Question for the Motorcycle Mags

[Marshall Tucker]

Don't do it. It's like dating an insanely hot, insanely crazy bitch. It may feel good when you're riding her but someday she is going to fuck your life right up the ass with a Louisville Slugger and no lube.


Just my .02 as a former rider with a family full of riders. .. One short as of late, and at no fault of his own. Be careful out there, man. It's never you.

I'm retarted stupid so that out of the way. Are you saying that you used to ride, lotta people in your family rode, one died on a bike, and now you don't ride, and it probably won't end well for me? Or are you saying i shouldn't do the steering upgrade. Just trying to get the message straight.

Very sorry for your loss. Been getting a lot of scare stories lately and it's gotten me thinkin. But damn it is fun...

[MakersTeleMark]

Do a search on the bearing issue here:

http://www.600riders.com/forum/

It's a common problem for certain year FZ6's.

And the newish Yammy is the FZ/MT 09. It's a triple. There is also the FJ09 sport touring version. The FZ07 is totally different, a twin. And it puts out 30 hp less than the FZ6.

[guroo270]

If you have a good wrench opt for an all ballz steering head bearing. They have a sensitivity to tightness but are the best.

[Cono Este]

Fix it right! Your life depends on it.

Reminds me of when I got into mountain biking and I tried to fix a shitty fork. My sponsored, elitist, board moderator friend told me how easily the forks could snap and I could die.

He is right.

[guroo270]

Jesus, and I thought I was blowing it out of proportion.

[Supermoon]

Speaking of blowing it out of proportion: I have a nail in my front tire (f&%!*ing construction at my apartment complex), but it's holding air. Shop says they can't recommend riding it into them to get it replaced, but to me it seems like a few miles on surface streets isn't necessarily going to hurt anything. I noticed it the day after I took a long ride, so who knows how long it's been in there without losing any air. The nail head is pretty mangled.

Is the risk that it would leak air and go flat on the way? Or could it cause a blowout, which would be much more dangerous?

I'd prefer not to have to tow it, and I don't have any stands or place to work on my bike at my apt at the moment.

[MakersTeleMark]

Why not just plug it and keep riding?

Or just take the front wheel off and throw it in your car?

[twodogs]

Longtime girlfriend wants to learn to ride. I'm on an 80 KZ750. Looking for a good starter bike for her. She's somewhere around 130lb(I don't ask). I think an old honda cb350 four would be ideal though doubt they had disc brakes and parts are getting hard to come by.

So, recommendations on a starter bike welcome. Budget around $2,000

Edit: other option is fix up 78 gs550 I haven't ridden for ten years.

[Jesse]

Ninja 250/500 depending on her previous experience. 500 is quicker than you might think. Both are super easy to ride. 250 she may quickly grow out of (or not). Should be able to find one I'm your budget. I bought ninja 500 for my first bike. Rode it super hard, doubled the millage and still sold it for a profit. There's something to be said for riding a slow bike fast. ..
Honda 599 (Hornet) is super comfortable and fun, but I'd only suggest this if she had some sort of experience, mind you if you keep the revs low it's super easy. This bike just also had a top end. Have to be high millage for your price, but Hondas are super reliable.
I'm riding a honda 919 which is an awesome bike. Even it's easy to ride with a gentle right hand. (I'm not suggesting this one for her).
My friends wife started on honda 125. It was perfect for cause she was nervous, but it was slow! Basically a scooter. So light and easy and cheap. But not really up for the highway, at least if there's a hill or headwind. ..
Good luck. Make sure she's happy with the choice, otherwise she'll never ride. P.s. breakdowns can be scary on a bike. I'd avoid something too old .

[Supermoon]

Why not just plug it and keep riding?

Or just take the front wheel off and throw it in your car?

I thought you can't really fix a moot tire. That's at least what I have been told/read.

I'd just take the front tire off, but I don't have a way to do it at my current place.

[Supermoon]

Longtime girlfriend wants to learn to ride. I'm on an 80 KZ750. Looking for a good starter bike for her. She's somewhere around 130lb(I don't ask). I think an old honda cb350 four would be ideal though doubt they had disc brakes and parts are getting hard to come by.

So, recommendations on a starter bike welcome. Budget around $2,000

Edit: other option is fix up 78 gs550 I haven't ridden for ten years.

My wife just learned and she loves the 250 Ninjas and the Suzuki TU250x. She's about 110 lbs soaking wet and both of those are easy for her to handle.

She just took her safety course and is super stoked to ride.

[Tippster]

Why not just plug it and keep riding?

I thought you can't really fix a moot tire. That's at least what I have been told/read.
.

