Quote from Forbin :

Quote from Chrisuu01 :

I was accelerating out of this corner when my bike lowsided.
https://www.google.nl/maps/@51 ... 7Hz1U9_Pm9dY7bPia3iQw!2e0

My left knee hit one of those beige stones at of the road's edge.
The protector in my motorcycle trousers was literally shattered.

The internal armour or external knee puck?

Does it matter at that point...Might as well be a hockey goal tender, be interesting to see someone ride in full gear..hockey not..whatever you guys call that stuff..do you wear a condom ? Just asking..you make it seem so exciting...lol That was for you Forbin my 2 wheeled friend

Quote from skstibi :

Someone say Turbocharged 650? This is the way to go with that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAIUiPqjw9Q

No Someone said Snortin' Norton, or a splif.

Quote from Racer Y :

Quote from Omar1 :

After starting issues and 4 attempts at the valve clearances, she's back!

You switched the head light too? Yeah. I can see the shocks better. in the other picture, It sorta looked like a chrome plated rod. I think the tear drop tank actually works well with the overall look too.
I have headlight problems with my suzuki. Wanna know where I get the bulbs? (pay attention forbin, this'll blow your mind) I get the bulbs from Home Depot. You have something like that in the UK? It's a home and garden place. Anyways, I buy these $12.00 set of lawn lights, break two apart and snag the bulbs out.
That's the high beam. The low beam is a driving light bought from an auto parts store. I'm wanting to re modify that and replace that with xenon bulbs, but I haven't had the time to compare amps of the bulbs to amps put out as well as make a housing. I don't know how to describe what I have now. Let's just say it could stand improvement.

... a hardtail cafe racer... It would look cool, but hurt to ride...

Never had to buy bulbs from a home store haha, it's the same headlight just better bulbs and yellow film over it

Quote from Omar1 :

Quote from Racer Y :

Quote from Omar1 :

After starting issues and 4 attempts at the valve clearances, she's back!

You switched the head light too? Yeah. I can see the shocks better. in the other picture, It sorta looked like a chrome plated rod. I think the tear drop tank actually works well with the overall look too.
I have headlight problems with my suzuki. Wanna know where I get the bulbs? (pay attention forbin, this'll blow your mind) I get the bulbs from Home Depot. You have something like that in the UK? It's a home and garden place. Anyways, I buy these $12.00 set of lawn lights, break two apart and snag the bulbs out.
That's the high beam. The low beam is a driving light bought from an auto parts store. I'm wanting to re modify that and replace that with xenon bulbs, but I haven't had the time to compare amps of the bulbs to amps put out as well as make a housing. I don't know how to describe what I have now. Let's just say it could stand improvement.

... a hardtail cafe racer... It would look cool, but hurt to ride...

Never had to buy bulbs from a home store haha, it's the same headlight just better bulbs and yellow film over it

You know, I keep looking at your new bike..."new". I started looking at the "before" the old bike. And I got to thinking. Who did they market that for? My first real bike was a 250cc bike it was also cruiser style. I didn't buy it for that. I bought it cause it was what I could afford. When you look at your bike, the before (what the industry hacks put out) and yours, the after, which style do you think would be a better seller in a dealership for a bike that size? I do notice that Yamaha is sort of catching on to this with the 400 cc retro bike they're selling. LOL They're 650 twin is a legend and they want to rehash this motor. I dunno. I remember when that retro bike wasn't a retro bike. It wasn't a very good bike compared to the other bikes. But what do I know? I'm totally convinced God makes Hondas.
If you want to go fast, get a Honda. If you want to go faster, get a Suzuki. If you want to go fast again tomorrow? Stick with the Honda.

Quote from Racer Y :

If you want to go fast, get a Honda. If you want to go faster, get a Suzuki. If you want to go fast again tomorrow? Stick with the Honda.

If we're talking 600-class supersports, I'd argue they're currently all about the same, such was the pace of development in the last 20 years.

