Thread: Motorcycles

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I have seen the drone footage from some of the Youtube riders. That footage provides a sense of the ups/downs/curves/twisties. I wonder which company makes a good drone for that purpose?

Originally Posted by randydance062449

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I have seen the drone footage from some of the Youtube riders. That footage provides a sense of the ups/downs/curves/twisties. I wonder which company makes a good drone for that purpose?

I've seen some really good drones in Staples, easy to fly, cell phone view as you go and anti crash technology but you can bet they're not cheap.

This drone has a good package, and collision avoidance, plus very good reviews.
https://www.adorama.com/djicpma3461b.html

Originally Posted by cudarunner

The state of California has what they call 'Sharing the Lane' which is were a motorcycle can freely use the area between cars to ride. Personally I think that it's stupid. The bikes that use it always seem to be some guy on a rice rocket and he's not typically just going slowly--OH NO--he's doing 60 miles per hour while the traffic is barely moving.

I'm on my Harley and I'm a patient man--I'll wait.

If I'm not mistaken, there are rules about the relative speed of the bike with respect to the traffic. But, as with normal speed rules, this doesn't mean that everyone will obey them.

As with anything else, "lanesplitting" can be done relatively safely or not. Personally, I wish more states would allow a regulated version. I've been stuck on a Harley in stopped traffic on a hot day with police around, and the only choice was to pull over and shut the bike off or risk overheating and destroying the motor.

Originally Posted by celticcrusader

Owned bikes when I was younger, been having a yearning lately for another, told my wife she said she would leave me If I ever got on another bike, we love sports bikes I the UK, Harley Davidsons are affectionately referred to as old man's motors, I really like the look of the new Ducati Monster 1200.

We don't really have the weather in Britain for a Harley, you would have to spend more time cleaning it than riding it.

I don't know what the new ones are like because I'm out of touch with the bike scene but I remember 30 odd years ago people used to say that even though Duccati's were the business, you needed to carry your mechanic on the back.

Well gentlemen, it's official. I have hung up my 2 wheel spurs for good. It's just too risky and dangerous for me (personally) to be out on the road with these distracted idiotic drivers, among other potential hazards like unfilled pot holes. And at this point in my life, broken bones will take a long time to heal, so it's time to say goodbye. I have sold my Triumph Trophy 1200. Someone got an incredible deal, believe me. I am also in the process of sellig my lovingly restored vintage 1982 Honda GL500 Interstate.

I have decades of (mostly) wonderful memories of all the moto touring and especially moto camping I did on those bikes. Especially the 1200 Triumph since it was a highway miles eater.

i remember camping in Daytona Beach (KOA) in January circa 2005 ish. Freak cold snap. 28 degrees at night. I'm in my tent with a 1200 watt electric heater on the 700 watt LOW setting. And it's roasting me out. I'm sleeping on top of my sleeping bag in my skivvies. Next morning I go to the KOA camp store for coffee. The two elderly ladies say, "You are that poor motorcycle tent camper, yes? You poor thing! You must be freezing.
Here, have some free coffee to warm you and some free home made muffins!". I didn't have the heart to tell them I was almost too warm in my tent the night before.

I remember being stuck in a hurricane riding from Florida to Michigan. I got stuck in Southern Georgia on I-75. Rain coming down so hard I could barely see the road, under 2 inches of water that could not drain off the road fast enough. I was doing about 20 MPH with my 4 ways on and my helmet visor cracked to follow the white line on the shoulder of the highway. In my rear view mirror I saw a tractor trailer following ME because he probably could not see the road either and knew I was at least following a highway lane marking line. It took me over an hour to go about 20 miles to an exit with (luckily) a Super 8 motel with a diner and a gas station attached. That was ALL there was at that exit. The hotel owner took pity on me when I checked in with then 50 mph sustained winds and torrential rain, so he put my bike in his storage shed to get it out of the horrific weather. I spent two or three days at that hotel before the weather cleared enough for me to conitnue north. And it was bad. Temps dropped to near 50 degrees in Georgie and near 30 up north. I froze my butt off riding. My riding gear was still a bit damp after two days in the motel because it got so absolutely soaked riding in that hurricane.

I remember a Kentucky camp where it was sub freezing at night, and this time NO electrical plug. I only had one of those millitary fleece sleeping bags and I had to get up in the middle of the night and ride to a 24 hour Walmart for a real sleeping bag. I had my electric tent heater, but without electricity it was obviously useless. The next morniing I went to a Cracker Barrel and asked to sit right next to the fire. I think that's the coldest I have ever been in my entire life.

I remember a Montana ride on Interstate 90 where I got into a group of riders (BMW CLUB) that were riding about 90 MPH. We made great time that day. Ceiling speed limit in Montana so no worries about your speed limit. But I can say that at a sustained speed of 90 MPH, the consequences of a tire blowout at that speed was always in the back of my mind.

i will miss moto touring and camping at times, but it's for the best. It really was time for me to hang up those spurs.

Carry on, be safe, and enjoy the ride!

-Zip

Originally Posted by ZipZop

Well gentlemen, it's official. I have hung up my 2 wheel spurs for good. It's just too risky and dangerous for me (personally) to be out on the road with these distracted idiotic drivers, among other potential hazards like unfilled pot holes. And at this point in my life, broken bones will take a long time to heal, so it's time to say goodbye. I have sold my Triumph Trophy 1200.

i will miss moto touring and camping at times, but it's for the best. It really was time for me to hang up those spurs.

Carry on, be safe, and enjoy the ride!