Not sure what you mean by a "moot tire." I bought a plug kit for $8 off Amazon. I'll be goddamned if I'm gonnna replace an otherwise fine tire just because of a nail. I have never, not once, had an issue with a plugged tire. Wouldn't you trust a glued rubber plug more than a nail???

Longtime girlfriend wants to learn to ride. I'm on an 80 KZ750. Looking for a good starter bike for her. She's somewhere around 130lb(I don't ask). I think an old honda cb350 four would be ideal though doubt they had disc brakes and parts are getting hard to come by.

So, recommendations on a starter bike welcome. Budget around $2,000

Edit: other option is fix up 78 gs550 I haven't ridden for ten years.

Buell Blast. Ridiculously easy to ride and maintain. Single cylinder 600cc bike w/an upright riding position and ergonomically comfortable for even a petite woman.

[Supermoon]

Not sure what you mean by a "moot tire." I bought a plug kit for $8 off Amazon. I'll be goddamned if I'm gonnna replace an otherwise fine tire just because of a nail. I have never, not once, had an issue with a plugged tire. Wouldn't you trust a glued rubber plug more than a nail???

Yeah, meant moto tire

Are those plugs long-term fixes? I always thought they were just emergency fixes.

I'm definitely up to try it if people have had success with it. Shop guys I talked to said they wouldn't do it, but they obviously have incentive to sell brand new tires.

[guroo270]

1) get the tire fixed. You can ride it there with the thought that it could blow, and be ready to pull off the road if it does. But Jesus, on a bike you have a whole square inch connecting you to the road - don't be a J. P. Honda Pilot.

2) going through the GF bike thing right now, too. I had the same thought. Under $2k, starter bike. What do I do? I find a damn near museum condition 1975 CB 360t. 1) I don't want her to ride it. If she goes down I feel like she's destroying history. 2) it's been in the shop 4 of the 6 weeks she's owned it. I had her sit on a brand new Honda CB300f(?ithink) and she liked the feel of it. Check that out. They've actually come up with some pretty cool 300 cc options recently. Thank the pussy ass hipsters I guess.

Thankfully I have a shop that charges one hour for a valve job, so the cb hasn't been a money pit, but it's been frustrating.

Beautiful bike, though.

[guroo270]

Btw, buy the four, the twin is buzzy as fuck.

[DoWork]

I'm retarted stupid so that out of the way. Are you saying that you used to ride, lotta people in your family rode, one died on a bike, and now you don't ride, and it probably won't end well for me? Or are you saying i shouldn't do the steering upgrade. Just trying to get the message straight.

Very sorry for your loss. Been getting a lot of scare stories lately and it's gotten me thinkin. But damn it is fun...

You're not stupid, I was vague... I hate sharing details about my life to the general public, so I tend to be a bit ambiguous at times. I grew up riding. I gave it up a couple years ago. People are out of their fucking minds and will run you off the road for anything you do that they don't like. They don't fucking care you might die at all, they're just mad and that's all they know or care about. I still have a lot of family that are M/C 1%ers and such and I worry about them a lot but they will never stop riding and I get it.


And yes- Unfortunately my little brother was killed in a fucking horrific multi-vehicle accident a few weeks ago. He was riding in a small group of friends and they went around a corner- oncoming car cut it tight on the apex and the guy in front of him crossed over just enough for a head on collision. That bike exploded and half of it hit my brother, knocking him out and pinning him in a pool of burning gasoline. His best friend had to run into the fire and pull him out to extinguish him. When I saw him like that, my God... My fucking soul smashed right in half. You can never unsee that shit, man.


The question IMO isn't whether or not you're willing to pay the ultimate price- once you get fucked up like that you never knew what hit you more than likely. You will probably never know your card got pulled. He never knew, thankfully.


The real question is- and I'm very sorry in advance because I'm gonna get real as fuck right now- are you willing to put your family in an ICU for days to pray over your charred/rashed/mangled remains and stare into your foggy burnt eyes because your face is so roasted your eyes don't close? Are you wiling to have them whisper into your fucking flame-curled ears about how much they love you and need you to stay strong? Want them to consider you keeping your limbs, genitals and, senses and bodily functions a secondary concern- only to have you die in their arms while they fucking sob uncontrollably? Want to put your wife in your house alone and broken with massive payments due, fucking astronomical medical bills, little income and no fucks given by any creditor?


THOSE are the questions you should ask yourself right now. You won't get a second chance. My brother was a very skilled rider, we grew up on dirt bikes and street bikes and had been to many advanced rider training courses together but like I said it's never you. This could also happen in a car but our risk factors increase exponentially on a bike as we all know.