At the track, Suzukis are popular because they tend to be cheaper, easier to work on, and have slightly more horsepower throughout the rev range. Yamahas are popular because they tend to have the best handling. Hondas are notorious for being difficult to work on and fragile (especially the forks), but also for being more user friendly (easier/less work to go fast up to a point). Kawasakis don't generally have the best reputation and I'm not sure why. Perhaps it was because they were generally the heaviest, although that may have changed with the most recent generation.

Mostly though, these are minuscule differences that racers tend to exaggerate when talking about them.

Quote from Forbin :

Quote from Racer Y :

If you want to go fast, get a Honda. If you want to go faster, get a Suzuki. If you want to go fast again tomorrow? Stick with the Honda.

If we're talking 600-class supersports, I'd argue they're currently all about the same, such was the pace of development in the last 20 years.

At the track, Suzukis are popular because they tend to be cheaper, easier to work on, and have slightly more horsepower throughout the rev range. Yamahas are popular because they tend to have the best handling. Hondas are notorious for being difficult to work on and fragile (especially the forks), but also for being more user friendly (easier/less work to go fast up to a point). Kawasakis don't generally have the best reputation and I'm not sure why. Perhaps it was because they were generally the heaviest, although that may have changed with the most recent generation.

Mostly though, these are minuscule differences that racers tend to exaggerate when talking about them.

Yeah actually I reworded it a little. It was if you want go fast get Japanese... go faster Italian... You get the idea.
But apparently what you say about 600cc bikes in Racing is the same in regular rider preference. I don't know much about the sport bike scene. But from What I see it's almost just like that. Is that why you like Suzukis? Because of overall bang for your buck?

ROFL know why suzukis are so much easier to work on than Hondas? Cause after working on the Suzi enough times, you sorta get the feel of where everything's at.
Yeah, Hondas can be a pain. Out of my two, the suzuki is way easier to work on - except syncing the carbs. Just they cram as much crap as they could up under the front of the gas tank But also, I work on it more often. THe Honda is a frigging tank.
I don't know much about Kawasakis, I do know that their ltd line of bikes back in the 80's had decent motors. And there's just something about the 1100. My friend's ninja sucked. He bought the bike from someone that didn't take care of it and neither did he.
One thing I hate about japanese bikes are the quality of screws they use in critical areas. I had to do some work on my carbs a while back. The hardest part of the whole thing was fighting to keep from stripping out a screw head.

"Mostly though, these are minuscule differences that racers tend to exaggerate when talking about them."
What fun would it be if they didn't? The bike you ride should always be better than the bike someone else rides....

Short crappy clip from phone, getting a GoPro next summer and might even start moto-vlogging.

Haven't had a proper bike in 10 years, the little I managed to ride around the (semi-frozen) parking lot went fine though!

Quote from Matrixi :

Short crappy clip from phone, getting a GoPro next summer and might even start moto-vlogging.

Haven't had a proper bike in 10 years, the little I managed to ride around the (semi-frozen) parking lot went fine though!

It's a Bee. Proper bike...what's that..looks right to me.

More like AtomRant

wth man?

First sunny day and dry roads this spring, had to go for a ride. Only my second day of riding, but slowly getting the groove back.

Cool footage. What's your GoPro rig?

Using the entry level Hero mounted like this:



Got the mounting idea from this guy. Will also upgrade to Hero 5 black or silver once they arrive later this year.

Quote from Matrixi :

Using the entry level Hero mounted like this:



Got the mounting idea from this guy. Will also upgrade to Hero 5 black or silver once they arrive later this year.

LOL A picture of a guy taking pictures of a device that takes pictures....

