photogravity

I just ordered one. I plan to wear it on the [censored content] in July! Thanks for the tip, even if it will be a disappointment to GP.

rhm

On my browser, this thread is 22 pages. Now if there was just a way to extract the useful parts out. Oh, wait. Were there any useful parts?

rootboy 

kiwigem

Putting tarnished silver into an aluminum container, sprinkling it with baking soda, and pouring boiling water over it will remove all the tarnish instantly. There. Useful part!

This thread is about Heloise, right?

Puget Pounder

I would rock eggbeaters 2nd to Speedplays. I tried the MXRs once, but they were complete trash. I decided to ignore the internet reviews about the threads stripping, developing play, and fouling up. For once, the internet reviews were actually spot on. Left a sour taste in my mouth...

KonAaron Snake 

Sonny Barger wrote an auto-biography some time back and outright said Hondas were better bikes than Harleys and that he preferred riding them. He went on to say that the only reason the Angels were still on Harleys was image and tradition. I think Barger might just have known what he was talking about.

photogravity

We'd look like some whacked out mimes in a suit like that! Maybe you should get one of those suits to wear. Just so you know, the Grant would not approve of a Lycra or Spandex suit!

photogravity

Wow, so there's been a lot of stuff happening since you went away, assuming you actually mean away as in on holiday.

For instance, here's a little thread you might find interesting. Thanks again for the front hub: you'll be seeing it very soon... I believe GP might approve of this!


1949 Hercules Kestrel repaint - 8 by Sallad Rialb, on Flickr

photogravity

I remember riding a Sportster at the Americade rally some time in the late 90's and couldn't help but think that it was like riding a paint shaker on wheels. Fortunately, I had less dental work at the time and no fillings fell out of my teeth. It had to be the most crude multi-cylinder motorcycle I had ever ridden. OTOH, I really liked the BMW R1100-GS. Now that was a wallflower if there ever was one!

calamarichris

Hahahaha! Thanks for that. I started out on Harleys and they were great machines.


...until I rode something with enough power to pull the string from a cat's @$$.
There are some parallels between Grant's Slowbike movement and the Harley Lifestyle[tm]. But so far none of the Slowbikers I've met have been insufferable snobs, as many Harley riders are. Eventually I'm sure some Slowbike elitists will emerge, but hopefully they won't resemble the parallegals and orthodontists (the only people who can afford Harleys) who get tattoos, grow ZZ-Top beards, and scowl deeply everywhere they ride, as if to project that they are on their way to commit their third-strike felony.

kiwigem

Not even if it's one's regular clothes?

KonAaron Snake 

Maybe one of these days I'll be able to get a motorcycle. I don't think they make a whole lot of sense where I live - the roads stink, we don't have a garage (and I would imagine these would be theft targets) and traffic is brutal. It's faster to get around pedaling! I'd love to get something like a medium-large Honda cruiser...or maybe a BMW roadster.

Harleys are beautiful, but the vibrations and noise don't do it for me. It's also not really my style (though i do fall into a category you mentioned, sort of). I'm a polite, middle class Jewish kid with no delusions about being hard. Our gang wasn't real tough...we brought dreidels to knife fights.

photogravity

I think he's right. My younger brother bought a very lightly used Harley a couple years back. For the life of me, I don't know why he got it. He's even offered me the keys to take it for a spin, which I have politely declined more than once.

A Harley interests me about as much as a derailleur-geared bike.

I think GP would at least agree with me on the Harley part, even if he actively sells most of his bikes with derailleurs.

KonAaron Snake 

That's interesting - I would equate Harleys with IGH, except Harleys at least look cool

iluvnoise

increasing my post count

calamarichris

Harleys have rubber mounted engines now, and if you leave the exhaust pipes alone they're not too terribly loud. But you will have to endure every Harley rider you encounter saying the same thing over & over: "Ya gotta get rid o' them stock pipes and let 'er breeeathe!"
Much better to get a BMW or Jap-cruiser and have them eschew you altogether. Once when my dog and I were riding my Jap crawtch rawcket down Pacific Coast Highway in my town, I waved to a cute yuppy couple in sparkly-new leathers on a Harley Road King. The lady passenger waved back to me, but the gentleman-pilot smacked her hand down.
If you end up getting a Harley, be sure to explain to your wife before taking her for a ride, the necessity of not waving back to Jap bikes.

lostarchitect 

Pssh!

I'm a Ducati man myself--and I love me some IGH. Not a Harley fan. I understand not wanting a sportbike, but I'd still want something that doesn't handle like a bus.

lostarchitect 

Strange, isn't it? I lived in California for several years, and I found that not waving to different style bikes was mostly a west coast phenomenon. Here, if you wave you will usually get a wave back no matter what kind of bike. But fewer people wave in general, so maybe it's a wash.

You have a brave dog!

KonAaron Snake 

My bike in college was a sport bike - sort of. It was a Kawasaki 600cc...nothing too fancy, but damn it was fun! I think I'd probably go with a cruiser style, but not because I don't like sports bikes.

Maybe I'm an unfriendly, reserved chap, but I just don't get the waving thing. Lots of people ride motorcycles and bicycles, it doesn't make us part of the same Masonic Lodge. If some one waves, and I notice, and it's convenient, I'll wave back...but I avoid granfalloons.

kiwigem

Well, you've certainly chosen the right thread.

photogravity

I doubt GP would approve. The article How to Make the Rest of Your Family Hate Riding on the Rivendell website states:

lostarchitect 

Consider a "standard". Has a more upright posture than a sport bike, more forward mounted foot pegs, a more useful passenger seat, better access to the engine. Yet it's reasonably powerful and you can actually steer it--and it's not ridiculously heavy.

Examples:
Honda 919


Suzuki SV650:


And, if you want to get spendy, Ducati Monster:

photogravity

To borrow Grand Bois seemingly favorite saying: "There's no accounting for taste." That is specifically in response to you thinking Harleys look cool.

KonAaron Snake 

That's actually a lot like what I want...I just didn't know the term. I had a bike in college, but I'm pretty new to it all.

photogravity

Is it your goal to increase your pose count so that you can participate in the Box O' Crap game? Surely that's the kind of thing that would meet with the Grant's approval.