The is no Objectve NOW.

[moralist]

On ‎12‎/‎23‎/‎2016 at 3:08 PM, Jon Letendre said:

Stay safe. And ask for real pants and boots for Christmas.

 

Real pants and boots are for people who ride like they need real pants and boots. I ride like an old man... because that's what I am... and that's how I lived long enough to be an old biker. 

Greg

 

[Brant Gaede]

13 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

Ah, come on, Brant.

Jon's a friggin' stud in that picture.

Michael

Heh, heh.

--Brant

heh, heh

[moralist]

On ‎12‎/‎23‎/‎2016 at 4:26 PM, Jon Letendre said:

They ride, so they're brothers, but oh boy, I wish they stayed home more.

I'm totally the opposite... and don't mind riding slowly when others do. It's Harley country out here so it's live and let live. This is their temple of worship... one of the largest in the nation.

Greg

[Brant Gaede]

We have an impressive one here in Tucson too.

--Brant

[Jon Letendre]

1 hour ago, moralist said:

Real pants and boots are for people who ride like they need real pants and boots. I ride like an old man... because that's what I am... and that's how I lived long enough to be an old biker. 

Greg

 

Yup. A fat, slow, zero-skill, Suzi rider. You stopped acquiring skills after your second season, because you are content and lazy and tired of paying to fix up your Suzi after the insurers cut you loose following the umpteenth "mishap." I bet you ride like Ayn drove. Zero talent. Total fucking loser.

[BaalChatzaf]

There are old bikers, and bold bikers  but there are no old, bold bikers.  And any collision you can walk away from is a Good Collision. 

The only bikes I ride are  Robert-Powered  by way of a sprocket and chain. 

[jts]

If you are not careful with these, 

 

you might end up with one of these.

 

[Brant Gaede]

10 hours ago, Jon Letendre said:

Yup. A fat, slow, zero-skill, Suzi rider. You stopped acquiring skills after your second season, because you are content and lazy and tired of paying to fix up your Suzi after the insurers cut you loose following the umpteenth "mishap." I bet you ride like Ayn drove. Zero talent. Total fucking loser.

You forgot to say "Merry Christmas."

--Brant

and a Happy New Year!

[turkeyfoot]

49 minutes ago, Brant Gaede said:

You forgot to say "Merry Christmas."

--Brant

and a Happy New Year!

Im sure theres a way for this to devolve into chaos too.

[turkeyfoot]

1 hour ago, jts said:

If you are not careful with these, 

 

you might end up with one of these.

 

Only if youre lucky. But that model is a death trap. ;) I visited a geriatric ward where the torque of the scooter determined arrival time, at the dining hall, at pill time, glee club and escaping the waft of the dining experience. Phoenix is too ordinary, so un - ostentatious. I'll call mine Thunder Wheels. 

My future ride?... a hoyer lift. Had my eye on these. Not just any. Im going to give it a name... Hero. Not as much for how I feel but for what it does. Im optioning it out with racing stripes, 6 point halter for pickin me off the floor. Going to paint it metallic Cherry bomb red. ;) It'll look fast, in real time.

And when robotics designs a nurse to end all nurses its trade in time. Yea, I'll attract smug looking sob's who will have to sit on their own stools going now where fast. But I'll die with a smile on my face knowing that I died as the big man I am. In the arms of an electro magnetic machine devoid of emotion but capable of caring like no other.

Love me, love my ride. Or else.

Oye vey

[Jon Letendre]

2 hours ago, jts said:

If you are not careful with these, 

 

you might end up with one of these.

 

Greg is ready for one now. The arm rests are perfect for his riding style: Keep lazy fat ass centered on vehicle at all times.

[moralist]

12 hours ago, Jon Letendre said:

Yup. A fat, slow, zero-skill, Suzi rider. You stopped acquiring skills after your second season, because you are content and lazy and tired of paying to fix up your Suzi after the insurers cut you loose following the umpteenth "mishap." I bet you ride like Ayn drove. Zero talent. Total fucking loser.

Jon, different bikers ride for different reasons. I ride for daily utility transportation. In 51 years I've been down twice and neither time was serious. So my riding record speaks for itself because I'm not trying to prove anything to anyone. I simply enjoy riding and put it to good use in my life.

I'm not certain what brought on such an overreactive emotional response. Your own anger caused you to say some really stupid things that couldn't be more wrong. My Suzuki has never been down in over 33,000 miles and 9 years. This is because I ride like a regular person. I don't use a motorcycle to create fantasies about myself.