I have a dumb question.....
What do you intend on using the camera for? Told you it was a dumb question. See, I know two types that have HERO cameras. One has it cause it's a neat gadget. It helps them capture moments of their ride and stuff like that.
The other bunch? They're using it as some sort of security camera. Like they think it's handy to have in case of accidents or cops or something.
My wife wants to get one (first reason), but I figure for the most part all I'd get to record is my work commute. Who the hell wants to sit thru a hour and a half home movie of close-ups of various vehicle rear ends accompanied by the soundtrack of random cussing from an old biker?
Spring time in Scandinavia.... I've heard that your region is actually quite a bit warmer than what it would seem. Is that really true? Or do y'all say that to get people to move up there? I haven't seen your video just yet, but from the opening picture, it doesn't look like a day in Miami so much to me.
Still looks pretty
....
I'm working on or supposed to be working on a plaque that's going to be mounted on the tree of a Triumph Bonneville. This bike is going to be raced at Pike's Peak this year. I know the owner, but I don't really know who is going to ride it. He's some former Superbike rider. Yeah, for an old 650, I understand it's pretty damned fast. I actually haven't been all that exposed to the bike yet, beyond the gas tank. The bike has a home-made tank on it that really looks good. It has a clear coated brushed finish. There's a little argument about placing knee pads in the cut-aways, but the owner has the final say. I'll try to get a photo of the bike.

>>>>>>>.......
OK. You live in Finland right? Up there close to Santa Claus right? So where's your snow? I know you have snow. What did you do with it?
... I wish people here would handle roundabouts like y'all do there. For some reason, roundabouts seem to confuse the hell out of Americans... And we invented NASCAR.

Cafe racer is still going strong, done a few more little mods here and there. New bars coming soon as one of mine broke


Modified the brake pedal today too

Quote from Racer Y :

- snip -

I use the GoPro for several purposes. I want to have footage available if I ever see something cool while on a ride, it's also a security thing if a cager ever drives in to me. I might also start doing motovlogs at some point... though that will require upgrading to a silver or black as this entry model has no mic jack.

Spring has finally arrived over here at west coast, riders up north aren't quite so fortunate yet. That said, roads still have tons of winter gravel all over the place, gotta take them corners slow.

^ Nice cafe racer Omar, spoked wheels from an older CB would give it some more classic touch.

Quote from Omar1 :

Cafe racer is still going strong, done a few more little mods here and there. New bars coming soon as one of mine broke

Well done.
One slight concern is that cable. Is that the throttle cable that was fitted to higher bars, or the clutch coming from the other side? Either way it looks much too long to be routed properly. I'd worry that it might catch on something, you should address that, it would also clean up the look a lot.

Quote from sinbad :

Well done.
One slight concern is that cable. Is that the throttle cable that was fitted to higher bars, or the clutch coming from the other side? Either way it looks much too long to be routed properly. I'd worry that it might catch on something, you should address that, it would also clean up the look a lot.

It is the original clutch cable, hasnt had any issues yet. But it's on it's way out anyway so the new one i get will be shorter

Quote from Omar1 :

Quote from sinbad :

Well done.
One slight concern is that cable. Is that the throttle cable that was fitted to higher bars, or the clutch coming from the other side? Either way it looks much too long to be routed properly. I'd worry that it might catch on something, you should address that, it would also clean up the look a lot.

It is the original clutch cable, hasnt had any issues yet. But it's on it's way out anyway so the new one i get will be shorter

Please don't take any of this too serious. Instead, think of this as more of talk from "that one guy" You know that one guy. The one that always opens their mouth about how YOU should do stuff, yet really hasn't a clue about what they're talking about? Yeah, that guy. Hopefully, you don't have that big of a problem. But I wanna just play pretend with your bike.
What's the seat height on the bike when you sit on it? I know this is a small bike, but how big are you?
Meaning if you could lower it just a little... See your back fender and wheel? Unless it goes down a lot when you get on it. Also, scrap the front fender. Who cares about safety? We're trying to look cool here.
Besides it kills off some of the weight.
Word of warning. I've hit the back fender on my Suzuki after a more than a few bumps to crack it and the back end is stiff enough to may as well be a hard tail. And the battery is oh so conveniently located for easy access - under the swing arm, in front of the back tire. I can rebuild that damned bracket in my sleep.
Also, you know how I get my head lights at home improvement stores? If you go to the plumbing department, you can make a hyper charger for the bike for a couple of dollars - pounds, go to the lighting department to get stuff for the cone..... You'll wanna re jet... ROFL just jab an ice pick down the carb a couple of times, you'll be fine.....seriously, if you did go nuts and make a pvc charger, you'd want to re jet. and that's a pain. And if you were to rejet with an icepick, then that would mean you were huffing the matte black spray paint instead of painting the pipe.
Oh yeah, spokes....and if you get new tires, forget about performance, get something with a cool old school tread and raised white letters. And KEEP THE TANK! you've see one cafe racer with a bread boxtank, you've seen them all.

