Motorcycle Enthusiasts

Stoner is doing phenomenally well, I've always had hopes for him, and dammit anyone is more interesting than Danny the robot Pedrosa, riding genius though he may be!

The guy who is really impressing me at the moment is Kenny Roberts Jr. A privateer running top 5? In MotoGP? Just stupendous! After years of not really trying he seems to have remembered he used to be World Champion.

I think the VTR suffered from budget suspension, but it sounds like you've got it well in-hand, hope you get it set up how you like it!

Cheers,
Mitch
 
KR is a strange one. I had written his Championship off as a fluke as his post performances have been so abysmal. It is true to say that he didn’t have a competitive bike, but I can’t understand how he could not get the Suzuki competitive, perhaps it was just a case of Suzuki being obstinate and not listening to his feedback. Whatever the case now he has a Honda engine and a team that doesn’t mind trying new things (he is on his 4th frame this year) they seem to be doing very well. This years championship is the most interesting for years.
 
Well the real hot days of summer have started in the south and the tar snakes are coming alive. I got a real thrill in a conner the other day when I hit one and got the front end shimmy. They get real active when the temperature hits about 90 to 100 degrees F so watch out for them.
 
I ran over one once when cycling. I was on a road that went straight for about 15 kilometres, it was a hot day and I was having a hard time against a head wind. I was bum up and head down just slogging it out when I noticed a snake go under my front wheel. I have never got my feet unclipped from the pedals so fast in my life.
 
I once hit a live snake on a motorcycle and had it bounce off my leg so I know that rush! I should have explained Tar Snakes for all our friends not familiar with American Motorcycle slang, sorry.
A Tar Snake is the spray on tar the highway departments spray into the cracks that develop in the roads. In the south and anywhere the temperature get up and stays up around 100 degrees F this tar starts to get very soft and slippery. If you hit a patch of this stuff in a conner or changing lanes the front wheel will slip a little under the turn pressure causing the wheel to shimmy. Which really wakes you up and gives you a rush especial if your moving at a good speed. Their bite is normally not fatal but I have seen a few riders go down because of them under the right set of circumstances.

One of the other bad road creatures here and I believe most of the world have similar creatures are the Road Alligators. They come in all sizes. The smaller ones can leave a nasty bite with some real damage to your legs when they jump up at you and the larger ones can take you right off your bike.
They are born from tires when the tread peals off. The big trucks produce some very deadly ones around here. Again I am told this is because of the heat and it's effect on the tires.
 
It's called overbanding here in the UK, often used to seal the join between two pieces of tarmac, for example where the road's been dug up then patched.

And hitting one when it's cold and wet is even worse!

Another cracking MotoGP today, Roberts unfortunately made a mistake and it looks like Tamada has paid. At least Roberts had the guts to admit it.

Rossi once again showed his incredible talent; I don't buy into his image at all, but holy cow that man is just phenomenal.

Rider of the race has to be Melandri though. Broken collar bone and still dices all race long to take second, never once giving up and still trying to win on the last lap. And he's not even on a factory bike!

Hayden better watch out, or it'll be Melandri and Pedrosa on the Repsols next year! It'll be interesting to see if he can stamp some authority on things at Laguna, or if he'll continue to get wound in by the others...

Mitch
 
I'm going to be at Laguna seca next weekend. It's going to be a blast.
 
I was there, at least from Friday onwards. Spend a mad weekend camping on site and had a blast. Really good racing and for the first time in three years decent weather, got a little drunk and a little burnt. Watching Rossi reeling in the front runners bit by bit was amazing, Pedrossa was in a different race though with only Rossi being able to come anywhere near his lap times. Rossi doing a burn-up in the winners enclosure made me laugh especially the look on Pedrosa'a face
 
We've got the Sun~n~Surf rally coming up at the end of the month. It's the biggest rally in the Pacific Northwest region. It draws riders from all across the nation, Canada, and Mexico. I have my hotel booked from last year and I'm bouncing like a kid in a candy shop.
 
Hotel, what’s with the hotel? Aren’t you supposed to erect some sort of tent or lean to, drink lots of beer, do burn outs on your bike until the motor blows up and then collapse in a pool of your own vomit. At least that’s what we do here anyway.

Have a great time, make sure you behave and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.
 
Ahh, the bike rallies of my youth.

