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DonTom
Well-known member
Perhaps I will try one of these someday:
-Don- Reno, NV
-Don- Reno, NV
The Unofficial Motorcycle Thread!
- Thread starter DonTom
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
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DonTom
Well-known member
The "Winnebago of Motorcycles"
ah yes, the gold standard of cruisers..
I owned a 1999 Valkyrie for some 10 years, what a smooth ride, a bit heavy and thirsty on gas but a nice ride... then i made the mistake of buying a harley, two in fact. my first was a heritage soft tail, it basically had no power, poor brakes, bad handling and no ground clearance.. i let a buddy of mine ride it and he said they all ride like that.. so i sold it and bought a road king in the pious hope that it would be better and sadly it was'nt.. i sold that puppy and now own a Triumph thunderbird storm, i can tell you, those brits certainly know how to make a good bike.. it's the opposite of a harley.. it has power,handling,brakes.. the only downfall is the paint and chrome.. could be better..
RRR
Well-known member
Try comparing your skills to this. Both clips are same just different views.
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DonTom
Well-known member
I used to be a Harlley hater. I rode several, and I hated them all. Especially the brand-new Harley Switchback I tried. What a piece of junk that was. Still vibrates at 100 MPH. Takes five minutes of instruction from owner to figure out how to put down the sidestand or I won't be able to figure it out.
Then I rode the Harley Road Glide Special the same guy owned. I loved it and I purchased my Road Glide Ultra the very next day. It has a new larger frame (in year 2017) and the new M8 engine. Has a very nice feel to it. And it is the comfiest bike I own. I cannot say smoothest, because I usually ride electric. But it has the perfect feel with just enough vibration to "know you're on a motorcycle" (Harley's words, which are true).
The design of this bike was interesting. When they completed their first machine, the Harley engineers, on its first test ride decided the bike needed fixing because it was way too smooth. They went from 100% balancing to something like 75% (I forgot the exact percentage) to get the perfect feel. I am still curious what the 100% balanced version would ride like, but I have no complaints about how they did the Road Glide. It is not the slightest bit harsh at any speed. If you get the chance, ride one and see for yourself. And it averages around 50 MPG at a normal freeway speed. But at 85 MPH, like any bike, the MPG will drop very fast. It has a six-gallon gas tank, and I can usually get around 300 miles from it.
Not bad for a 1,000 lbs bike. Very slow speeds are difficult, my only complaint, but usually not a big issue, until I try to make a u-turn in a small space.
-Don- Reno, NV
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DonTom
Well-known member
Lane splitting no longer legal in the entire state of Texas. It is still legal in California and often very handy for me when there is heavy traffic on my way to or from Auburn, CA, usually from closed lanes caused by road construction.
But sometimes all the extra wide trucks in I-80 in CA make lane splitting not possible at some points. But it is usually very helpful.
Lane splitting is NOT legal here in NV, but is rarely needed anywhere--but the Las Vegas area could be an exception sometimes where it could be handy.
-Don- Reno, NV
But sometimes all the extra wide trucks in I-80 in CA make lane splitting not possible at some points. But it is usually very helpful.
Lane splitting is NOT legal here in NV, but is rarely needed anywhere--but the Las Vegas area could be an exception sometimes where it could be handy.
-Don- Reno, NV
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DonTom
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DonTom
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And legal CA lane splitting probably saved me an hour yesterday coming here. Because of this. Many areas where they would close a lane. And soon as the traffic recovers from that, and has the other lane back, in another few miles another lane closure.
Hwy 20 also had issues. Major work there also.
CA is not all bad with their laws. Lane splitting is NOT legal in NV, but is in CA.
-Don- Auburn, CA
Ray-IN
Well-known member
Hey Don! Check this out: Android Auto/Apple CarPlay For Any Motorcycle: New Option - Adventure Rider
There aren't many details though.
Lane splitting is now illegal in TX. There is a side-bar link on that same website.
There aren't many details though.
Lane splitting is now illegal in TX. There is a side-bar link on that same website.
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DonTom
Well-known member
I cannot understand why they make it illegal, but I can understand a few laws to make it safer. Such as when I lane split, vehicles in front have to be going less than around 5 MPH average (and usually at a complete stop) and I will go around 20 MPH at the very most.
But Texas still allows two motorcycles to share the same lane. IMAO, that is not only dangerous, but stupid. It serves no purpose other than for CHIPs on TV! But yeah, I really believe they can hear each other! Yeah, sure! IMO, these laws come mostly from politicians who have never been on a motorcycle in their entire life.
