A mate of mine used to work in Doohans team as the suspension mechanic. He invited me to Phillip Island for a tyre test session several years back and it was amazing to see Doohan riding laps by himself and having a bit of fun on the 500CC. The coolest of all was when he got the sh*ts with a back tyre and decided to smoke it by coming on to the front straight at 120mph and then just cracking open the throttle. His back wheel just lit up with smoke billowing from it all the way down the straight. The radar showed him actually slowing down with the back wheel spinning so much. I thought he had the front brake on at the time but was very reliably informed that he did not. When he returned to the pits the back tyre was absolutely fragged.

Doohan was onr of the best at going sideways. He used to do it all the time 'till he belted a haybale one day and came down... he spent less time stuffing about after that... and more time winning.
The photographers used to wait at particular corners where they knew he liked going sideways... I remember reading that the pro-photographers called him "The King of Slide".

Gary McCoy's not too shabby at it either. Rossi used to like following McCoy cos he loved how sideways he got it.

I have an Echowell HRM which has died because both of the main buttons carked it. So I wrote to them (apparently they've dropped out of the HRM market) to get instructions on how to open the case without buggering it up.

Nearly fell off my chair when they wrote back saying they would send a replacement unit out!! No if, buts or beg pardons. In fact they were most apologetic.

Top effort, should be more of it. I wonder if Polar will replace my 10 year old XT?

power to the consumer eh jock?

If you say so.

BTW racing at Calga is Central Division this weekend, so you won't get a ride.

yer i know, good weather and im not sick for a change. oh well. going to go and race out at oakville instead and play dodge the pot hole...

sigh....

https://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/t...964604277.html

This says it all.


can somone please educate me on what the point of an " opinion " column is? it seems to me that all it amounts to is being able to print an article in a newspaper about somthing that gets your knickers in a twist without having to rely on those pesky things called " facts, research, truth, justification " that seem to get in the way of a good story.

Piers Akerman, ACA, 60 Minutes et al im looking at you too.

aussie newspapers becomes more like the yank rag the national enquirer daily. i wouldnt at all be surprised tomorrow to see a headline of " Miranda devine has satans Love child. Elvis Furious" . after all, it has just as much credibility.


__________________

Exactly as you stated. It is bait for fools. Mere muckraking, designed to generate divisive arguments from polarised sections of the community.

MD is especially good at it, because she stands for absolutely nothing and yet can get under so many people's skin.

So just ignore it and it will all go away in a day or so, replaced by another emotionally charged diatribe that will deflect the hearts and minds of everyone away from today's crud.

rockmuncher would appreciate this one...

I got the fastest madison sling ever last night on the way home. A flatbed tow truck cut me off at a roundabout and I was all pissed off and fuming etc.... Coming up to the next light he's just taking off so I thought bugger it, I'll use him to grab a lift up the road and sure enough, timed it right, grabbed the rail on the truck bed and we were off, slowly getting up to about 60 km/h and then I let go near the top of the hill before the next roundabout. I've drafted trucks but never hitched a ride until then, not a bad way to go up hills

Now that's one thing I've never done, ever or considered doing. If I'm going to crash I want to do it properly using my own finely honed crashing skills and stupidity, not relying on someone elses!

Woo hoo...bike messenger style! Large potential to go horribly wrong, but fun at the time.
Old style trams in Melbourne used to be used as tow vehicles up the Collins St hill by the messengers all the time a few years back when I worked in the CBD.

I actually read it. I will fire off an email later.
Probably some hate mail later as well from a different address

SMH has gotten awfully trashy later. I think I might have to start reading an int'll paper.

There are some good opinion writers out there. I like Ross Gittins because he backs his comments up. It is mostly economics talk though.

Alan Ramsay can be really good on a good day.

Piers Akerman. Did you see him on insiders last week when David Marr just smashed him?

Andrew Bolt should be just shot for being so stupid.

+1 but add the following:
She backs none of her facts up. She just spouts whatever comes into her head.
You cant argue/discuss stuff with people like her because they have basis. The only thing you can come back with is insults then they trash you for that.
Why the **** does the SMH employ people like her? Its not good reporting.

woot!

How much upper arm strenght do ya need to stop from crashing?

i sent one , to the editor not to her. notice her address is a hotmail addy, probably there to deflect such emails.

about as much as I have

holding on is not hard, it's keeping the bars under control that is the hard part (hold the tops, not the drops), especially when dodging the little reflectors that keep coming along on the white line area as you go along.

yep, and they won't listen to ya.

I did think though that maybe a website devoted to "outing" businesses that have drivers who repeatedly abuse the road rules when it comes to bikes may be a way for the bike community to say "get ****ed", we won't buy any products from those who aren't nice to bikes.

They all have their business names plastered on the vehicles, makes it easy to have an open forum/bashing of those that disobey us and use that against them, stop buying from them?

Anyone reckon there's enough bikers out there to care/make a difference?

maybe I just need some more coffee....

lol, that would probably work somwhere as uptight, litigous and looking for a cause to champion like the states, but here no one honestly gives enough of a **** to make somthing like that happen.

not so bad when you hold near the stem and keep your upper body low to put the vehicles force thru your body in the direction you want to go

I think there is enough people in the Aussie thread to make something happen.
Dont some you do website design?
Website hosting is dirt cheap these days. There are enough of us to get the website out there.

But would anyone listen/look to make it worth while?

What has good reporting got to do with selling newspapers????!!??

well since its one of the last broadsheets in Australia actually being news worthy has a lot to do with it. If I want to read tabloid trash I buy a tabloid if I want to read the news I buy a broadsheet.

Don't think there is any correlation b/w price and comfort with saddles. More to do with what shape/style fits your ass, regardless of price. Trying them out is the best way to decide - if possible.
That being said, myself and the guys I most regularly ride with are all on Fizik Ariones, which seemed to be the "saddle to have" recently, (see various threads on same) but all are happy with the comfort factor.

Recently got a Specialized split option on the MTB (broke existing saddle up in Echuca & it was the best the shop had) and found it pretty comfortable so far. Only cost about $100 too.

Well, I bought an Arione, and it's like sitting on a plank of wood. Does that answer your question?

nothin like a few splinters to harden your arse up