I think we should outlaw cars and make everyone ride motorcycles. Oil dependency down. Gas consumption down. Traffic and pollution down.
I'm actually thinking about getting a crotch rocket within the next year. My main concerns are: 1. Safety. I know several people who have been injured in motorcycle accidents and two who have died in them. 2. Driving. I don't know how to drive/ride one. I have been told you must use each arm and leg as each one controls different things and that the steering is what quite most people think. There is a motorcycle course offered on my campus so if I finally decide to bite the bullet and get one, I'll take it beforehand.
No Harley's here even though I don't have anything against them. The black ones are my dads and the Suzuki 250cc and Honda 125cc are mine.
1. If safety is ALWAYS on your mind, you'll do fine. And, as a motorcyclist you should always ride with fear because the folks on 4 wheels don't. They are fearless in their enclosed transports. Just be terribly mindful of EVERYBODY and always have an escape route. It's not as mind consuming as one would think. 2. If you ever drove a manual the bike concepts should come pretty easily with slight differences. Left side clutch/shift. Right side breaking and throttle. Steering is one of the factors bikers love the ride. The first long country curve you take you'll understand. Good for you. Take the course. It also cuts your insurance a bit. Enjoy, Lil Pun. Even though I ride an HD, I'll never complain about a garage full of two-wheelers! Compliments to your MOM!!!!!!
Hardly a show thread, but you should go ahead and start your car thread, Mr. kevC the bike hater! :grin:
Take the class. I did and it was helpful. Riders generally say there are two kinds of motorcycle riders: those who've laid down their bikes and those who will. Lay down = drop = wreck, usually as a last-ditch defensive maneuver to avoid a fatal crash. ER personnel (like me....soon enough) generally say there are two kinds of motorcycle riders: statistics and future statistics. Motorcycle accidents are unbelievably messy affairs. Then again, it was an RN who got me interested in motorcycles and I bought my motorcycle from another RN, so who knows. Just be aware of the risks. I had my bike for a little over a year. I enjoyed it and never had an accident, but any time there was the prototypical 'great day to ride,' I'd have rather been in my Mustang (also with loud-ass exhaust) with the windows down and the stereo blasting. After working ER in nursing school, I doubt very seriously that I'll ever ride a bike again. Just something to think about.
I started riding a motorcycle about the same time as you. Same reservations, but I followed the advice of experienced and mature riders, and years later I'm still here. To add on to what other posters said, I urge you not to race against foolish drivers in cars, no matter how much they provoke you. Know in your head that your bike (if half way decent) will destroy 97% of cars especially on straight aways like Westheimer. Your crotch rocket will get much attention but don't give in to what others say. Also, start out by riding in your neighborhood at slow speeds, master gear changes, braking, etc. Then gradually move onto major roads then freeways. That being said, to this day I never ride in rush hour traffic nor when it's wet or cold. Good luck and ride safely. It's an exhilarating experience and the fuel efficiency is an added bonus. Generic pics of my Triumph, HD:
I did get a very nice car recently and been wanting to show it off but I don't want to be the douchebag who starts a thread like that just to show off his car .
One time, I think while we were evacuated for a hurricane, we were in Arkansas, and the city we were in happened to be having a biker rally that weekend. I could barely sleep that night. They are the most loud and obnoxious things ever. I could hear it clearly from high up in a hotel room
Hmmm... First thought, see point one. Then think about point two. Then see point one again. Then one of my favorite Hunter Thompson quotes, from Hell's Angels, which strikes me as one of the great unmentioned truths about human nature: [rquoter]...For a lot of reasons that are often contradictory, the sight and sound of a man on a motorcycle has an unpleasant effect on the vast majority of Americans who drive cars. At one point in the wake of the Hell's Angels uproar a reporter for the New York Herald Tribune [5] did a long article on the motorcycle scene and decided in the course of his research that "there is something about the sight of a passing motorcyclist that tempts many automobile drivers to commit murder." Nearly everyone who has ridden a bike for any length of time will agree. The highways are crowded with people who drive as if their sole purpose in getting behind the wheel is to avenge every wrong ever done them by man, beast or fate. The only thing that keeps them in line is their own fear of death, jail and lawsuits ... which are much less likely if they can find a motorcycle to challenge, instead of another two-thousand-pound car or a concrete abutment. A motorcyclist has to drive as if everybody else on the road is out to kill him. A few of them are, and many of those who aren't are just as dangerous, because the only thing that can alter their careless, ingrained driving habits is a threat of punishment, either legal or physical, and there is nothing about a motorcycle to threaten any man in a car. A bike is totally vulnerable; its only defense is maneuverability, and every accident situation is potentially fatal, especially on a freeway, where there is no room to fall without being run over almost instantly....[/rquoter] You, presumably non-suicidal, still want a motorcycle? Um, why?
It's one thing to give advice. It's another to instill fear. You're a pussyfied jerk for doing so. Especially when you consider that 1/3 of the people of the world are on 2 wheels. Have you ever been on a motorcycle? I'm going to assume no and stick my neck out and say it's people like you who are destroying the fabric of America. We conquer fear, not run from it. You sit there and talk down on a subject of which you have no earthly experience with just you're perception and a very old quote. What's next? Scuba diving? Oh, and your Hunter Thompson quote, just tell me exactly when that quote was written? Was during the Altamont concert? You're in a freaking time capsule that's stuck in the past about 40 years back. You act like there are nothing but Hell's Angels on the road, which is who Mr. Thompson was referring to oh so many years ago. I guess in your book people and perception don't change.
Nice collection there, Mr. dmc89. I always had a hanckering to own a crotch rocket. Hell, one of my favorite riding position (for long rides) on my Harley is the jockey postion. It probably doesn't look right, but who cares, it's a comfortable position when I need to circulate some blood to my butt.
I have a 350 with HKS/ Berk HFC's and although it can be VERY loud, I've yet to get the attention of a cop. That's probably because I don't rev at every light like kids do. You can only even hear the thing when going over 3-4k rpm's. BTW- Whole lotta ninnie's in this thread. Just about everyone in my family has a Harley. The pipes, etc. have not once bothered me. Seems some people just find things to b**** about on a message board.
Some of us are not all that serious, but here's one more attempt. I actually am very pro-bike, and all kinds of bikes. They don't need to be silent or unseen at all. But when the exhaust system is modified to make the loudest imaginable noise, I just simply cease to understand. (And yeah, the same with cars that want to sound like loud outboard motors for some reason, etc.) There are only a few options I can see. A) Rider desperately wants people to notice him, even though clearly 99% of people who can hear it will have a negative reaction. To me, this would become a TROLLERCYCLE. B) Rider actually enjoys the sound and crotch vibration. Is this possible? It's only fun if you're setting off car alarms and interrupting every conversation within 5 city blocks? Maybe, but it seems like option A is a lot more possible. Earlier a poster made an analogy to a dog pooping in his yard. Yeah, so I pick up after my dog. To me, that's a good analogy to having an excellent motorcycle but not making it completely obnoxious. Or maybe I need to let my hair down, feed my dog something that will give her explosive runs, and visit as many yards as possible. BORN TO BE WI-I-I-I-ILD!
