what made you choose to give up motorcycles (street bikes)?

A buddy's wife recently decided the weight of her Dyna Fatbob was getting to be too much & went Brit. He rides a Dyna as well & says her Triumph feels like a hotrod minibike.

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In the mid 80s,, I had a 79 Bonneville special, it was a very limited production 750 and its my absolutely favorite bike Ive ever had..I tore up Daytona riding that bike and it was the only non Harley that was allowed to park in front of the Boot Hill saloon at that time..Yes, one night, my wifes bra and underware were stapled to the wall near the pool table, she was areal trooper that night . . Thursday was 1/4 beer nite,,I was a regular.
 
Yeah,,I was but there really wasn't much going on in there like group rides and meet and greets unless you really wanted travel some like STOC meetings.. Now years ago when I bought my First ST back in 05, I met up with a LOT of St owners. Seems like every other weekend we would meet up and have a hoot of a ride in the mountains, sometimes there would be 12 or up to 20 riders and we would split up into a fast and slow group. The Slow group would only exceed the speed limit by about 20 or 30 mph. The fast group, well, we had some excellent riders leading us and things got stupid sometimes. Then we would meet up for lunch at a predetermined spot to share stories, another ride and then head home.. Those were the days..
I probably rode with you a few times. Did you ever go to Moonshine?
 
For sale in Durham as we speak.
It will kill you.
all three cylinders and 750cc's
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So y’all aren’t doing a very good job of dissuading folks. Guy on one side of me bought the Triumph, and neighbor two doors down is stroking a check for this one as we speak.
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So y’all aren’t doing a very good job of dissuading folks. Guy on one side of me bought the Triumph, and neighbor two doors down is stroking a check for this one as we speak.
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Dang it! Just when I was starting to enjoy the neighborhood, I’m going to have to move.........Surrounded by an enabler and two bad influences......
I used to race moto-x when I was younger. I remember CZ, Huskys, Yamaha YZ’s, my last bike was a Honda Elsinore. Just recently watched
“On Any Sunday” and it really hurt. I get the urge to ride every spring and fall so bad it hurts. Bonus question, anybody remember Brad Lackey?
God speed to my neighbors. Sorry for the thread derail!
 
I’m supposed to get a call about one identical to this later this month when it arrives. Y’all do me a favor, and remind me of all the reasons I posted earlier not to buy it.

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At age 70 I haven't stopped riding, but I stopped riding for pleasure around here (Raleigh) about 10 years ago when the traffic and development sprawl became intolerable. You can't do any of the things I ride motorcycles for anymore. I have a sidecar outfit I use for running errands, and when I want to actually enjoy a ride, I put my trail bike in the pickup and head for trails in the Blue Ridge.
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Where is this? Looks beautiful
 
Round Mountain Road off of US52 near Bastian, VA. Private road, sadly now gated and made impassable :(. Ride em while ya can
 
Nothing wrong with anyone making the decision to hang up the helmet. Nothing wrong with anyone making the choice to ride.

I’ve been riding since the late ‘70’s and at 57, not quite ready to quit just yet. I just ride as if I’m invisible and only ride out in the country away from busy areas unless I can’t avoid them.

I’ve went down a couple of times and was blessed to escape serious injury. The only time I ride around in High Point or Greensboro is if I’m on a short ride to lunch or whatever.

My current bike is my favorite of the 9 or so bikes I’ve owned over years, my ‘14 Gen II VMAX.
 
Street, in the 90's. After slamming into 2 cars that pulled out, then saw me and came to a complete stop leaving no where to go with curb on the right and oncoming traffic to the left. Then having a tie down come loose at 60mph and get into the chain, another part whipped up, wrapped around my wrist and pulled my hand into the chain and oncoming ttraffic. Thank God I only lost the tip of my ring finger and 1/4" of the bone. I thought about replacing the KX750 with a shaft drive, for a minute.
I just sold my heavily moded YZ-250 :( After a few falls landing on my rt shoulder, I'm left with 1/2 a bicep (Popeye bicep)due to a shredded and missing tendon.
Besides, at 54 it's just not wise to climb on a fire breathing smoker and feel bulletproof at 80+ mph in the woods like a 17 year old.
 
“Give up riding”?....

I'm thinking I'm not going to. I've looked at a bunch of new bikes to see if anything significantly cool catches my eye, and really my old beater just does everything I could want, and is paid for. :)

I'm researching GPSes though, I do want to get one on the bike. Just so damn hard to navigate by brail around here, everything looks the same! Using the phone is just a chore.
 
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I'm thinking I'm not going to. I've looked at a bunch of new bikes to see if anything significantly cool catches my eye, and really my old beater just does everything I could want, and is paid for. :)

I'm researching GPSes though, I do want to get one on the bike. Just so damn hard to navigate by brail around here, everything looks the same! Using the phone is just a chore.