...and by the way, I also ride a scooter and wear shorts and flip flops when I ride.

 

That should make you spit blood.

 

 

Greg

[Jon Letendre]

1 minute ago, moralist said:

Jon, different bikers ride for different reasons. I ride for daily utility transportation. In 51 years I've been down twice neither time was serious. So my riding record speaks for itself because I'm not trying to prove anything to anyone. I simply enjoy riding and put it to good use in my life.

I'm not certain what brought on such an overreactive emotional response. Your own anger caused you to say some really stupid things that couldn't be more wrong. My Suzuki has never been down in over 33,000 miles and 9 years. This is because I ride like a regular person. I don't use a motorcycle to create fantasies about myself.

...and by the way, I also ride a scooter and wear shorts and flip flops when I ride.

 

That should make you spit blood.

 

 

Greg

No emotion or overreaction, just engaging you in what is your preferred mode. Did it really make me say stupid, inaccurate things? Oh. I'll have to think about that.

[Jon Letendre]

[william.scherk]

14 hours ago, Jon Letendre said:

16 hours ago, moralist said:

Real pants and boots are for people who ride like they need real pants and boots. I ride like an old man... because that's what I am... and that's how I lived long enough to be an old biker.

Yup. A fat, slow, zero-skill, Suzi rider. You stopped acquiring skills after your second season, because you are content and lazy and tired of paying to fix up your Suzi after the insurers cut you loose following the umpteenth "mishap." I bet you ride like Ayn drove. Zero talent. Total fucking loser.

Yeah, but my question was why Greg insisted Bob Kolker was working for the government or contractor all his dang life, notwithstanding clear and compelling denial. 

Yeah?  Well, if Greg can insult Bob wildly and persistently re an incorrect take on Bob's working life, then surely another person can make wildly personal put-downs? 

Yeah, but it may serve to degrade discussion. 

I find Greg at his best when he doesn't read our minds but shows what he is, shows his fun life, his home projects, trains, drains, water-system, garden;  I take him at his word that he doesn't care for ostentatious 'biker' attire, has a sterling safety record, and can roll up his jeans just exactly as he likes.  It was neat to see the map and a couple of sights on the route to and from Malibu.  I can't take a moral lesson about his riding habits. 

Since I don't think Greg was fair to Bob in moralizing about Bob's work life, I don't think Jon is fair to Greg in the same way. Greg is not making himself out to be a Big Rider or racer or pride of the hill tribes, so the hostility seems as misplaced and unnecessary as Greg's hostility to Bob's true life story. He obviously does not give a shit that people might judge him on a scale of Big Rider by footwear and gear.  I like that.  His milkbox scooter seems a perfect solution for runs down the road to the market. 

Unless clearly marked as mirroring or satire or irony, the taunts about fat and lazy and fucking loser seem sourly personal and almost belligerent -- the same tone and stance Greg takes when uttering his boilerplate denunciations of Bob as a man, as a liar.

Happy Holidays.  Sauce the goose, sauce the gander.  Let a hundred riders ride, big and small and in between.

 

Edited December 25, 2016 by william.scherk
He rides like a man on his electric bicycle

[Jon Letendre]

2 hours ago, moralist said:

Jon, different bikers ride for different reasons. I ride for daily utility transportation. In 51 years I've been down twice and neither time was serious. So my riding record speaks for itself because I'm not trying to prove anything to anyone. I simply enjoy riding and put it to good use in my life.

I'm not certain what brought on such an overreactive emotional response. Your own anger caused you to say some really stupid things that couldn't be more wrong. My Suzuki has never been down in over 33,000 miles and 9 years. This is because I ride like a regular person. I don't use a motorcycle to create fantasies about myself.

...and by the way, I also ride a scooter and wear shorts and flip flops when I ride.

 

That should make you spit blood.

 

 

Greg

 

Not at all, I love scoots.

But yours is quite common, its what all the kids are riding. I could have a dozen of them in an hour from Craig's, but why would I want even one? (You say you don't crash your shit, but you sure do ride newish stuff, so I have to wonder.)

Sorry to say I have you quite beat on the scoot front, as well. I get as many thumbs up and "Holy Fuck!"s on her as I do on my Hurricane and Interceptor. She embodies exclusivity and vintage class just like my motos.

