Archive for the ‘Opinions’ category

Douchiest Biker Contest Entry

October 28th, 2009

From hondacrguy:

douchiest biker huh? a few years back i was without 4 wheel transport and broke. i came across a 84 virago 1000, with a “sweet” pearl white paint, for 1200 bucks. i bought it in march and hit the road. i have ridden bikes my whole life but this was my first japanese harley clone. 2 449cc cyl. i hated that bike. one cylinder would crap out and pop back on at random, usually by some hot chick, forcing me to hold on really tight cus thats a kick in the ass when half your motorcycle turns off and on.  still i was broke it got me to work most times and what the hell i was riding full time.i would pass these harley doctors with their “roeder harley” or knock off sturgis standard black t’s 250 dollar harley boots and gay fringe on their 08 raod king trying to act like jessie james. never did i get the “wave”. no respect for a real rider in work boots and a lunch box strapped to the seat. im my opinion those weekend warriors with their 25000 bikes all deserve to win the douchiest rider award. live to ride ride to live only keep it real man. harley,honda or ducati
ride to ride

I gotta say, I usually skip the wave and go for the nod…I would rather hold on with both hands than look cool.  Most of those with $25K bikes seem to have a slightly different slogan of “live to ride, ride to be noticed.”  (Goldwings excluded because they’re built for an entirely different purpose). 

I love your story…it definately paints a picture of a real biker.  You mean you didn’t buy a pair of $400 saddlebags to hold your lunch?

Brian

1 comment »

Posted in Douchiest Biker Contest, Opinions

New Bike Guages

October 25th, 2009

This may sound stupid and trivial, but almost all of the new model cruisers drive me nuts with their lack of a tachometer and the trendy placement of the speedometer on the gas tank.

My Vulcan is one such model.  It’s distracting to have to look down at the tank to see my speed, and I just like having a tach.

I think the best thing is exactly what most of the older imports have - a  speedometer and tachometer  mounted in front of the handlebars where they’re easy to read.

3 comments »

Posted in Opinions

GSX-R Indecision

October 23rd, 2009

I’m at a crossroads with my 1989 GSX-R.  I’m thinking about putting up an ad to see if someone wants to trade for an older Honda/Yamaha/Kawasaki.

Mentally, it scares the crap out of me since it was not only a fast bike from the factory, but is now a retired racing bike and will be scary fast once it’s running again.  On the other hand, just looking at it and thinking about the potential that it has is very exciting.

I guess I could de-tune it and try to get it back to factory specs….but that could be a ton of money.

Any suggestions?  Should I just try to trade it for something more civil?

5 comments »

Posted in Opinions, Project Updates, Suzuki GSX-R 750

Sorry about the sponsors

October 19th, 2009

Hey everyone.  First, we got a ton of new members these past few days.  Welcome everyone and I look forward to hearing about your bikes and projects.

Second, I’m REALLY sorry about the quality and quantity of ads running.  Since that certain unnamed giant corporation shut us down, I had to go with plan B and it’s going to take some time to get the content honed to match this site.  If I have to look at the guy that got ripped in 4 weeks much more, I really won’t be happy.  Hmmm…I wonder if he has a Harley with neon lights????????

Anyway, like I said before, these help pay for fun promotional stuff and contests, so please bear with me!!!  Thanks.

Brian

No comments »

Posted in General, Opinions

Site Stuff

October 18th, 2009

Hey all.  I’m happy to report that we now have 70 members.  I’m pretty happy that you all like the site and completely psyched that a lot of people are posting, sharing info, etc.  Thanks again to everyone.

You may have noticed that our ads disappeared.  That’s because a certain giant corporation apparently feels that it’s cool to shut down someone’s ad account without giving any explanation or giving them a chance to correct whatever tripped their alarm.  I am working on getting some other things rolling that will help pay for the site, HDDB contests, etc. 

Aside from that, Ohio weather sucks and I’m hoping we can all stay interested in our bikes and projects over the long winter.  Thanks again to everyone.

Brian

No comments »

Posted in General, Opinions

Community Parts Box Thoughts???

September 23rd, 2009

Does anyone have an opinion on my community parts box idea?  I thought it was a doosie, but surprisingly no one commented.  Did I just go off the deep end?

I’m winding down the promotion of this site for the week as I’m going on vacation and won’t have much time to keep up with posts and new users….but I would LOVE to know if anyone has any thoughts at all on the spare parts box idea.