Get yourself a Cardo Packtalk Slim or Packtalk Bold. Then you can bluetooth your GPS app such as Wave to it and get turn by turn voice prompts in your helmet. You can also listen to music, talk to other bikes and send and receive phone calls all hands free and voice activated.
https://www.cardosystems.com/shop/packtalk-bold/
 
Get yourself a Cardo Packtalk Slim or Packtalk Bold. Then you can bluetooth your GPS app such as Wave to it and get turn by turn voice prompts in your helmet. You can also listen to music, talk to other bikes and send and receive phone calls all hands free and voice activated.
https://www.cardosystems.com/shop/packtalk-bold/
Forget that nonsense! Getting lost is the fun part!
 
I'm thinking I'm not going to. I've looked at a bunch of new bikes to see if anything significantly cool catches my eye, and really my old beater just does everything I could want, and is paid for. :)

I'm researching GPSes though, I do want to get one on the bike. Just so damn hard to navigate by brail around here, everything looks the same! Using the phone is just a chore.

I have a mount for my iPad on the bike. Works great, and for cross country riding it provides me with real-time weather in a large enough screen to be able to see. Plus then I have the ipad for e-mail, etc on my trip.
 
My new motorscooter has a souped-up boom box with nav, touch screen and blue tooth. I don’t listen to music, even in my truck, but I do like seeing who’s calling me on the screen in my truck and now on my bike. Only trouble is I need a mic if I want to actually answer a call handsfree. I can hear the caller through the speakers if I choose to answer but can’t respond. You think for a $1000 option they’d throw in a tethered mic.

The only factory option I’m seeing is headsets starting at $200. Bah. Don’t want a headset.
 
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My new motorscooter has a souped-up boom box with nav, touch screen and blue tooth. I don’t listen to music, even in my truck, but I do like seeing who’s calling me on the screen in my truck and now on my bike. Only trouble is I need a mic if I want to actually answer a call handsfree. I can hear the caller through the speakers if I choose to answer but can’t respond. You think for a $1000 option they’d throw in a tethered mic.

The only factory option I’m seeing is headsets starting at $200. Bah. Don’t want a headset.
The headsets didn't come with the bike? My buddies came with his '16 CVO Road Glide, at least I thought they did. Maybe he bought them extra? For $42k I hope his came with everything.
I don't use in helmet speakers. I use earbuds. They are great because they block wind noise and they block speakers from other cars and bikes when going through town!
 
The headsets didn't come with the bike? My buddies came with his '16 CVO Road Glide, at least I thought they did. Maybe he bought them extra? For $42k I hope his came with everything.
I don't use in helmet speakers. I use earbuds. They are great because they block wind noise and they block speakers from other cars and bikes when going through town!
Yea the CVO’s cost crazy money, in fact they stopped making them this year. I was all in with “custom” color paint, RDRS, and upgrade radio for about $16K less than that delivered to my door. But I still wonder why no mic. I would be fully functional with a mic.
 
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My new motorscooter has a souped-up boom box with nav, touch screen and blue tooth. I don’t listen to music, even in my truck, but I do like seeing who’s calling me on the screen in my truck and now on my bike. Only trouble is I need a mic if I want to actually answer a call handsfree. I can hear the caller through the speakers if I choose to answer but can’t respond. You think for a $1000 option they’d throw in a tethered mic.

The only factory option I’m seeing is headsets starting at $200. Bah. Don’t want a headset.
Man, I'd pay money NOT to have that stuff on a bike. Not what I ride for - but to each his own!
 
Man, I'd pay money NOT to have that stuff on a bike. Not what I ride for - but to each his own!
My wife works for a hospital and she can call me maybe once a day in the middle of the day. If I miss the call, I may not be able to talk to her the rest of the day. While on the face of it that’s not a big deal on MOST days, there is about one a week where something related to property management, the kids, my old mom, where it’s better that I don’t miss the call. And as a landlord, I get very few calls, mostly email, but if someone has something that requires immediate attention, I don’t want to miss the call. I’m like the Maytag repairman. Few calls, but when I get them, they are sometimes important.
 
I gave up motorcycling because my wife could call me and a little tv told me where to go and someone else was in my helmet.
:p
I'm teasing! But my approach mirrors @Red Marley. I do like the gettin-away part of motorcycling.
The technology is amazing though, all the things that will interface with the bike. I gotta admit it's impressive. If I did a lot of cross country touring I would definitely use all that stuff.
To each his own. I like to have my music when riding.
I have a radio on my Goldwing. Merle Haggard and bluegrass is good riding music around here. It fits the scenery.