Sorry if that reads awfully, it was really hard to write and even harder to articulate. I know how much fun they are and plenty of people ride their whole lives without incident... But believe me when I say your worst nightmare isn't SHIT if those dice roll against you- or maybe your slip-up will be the one that kills someone else like happened to my brother. I fucking hate sharing personal details about my life on here, and it doesn't get any more personal- I didn't do or want a +vibezzz+ thread and I don't like to talk about it at all... But I felt like I needed to pass that along while you're still listening.



My advice is thusly:


Fix the steering and sell it

OR

If you keep it, takeout a $150k life insurance policy on yourself- your insurance likely does not provide injury insurance with your bike coverage unless you add a ryder for it and a Life Flight ride costs $50k alone fyi. Also ALWAYS FUCKING WEAR ALL THE ANNOYINGLY HOT PROTECTIVE GEAR YOU CAN AFFORD. A sweet riding jacket, pants, helmet and gloves are more than accessories. They're absolute necessities.


Sorry for the long winded vent. I've got a lot on my mind.

[guroo270]

Stay strapped up. As I throw my leg over I always tell myself this could be the last time. Keeps me sharp. Where I gotta be.

Sorry to hear about your brother, DoWork. That's tragic. You need a random person to yell at, I'm right here man. I can't even hardly imagine that scene.

Dated a girl who's brother spent 6 months in a burn unit. I was there most of the time. You never forget that smell.

[Marshall Tucker]

Whoa. That's intense.

[Supermoon]

That's a really hard situation for you all I'm sure. Sort of the nightmare scenario for any.one that does semi-dangerous sports. Vibes for all of you guys.

[MakersTeleMark]

Fix the bearing. Fix the tire. They are parts. On a machine. I road a straight, not straight, 8 hours today and have about 13 k for the season. And to the other poster, check out the yammie r3. Nice bike.

And for DoWork. Sorry about your brother. But, if you go down or die on a mc, it is your fault. Check your sight lines, stay on the inside on rh turns. Don't ride in big groups. Throttle control, etc.

Armchairing for sure, but 25 years of riding, and you can't get complacent. I've seen more over the double the yellow's than you have ski days. Only 5 today. Unfortunately, we have to put up with that shit, and, yes, one small mistake, of anticipating the dooche, even if you are in the right, will get you dead. Every fucking time.

Not a reason not to ride, just a reason to stay wicked smart. Hell, I even hit an animal today. Fucking gopher!

[DoWork]

And for DoWork. Sorry about your brother. But...

Really dude? Go fuck yourself. What you could possibly stand- even internally- to gain by postulating your know-it-all bullshit I have no idea. Yeah bro I'll pass that along to him you fucking loudmouthed cunt.

[Skidog]

And for DoWork. Sorry about your brother. But, if you go down or die on a mc, it is your fault. Check your sight lines, stay on the inside on rh turns. Don't ride in big groups. Throttle control, etc.

Armchairing for sure, but 25 years of riding, and you can't get complacent. I've seen more over the double the yellow's than you have ski days. Only 5 today. Unfortunately, we have to put up with that shit, and, yes, one small mistake, of anticipating the dooche, even if you are in the right, will get you dead. Every fucking time.

Says the soon to be red greasy spot on the highway. Hope you're and organ donor and thankfully they don't do brain transplants.

Jesus bro that was harsh. I agree with Dowork its rarely the moto rider. You can pay as close attention as you can and still be fucked. They're called "accidents" eh. On a bike you're just way more apt to get badly hurt than in a car.

And Dowork sorry for your loss. Stay strong it does get better.

[ex-powderbroker]

And for DoWork. Sorry about your brother. But,

Yeah dude, whenever you have to add a BUT to the sentence, you may just want to keep it to yourself.

My dads buddy spent all last summer in the ER after a high school kid ran a stop sign at 6am T-boning him at 40 mph. He had already dialed his riding in to the way early morning because it was the only time he felt safe. It'll be a great day when I can pry the MC keys out of the hands of my friends and fam, seen way too many accidents already.

Sorry for everything you've been through, DW.

[twodogs]

Unfortunately this thread has become anti-motorcycle. I feel for the tragic stories here, BUT some of us ride motorcycles regardless of the risk.

Dowork, thanks for posting that. I had my girlfriend who wants to get into riding read that as a reality check. Serious shit.

[2FUNKY]

OMFG dowork, I shed a tear for you brother, and your brother. I have lost friends riding and don't ride today since I have a family, to many stupid people on the roads.