Motorcycle Enthusiasts

Ducati make a very nice learner leagle 600cc bike. Hyosung also make a great value learner leagle sporty 650 that can be converted to full power (70 hp) just by removing its restrictors.
 
Torque is a measurement of turning effort. It is possible to have torque but no movement, like when you tension a bolt. HP is measurement of work achieved within a time frame i.e. one horsepower = 33000 ft.lbs of work. per minute. Therefore horsepower is what determines how fast you get up the hill.

Where torque comes into effect is in the engines characteristics. A peaky high horsepower engine needs more gears so that the engine can operate within its narrow effective spread of power, where as an engine like a truck may have less power but a flatter torque curve and can operate effectively over a wide range. In an ideal world where both motors can get the power to the ground effectively the higher horsepower engine is going to be the fastest up the hill.
 
First Accident..

Well I came off my bike for the first time on the weekend.
Stupid stupid!!

Somehow managed to do a sort of highside, at 30 kph...
Was turning right when I lost traction on both wheels, front end tucked in, back end slid around to the right, I went over the handlebars and ended up on my ass in the middle of the intersection!

I'm just bruised (Always wearing proper gear) and bike is a bit scratched up, guess it looks like any other CBR 250 now...

So does this mean I am a real motorcyclist now?!
 
Good to hear there were no injuries, the right gear makes a huge difference. You must have hit something slippery, was it raining?

I always find falling of my bike good practice for my breakfalls.
 
Very happy to hear you were wearing the proper gear and you are not injured. As Colin said falling is good pratice for breakfalls, although I'd much rather pratice in other ways. Also it really is hard to look kewl once you fall.
 
Glad you're OK, hope the bike isn't too bad.

Try and analyse what went wrong so it wont happen again.

I've crashed a number of time on tracks or road, but what annoys me most is when i can't figure out why - at least if I understand what went wrong I can learn by my mistakes.

Mitch
 
So, can Rossi retain his title or has he lost it now?

His luck seems to have finally run out with his DNF whilst leading, the bike's problems aren't fully solved yet (it still chatters wearing qualifiers so can't qualify well even if it can run race pace).

At the same time Pedrosa, Stoner and a Mercurial Melandri look set to threaten, along with the steady if unremarkable plugging away of Nicky Hayden. Perhaps it's just that Rossi's time has been and gone?

Mitch
 
Certainly if anyone could regain the title after such a bad start he could. He seems to like the new chassis, although even this one was still having some chattering problems. I'm not ready to write him off just yet.

So far its been a great season. The performance of new recruits has been stunning, while some of the older guys are not rolling over just yet. Capporossi is showing good speed and Nicky has turned a corner now and appears to be quite consistent, although Pedrosa's form may shake him somewhat if he keeps it up.
 
Yeah I think I hit the tram track, and it had been raining earlier in the day,
I felt like such a noob!
I am with Nordic, there are other ways to practise breakfalling that I like much better!
 
My first clear memory of riding a motorcycle is hopping along side the ‘Big Black Bike’, one leg over the seat, other on the ground getting moving (way too big for me to sit on it and touch the ground.) I remember that if I dropped it it was too big for me to pick up and I couldn’t start it either.
I’m told I was 4 at the time and the bike is one of those lawnmower engine mini bike things that they had in the late 60s.

Today I ride a custom Vrod which is my 13th motorcycle (gulp) and I ride about 10kmi/year – which is pretty good if you consider that I work for myself and my commute is from the bed to the coffee pot.
Living in SC I ride all year long, bike gets more miles than the truck which might sit for months in the summer.
I grew up riding dirt, when I broke my leg in a supercross race at age 30 I sold the dirtbike and when I was finally walking again got a streetbike.
The only HD emblem on my Vrod is in the gauges and of my gear only the boots are HD, (on their 2nd set of soles.)
My riding style ranges from chick & luggage on the back to sharpening the pegs on the Dragon's Tail.
I ride because I’d rather be on two wheels than in a cage.
A few recent pics for your enjoyment.