-Zip

I am sorry that you need to stop riding. Your perspective is much longer than mine so you know what is good for you.
I started riding at the age of 69, I am now 73 years old and enjoy riding immensely. I wish I had started much younger.

Where I live now, Dunn County Wisconsin, we get about 6 months of riding season. The rest of the year it is much too cold.
I do have the luxury of riding only in a rural area that is hilly and pastoral. During the infrequent times that it is necessary to ride in a big city, I find it to be less than pleasant and rather stressful particularly dur ing "rush hour". If I were living in a city and riding there every day I would not enjoy it nearly as much.

My age does have a downside for riding. The most obvious is my reflex time, it is not as fast as when I was young, but the biggest change I have had to make is in my riding/driving habits which have been built up during my 73 years on this 3rd rock from the Sun. The "rolling stops" have now ended and a full stop at every stop sign is my norm, being hyper-aware of driveways, parked cars, intersections, and whitetail deer is my norm.
As a result I have become a better rider/driver because of my motorcycles.

2002 Harley Heritage Softail Springer
1998 Honda VFR800
1999 Honda Valkyrie
2001 Yamaha Vstar 650

Funny thing, after riding like I had been fired from a gun in Britain for years, I borrowed my friends pushbike.

It was absolutely exhausting because I had unlearned how to cycle sedately and enjoy the scenery. That bicycle had to go fast fast fast all the time.

Originally Posted by randydance062449

I am sorry that you need to stop riding. Your perspective is much longer than mine so you know what is good for you.
I started riding at the age of 69, I am now 73 years old and enjoy riding immensely. I wish I had started much younger.

Where I live now, Dunn County Wisconsin, we get about 6 months of riding season. The rest of the year it is much too cold.
I do have the luxury of riding only in a rural area that is hilly and pastoral. During the infrequent times that it is necessary to ride in a big city, I find it to be less than pleasant and rather stressful particularly dur ing "rush hour". If I were living in a city and riding there every day I would not enjoy it nearly as much.

My age does have a downside for riding. The most obvious is my reflex time, it is not as fast as when I was young, but the biggest change I have had to make is in my riding/driving habits which have been built up during my 73 years on this 3rd rock from the Sun. The "rolling stops" have now ended and a full stop at every stop sign is my norm, being hyper-aware of driveways, parked cars, intersections, and whitetail deer is my norm.
As a result I have become a better rider/driver because of my motorcycles.

2002 Harley Heritage Softail Springer
1998 Honda VFR800
1999 Honda Valkyrie
2001 Yamaha Vstar 650

If you enjoy riding, by all means continue. We obviously have a limited time on this earth to enjoy a few passions, and if riding is one of them, ENJOY!

I have had too many close calls since I was 16 and started riding. I had a very bad accident (I won't go into here) when I was 17. Lucky to have survived. I dumped the Triumph 1200 (heavy bike) once in heavy rain on a tar slick. I was forced off the road by a woman texting and drifting into my lane (oncoming) forcing me into a ditch and damaging the bike. She only stopped and came back to yell at me about how motorcycles were hard to see and should be illegal.

I have logged tens of thousands of long distance riding miles. I got out of it without much more than a sore back, stiff legs, and a sprained foot when I was forced into the ditch by the texting woman. It is just my time to say goodbye to the 2 wheel transportation devices.

As I posted, I'll miss it at times, but my car has air conditioning and heat, it's mostly waterproof, it puts protective steel around me, and it has Sirius XM Radio. I'm at the age now where that's excitement enough. But the memories of all my moto touring and camping will remain.

One more memory worth mentioning. A ride from West Virginia to Florida via I-77 to I-95. Where I-77 terminates at I-95. OK, let's be accurate so someone doesn't have to correct me. I-77 actually terminates when it hits Highway 26 near Columbia, SC, and you are on highway 26 for a short stint for the rest of the drive to I-95.

Anyway, I am again lucky enough to hit the highway in a group of large bike riders. About 15 or 20 riders also going to Florida. They welcome me into ther group. We get to Georgia (quickly) and we start passing speed traps. Yet no police try and pull us over. This was when the speed limit on I-95 was 65, and we're doing 80 plus, so 15 over and then some. It would be quite a job to pull over 20 large bikes going that fast without causing issues on a busy interstate like I-95. We tool through Georgia and just before the Florida state line, there are two Georia State cops standing on the shoulder outside their cruisers just shaking their Stetson donned heads as we fly by. Like saying to us via the head shake, "Get the heck out of our state and don't come back you idiots".



I'm fairly certain I took this photo the day of that high speed Georgia ride. This would have been at a Starbucks just south of Jacksonville, FL.

I retired myself from riding a while back. The street is dangerous around here. People have no courtesy. Downright mean.
They will bump-up toward the street as you approach in order to freak you out. That gets more common every day.

I enjoyed riding in the woods but my buddies are all enamored with a new, faster bike every year or 2 and don't ride and enjoy.
They race through the woods. I always bring up the rear and catch up as they take a break to smoke pot of all things. They say it keeps them sharp.
Yeah..
Then, they bitch about my pace telling me I should step it up.
I have no desire to be involved in someone getting hurt way out in the woods.
That and it takes a tank of gas to get to the trailhead and back home

Not a competitive rider so the motocross track is not for me.
Seems everyone is racing when you get 3 riders together in any discipline.

I have a couple of buddies who grew up on bikes. With plenty of dough, they have more than 20 bikes each. It's a contest of some sort.
Being retired, they pull out a different bike every day and make rounds to visit those of us who have to work.
I worry for them as being in their 70's, They are slowing down in reaction time and think they are above injury. A macho thing.

I still have a few bikes which mostly just sit. Need to sell them