Besides, at 54 it's just not wise to climb on a fire breathing smoker
That's what I did Pink. Got rid of all the edgy bikes. Sportybikes, supermoto's, dirty bikes...all of them just want to see what you're made of, all the time.
I'm luvin my new Yamaha mega ridiculous power cruiser! Torque monster beast and it handles great. A perfect power cruiser for the mountains.
That's the kind of riding I wanna do now. It kept me enthused about riding. Yeah. I'm liking it.

Full disclosure; If money was no object I'd go out and buy a KTM SuperDuke tomorrow. 178hp sportbike killer, another one that handles great. The bike has been nicknamed 'The Beast'.
So yeah I'm still an idiot. Just wanna be clear.
 
I didn’t get a chance to ride yesterday, but after the rain came through and cooled things off I opened up the garage and relaxed in front of a fan in a lawn chair admiring my new iron horse thinking to myself, I have lost my ever loving mind. I can tell I'm not quite as rock steady on this new beast as I was the last one 30 years ago. Maybe because it weighs 150-200 lbs more, less upper body strength, I dunno.

I have to go to the dentist today to take care of a broken tooth. He’s my age. When he asks what’s new, I’m gonna tell him that I have gotten to the point I’m worried that I might outlive my teeth, so I’ve evened up the odds.
 
I gave up motorcycling because my wife could call me and a little tv told me where to go and someone else was in my helmet.
:p
I'm teasing! But my approach mirrors @Red Marley. I do like the gettin-away part of motorcycling.
The technology is amazing though, all the things that will interface with the bike. I gotta admit it's impressive. If I did a lot of cross country touring I would definitely use all that stuff.

I have a radio on my Goldwing. Merle Haggard and bluegrass is good riding music around here. It fits the scenery.


That's what I did Pink. Got rid of all the edgy bikes. Sportybikes, supermoto's, dirty bikes...all of them just want to see what you're made of, all the time.
I'm luvin my new Yamaha mega ridiculous power cruiser! Torque monster beast and it handles great. A perfect power cruiser for the mountains.
That's the kind of riding I wanna do now. It kept me enthused about riding. Yeah. I'm liking it.

Full disclosure; If money was no object I'd go out and buy a KTM SuperDuke tomorrow. 178hp sportbike killer, another one that handles great. The bike has been nicknamed 'The Beast'.
So yeah I'm still an idiot. Just wanna be clear.
If I lived along the mountains I'd probably have a street bike. The Blue Ridge Parkway is gorgeous and there are few entrances for someone to pull out into you.
 
I gave up motorcycling because my wife could call me and a little tv told me where to go and someone else was in my helmet.
:p
LOL, can’t like this enough! Every year for more than 25 years, four of us from different states would meet in Charlottesville for a week of riding in the Blue Ridge. No plan, no schedule, no wristwatches, and for most of the time, no phones - just do what we felt like doing. And what we felt like doing was getting lost. Looking for roads that were not on the map, the kind with no painted lines on them. This led to all sorts of adventures, like doing 40 miles of barely-passable dirt roads on sportbikes. One time we set off in the morning, from where I don’t remember, rode like madmen all day, taking one unknown road after another; it was glorious. Late in the afternoon we figured we had better find out where we were, so we could find a watering hole for the night. We came to a small town and one of our number went into the little Post Office to ask “where are we?”. He came out laughing - turns out we were about four miles from where we had started :rolleyes:. We had cramps in our cheeks from grinning all day. Most of our best adventures involved getting lost and sometimes placing ourselves at the mercy of strangers. We NEVER had a bad experience in the mountains. Took a GPS once when those things were new - threw that thing away before lunch the first day. Who wants to go where a little box tells you to go? Other opinions are, I am told, available :D.
 
LOL, can’t like this enough! Every year for more than 25 years, four of us from different states would meet in Charlottesville for a week of riding in the Blue Ridge. No plan, no schedule, no wristwatches, and for most of the time, no phones - just do what we felt like doing. And what we felt like doing was getting lost. Looking for roads that were not on the map, the kind with no painted lines on them. This led to all sorts of adventures, like doing 40 miles of barely-passable dirt roads on sportbikes. One time we set off in the morning, from where I don’t remember, rode like madmen all day, taking one unknown road after another; it was glorious. Late in the afternoon we figured we had better find out where we were, so we could find a watering hole for the night. We came to a small town and one of our number went into the little Post Office to ask “where are we?”. He came out laughing - turns out we were about four miles from where we had started :rolleyes:. We had cramps in our cheeks from grinning all day. Most of our best adventures involved getting lost and sometimes placing ourselves at the mercy of strangers. We NEVER had a bad experience in the mountains. Took a GPS once when those things were new - threw that thing away before lunch the first day. Who wants to go where a little box tells you to go? Other opinions are, I am told, available :D.

