New Motorcycle Thread

[Bill Robertson]

Everything's back together but the gas tank. I hope to get it back on this weekend and do the extremely tedious task of changing the fuel pump. Whoever designed the fuel pump system for Harley must have one hell of a sense of humor.

[kelroy55]

I bled my brakes and the fluid was dirty so it needed changing anyway but that wasn't the problem. I'm going to rebuild the master cylinder next.

[HangryHippo]

I have a cousin that wants to start riding dirtbikes, which I know jack squat about. Do any of you motorcycle guys have any recommendations on the hobby that I can share with him? Any bikes more reliable than others? What size bike is good for starters? Where he could ride? Anything at all? I'd appreciate any input.

[rezman]

I have a cousin that wants to start riding dirtbikes, which I know jack squat about. Do any of you motorcycle guys have any recommendations on the hobby that I can share with him? Any bikes more reliable than others? What size bike is good for starters? Where he could ride? Anything at all? I'd appreciate any input.

Your cousin's age, weight and height, along with and mental and mechanical aptitude are all key factors to start with. Then consider what size and type of bike to shoot for. 125 cc is usually a good starting point for beginners. I've had good luck with Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki dirt bikes and 4 wheelers, but have not any experience with late model dirt bikes ( newer than 2004) since I gave up dirt a long time ago.

Does he want a full out MXer, or does he want more of an enduro , trail/woods style bike?. Some dirt bikes are much taller than others. For beginners, shorter bikes where you can plant both feet firmly on the ground are usually more comfortable, then the rider can go bigger and faster as the skills progress.

Find an older used bike, but one you can still easily find parts for, because beginners are going to crash, ...... multiple times.

[HangryHippo]

Your cousin's age, weight and height, along with and mental and mechanical aptitude are all key factors to start with. Then consider what size and type of bike to shoot for. 125 cc is usually a good starting point for beginners. I've had good luck with Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki dirt bikes and 4 wheelers, but have not any experience with late model dirt bikes ( newer than 2004) since I gave up dirt a long time ago.

Does he want a full out MXer, or does he want more of an enduro , trail/woods style bike?. Some dirt bikes are much taller than others. For beginners, shorter bikes where you can plant both feet firmly on the ground are usually more comfortable, then the rider can go bigger and faster as the skills progress.

Find an older used bike, but one you can still easily find parts for, because beginners are going to crash, ...... multiple times.

Thank you for the insight, rez. He just turned 19, he's 6' 1" and weighs somewhere around 240. His mechanical aptitude is great, but mentally he's still got some maturing to do. He's not interested in a full MXer, but just wants to ride around.

[kelroy55]

Ordered the part for my master cylinder rebuild and after watching a few video's on how to do it, which doesn't look too hard, I'm still thinking about taking it in to have it done. I can do a lot of things but I stay away from electrical and brakes if I can.

[kelroy55]

This guy needs his a$$ kicked

Caught on Camera: Car Veers Into Motorcycle Tossing Riders Onto Road - NBC News

[Urbanized]

Regardless of whether they take that type of action, there are many behind the wheel who feel that type of contempt for motorcyclists. Bicyclists too, for that matter.

And yeah, he needs to have his ass kicked. In prison. While serving time for ADW.

[kelroy55]

Regardless of whether they take that type of action, there are many behind the wheel who feel that type of contempt for motorcyclists. Bicyclists too, for that matter.

And yeah, he needs to have his ass kicked. In prison. While serving time for ADW.

Those folk on the bike will own everything that guy has pretty soon.

[Uptowner]

I have a cousin that wants to start riding dirtbikes, which I know jack squat about. Do any of you motorcycle guys have any recommendations on the hobby that I can share with him? Any bikes more reliable than others? What size bike is good for starters? Where he could ride? Anything at all? I'd appreciate any input.

I have a cousin that wants to start riding dirtbikes, which I know jack squat about. Do any of you motorcycle guys have any recommendations on the hobby that I can share with him? Any bikes more reliable than others? What size bike is good for starters? Where he could ride? Anything at all? I'd appreciate any input.