By the way, as soon as my real life settles down to a riot, I intend on working on the suzuki, like I keep claiming to do. All I really have time for is to pull her out in the drive way and crank it up and annoy the neighbors. I'll ride it around a the block or so a few times, but I don't have the time to do all the crap I want to do and have a hard time deciding on just what TO do, So if I get into it, I'll try to post progress and you can feel free to be "That guy". Only I've been afflicted with more than just one.

in fact.. you can start with the seat. At this point, I don't know if I'm going to replace the seat. After around a 100k (80ish?), my butt's kinda used to the shape, but it needs to be re upholstered again... I went with naugahyde as it deals with the elements pretty good and is cheaper and much better quality than the factory crap. I going back and forth between stingray and a Mexican blanket. I fantasize that I can actually do the Blanket myself. LOL I think I can I think I can I think I can... The Stingray? Not so much...

Yeah, customizing bikes.... The Harley guys got it so easy.
I need to post a picture of my brother's Sportster, The Notorious "Girl's bike"
I don't know why they call sportsters girls bikes. I heard a story that way back in the 1950's that they were marketed to women riders when they first came out. To be honest, the former owner of his bike IS a woman, but the bike got the name cause my daughter razzed him and called it a girl's bike and the name stuck. Yeah. What's funny about sportsters and women is almost all the female riders I know that ride harleys ride those massive mortgage glides. I only know of a couple of girls that ride sportsters.
Anyways, he doesn't have to go to home improvement stores to customize.
LOL The way he gets custom parts for that bike is almost as easy as going through a drive-thru.
Almost like Legos
It is a nice looking ride though If I ever get a picture of it, I'll post it or a link to it or something.

2 Day track day on the weekend. Here is my fastest lap. Guy on the GSXR crashed on the next lap. Will put that video up later.

Switched the stock round retro styled mirrors to Aprilia Tuono units. They even give a slightly wider view, which is great!





Still waiting for mini-indicators to arrive from Germany so I can get rid of the huge stock ones, and also mount the new rear indicators up closer to the tail light while at it.

I love the old Hornets, they're bags of fun, plenty fast, comfortable because they're a good size and just feel totally bullet-proof. Plus they have that timeless "retro" styling with the spot-light.

I don't like the newer ones half as much.

I love 'em too, the facelifted PC36 model is the last nice one before they went full retard on the new model.

Also the Hornet 900 is a real beauty, I'm planning on upgrading to one next year.

I actually find most modern bikes generally ugly compared to bikes that are now around ten years old. Only modern enduros and smotos are still good looking, pretty much all nakeds and supersports are hideous to look at.

Hey Matrixi.....
I had this crazy idea for your camera. If you mounted it on your chest then wire it to a flat screen on your back, would it look like there was a hole in you to the people behind you?

So guys, I have my mind set on buying a bike, I'm currently selling my car and I was planning on buying a cheaper car but I could buy a bike with that money.

Two things keep me from buying it, my fiancee of course lol, and the weather, it rains a lot here for Mexican standards.

What could I do to avoid getting really wet while driving a bike? What do you guys do when it's raining and you need to hit the street?

I'm also looking into recommendations as to what equipment to get, what type of helmet is good? Gloves, jacket etc...

If I ever get to buy one, I'm thinking Yamaha R15 or probably Honda CBR250, you need to start somewhere right?!

Ok guys, thanks!

I hate these damn birds... second time this year already.