, but mostly a whole lot of British iron - Triumphs, BSAs, Nortons.  I had a bike shop for a few years concentrating on the British iron.
Of the dozens of bikes owned the only one left is my wife's 1966 Triumph Tiger.  Every year I say I am going to ride it some, but every year the insurance and plates expense just does not seem worth the small amount of time I would actually ride. 
I have aged a bit and become accustomed to the air conditioned soft ride of my truck and cars.
I checked sport bike even though I logged thousands of miles on my Triumph Tridents and Bonnevilles. The bikes were still light weight compared to the big cruisers.  After a few 600 mile days it got harder to get off and walk!  I won't even mention what a stiff wind can do to your body alignment  :(