125 is pretty small for 6'1" 240lbs. For a teenaged inexperienced rider I highly recommend against motocross/dirt bikes. They are so frickin dangerous it's not even funny. Those shocks get compressed on the wrong jump/bump and you're airborne. I had a hopped up yz80 as a lad and I honestly don't know how I survived some of those crashes. Mom sold it to pay for hospital bills after I came off a jump I built and shattered both my ankles which are now held together with screws and hurt every day. Plus they're not street legal, so have fun hauling them everywhere. I recommend a dual purpose like a Yamaha xt250 it's been made since the early 80s, even Rambo had one. So it's easy to find a used one. It's not stupid horsepower as to get you killed. Great trail bike, great wheelie bike, great daily rider, it's light and springy for doing stupid stuff around the neighborhood. I'm half tempted to go out and buy one again after writing this.

If you decide to get into trail riding: take my advice and PLEASE make a couple circuits in first gear before you rip it and accidentally downshift in a mud hole or "surprise!" into a tree, they might as well be stone walls.

[HangryHippo]

125 is pretty small for 6'1" 240lbs. For a teenaged inexperienced rider I highly recommend against motocross/dirt bikes. They are so frickin dangerous it's not even funny. Those shocks get compressed on the wrong jump/bump and you're airborne. I had a hopped up yz80 as a lad and I honestly don't know how I survived some of those crashes. Mom sold it to pay for hospital bills after I came off a jump I built and shattered both my ankles which are now held together with screws and hurt every day. Plus they're not street legal, so have fun hauling them everywhere. I recommend a dual purpose like a Yamaha xt250 it's been made since the early 80s, even Rambo had one. So it's easy to find a used one. It's not stupid horsepower as to get you killed. Great trail bike, great wheelie bike, great daily rider, it's light and springy for doing stupid stuff around the neighborhood. I'm half tempted to go out and buy one again after writing this.

If you decide to get into trail riding: take my advice and PLEASE make a couple circuits in first gear before you rip it and accidentally downshift in a mud hole or "surprise!" into a tree, they might as well be stone walls.

Thanks so much for this.

[rezman]

What a knucklehead. Deliberately take out two riders. Could possibly have killed both of them ,... and says "I don't care". The guy needs his license permanantly revoked.


How about this one. At least these guys manageed to stay right side up.

[Urbanized]

^^^^^^
Nobody is going to be on the side of those squids, chasing that car everywhere, etc. That said, the swerve maneuver that car did is basically attempted murder.

[Achilleslastand]

This guy needs his a$$ kicked

Caught on Camera: Car Veers Into Motorcycle Tossing Riders Onto Road - NBC News

Being a rider myself seeing things like this scare the crap out of me, that being said the motorcyclist deserves a ticket and the driver of the car deserves to have the whole can of whoop A opened on him

[okatty]

Had a friend ask me about scooter parking at Thunder games and I had no idea. Please let me know if you have suggestions to pass along. Thanks!!

[rezman]

^^^^^^
Nobody is going to be on the side of those squids, chasing that car everywhere, etc. That said, the swerve maneuver that car did is basically attempted murder.

Yeah, that thing was all wrong. You don't get to see what happened before the video started or after it stopped. And it was obviously edited. Those guys have more lives than a cat though. To repeatedly put themselves in that situation is nuts. They should have throttled back and let the four wheeler go on, after the camera man got the tag#.

As far as the first video, the rider was passing in the double yellow, but that's no reason to try to kill him. ... That's just nuts. But stuff like this happens more than you'd think.

[White Peacock]

Another nice shot of my Fazer from a brief weekend ride.

[White Peacock]

The prick in the car who intentionally ran into the motorcycle is being charged with aggravated assault.

Driver in viral video wreck charged with aggravated assault

[Urbanized]

A lawyer needs to advise that geezer to STFU. He buries himself even more, every time he opens his cake hole.

[White Peacock]

A lawyer needs to advise that geezer to STFU. He buries himself even more, every time he opens his cake hole.

He seems like the type that would fire a court-appointed attorney and represent himself because he felt disrespected by the attorney telling him to can it in front of the cameras. There's plenty on record to show that he 100% intended to hit the bikers.