1986 Honda NQ50 SPREE...

 

[Jon Letendre]

3 hours ago, william.scherk said:

Yeah, but my question was why Greg insisted Bob Kolker was working for the government or contractor all his dang life, notwithstanding clear and compelling denial. 

Yeah?  Well, if Greg can insult Bob wildly and persistently re an incorrect take on Bob's working life, then surely another person can make wildly personal put-downs? 

Yeah, but it may serve to degrade discussion. 

I find Greg at his best when he doesn't read our minds but shows what he is, shows his fun life, his home projects, trains, drains, water-system, garden;  I take him at his word that he doesn't care for ostentatious 'biker' attire, has a sterling safety record, and can roll up his jeans just exactly as he likes.  It was neat to see the map and a couple of sights on the route to and from Malibu.  I can't take a moral lesson about his riding habits. 

Since I don't think Greg was fair to Bob in moralizing about Bob's work life, I don't think Jon is fair to Greg in the same way. Greg is not making himself out to be a Big Rider or racer or pride of the hill tribes, so the hostility seems as misplaced and unnecessary as Greg's hostility to Bob's true life story. He obviously does not give a shit that people might judge him on a scale of Big Rider by footwear and gear.  I like that.  His milkbox scooter seems a perfect solution for runs down the road to the market. 

Unless clearly marked as mirroring or satire or irony, the taunts about fat and lazy and fucking loser seem sourly personal and almost belligerent -- the same tone and stance Greg takes when uttering his boilerplate denunciations of Bob as a man, as a liar.

Happy Holidays.  Sauce the goose, sauce the gander.  Let a hundred riders ride, big and small and in between.

 

Great video. Now I want an electric bicycle. I do as much bicycling as I do motorcycling. I have four bicycles in regular use right now. The rider in this video has real talent. I don't know if his riding seems crazy dangerous to you, (for all I know, it is you!) but he is pushing the situation at only maybe 70-80%. I'm confident I could ride that bike like he does. Not barehanded like him in some videos. I'm not doing that barehanded in jeans. 60 or 70mph, right? All my experience tells me I will in fact in the moment, next time, as I've done before, choose plan-a-crash-now over too much risk to others, so I like to have all the gear. I would do it in my track leathers.

On my motos, similar to what's in the video, I carry on like a crazy bastard through all lines, I go straight to the front. My motos are designed to do laps around tracks all day and they get hot if they don't get treated to fast air across their cooling radiators. I get to the mountains fast, and then it's all fast air after that.

Regarding pushing oneself, it is not just speed, or nearness of missed obstacles, the 70-80% I intend is a total picture considering every factor, it is mental, personal. 100% feels like taste-the-dirt time. Normal riders, to use the phrase in a normal way, we don't like that feeling, even if we don't eat ashaplt, it feels bad. (Greg reports enjoying what I would place at 50%. Anything can still happen, this is real motorcycling, but he's not pushing hard on any factor. A casual ride.) It is a mental margin of comfort. An estimate of the fear you are willing to push against, today, right now. It's fluid. I do estimate I could do everything in the video after an hour practicing with the new-to-me electric moto. But, honestly, I would be over 80%. 80-90. The guy in the video has a deep reserve of skills. ( I don't like going so fast on a bike path with people who didn't sign up for that, so they would have to be absent.)

Having produced hundreds of hours of high definition GoPro footage on all my cycles, I can help round out what you see in the video. There is a significant wide angle fisheye effect with the recording optics. It distorts distance by making the far appear to be really extremely far. When an object that had been the latter just a moment ago is now adjacent to us, we get a distorted sense of his opportunities for steering and braking. His window of opportunity is much wider than may at first appear. Window of opportunity is everywhere left and right he can go. He is relaxed and resultingly smooth. At speed he follows long arcs planned out well in advance so that it always seems like we are going, and have to go, "straight up ahead there." But in fact, his steering opportunity is vast, its very wide. (but not when he was on grass, then it's near total commitment to the arc initially engaged, no braking either. Try to change course or get a handful of brake, and it's taste-of-dirt time.)

Between the fisheye effect and limited resolution and limitations of mass-market lenses, we the rider see much farther and clearer than depicted in our videos. The videos make it seem like we fly into the unknown with no hope to brake in time or steer and brake and get around should things be not what we expected. It's a significant distortion. In fact, we can see way beyond what it looks like in the videos. Things worth braking for are visible to the rider well before they are visible in video.