I once sat on a sofa made of pallets leant together, right in front of a roaring fire, on a hillside overlooking a campsite that looked like something by Heironymous Bosch, drinking beer until the early hours.

I woke up in the morning, stood up, and nearly face-planted into the embers. The glue holding the soles of my boots on had melted and they had slid down by 2 inches, making walking very difficult

Lazy and very hazy days.

Mitch
 
In my youth you know it was true. Now not so true. The burn-outs and partys still happen but I can afford to have someone clean up afterward.

PTYP!
 
Here's something I found and liked so I thought I would share it.

One day, a little boy came home from school and was just awestruck by a
bright and shiny Honda Goldwing motorcycle sitting in front of their house.
The chrome and the bright paint job were about the coolest thing this little
boy had ever seen. After admiring the bike for a short while, the boy ran
into the house to see who was there. Apparently, biker friend of the family
and his wife had come to visit.

The man stood tall and proud with a long flowing beard, and wearing his
leather bikers vest, with leather biker boots. He stood beside a beautiful
woman, his wife. She had long flowing brown hair, and the kindest smile that
the boy had ever seen. She too was adorned in the biker leather that the
man so proudly wore. The little boy was so impressed by this biker couple,
that he stayed glued to their sides the entire length of their visit. The
bikers told wonderful tales of adventure from the road as the little boy
dreamed of one day having similar adventures of his own. Finally, as the
bikers stood to leave, the little boy asked... "What can I do to become a
real biker??"

The man bent down to the little boy, smiled and said:

"Son, there are four very important things that you must do in order to
become a "real" biker.



First... ride on a motorcycle any time you can, any one will do!

Second... don't worry what people think about you. You will have enough
hurdles in life without letting other people put more of them in front of
you.

Third... Make your own rules.

Fourth... Know that none of your rules apply to anyone but else but you!"

The little boy didn't fully understand all of this, but he never forgot the
bikers words. For many, many years after that he saved his allowance to buy
his first motorcycle.

Finally, as a boy of jr. high school age, he was able to afford a small used
dirt bike. Now this was no street bike, but it was all he could afford. Best
of all it was all his, and he loved it! He would ride that bike from sun up
until sun down. Some nights when he just couldn't bring himself to give up
riding for the day, he would duct tape a flashlight to the handlebars in
order to keep riding well into the night. Upon outgrowing that little dirt
bike, he sold it with the intention of one day buying another. Well, days
turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months, and months turned into
years.

Finally, many years later, the boy (now a man) graduated law school and
started a very successful practice. Shortly after that, he bought himself a
brand new Harley Davidson. He loved that Harley, and put thousands of
dollars worth of chrome and custom paint into it. He and his other lawyer
buddies would cruise the boulevard on their Harleys going from bar to bar,
or just hanging out in front of the local coffee shop.

He and his friends would hang out together talking about their Harley's, and
about riding, and laughing at anyone who rode jap-crap or anything other
than the expensive Harley Davidson's that they rode.

One day, on his way home from the local biker bar, he saw an elderly man
come out of a grocery store. The old man had been working the late shift
bagging groceries. He staggered up to an old Honda Goldwing. The original
side bags were missing and had been replaced by milk crates, plywood, and
zip ties. The trunk was missing and had been replaced by an old worn leather
footlocker. The windshield was yellow with age and cracking.

The paint was so old and oxidized that it was difficult to determine what
color it had been, and the seat was covered with an old towel and some duct
tape.

The lawyer watched in awe as the old man slowly removed his apron and stowed
it in one of the milk crates. Then he removed a pair of worn cotton gloves
from the footlocker, and slowly pulled them on. As he prepared to throw a
leg over, you could tell that arthritis had taken it's toll over the years,
and that this had become quite a painful task.

But as soon as he swung his leg over, and settled into that saddle,
something magical happened. The years they seemed to melt away. His smile
returned as he pulled out the choke and fired up his old steed. She roared
to life in that familiar way that she must have thousands of times before.
Then, just before he pulled away, he reached down behind him and lowered the
passenger pegs, as if to prepare for a passenger to board his steed with
him. Finally, as the old man pulled his goggles down over his eyes, he shot
a little wave and roared off into the night.

Now he never could be quite sure, but the lawyer could swear that as the old
man pulled away, that the old Goldwing looked brand new once again.