All 11 of my motorcycles have a GPS and a TPMS. And can play my favorite songs into my helmet via Bluetooth. But only a couple of them have a camera that records. Perhaps I should get one for my helmets.
The configuration is different on some of my bikes, in some cases, I get my TPMS and MP3 player from my GPS. But it looks like Garmin stopped selling the TPMS sensors. Perhaps because we can buy an entire TPMS system for less than the price of one of the Garmin sensors. But the Garmin was my favorite TPMS for motorcycles and I would be more than willing to pay the price for a few pairs of them. I have several Garmin LM395s which is my favorite GPS for motorcycles. Their newer Garmin 396 does NOT even have the GPS functionality.
-Don- Auburn, CA
Ex-Calif
Well-known member
I am a split opinion on lane splitting. When it's one or a few bikes in a traffic jam it can be really helpful for the bikes. But in heavy traffic and at traffic lights when there are a lot of bikes it is disruptive at the least and can be dangerous at best as all the bikes and cars start to move on.
Also a huge temptation for the bikes to take over the cross walks.
Also a huge temptation for the bikes to take over the cross walks.
RedForeman
Well-known member
That picture is what I witnessed on the regular in Sao Paulo. It was also mentioned there was at least one daily motorcycle fatality, so there's that. Personally, I'm indifferent about the topic. I'll do it in gridlock or nearly stopped traffic, especially on a hot day. I also watch for it and make way when I'm in a car or truck.
Ex-Calif
Well-known member
When I first got to Asia in 1985 Malaysians and Vietnamese were on a billion bicycles. By the time I left for the last time around 2015, Malaysians had progressed through the billion bikes phase and are now unhappily ensconced in car traffic jam hell.
The Vietnamese were fully ensconced in motorbike/scooter hell when I left.
The Thais and Indonesians have seemingly always been buried in both bikes and cars - LOL... It used to take me about an hour and a bit to fly from Singapore to Jakarta. Then 2-4 hours to drive downtown to the hotel...
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DonTom
Well-known member
Here is the list of my bikes (all of them purchased new):
1971 Black BMW R75/5
1984 Yamaha Venture
2002 Suzuki DR200SE
2013 Blue Triumph Trophy SE
2016 Kaw Versys 650 LT
2017 Blk/Gold HD Road Glide Ultra
2017 Zero DS ZF 6.5
2017 Zero SR ZF13 w/ Pwr Tank
2020 Blue Energica SS9
2023 Bormio Ice Energica Experia
2023 Green Zero DSR/x
-Don- Auburn, CA
RedForeman
Well-known member
From the article, it smells an awful lot like they're trying to head off a VW diesel-gate redux. However, no actual facts were disclosed. Neither about the nature of any fault, or how temporary the stop sale order will be.
I wonder when the media is going to realize they also manufacture a lot of cars too?
I like their products, and have owned BMW motorcycles and cars, but none currently. Nor do I plan to any time soon. I'll cheer them on from the cheap seats.
I wonder when the media is going to realize they also manufacture a lot of cars too?
I like their products, and have owned BMW motorcycles and cars, but none currently. Nor do I plan to any time soon. I'll cheer them on from the cheap seats.
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DonTom
Well-known member
Other than:
"material used in a component of its motorcycle evaporative system, which may not have been produced to material specifications”
-Don- Reno, NV
RedForeman
Well-known member
Still doesn't say exactly what was amiss, or to what degree it would affect emissions. For example, was the activated charcoal in the evap cannister 1mm too short? or was the charcoal left out altogether making it a decoy? In other words, the degree of harm makes a difference to me.
Not saying that was the matter, just making up some extreme examples to fit that generalization to illustrate my point.
It will also be interesting to see if it was deliberate or not. You'd think after the VW fiasco, any company making vehicles would have increased their compliance budget on this stuff. I think it took about half a year before VW came clean about what happened. Hopefully BMW will get it cleared up a little faster than that.
Not saying that was the matter, just making up some extreme examples to fit that generalization to illustrate my point.
It will also be interesting to see if it was deliberate or not. You'd think after the VW fiasco, any company making vehicles would have increased their compliance budget on this stuff. I think it took about half a year before VW came clean about what happened. Hopefully BMW will get it cleared up a little faster than that.
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DonTom
Well-known member
Whatever the issues is, I wonder who discovered it first.. The USA or Germany.
This could be a big loss for BMW.
-Don- Reno, NV
