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Author Topic: Show me your crotch rocket! Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 08-10-2003 06:05 PM                     Josh said: quote: looks as if I stepped in a bit of shit. back in a month or two. Strange you said that. When I was talking to you earlier today about the capacitors, Poopers had an accident at the doorway and I stepped in it not knowing it was there. But at least you were not barefoot... But that is better than your cat barfing on Poops. I had to hose it off with your garden hose. Phil, that is a Cushman Eagle. Josh and I saw that on display at a restaurant in Omaha while we were there for the Strong International. Now I don't know if it is a Super Eagle, but a Cushman Eagle was my main source of transportation when I was in high school. The second picture is a Harley-Davidson "Topper". I think it was Harley's answer to the Cushman box which was quite popular in the early '50's.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-10-2003 07:25 PM                     V-Rods do have that Harley "sound" but they aren't as loud as other ones. Harley Davidson actually has a patent on the exhaust pipes of these machines that covers, among other things, a way to "tune" the sound that comes out of them. That low, rumble sound that Harleys make is a signature of the brand. I don't know if it's true or not but ledgend has it that H.D. has a trade mark on the sound of a Harley. As to Harleys being louder than other bikes, I think you're full of it. Rice rockets are just as loud, I say. It's just a different pitch. Harleys rumble. Rice rockets hum. If a Hog has the sound of a lion's roar a rice rocket sounds like a buzzing mosquito! I don't think your preference has anything to do with volume but more to do with pitch.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 08-10-2003 09:02 PM                        I'm not full of it. I have heard some modified Japanese bikes that "buzz" really loud. I think they are stupid as well. But my dad owned a really cool Suzuki for quite some time (as well as some other Japanese bikes) and none of them were anything I'd consider excessively loud. At a higher frequency it takes less db to "seem" as loud anyway. Just 'cause I think Harleys are built for the white trash market is no reason to.... hmmm... I have no point here.  |  IP: Logged Chris Hipp Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1462 From: Mesquite, Tx (east of Dallas) Registered: Jul 2003 posted 08-10-2003 10:38 PM                     I guess this is the first serious reply... Josh, if you don't have any experience on a motorcycle, my best advice would be to find a cheap Japanese motorcycle from the late 70's or early 80's. The first bike I bought was a 1972 Honda cb500 and I paid $100 for it. I wrecked it shortly after I bought it. My point is that you will probably wreck your first bike early on so don't spend too much on it. After you get some experience: if you want a sport bike, you need to know what you want it for. If you want a bike purely for speed and looking cool, get a GSXR 1000 or a Yamaha R1. However you will be sore after about 10 minutes of riding. If you want more of an all purpose bike you can get the Suzuki SV1000 or Honda interceptor 800. Both quick but not blown out racers like those above, and they have a more upright riding position so you can ride longer without getting sore. Personally, I am saving for a Suzuki Hyabusa GSX 1300R. 175 hp and a top speed (before the governor is removed) of 189mph. I don't know much about cruisers but I would go with either a Honda VTX1300 or a Honda shadow 1100 ACE. You can see pics of all the bikes on the maufacturers web sites.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 08-10-2003 10:43 PM                     Stupid question, but what kind of a moron would drive a motorcycle at 189 mph? You'd be about as lucky to survive that as putting 5 bullets in a gun and taking a turn at Russian roulette. God forbid you breathe wrong at that kind of speed. Motorcycles are dangerous enough as it is. You must have full attention to the road at all times and even 10 times more important to consider are the idiots driving cars and trucks all around you. Before all the motorcycle enthusiasts start attacking my comments, yes I do know there are tons of people that drive motorcycles every day and have safe trips. But if there is an accident, the guy in the car will very possibly walk away. The guy on the motorcycle will very possibly be dead or injured for life. Is it worth possibly spending the rest of your life in a wheelchair? A car is much, much safer. I hope by the time you gather up the money for your bike you reconsider.  |  IP: Logged Chris Hipp Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1462 From: Mesquite, Tx (east of Dallas) Registered: Jul 2003 posted 08-10-2003 11:20 PM                     I never said I would ride at 189mph. I am too scared to go above 90 on my bike now, but it's also almost 30 years old. However, bikes with power are much safer to ride. When you are in a dangerous situation the extra power will help you get out of it easily. It comes in handy going down 635. Also, the more power a bike has the less you have to shift gears and it makes the ride more enjoyable. From what I have been told, you can't red line a hyabusa in first gear until 80mph. I definitely agree that motorcycles are dangerous. I also know that people die in car crashes everyday, people die in plane crashes, and people get hit by cars and die. People still drive cars, fly in planes and cross the street. I have been in wrecks already and I would never stop riding out of fear of crashing.  |  IP: Logged Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 08-10-2003 11:47 PM                     I was lucky on motorcycles. At 17 and 18, I crashed the Cushman. I hit a city bus with it, and also dumped it while going around a corner. Some asshole through a banana peel out of his car window and the front wheel of the cushman ran over it while I was banking it around a corner. The Cushman just slid out from underneath me and I went bouncing down the road on my ass. I also crashed a 750 Honda because of traveling at excessive speed. I never crashed a Harley, but I have had them fall over on me. When I hit the city bus, it really smashed my ankle because I hit the bus on a glancing blow. There was a 16 or 17 year old kid up here about 25 or 30 years ago that took his motorcycle for a spin against his father's wishes. He had his girlfriend on the machine with him. He was traveling at a high rate of speed and some jerk ran a stop sign. He dumped his bike, she went flying and landed in a field, while he was bouncing down the road on his ass. It ground one of his ass cheeks clear down to the bone (and then some) where the doctor had to actually build that kid a new rectum. Both the kid and his girlfriend survived. The kid is OK, except he is still missing one ass cheek as far as I know. I have been told that he leans a little when he sits down.  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 08-11-2003 05:15 AM                  Paul, that's a half-ass example! But the general idea is still the same: BIKES, ESPECIALLY "CROTCH ROCKETS" ARE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS! Even ***IF*** you can be responsible and drive sanely, and NOT give in to the temptation of all that power and speed, you are still many times more likely to croak with a bike than with a car. One has NO protection from the idiots on the road! You are hanging out there NAKED with not only your balls, but your LIFE AND FUTURE at RISK! Also, there is NO "shield" from the jerks that like to pick on bike riders by throwing things at them or harassing them at stop lights. Ran into that many times in Michigan, Ft. Lauderdale and other places. I've had 3 bikes B4, and every time when I forgot how stupid it was, and I got the bug, I bought a new one. Getting drenched riding in the rain, the cold weather with snot frozen to your face, the hot sweaty summer, and ***HAVING*** to get somewhere...like work, made me come to my senses and get a car. Not trying to preach or dictate. Everyone has to make their own decisions in life and that's just my 2-cents from personal experience. I was lucky and never killed myself. If ya wanna do something dangerous, build a giant Tesla coil and see if you can burn down your house... I hope you reconsider Josh! Sincerely, >>> Phil  |  IP: Logged Adam Fraser Master Film Handler Posts: 499 From: Houghton Lake, MI, USA Registered: Dec 2001 posted 08-11-2003 12:41 PM                        Here is my current bike, a 1990 GS500E. It has some styling of crotch rockets with average rider comfort. It has a DOHC air cooled twin that is easy to work on. Also it is only about 50hp so you cant get yourself into too much trouble. But one disclaimer... if you havent ridden dirt bikes extensively DONT get on a street bike until you do, it sure hurts a lot less to go down in the sand than on pavement at 60MPH. Although while riding the other day some old ass hole decided to get into my lane to pass me while I was still in the process of setting up for a turn, sure scares the heck out of you. Be careful, I only ride out on back roads during fair weather and when very few cars are around, not for commuting or anything. There are horror stories though, while working at a motorcycle dealership we had to put a bike back together that had hit a deer at 120mph+. Needless to say there wasnt much left of the bike. Amazingly the rider was ok. Last I heard the stupid guy crashed the bike again. In the background is my 1968 JD 112 that I am using/restoring... much safer than a bike.  |  IP: Logged Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 08-11-2003 01:11 PM                     Three major reasons why I left the motorcycle world: 1. It hurts too much and takes a long time to recover from injuries if the operator survives. 