I love it!

[Thomas91169]

Bike+Awesome Scenery = greatest feeling in the world.

me and my closest buddy took a long, long ride (well, 3 hours, felt like all day) through the foothills and wow, it was probably one of the better things ive ever felt. ive taken the bike out a few times now, but he has this route that is just awe-inspiring. not too overly complex when it comes to leaning/turning, but enough to get me some experience.

have to say though, almost biffed it good today. coming out through the city we were coming up to the light at around 50ish. as we approach it it tuns yellow, and i see my buddy downshift to make it through the light, so i do the same and hit the throttle, but the second i engage the gear and accelerate, he nosedives and starts to slow down for the stop, i hit the front brakes and they lock up, in panic i lean back and pull on both handlebars to keep them from starting to wiggle, and in doing so i also rip at the throttle, which now i have a front end trying to brake and a rear end trying to accelerate. i finally recollect my thoughts as this is happening, i hit the clutch, loosen the front brakes and make the stop about a foot from the line. scared the piss out of me, but afterwards felt a little more confident, cause i now know the limits of my forward stopping abilities. he was like "umm, want to go home and check your pants?" and was pretty amazed i had the instinct to lean back and pull on both sides of the bars equally to get out of the wobble that will send riders flying over the front.

though my boots are way too big for the peg and shifter, i need to adjust the shifter tomorrow, therye so big that at a stop if i dont get them in the right spot ill not only kick the shifter down to 1st gear, ill also kick the kickstand down.

though cant wait till my real helmet gets in, im borrowing my co-workers for the time being, its his "just in case" full helmet for when he rides to work in weather conditions if his car is down and the half-helmet doesnt work. its a x-large and is a little too loose, if i try to look up at high speeds the air forces it to look down.

i had pics from when we got to the destination but for some reason now after typing this they are not being read. i took them by my cell phone, and with the SLVR the only way to transfer pics is if theyre on the removeable memory card, so i moved them over to the sd card i use for my camera but now my pc is only reading the pics my camera takes, and isnt reading the camera as a usb mass storage like it usually does if theres any other info on the card other than just huge resolution pics.

[wiarumas]

yeah.. thats what i hear. a lot of bike enthusiasts here in PA too because the awesome scenery of our highways... too bad they are all shitty and under construction.

[bluemustang]

fun fun

[timpryor]

tank slapper is bad, sounds to me thats what happened.

i can't wait to get my license and a day off and head up to the hill country

[Thomas91169]

yeah almost happened anyways.

[MonteCitan]

Quote: Originally Posted by timpryor tank slapper is bad,

Excuse my ignorance

what does that mean?

[timpryor]

Quote: Originally Posted by MonteCitan Excuse my ignorance what does that mean?

video of a tank slapper, something that would cause 99.9% of riders to need new pants....tankslapper

A violent oscillation of the front steering. All steering systems on motorcycles have a natural frequency (or speed) where, given an initiating disturbance, they will tend to oscillate quickly from side to side, each oscillation bigger than the previous. At its worst, the steering will be hitting the stops very rapidly—thus the term “tank slapper.” Damping prevents this from happening, by the rider’s arms and sometimes helped by a hydraulic steering damper. The newer sport bikes with their steeper steering geometry are more susceptible.
The most common slapper scenario is to be accelerating rapidly from a corner over broken pavement where the front wheel is barely touching the ground. A combination of bumps in the pavement and the rider attempting to steer the bike while the front wheel is slightly off the ground can cause an initial disturbance that is exactly at the natural oscillating frequency of the steering and overwhelm whatever damping the rider or bike is providing. Most people, however, seem to be able to ride them out.
Of course, worn steering bearings, worn tires, accident misalignment, poor suspension setup, etc. can all make the bike more susceptible to this problem.
Watch this MPEG movie of a tank-slapper.

[MonteCitan]

damn


glad I don't ever want to ride a bike haha

[Thomas91169]

yup basically thats what started happening, but luckily i got it under control before it got bad. plus i wasnt going fast, maybe 20-30mph when it started.

[Brent]

yea screw that. No bike for me

[Thomas91169]

eh gotta take the bad with the good. i mean just like the saying goes, "there are two types of riders, those who have fallen, and those who are going to fall". but then again, its doubtful you know anyone who as never been in a car accident of any type, i mean, you can get in an accident on a bike and be fine aside from a few bruises, and you can get in an accident in a car and be tore up. The fear is always there, and IMO its good to feel fear once again, for too long now ive been driving and felt invincible you get on the bike and its like "fuck, i could so kill myself" and its almost a good feeling cause it puts things back into perspective.

[Brent]

I'll take my chances in a 3200 pound car over a 200 pound two wheel death wish.

[MonteCitan]

Quote: Originally Posted by Brent I'll take my chances in a 3200 pound car over a 200 pound two wheel death wish.

.




(the civic was my sisters car)


Both wrecks were caused by other drivers, both of which if I'd been on a bike I woulda been screwed big time -- I'll just stick to the cars, seeing as its not yourself you have to look out for ('cept in your case haha) but the other drivers //end $.02