For those of you considering starting riding, some bits…
Learn on something small and inexpensive. Big bikes look cool, but are heavy, unwieldy, expensive and often have a temperament that places them squarely out of the category of ‘beginner motorcycle’.
Better yet, spend ten years riding in the dirt before ever getting on the street. Falling down on a dirt bike is a wonderful way to learn how to fall, and trust me when I say that falling down is part of learning to ride.
Of course take all the rider courses you can, these can only help. I took the Ducati road racing class (4 days) and it really improved my street riding and what I now know I can do with a motorcycle.
You need to be hyperalert when riding on the street. Relaxing and spacing out will get you squished, maybe dead. Ride like everyone is out to get you. This is not paranoia, someone IS out to get you, but you have no idea who that is. Always leave yourself an exit. Everywhere, all the time.
Loud exhausts save lives, jerks abusing loud exhausts cause others to think we are all idiots.
Learn to do your own maintenance. This is part of owning a motorcycle. Don’t go to the stealer for every little loose screw, fix it yourself.
Drinking & riding is stupid, sooner or later it’ll get you.
 
It's been the first proper summery day this year here in Nottingham. I had to ride over to Lincoln, 30ish miles, the roads are nothing special but woo hoo! It was fun! A couple of knee downs on roundabouts, sparky sliders working nicely, and just a great day to be out on a bike!

Enjoy yourselves folks

Mitch
 
I just has the first major issue with my bike last night. It was raining to drown hell and my left turn signal came on. I thought I'd bumped it and turned it off. It came on again about a mile later and wouldn't cancel. I turned on the right side and I had four-ways going. I hit the right side again and they went off. I was about 5 miles from home, bear in mind this is 60 miles later, I get pulled over by the State police. My entire back end was black, no lights. Water got someplace it shouldn't have so now I'm off to get it fixed. Warranty work is the best!



Sweet V-Rod MonsterMax. I've been drooling over them since they were released. One day, one day!
 
Well I've been back from bike week for a couple of weeks but have been so swamped at work I haven't had time to get on the computer much.
The ride down was OK but took too long. I let my son in-law rode-captain on the way down so what should have been about a 6 hour run turned into a 9 hour run. We ride together but our styles are different. I like to run fast and tight in the pack and he is not comfortable with that still. I lead on the way back so we still ran lose but the pace was faster. We made it back in about 6 hours. The rally was OK but it was mostly vender's and bike sales. It was too spread out. The crowds were huge! I still like the smaller rallies better. We stayed in a hotel so all in all it was a tame trip. Which is good as the wife was along. I really didn't take many pictures as I didn't get to many real bike events. The daughter, the son in-law and their friends (that drove a cage down) are not much on some bike events. They went their way most of the time and one of my students who rode down with us kind of hung around. The student and his girlfriend could not get into the bars as they are under age so we were limited in where we could go. Also I don't really like being in a real tight crowd. Over all we had a good time as we stayed right on the beach and it was nice just to get away with the wife. Here are a couple of pictures I took.

Nordic sorry to here about the problems with the bike. It seams like in your neck of the woods your bike needs to almost be able to run under water with all the rain you get. It's best to get all the "bugs" out while it's still under warranty.

Nice looking V-rod MonsterMaxx!

1- Here's me doing the only kind of shopping I like.
 
2- Here is a sample of the crowd. They said there was 350,000 bikers there and I believe it!
 
It's a hard tail bober. I might go with a softtail but I like that basic look. I would like to start with a old bike and bob it something like the one in the picture.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

A
Kemper Corp (KMPR) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript Highlights: Strong Performance Amidst ...
Replies
0
Views
1
admin
A
M
How to get more space in your Google storage
Replies
0
Views
35
M_Smith
M
A
Tornado-warned storms continue to move towards Oklahoma
Replies
0
Views
1
admin
A
A
Voters to decide the next police and crime commissioner
Replies
0
Views
1
admin
A
A
Oriental Holdings Berhad (KLSE:ORIENT) Is Due To Pay A Dividend Of MYR0.20
Replies
0
Views
1
admin
A
Back
Top