making us look bad (motorcyclists)

On Saturday morning I rode downstate to meet some friends to make plans for Mid Ohio. (vendor spot C296, stop in Ill bring some Genesee) Passing through Watertown N.Y on rt 81 south traffic slows from the normal 70ish to about 60, At the head of the line there is a cruiser type biker in the middle of each lane just rolling along and unwilling to move out of the way.I turned off so Im not sure how it ended but if the SUV fighters didnt get them Im sure the tractor trailer whos bow wave I was riding was going to. I reserve the right to make myself look bad, I dont need any help. emti

this is why god invented lane splitting......hopefully sooner than later the rest of you will be able to take advantage

I tried lane splitting with my Ural.



It sucked.

I can imagine!!!

ya I did it once with a 50" TV on the back. I would assume the results were similar.....

So you made it home with a 35" TV after lane splitting?

yup...and lane splitting isn't even legal here....

Hey emti

It sounds like they might have acutely honed herding tendencies, y'know, like some dogs have. They just want to round everyone up in a big group and make them stay there together. They don't know why, they just do it instinctively.

My wife was out there somewhere this weekend, she said a couple guys on sportbikes blew by the line of cars she was in, they were wearing tshirts and flipflops or whatever, one of them popped into a huge wheelie on the interstate at ~80mph after he merged back in front of the cars.

She was obviously not impressed but when the story was relayed to me I thought it was hilarious. Those guys thought they were super cool but by the sounds of it everyone else on the road thought they were complete jackholes. I guess they also don't realize the stopping distance of a truck with loaded horse trailer traveling at 70mph, it sure would suck to fudge a wheelie in front of that baby

Like it or not, the rest of the country (in the USA anyway) lump us all together based on the actions of a few individuals.

Painting with a broad broad brush...

Do you not understand the concept of a subculture?

there were certainly a few tense moments..... when the road finally cleared up I was riding along in peace when I noticed a Harley rider slowly pull up next to me with his gaze locked on my bike. He then slowly started to shake his head at me and rode off



the real bitch of it, is that as I was carrying the TV up the driveway, the box got hooked on a tree branch and before I knew what was happening, it was ripped from my hands and fell onto the driveway and I was convinced that the TV was toast.
After all of that, it survived!!

ill be praying for you and your people

If you care to see "meat on the bone" simply do a web search on "flip flops on motorcycles".

Can you say ground beef?

Sometime back in 1972 I very briefly lane-split in a Honda TN-360 with two in the cabin & three in the tray. As the available space began to condense, due to the lane markings becoming closer togather, I just 'slipped' into a gap between two cars.

I well imagine that the rear-wards facing trio in the tray wondered (as would the nearby car drivers) what the hell was going on.

Ah, that all-so-tiny TN-360. It was fun while I had it, even the period of push-starting when the battery was throughly stuffed.

Obviously never heard of the prejudice people have called "guilt by association".

Open your eyes and learn. People judge by grouping when they don't know individuals. That is the base for all "-isms"; racism, sexism, etc.

What? No pedals?

As a responsible rider on a very quiet machine who has been turned away from campgrounds because of the irresponsible few, I can understand the sentiment.

How long ago was that?

Once last year and twice three years ago.

Since it was a manual tranny (weird motorcycle origin - needed double de-clutch to make it smooth), there were the usual Clutch Pedal, Brake Pedal, and Accelerator Pedal at the driver's feet.

What was very hard was performing a smooth gear-change on the occasion when I had THREE passengers (with myself) inside the cab. There was some serious knee movement to have room for the floor (really, under dash) mounted shifter with 4 forward and reverse.

. . . . . . . .

If YOU allude to any requirement for Pedal-assist - let me reassure you that the 354 cc Kei truck weighed just 500 kg (1,102 lb), and had a 100 km/h (62 mph) Top speed. Engine output was 30 PS (22 kW) at 8,000 rpm, but torque was 3.0 kg·m (29 N·m) at 5,500 rpm.

For comparison, the Fiat 500D ("Fiat Bambina") sold 1965 - 1973 had a 499 cc engine producing 17 bhp as standard, and would be hard pressed to do 54mph. The F (or Berlina model) 1965 - 1973 used the same motor.

I was once parked next to a minivan, geared up and swinging a leg over just as mom and her 4 year old son approached the van. The kid saw a m/c was about to be started and was overcome with a look of terror - stuck his fingers in his ears, squinted his eyes shut. Mom hurriedly drug him by an elbow towards the minivan trying desperately to get him in, mixed looks of motherly concern for the boy and scorn directed at me.

Clearly this kid had a bad experience with loud pipes, and neither he nor mom could discern the difference between a HOG and a VStrom.

I started the bike, checked both ways, and slowly pulled out of the space. She was so surprised she stopped and did a double-take at me. I gave her a wave to acknowledge her looking at me and I saw her jaw literally drop. The kid opened his eyes and looked up, too, with a "WTF?" look on his face.

"Self-inclusion"? The non-m/c public can't tell the difference between a 650 UJM and a HD.