I will post some of my good stuff soon, you'll love it. Both my motos go to the track. Lap after lap I hit 130mph on the 0.65-mile straight on the INTERCEPTOR. I feel 90-95% at the track. I am actually nowhere near squeezing out all that my bikes can do - while cornering I touch my knee down, but not routinely. I touch a toe or foot peg to ground every couple laps, but just a touch, and I have little inch-long feelers on my pegs. I also suffer from sub-optimal choice of lines. (You have to use all of the track. You can't be there, you have to be here, to make the corner straighter and thus faster.) But this range, 90-95% is where the special romance happens between speed junky and fear. It's a very special zone where one discovers firsthand that there really IS still plenty of margin on the table, and so you feel quite safe pushing harder than you ever have, a ceiling is raised, and you get faster, even though it still feels like just 90-95%. I hope that makes sense.

Now about whether I have been fair to Greg, fuck, William, you really are an equal opportunity libhead. You'll make anyone's defense! No, I'm just having fun. I rather often need defense, God bless you. But he is insufferable. I easily kept him away from my aura for a long time, even though I mostly read him when he appears in whatever I am reading. Do you think there is a chance he will respond positively to my reverse psychology? When I saw he rode, I knew I had to try, for a brother. Even if he is a stupid Suzuki-riding little fucker. And that stupid GROM or whatever that contraption "scooter" is. You know, so he experiences how he sounds and that everyone sees quite clearly the hollow-skull nature of the tactics. So he'll pull his pants back up and cover his ugly ass, make a change. 

[william.scherk]

57 minutes ago, Jon Letendre said:

Now about whether I have been fair to Greg, fuck, William, you really are an equal opportunity libhead. You'll make anyone's defense! No, I'm just having fun.

Bring on the videos, Jon, cuffs rolled or not. The electric bicyclist was an eye-opener for me, hoped the Big Riders would like it.

[Brant Gaede]

https://youtu.be/Cj6ho1-G6tw

[moralist]

It doesn't take much for William to come prancing in.

Bob chickened out on saying what companies he worked for because it would have been clear to everyone they do government contracted work. His obvious evasion was a dead giveaway.

Greg

[moralist]

10 hours ago, Jon Letendre said:

Not at all, I love scoots.

But yours is quite common, its what all the kids are riding.

You're right, Jon. I'm just a kid when it comes to riding. And I feel the same today as the day I rode home on my first bike in 1965. It was this one.

I worked as a waiter in a restaurant to earn enough money to buy it new. Riding is a joy that lasts a lifetime.

The Ruckus is a popular scooter because it easily lends itself to modifications, so I personalized it to fit my uses. It wasn't very practical out of the box because it accelerated too slow and was governed to 42 mph. But with intake, exhaust, and ignition modifications it keeps up with traffic now and tops out at 50 mph which is perfect for its uses. I never cared much for the high seat spindly skinny wheeled urban girly scooters, so the combination of wide 120 and 130 tires with low center of gravity works well for where we live. We're 10 miles outside of town so it's great for grocery shopping and running errands, and averaging 105+ mpg, it's economical as well.

I've always taken an interest in exhaust design and have modified the exhausts on every vehicle I've owned, so the Ruckus is no exception. Lengthening the headpipe inside the muffler section by 6 inches and adding Supertrapp tuning disks allowed the engine to produce more torque at lower rpms which helped the rideability a lot...

...and sitting only 22 inches off the asphalt while rolling on those wide tires, it corners great.

I'm 68 now, and I know there'll come a time sooner or when I won't be riding the Suzuki. So the scooter is to provide a smooth transition so that I can still continue to safely experienece the joy of riding well into my old age.

 

Greg

[moralist]

11 hours ago, Jon Letendre said:

Did it really make me say stupid, inaccurate things?

Yes, Jon. You let your emotions got the best of you.

You assumed I was an unskilled rider who had lots of accidents when the exact opposite is the truth. I've learned a lot in 51 years of ridng... as much about my self as well as the road and other riders... and I fully understand exactty what kind of rider you are.

I bike simply for utility and enjoyment without the need to prove anything to others.

 

Greg

[Jon Letendre]

Few accidents for decades is impressive. It demonstrates sustained focus, mental discipline and keen eye-motor facility.