You can ride and explore and take whatever roads you want to get lost and at the end of the day you hit "go home" on your GPS and it will take you from your lost state back to where you started. It can also store your ride so that you can find those same backroads again. I use my phone for music, but I also have a Spot satellite tracker because you don't always have cell service in the boonies. And if I do go off the side of a mountain, they can find me pretty quick with the tracker.
Me and a lot of others in the long distance riding community started using the satellite trackers when a friend of ours ran off the road near Salmon, Idaho back in 2008. It was 3 weeks before his body was found. The tracker allows my wife to follow me on the computer and I can send premade messages that I'm OK when out of cell service. It also sends your GPS coordinates to authorities if you hit the 911 button on it. Technology is not always a bad thing, it's how you choose to use it.
 
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My new motorscooter has a souped-up boom box with nav, touch screen and blue tooth. I don’t listen to music, even in my truck, but I do like seeing who’s calling me on the screen in my truck and now on my bike. Only trouble is I need a mic if I want to actually answer a call handsfree. I can hear the caller through the speakers if I choose to answer but can’t respond. You think for a $1000 option they’d throw in a tethered mic.

The only factory option I’m seeing is headsets starting at $200. Bah. Don’t want a headset.

When you get it all sorted out, you will be ready for this rally next year.
https://hokaheychallenge.com/Pages/about.htm

You can track them as they run right now here.
https://app.usfleettracking.com/?cid=HokaHey
 
So, I had some minor drama trying to schedule some routine A/C repair (meaning it’s not working) after getting a text from a tenant while I was at the dentist. My a/c man doesn’t answer his phone (he’s busy), my tenants don’t answer their phones, (their busy), so I spend the morning trying to split the atom with what should have been two texts, max. Turns into a half dozen texts, a half dozen phone calls, and due to no one answering the phone, they get to do without a/c for three days. (Who am I blaming. That’s the earliest I could get anyone out there anyway)

I hate property management, even though it's commercial. If it was residential I'd just drive myself into a bridge abutment.

So I went for a 45 minute ride on the scooter out in the semi-sticks this afternoon. Hot as hades at the traffic lights. There’s no freakin way I could take a call on that thing at any speed, and I have stock mufflers and a faring.
 
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Some folks like those in-helmet Bluetooth doohickies in their lids, but generally require a full face helmet.

I ride to escape. I loved having tunes & a cigarette lighter on my old Road Glide, but I don't need them. I'm good with the wind & the road. I wouldn't mind a GPS, just so I can plan routes. I scout likely routes on google maps, but it's past hard for me to remember all that.

My best was a 5 county, 260 mile ride down into the Uwharrie & back, with less than 10 miles of 4-lane.

@fieldgrade It'll take a bit to get back in the groove. It's a perishable skill & I start feeling rusty at less than 3000 miles per year. I'd like to retake the MSF Experienced Rider Course for a refresher & then take some more advanced training at a place near here.
 
@fieldgrade It'll take a bit to get back in the groove. It's a perishable skill & I start feeling rusty at less than 3000 miles per year. I'd like to retake the MSF Experienced Rider Course for a refresher & then take some more advanced training at a place near here.

Until today, I had taken two short rides since Friday when I got it. First time up on two wheels since 1989 and on something much heavier than before, even though that was a “full sized” FX. Today was maybe 30 miles, all two lane back roads and two small towns, and I started getting the balance of this heavier bike in turns and stop/go. By the time I have this thing broken in, I should be broken in as well.
 
The rubber mount dressers are good handling bikes. I rode my Road Glide way harder than I ride the Super Glide, but I was riding about 7500 miles a year back then, versus the pitiful amount I've ridden the last couple years. That said, it's always there & ready to go when I need a wind fix.

Check this out-



You can make them big girls dance.
 
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So, I had some minor drama trying to schedule some routine A/C repair (meaning it’s not working) after getting a text from a tenant while I was at the dentist. My a/c man doesn’t answer his phone (he’s busy), my tenants don’t answer their phones, (their busy), so I spend the morning trying to split the atom with what should have been two texts, max. Turns into a half dozen texts, a half dozen phone calls, and due to no one answering the phone, they get to do without a/c for three days. (Who am I blaming. That’s the earliest I could get anyone out there anyway)

I hate property management, even though it's commercial. If it was residential I'd just drive myself into a bridge abutment.

So I went for a 45 minute ride on the scooter out in the semi-sticks this afternoon. Hot as hades at the traffic lights. There’s no freakin way I could take a call on that thing at any speed, and I have stock mufflers and a faring.
I use earbuds inside a full face helmet and can talk on the phone on the interstate with no problems at all at any speed. A modular (flip up) is the same way. Plus the music is way better with earbuds than with in helmet speakers or dash mounted speakers. You don't have to turn the volume up near as much with earbuds. And with a full face or modular helmet, you don't have all the wind noise on the mic and the other party can hear what you are saying. Even if you don't use earbuds, you should use ear pro just like you do when shooting.
The full face and modular also protect your face from bugs and other impacts.
 
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