No comments »

Posted in General, Opinions

Fun at the BMV

September 19th, 2009

Like many newer riders, I had been neglecting to take my skills test to get my permanent endorsement.  When Johnny Law finally pulled me over riding at night because he “happened to notice that I don’t have an endorsement” I figured it was time to stop screwing around and just get it.

I took the test yesterday and failed.  I was doing really well until almost the end when making the sharp u-turn.  I was going way too slow, and being nervous, I forgot to downshift to first or pull in the clutch and I stalled it.  What do you you do when you stall a bike when you’re barely moving?  Of course you put your foot down, stop the bike, and restart it.

Well, I’ll accept that I failed the test because I simply messed up, but I still think nailing me with one point for stalling, 5 points for putting my foot down, and 5 points for not completing the u-turn was a little messed up.  I mean really, the only mistake I made was stalling the bike.

What pissed me off though was the attitude of the women that were administering the test.  First of all, apparently if you were a woman taking the test and you all out drop the bike in the middle of the test, it’s cool to just start over….no failing.

The second thing was their rotten shitty attitudes – before, during, and after the test.  Before the test – Mrs. Pleasant while rolling her eyes because I had apparently annoyed her by asking her to get up from her chair warned me to be there by 8:00 SHARP and if I was a minute late I would not get tested.  That’s fine, about 12 of us showed up at 8:00 sharp.  It’s just too bad that they couldn’t seem to roll their asses out to the course until 8:55.

The other thing was their stupid rules. One guy forgot his drivers license but had his temp. mototcycle license.  In Ohio now, they look just like your drivers license and have your picture and everything.  But…they sent him away.

Another guy was having a problem with his left rear turn signal…apparently the bulb blew just before the test.  They refused to test him.  WTF?  Why?  Turn signals are not even required on motorcycles.  Also if your horn doesn’t work they won’t test you.

When I go to a doctor, I expect the arrogance, lack of respect, dumbass policies, and rotten shitty attitudes.  But then, doctors don’t get paid out of my tax dollars, do they?

3 comments »

Posted in General, Opinions

Restoring a bike is like marriage

September 7th, 2009

Yeah, the more experience I get, the more I’ve come to realize that restoring a bike is a lot like being married….

I’m thinking everything is going smoothly, then all of the sudden it will barely run anymore ["the unprovoked argument"].  Having fuel filters on, it was pretty easy to see that fuel was only getting into one cylinder ["quickly finding out what's bothering her"].  The petcock was clogged up ["what's been ok for a long time suddenly is not ok"].  My guess is there’s still a bunch of crap floating around in the tank ["shit from the past coming up AGAIN"].

So, instead of working on cosmetic stuff while I wait for my switches to come in, I ended up cleaning out the petcock with the help of the air compressor (I would say “blowing out the petcock” but that just sounds a little wrong).

I guess in this analogy, the makeup sex was seeing fuel flowing through both filters again and if it runs ok when I start it up tomorrow there will be that 2 or 3 day love-dovey blissful period.

No comments »

Posted in Honda CL200, Opinions, Project Updates

Meet George

August 6th, 2009

Meet my old friend George.  George is a shining example of what every Harley rider could be – a rider that happens to have a Harley, as opposed to being a Harley owner that happens to ride.  When you see George on his bike, you’ll immediately notice that he’s not all douched up with attitude.

The picture is a picture of his jacket that he posted..his “douchey leather jacket” that he wears to ride.  George, douche on because you’re our kind of rider.

By the way, the CL200 should be back in my garage on Tuesday or Wednesday – I should have some exciting updates then.

No comments »

Posted in General, Opinions

I Love to See This Enthusiasm

July 7th, 2009

I felt bad about posting on top of the one and only member post so far..but that’s just the way this WordPress platform works…newest on top.

Anyway, did you all see the post from July 4th: NMAXXS’ Yamaha XS650SG?  What I thought was so cool about this was that here’s another person that (at least it seems to me) is so passionate about a particular vintage bike that he operates a web site just for resources and information on that bike (http://www.mikesxs.net/).

