DMV SKILL TEST

Spoke with true ignorance Pete. I'm not sure who you are really talking
to in this post. Are you calling me an asshole because I ride a Hog?
First off read the posts. I don't ride a hog.

-Steve

 

oh, goodie, I have a wingman now!

 

yeah, I don't like selfish freeloaders.

Hey, I'm not necessarily targetting everyone that has ever modified
their bike. It is possible to ride even those fat pigs without being
as ass. But certainly the ones I'm talking about have chosen to be
noticed.

Performance boosting may be a valid justification. I feel for you
guys at Laguna Seca, though. But let's not mince words - most of the
Harley guys got the loud pipes because they want to be loud. (If they
wanted performance, they should have gotten a Honda)

 

Whether or not Barbz likes to argue, I see the point she's making:
there's almost always going to be space between cars in a given lane.
Riding on a multilane road, I try to position myself so that I am next
to one of those spaces in the nearest adjacent lane rather than next
to one of the cars. It's rather like the pattern of checkers.

To the extent that I can do that, my headlight (modulated or
otherwise) is more likely to be visible to the cars that I'm counting
on to stay out of my way if I need to make an emergency lane change.
R, UB

 

Maybe it's a function of who the waver is. I wave at pretty much
everyone, unless I think that my left hand has to be on the bar at
that moment Most people wave back -- some don't. I can't say that
I've seen much of a correlation between what the wavee is riding and
whether they return the wave.

My hypothesis is that I get the result I do because I'm a late
middle-aged guy riding a middle-of-the road bike and wearing moderate
amounts of protective gear. If I conformed more closely to either the
hog or sportbiker ideal, I'd expect a different reception.



R, UB

 

There are paintings on my walls, which represent the ultimate valuing
of form over function. We're not talking space shuttle, where every
bit of engineering skill needs to be dedicated to performance.
There's room for compromise in motorcycles, and if a Fat Boy gives you
orgasms, ride it.
R, UB

 

Yep.. I agree.. But in the case of Barbz, she was just playing dumb to
bait me into arguing with her =) I've basicly decided to bail out of
this thread. When it comes to name calling and such, there is no point
in trying to keep the discussion going.

-Steve

 

Bravo!

-Steve

 

But if your straight pipes are a significant disruption, may the CHP
bless and ticket ya!

 

Heh, righty! I'm jealous.

barbz

 

I think you need more hours on the road.

barbz

 

You assumed I am where now? Gee, what is this 'freeway' of which you
speak? Something like the things that run like major clogged arteries
through California? Nope, never heard of them. I've never seen one in
San Diego, you foolish person. And somehow I've managed to ride for
almost thirty years without encountering one. </sarcasm>

It seems you are taking my comments on the Brotherhood of Profiling
Harley Drivers a wee bit personally. Hit a nerve, hmmm? Or was it my
inquiry into your freeway riding skills? Hey, you want to ride
sidebyside in one lane, fine with me. You want to pace cars, go right
ahead. But don't tell me that you can't influence your position on the
freeway plane by adjusting your riding, because you can and should.
If you point your bike in one direction and just putt along at the only
speed you know, the fact that you're still alive to post here is sheer
luck. Maybe you should go riding with Michael Glover. He has his own
unique ideas about the value of riding skills too.

barbz

 

Ummm...I'm a middle-aged female riding an old BMW rat bike, and I get
waved at by sportbikers alla time. I wave back when I'm not busy.

barbz

 

Baiting you? Playing dumb? Wooo, pot, kettle, black! But I *don't* think
you're playing...
barbz

 

I sure hope I don't meet you on the streets, because if you attitude is
anything like what I see here, I'm sure squid is the first thought that
would come to my mind.

I'm done talking with you Barbz.

-Steve

 

Is that the reason you posted on 8/10 asking to borrow a smaller bike
so you could pass the test because you couldn't pass it on your
Harley? Oy.

 

On Wed, 27 Aug 2003 20:02:03 +0000 (UTC),

Hey, Nick, not even my pipes are straight. ;-}

As to noise, my 82 Virago is among the quieter bikes on the road. I
was distressed the last time I took it in for service and they
returned it pointing out there was a small leak in the gasket on the
muffler that they didn't bother to fix. The bike is noisier than it
was, but still at least one standard deviation quieter than the
average bike on the street. They *wil*l fix it next time the bike
needs service.


R, UB

 

Yebbut he just went down in flames.

--
Mike

I didn't crash, there was a sudden burst of gravity.

icq - 219328929

 

Yeah, the problem is people use this as a rationalization/excuse for
anti-social behavior. As such, the truth is seldom an obstacle.

Hooking up a sound meter and camera and showing that "no, you don't
hear CruiserSquid on the freeway until he's passed you" would not help
convince the "Loud Pipes Save Lives" crowd of anything.

 

It may have been in MCN that one such test was done - well, just from one
position. I was somewhat distrustful of it when a stock harley matched up
with a BMW.

Empirically you can get a lot of the results yourself just by standing
at a good intersection, or perhaps up at Alice's. Somewhat skewed there
of course since people do all sorts of crazy shit for the audience.