I ride the scoot for utility. The Spree is only 50cc, but she's two-stroke, exhaust smells great, like at the lake in the eighties. She is a bundle of fury, screams right up to like 35mph, (with slight backwind, or slight downhill.) The utility part is that she gets treated special under law. No plate required, just a $12 sticker from the state, good for three years. And treated like a bicycle for sidewalk parking, including aside designated bicycle parking. So I roll up to the front door, no matter the traffic or parking conditions. I roll up and sputter down the sidewalk then center-stand my 85-pound Spree closer than the handicap parking, sometimes literally right beside the front door. While people are paying $10 to park two blocks away. She costs me $27 per year for insurance. And, 85 pounds includes her electric starter and battery. There's a foot kick-start lever, as well, for backup.

Like you I ride for enjoyment, mostly enjoyment. I like to go faster than before and put in shorter personal lap records. It's just another way to strive for and experience growth. In a few years I could be putting in slower times, (and will of course update to newer motos to compensate.)

I don't have anything to prove. I am average, right in the middle, of the open public track day crowds I've encountered. I'm cool with that. I am primarily interested in proving to myself that I can keep growing and getting faster. I am 100% cool with whatever you think about me, I promise. But I do feel a little bit of a need to beat the younger guys with more money than talent. I do enjoy that feeling of having more neurological/optico-motor facility and more courage than people twenty years younger than me, running modern supercars, in protected cages. And they struggle to reach 130mph as I do, in the back straight, and they put in two minute thirty second laps, or worse, compared to my 2:18 laps. You'll see later, if you want. I'm posting some video soon. Then, you can see that many others have posted their laps around the same track, all kinds of vehicles, sometimes with a lot of cockpit data included, on YouTube. Well-driven supercars routinely put in 1:55 laps. You'll see little performance Subarus and Honda cars that just can't hold it together, lose traction and go sliding off after struggling to break under 2:40.

[Jon Letendre]

2 hours ago, moralist said:

You're right, Jon. I'm just a kid when it comes to riding. And I feel the same today as the day I rode home on my first bike in 1965. It was this one.

I worked as a waiter in a restaurant to earn enough money to buy it new. Riding is a joy that lasts a lifetime.

The Ruckus is a popular scooter because it easily lends itself to modifications, so I personalized it to fit my uses. It wasn't very practical out of the box because it accelerated too slow and was governed to 42 mph. But with intake, exhaust, and ignition modifications it keeps up with traffic now and tops out at 50 mph which is perfect for its uses. I never cared much for the high seat spindly skinny wheeled urban girly scooters, so the combination of wide 120 and 130 tires with low center of gravity works well for me. We live 10 miles outside of town so it's great for grocery shopping and running errands.

It's always had an interest in exhaust design and have modified the exhausts on every vehicle I've owned, so the Ruckus is no exception. Lengthening the headpipe inside the muffler section by 6 inches and adding Supertrapp tuning disks allowed the engine to produce more torque at lower rpms which helped the rideability a lot...

...and sitting only 22 inches off the asphalt, it corners great.

Greg

Ruckus, of course, it's right there in red. I bet it does lean. I can see the tire shape from here. The exhaust looks really great.

Your scoot is better than mine by miles. It's not even close. Except, is it over 50cc? I have to get a plate if it is. And no sidewalks over 50cc. 

[moralist]

16 hours ago, Jon Letendre said:

Ruckus, of course, it's right there in red. I bet it does lean. I can see the tire shape from here. The exhaust looks really great.

Your scoot is better than mine by miles. It's not even close. Except, is it over 50cc? I have to get a plate if it is. And no sidewalks over 50cc. 

It's 49cc, has electric start eith electronic engine controls so it always fires right up when cold at the push of a button with no throttle. It also has a fuel pump because the flat gas tank is lower than the carb under the footrest platform. So with extra wide cross section tires, the engine and transmission laying flat between the axles, the gas tank laying flat lower than the axles, and me sitting only 9 inches above the engine, cornering is suberb.

I've always ridden small underpowered motorcycles for transportation, and the 400 I have now is the fastest bike I've owned, and it's not fast at all. I lightened it by 18 pounds to a wet weight of an even 300, bobbed the rear subframe, lowered the chassis by 5 inches, replaced the high wide dirt bars with low narrow clip on bars, so it's extremely comfortable to ride. I'm on it just about every day, and it also has a plastic cargo crate on the rear rack exactly like the scooter to make it useful.

I also did a similar one-off mod on the exhaust which I built from parts of four different exhaust systems (Suzuki, FMF, Honda XR's Only, and Supertrapp). The head pipe is 4 feet long and the normally torque rich engine produces even more at way lower rpms.

 

Greg