To me, it’s kind of cool to see anything non-Harley get this enthusiasm.  I have nothing against Harleys or many of the people that ride them.  I do just shake my head when I see the yuppies riding them and getting their badass-wannabe attitudes while doing so.   Brotherhood?  I don’t think so.  Yuppie by day and poser by night [complete with the HD logo leather getup and $600 exhaust pipes] – far more likely.    I believe that if scooters made a massive comeback in popularity you would see many of the same people trade in their Harleys and leather for a Vespa and a closet full of turtlenecks.

Sorry – just venting.  This site and me personally are not anti-Harley.  We’re about vintage bikes.  Join the site, participate and post. Thanks.

1 comment »

Posted in Opinions

CL200: The Basics of This Project

July 7th, 2009

Sorry for my lack of posting the past few days….I had a lot of things that I’ve been promising my daughter I’d do.  Anyway, it was excellent to see some posting in my absence.

I’ll try to get some pictures of the exhaust headers that I started working on while I wait to get this bike picked up and over to the shop for some engine diagnostics/repair beyond my current abilities.  The apparent elbow grease required to get these back into shape reminded me of something important…my budget and plan for this project.

My budget and plan are this:  I have no budget.  By that I don’t mean “unlimited.”  I mean that I’m scraping for funds for this and the plan is to (1) just get it running right, (2) clean and reburbish anything that I can by myself, and finally (3) when it’s all done, I’ll start slowly getting things rechromed where necessary.

It just kind of cracks me up to see projects on TV.  They are just nothing like what we normal people go through to restore an old classic.  I mean, I didn’t start off with a budget of a month’s salary and at this stage, I just don’t see manufacturers donating thousands of dollars in parts to me in order to help me not blow my budget.  I love when they say, “…this should only set you back about $800.”  What?  ONLY? 

Yeah, I guess my strategy is a slow de-aging process, rather than a major all-at-once visit to the fountain of youth. 

No comments »

Posted in Honda CL200, Opinions, Project Updates

True True.

June 25th, 2009

From Old Bike Barn’s site:

Time To Take Your Old Vintage Bike Out of the Barn

triumph-blog

by William Sidney

Trying to find parts for vintage Japanese and European motorcycles can make the task of rebuilding or restoring one of these bikes practically impossible

NOS parts are often little more than universal-use electrical parts, while aftermarket supplies are limited to only the most popular motorcycles built at the time. The question becomes, then, where do you find new or better-condition parts for your rebuild project? If you’ve got two hundred salvage yards down the road, you might come close to the answer. Thankfully, though, your property values don’t have to suffer for you to rebuild that old motorcycle. The good folks at Old Bike Barn have found a way to streamline the process of scouring through junkyards nationwide by giving customers the option of utilizing their Virtual Parts Finder. The service provides you with the opportunity to have your parts request instantly submitted to Old Bike Barn’s nationwide network of over two hundred motorcycle salvage yards.  The form literally takes less than a minute to fill out, and offers a box in which you can input specific requests or additional information.  The response from the Virtual Parts Finder is quick and efficient, providing several options from which to choose.  Chances are, if you’re rebuilding a rare or single-year production motorcycle, perhaps even one that might have been popular, but didn’t survive much past the chopper-crazy seventies, than the Used Parts Lookup service is your best way to go about finding usable salvage parts.

Old Bike Barn prides itself in being the most user-friendly vintage motorcycle parts retailer on the internet, and it shows.  Rather than a detached, SUV-loving crew of computer techs, the family at Old Bike Barn are the kind of approachable, fun-loving bikers you’d be likely to find at your local cruise-in.  Ask a question, and the depth of experience you’ll find will give you the insight to complete your project, whether it’s your dad’s old late-sixties Honda restoration, or a custom café-racer.  Many of the parts you’ll be able to find on the Old Bike Barn site, particularly with the Virtual Parts Finder, aren’t to be found elsewhere on the internet, or are so outrageously priced, that they’ll make your head spin.  Old Bike Barn, and in particular Barrie Haughton, Old Bike Barn’s Founder & CEO, take a vested interest in keeping the classics running rather than rusting, and making it happen in a way that helps, rather than hinders, the people who love the classic bikes as much as the crew at OBB do.  They do this by offering the kind of low-overhead and rare parts that other retailers either don’t have the space or the desire to offer.  Looking for bodywork for a newer bike?  The folks at Old Bike Barn can find it for you through the Virtual Parts Finder, and at a substantially lower price than you’ll find anywhere else.

No comments »

Posted in General, Opinions, Resource Sites, Vintage Parts