[Uptowner]

Had a friend ask me about scooter parking at Thunder games and I had no idea. Please let me know if you have suggestions to pass along. Thanks!!

Before her accident. Councilwoman Salyer was working on some code to allow scooters to park anywhere a bicycle can park. I've had some problems myself scoot parking downtown, mostly with the meter maids. But once a motorcycle cop threatened a misdemeanor. I think it's ludicrous to take a full space and pay for a street space downtown.

That being said I've parked my scooters next to the park house bicycle rack plenty of times during a game with no ticket. Secrets out!

[White Peacock]

So after extensive troubleshooting on my GN250 (even replacing the solenoid), I found that all of its problems stemmed from a bad battery. I didn't start with suspecting the battery because I just bought it earlier this year, but I suppose lead acid batteries are crap. So I was trying to troubleshoot a starting problem on a bike using two different bad batteries and didn't know it.

I threw a new battery in, and she started right up. This is probably the last battery I buy from Batteries Plus, though. This is the one battery they sell that fits in the battery compartment in the GN and provides enough CCA. But even this brand new battery, I couldn't get it to charge more than 98% on my charger. Luckily it's running the bike just fine, but if it goes to tits after its warranty is up, I'm coughing up a heftier sum to get an AGM or LiFePo battery elsewhere.

On a side rant, Batteries Plus filled my new battery up with sulfuric acid, as they do, and sent me home. When I got home I opened the box to find all six of the acid fill holes were sitting wide open, because the guy failed to put the caps in them. So the whole ride home, I was one pothole away from having a trunk full of sulfuric acid, and I had to go all the way back to pick up the caps!

[Uptowner]

I've never messed with batteries plus. But interstate has just about everything. I used to use Yuasa sealed gel batteries because of their out the box crank ability and 6+ year life. But they only make them for high end and larger cycles. Then I bought a scooter and got a very expensive education in dry cell.

What I've used for the past 10 years now are "dry charge" batteries. Almost every motorcraft vehicle does because of their incredible shall life. This is a maintenance free dry(at least in the box) 6 cell with a pack of electrolytes that is easily applied into the battery. The cap is left loose to vent and the battery is charged before installation. What's VERY important to note here: the battery must be charged before installation. If you throw it into a small bike it WILL crank a few times. But the 100-200mAh your stator puts back in the battery is never going to condition it. So very soon down the line you'll notice the lights are dim and eventually your blinkers just bzzzz instead of flipping the relay.

Sounds like some joker at this store just goes in the back, opens the box, puts electrolytes in it, then hands it over to you with the seal off so it doesn't explode. I took a scooter we had bought at atomic brown into their garage half a dozen times AND even replaced the stator before I realized their tech was putting batteries in cold, right out the box, into our bikes.

Odds are autozone or o'reilly's have what you need. Just take your core in and match the fit. I charge my new ones at 1amp overnight. A simple 2amp car charger for 6 hours would suffice. Follow the directions on the box at any rate...

I know it's frustrating, at some point I stopped riding with my wife (the reason I got a scooter in the first place, she wouldn't ride motorcycles at the time) because I declared it a lemon. But hopefully a properly charged battery will get you back on the road. That particular scoot has gone 5 years 20k miles on the battery I put in it. I now use them on my italian sport bike, 1800cc Honda, vmax, various scoots, etc. the cost is about half that of a Yuasa gel, same CCA, and less charging maintenance than the Yuasa. Still need to trickle them through the winter though!

[White Peacock]

Generally they'll fill the battery, cap it, and send it home for me to charge. They have exhaust vents so exploding wouldn't be very likely.

I haven't checked O'Reilly's, but I know Auto Zone doesn't have any batteries that will fit in my bike (they're all too large), and they don't even have my bike (the GN250) in their database. But I'm eyeballing the Shorai Lithium for when this lead acid from Batteries Plus inevitably goes bad.

As of now, I'm glad I've got two running bikes.

What year is your VMax?

[rezman]

I've always bought my batteries that had the sperarate bag of electrolite and I put it in myself . That way I know it's filled properly, and then put it on the charger for a little while. Never had a lick of trouble. I also always made sure that the belch tube ran all the way down and hung clear of the lower frame and any obstructions.