Motorcycling.

Chiming in on this thread as I am finally on 2 wheels. You moto guys may laugh but I got a Surron. Those are a blast. Since it is electric and quiet, I can hit up all kinds of areas near home without pissing off the neighbors. Anyone else venture into the realm of E-MX?
 
Doodle on a motorcycle is fun to watch.
Having ridden bikes my whole life and planning this year's trip to the Alps of Austria, Schweiz and Italy right now, she made me think a racing course might not be time wasted.

 
While on the subject of fun to watch, these two are always good.
This video taught me why America has never been putting out small economic motorcycles.

 
A friend of mine was an ex track racer turned shop owner and he periodically tried to get me to go to a track day. I never did but I did experience the craziness of a 1000cc bike once. Wheelie up, wheelie down, up, down. My friend told me if he downshifted to 3rd on the highway he could spin the tire. The splat factor is too high for me. On the other hand I tried to look good for my son out on a trail day by railing a bermed/rutted corner on my -cough- KLR and he videoed it. Can you say vertical? Lets just say you don't throw around a pig of a bike like that - though it felt like I was pushing a bit of a boundary. Legends in our own minds :)
 
Aaaah the days of spaghetti forks.... dial up the compression and rebound on the rear oops wrong epoch. Had a 1976 Harley street/trail bike in this style.
 
You've got two choices. Stock gearing and feather the clutch in the tight stuff. Or drop your gearing and have a shorter run in each gear and a bruise on the top of your left foot from shifting. Ask me how I know this. :) Your boot might start to wear out too. When I switched to a mid bore 4stroke all the shifting went away - tractor to rocket ship same gear, but with a lead belly! Congrats, have fun.
 
Wear boots with a reinforced toe. Straighten your ankle and use the structure of the boot to catch the shift lever and keep the lever off your foot, avoiding a bruise. Ask me how I know lolz.
 
I had old school 70's Fox all leather boots without the various reinforcements like modern boots have. But I see your point for modern boots. A better rider used to scold me about (not) riding on the balls of my feet to protect my feet from tree stumps and rocks, but he had a 250 and a generous clutch parts budget so shifting wasn't as busy for him. I tried but I found I missed shifts when bouncing through trail crap. Slipped a foot off the peg once too - yeah I'll avoid that was the conclusion. Buddy broke his shin slipping a foot off the peg.

What was/is your ride?
 
Ye Gods, he calls me out!

In another life, drugs paid for me to wreck nicer motorcycles than most folks will own.

My first love was a 1945 Indian Chief, stripped and bobbed. Milled heads, custom intake, 1 1/2 inch Harley carburetor. Much internal work.

Dad and I bought an old couples vintage Harleys, two matched pairs, one set 1976 FLHs (Electra glide) and a pair of 1981 883 sportsters. He got the old man's modded bikes, I got the granny's stock cycles.

Had a 1978 Triumph Bonneville, easily one of the nicest riding, most reliable bikes I've owned.

Dad and I went in halves on a Ducati race bike, a 2006 999RS. What a phukin rush! Unfortunately the first Desmo service cost as much as the bike did, so it got sold.

The last grown up bike I had was a 1996 Honda VT1100 shadow. Possibly my favorite bike of all time, after I replaced the voltage regulator, that is.

Right now, I ride one of those little Coleman bikes from CAL Ranch lol! Needs the valves adjusted and me to actually care, but I can't be bothered today, too cold!
 
Looks like you have a penchant for big iron. My friend is a longtime motorcycle mechanic and he recently did a stint working on the Italian bikes. He's had a few stories to tell. Serviceability, what, you want serviceability? ;) Enjoy, take care
 
Bart said:
Looks like you have a penchant for big iron. My friend is a longtime motorcycle mechanic and he recently did a stint working on the Italian bikes. He's had a few stories to tell. Serviceability, what, you want serviceability? ;) Enjoy, take care
Click to expand...
Ducati's desmodromic valves are a nightmare. Dad and I took a look for the service manual once. We both had to drink ourselves to sleep...10-20k for a service actually seems fair when you look into it. Maybe the fact that it was 160hp altered our perceptions, but it was damned intimidating.

Big iron I love, regardless the variety. My penchant is twins. I prefer Vs, on a common crank pin, because I like the noise and the tractor torque. I like pushrods, and chain drive and oil leaks. I like springer forks and hard tails on long trips, the leather and grease and road grime...

Some of the most smiles per gallon I ever had was a two stroke motorized bicycle kit, my first wife bought me online. Best $300 I've ever spent. I put 15,000-28,000 miles on that thing, depending on how accurate my log book was. 5k (for sure) of that was a road trip, wandering all over Arizona, during the winter of '15-'16. Good times.
 
I had to go look up the engines he started with, the Kawasaki kh250. It looked like a piston port two stroke head, but I had to make sure. The thought of doing valve adjustments to 48 cylinders initiated some intrusive thoughts.
 
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Reminds me of the old race cars with big inline airplane engines. There's footage of a few doing a road hillclimb somewhere.
 
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