Chrome shining, and a beautiful bright paint job, with crisp lines and solid
tune. A young man at the controls, with his beard waving in the wind, and a
beautiful smiling young lady behind him with flowing long brown hair
laughing as they rode off into the night.

The lawyer slowly wiped a tear from his cheek and composed himself for the
ride home. He knew full well, that out there somewhere the old man rode in
the night with his pegs down for his long-since-gone wife, and he was happy
once again. Then and only then did he really understand the words spoken by
that biker to him so many years ago.
 
I know not everyone follows the racing, but after a lay off due to injury (caused by another rider being a numpty) Marco Melandri won at the weekend.

He rode a hard race and thoroughly deserved it, I've always been a bit of a fan.

And if you win you want to celebrate, right? And if you're going to celebrate, this is how to do it!!

Mitch
 
So had the daytona about 6 weeks now, which would explain why I haven't posted anything for a while...!

Its the most awesome bike! A bigger person would probably find it uncomfortable, because they would have to put a lot of weight on their hands, which wouldn't fun on long rides. It handles really nicely. Smooth acceleration good brakes etc, everything that you have probably already read in a magazine, blah blah.

But its funny how much I get guys pulling up next to me at the lights!! I used to just tend to get ignored by other bikers. They either want to race me or chat me up. And is it just me or is every other person who owns a Triumph a man in his 40's??? I get so many older guys pulling up next to me on their triumphs. Its a little creepy....

Though the funniest thing that has happened, was when I was at the petrol station filling up, when this young guy on an R1 pulls up next to me, and asks me about the bike. No big deal...
The next day, my boyfriend (Mr SV1000) calls me up and says "I know what you have been up to!!!"
He works at a Motorcycle accessory store, and he had this customer come in and tell him about this little blonde chick that he met last night, and she was riding this red hot Daytona, and that he got her number...
My boyfriend turned around and said "Funny.... that sounds an awful lot like my girlfriend!"

Guess I better be more careful because I stand out a lot more!
 
It’s good to hear the Daytona is going well. They are one of the nicest looking bikes I have seen in some time.

So did you manage to escape the Melbourne winter without any more intimate meetings with Tram tracks?
 
The Phillip Island race was an interesting one. I liked the new wet weather rule, it makes more sense than hanging around while everyone changes tyres, then do a restart.

Marco did a great job, as did Vermulen, they showed that they have some real riding skills. I bet Dani wasn’t too happy about getting lapped, he really does need to work on his wet weather ridding. Rossi is also showing that he is not a spent force in this championship. I can’t believe he has gained so much on Hayden and kept the championship alive.

On a different note. What do you think of Biaggi going to Suzuki and WSB? What will happen with Corsa? I would like to see Bayliss give Max a hard time next year.
 
Hayden has dropped even more points today. He now has to pull all the stops out for next week or risk throwing away the biggest lead in title history. Not a nice accolade to have. Seems Americans can no longer win outside America - or rarely at least




Max will shake things up, and probably not in a good way! I do wonder how his 250 style will adapt to the Supers, they're big fat bovines in comparison to the stuff he's used to. Still, it'll be interesting to watch. It's been good watching the young guns match themselves against some of the older guys.

Mitch
 
WOW!!! What a ride season I've had. I've put about 7k (miles) of fun riding this season getting out and enjoying some of the best back twisties Washington has to offer. I might get out once more but I believe yesterday was the capper of the season. I finally got to SpiritLake in the late season. SpiritLake is the lake right below the low side of the crater in the blast zone of Mt St.Helens. You can see the smoldering crater and the log jams and the entire valley from the observatories. The roads up to the lake are very twisty and have 20 to 40 yard stretches of gravel spattered about for extra fun. At this time of year the new and recovering growth is just a blaze of color and worth the trip. However because of the time of year rain is prevalent and there is the chance of snow. Also volcanic activity will get the roads closed thus the reason it’s been a few years since I’ve been able to make it to this wonderful spot.

Now on to new news. I'm in the market for a sport bike and I'm interested in hearing what people have to say about thiers.

I’m thinking about this ZZR600 http://www.kawasaki.com/product_detail.asp?product=46&tag=motorcycle or this GSX R600 http://www.suzukicycles.com/Products/GSXR600K6/Default.aspx or maybe even this XB 12R http://www.buell.com/en_us/bikes/firebolt/xb12r/specs.asp any thoughts?
 
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