The General Motorbikers Discussion Thread

Pretty much nothing goes wrong with those if maintained per the book, and even if not. Have someone who knows bikes look it over to check brakes, chain condition, etc., to make sure you haven't gotten one that was rode hard and put away wet in the nearby ocean, that sort of thing.
 

Dear god that sound is glorious! It's brutal, but refined and distinctly American. I don't think you would mistake the sound of that engine for any other motorcycle.

To quote Clarkson, "It's the God of Thunder gargling with nails."
 
Someone is selling a Nighthawk 250 for $1400 here. Considering my DT's lack of road legality, and with the 4.15/gal gas, I'd be very tempted if I had the cash for it ($10/hr does not go very far when you have student loans).
 
Remember folks it's always important to secure your motorcycle properly when transporting it in the back of a truck, trailer, or van....

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Yea......

Good news is, nothing was damaged.
 
Yeah, I haven't had one go down while transporting, but I did have a bed cleat fail while strapping down and ended up with my Nighthawk 750's bars punching me in the shoulder...

Where did you have those straps attached? I always run mine just from the handle bars and I've driven thousands of miles without a problem.
 
I had one strap between the gas tank and the seat. Bike was in at an angle because it was a full-size short-bed chevy and we didn't want the wheel sticking out (clutch stuck open so no way to secure rear wheel). The front wheel was locked by zip-tying the brake lever. When the bike fell the front wheel pressed against the side of the bed and the back wheel against the tailgate, thereby preventing the bodywork from getting damaged.

I lucked out by not having any real damage, but this is "you're doing it wrong 101."
 
Good thing nothing got damaged. I put a nice crease in the side of the tank of my 750 in addition to the bruise on my shoulder.

This is how I strap mine down.

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It is a little bit hard to see, but you can see the black straps running from the handlebar to the stake pocket cleat. I usually then run a second set of straps from the case guards/front of the frame to the in bed tie downs as my fail safe. Keep the bike straight perpendicular to the front of the bed and tighten the straps down on the bars enough to compress the forks. I've transported at least 7 different bikes that way and never had a problem, including 3 GL1000, mostly with the tailgate down. I even drove to North Dakota and back with my VF500F in the back though I was able to put the tailgate up in that case, still never had any issues.
 
Thanks for that!



I gotta get my own truck...
 
If you plan to do much of any transporting by truck or trailer it is worth it to get a handlebar strap.
 
Handlebar straps, or tie-downs with rubber-coated hooks, are a must. And once you know the proper way to tie a bike down watching people do it any other way is just funny :p.

"It's the God of Thunder gargling with nails."
Perfect.

And speaking of delicious V4 sound, I found some Moto GP style cans on ebay today. One of those is probably worth more than my bike, but damn that would sound amazing.

Someone is selling a Nighthawk 250 for $1400 here. Considering my DT's lack of road legality, and with the 4.15/gal gas, I'd be very tempted if I had the cash for it ($10/hr does not go very far when you have student loans).
I owned a little Honda XL250 when I was doing my undergrad. Terribly slow, but I do miss getting 60-70mpg.
 
I had one strap between the gas tank and the seat. Bike was in at an angle because it was a full-size short-bed chevy and we didn't want the wheel sticking out (clutch stuck open so no way to secure rear wheel). The front wheel was locked by zip-tying the brake lever. When the bike fell the front wheel pressed against the side of the bed and the back wheel against the tailgate, thereby preventing the bodywork from getting damaged.

I lucked out by not having any real damage, but this is "you're doing it wrong 101."

Yeah, that's Failblog worthy, almost.

There is no need to secure the rear wheel even on an intact but dysfunctional bike. If your bed is slick or the tire is bald, you will want to secure the rear of the bike from lateral shifting, but that's done by attaching straps to the frame or to hardpoints like the passenger peg mounts, not the rear wheel. All your major strapping is done up front by the handlebars and/or triple trees, not by midbody strapping.

Maybe we should have a pictorial of how to properly transport your bike?
 
Someone is selling a Nighthawk 250 for $1400 here. Considering my DT's lack of road legality, and with the 4.15/gal gas, I'd be very tempted if I had the cash for it ($10/hr does not go very far when you have student loans).

I saw that one. If I was going it get a 250, it would have to be a kawi ninja. This older
400 hawk doesn't look to bad either.

http://akroncanton.craigslist.org/mcy/2349131431.html
 
That Hawk is also a good choice and is in the same Twinstar-descended parallel twin engine family. Not as powerful as the competing Kawasaki 400s or 500s, but more reliable.

The EX250 is slightly less ideal than the CB250 as a starter as the engine can actually wear out long before 100k (the Honda's engine never seems to) and it has plastics that you'd need to replace if you tip it over without sliders - and newbies always drop or tip their bikes over.
 
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Pretty much nothing goes wrong with those if maintained per the book, and even if not. Have someone who knows bikes look it over to check brakes, chain condition, etc., to make sure you haven't gotten one that was rode hard and put away wet in the nearby ocean, that sort of thing.

Easy to wrench on too?
 
Easy to wrench on too?

Very. They're simple bikes, not much to them, easy to perform the small amount of maintenance they require. Parts are cheap and readily available; they literally cranked out millions of the little things.
 
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I completely forgot about my Ohio driver's license expiring while I was here in Okinawa and once I realized it had I started to freak out about losing my motorcycle endorsement. I really didn't want to have to start from scratch with it because from what I've been reading about servicemembers stationed in England (where I'm moving to in a few months) it's almost impossible to get a motorcycle license in the time they're stationed there. But after emailing the Ohio BMV I've found out that I can renew by mail and my motorcycle endorsement will stay. Motorbiking in England! Yay!!
 
Very. They're simple bikes, not much to them, easy to perform the small amount of maintenance they require. Parts are cheap and readily available; they literally cranked out millions of the little things.

Awesome. Riding gear wise what are the good brands to keep an eye out for?
 
Dainese is one of the best, but Alpinestars is a high-quality brand for a bit less money. I personally am not a fan of Icon, I think their stuff is really cheap and is favored by the stunter/squiddy crowd.

I personally would go with Alpinestar or Dainese.

For helmets, I'm a big fan of Shoei. If you have money to burn and/or plan on living in your helmet you can go for Arai, but I don't think you need something that high end. AGV is a nice helmet maker, but they don't fit me very well. The big thing is fit, find one that fits your head and you will be pretty happy with it. There are other things like noise, airflow, etc, but comfort is king.
 
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I have a mate who has a few pairs of these and he's been pretty happy - http://www.dragginjeans.com/

I'm expecting to spend a fair amount on safety gear as its something I definitely don't want to cheap out on. Cheaper petrol and free parking are the main attractions of a bike for me, but the one thing I'm worried about is that most drivers around here seem to be insanely unaware of motorcyclists on the road...
 
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