2. With the assholes driving cars the way they do, you are just a mere obsticle in their path and some of them are cooky enough to run you down. 3. Near-miss wrecks were getting more frequent. Inattentive driving by the cycle operator, car drivers and road conditions and obstructions, just to name a few. I might add this: A seattle police officer was killed when his Harley suffered a mechanical failure. The bolts holding the front fender fell out and the fender fouled the front wheel. The front wheel jammed and the officer lost control of his machine. The officer was then run over by freeway traffic. Head-on collisions with a car and motorcycle seem to be common. Impatient car drivers don't look before the pass or they just simply don't see you until it is too late. How many times have you experienced a near miss by an on-coming car making an impatient pass? How many aggressive drivers have you experienced when they cut you off and you had to some hard braking to aviod getting hit? OK...Here is something you don't know. quote: Exposure, measured in terms of vehicle miles of travel (VMT) in 2001, shows that motorcyclists were about 26 times as likely to die in a crash than someone riding in a passenger car, and are 5 times as likely to be injured. Overall highway fatalities were up about 1.5 percent in 2002 to 42,850, compared to 42,116 in 2001, the traffic safety agency said. That represents the highest number of fatalities since 1990. The federal agency's preliminary report states that 3,276 cyclists lost their lives on America's roads in 2002, or 95 more than the 3,181 killed in 2001. That is 65.5 people per state per year on the average. If one could ride a motorcycle year-around instead of just 4 to 5 months, I'll bet that figure would double to 131 fatalities per year average per state or 6,550 fatalities nation wide. As you can see, the statistics are very grim. As you can also see, some of us on FT are very concerned about losing you to something as stupid as a motorcycle wreck.  |  IP: Logged Michael Gonzalez Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 790 From: Grand Island , NE USA Registered: Sep 2000 posted 08-11-2003 06:43 PM                     Time for my 2 cents: I got bitten by the motorcycle bug two summers ago but didn't actually get one until last summer. I bought a 82 Yamaha SECA 750 for $400.00 it was rideable (somewhat) but not much to look at. This model has a square headlight in the front that looks like someone took a headlight from a car and wedged it on there. It had a really horible paint job that the previous owner did to it. He used that paint kit that you can buy a Walmart that is suppose to look like it changes color but instead came out an ugly purple-green. And the exhust system was almost rusted out. But the bike has a couple of things going for it. It had new tires and front brakes and a good engine with only 12000 miles on it and it has a shaft drive system. Over the course of a year I have fully restored it. First it needed a tune up and the carburetor rebuilt. Than I had to replace the exhust system. I also salvage a round headlight off a Honda at the junkyard which necessitated a rewireing job. And finally I completely repainted it (yellow and black). I will try to post a picture at a later date though I really wish that I had taken a before picture. This weekend I am buying an 82 Honda Nighthawk as my next project bike for $200.00. This one is also rideable but I will have to track down an oil leak. Now to the topic at hand. If you are really intent on getting a motorcycle for the first time, you should take a motorcycle skills course first. They are supported by local dealerships and usually only cost around $40.00 for the entire course. They provide the motorcycles, all you have to have is the riding gear. Which leads to my next point. This is not a cheap hobby. Getting a decent helmet will run about a $100.00 (you can get them cheaper but I wouldn't mess with those). You also need boots and gloves ($70.00 and $25.00) and of course a jacket ($100.00 - $300.00). There really isn't nothing like riding a motorcycle down the highway at 80-90 mph and it is definately a fun hobby to have. But you always have to look out for the other people on the road. I have never had an accident but I have had several close calls (just yesterday I got ran off the road by a Pizza Hut delevery car). People in cars and trucks just do not look out for motorcycles so you have to look out for them. Riding motorcycles isn't for everyone but if you got the bug than you should give it a shot.  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 08-11-2003 07:11 PM                  Not only take the course, but many states require it. In California, you have to take a separate motorcycle written test and a "ride-along" road test before you can get a "Motorcycle" endorsement on your driver's license. I thought that a little bizarre. Depending on your age and bike experience, they require you to do a closed-course test, starting, stopping, emergency stops, avoiding obstacles, etc while being observed. Then you must also have a car & driver to allow the "examiner" to follow and observe you on the road test. The Cal DMV motorcycle "study guide" has many excellent tips and common-sense pointers. I still maintain my class M1 motorcycle endorsement...just in case... >>> Phil  |  IP: Logged Michael Gonzalez Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 790 From: Grand Island , NE USA Registered: Sep 2000 posted 08-11-2003 10:26 PM                     Phil as far as I know EVERY state requires you to take a written test (to get your permit) and a road test (to get the endorsement). What I am talking about is a seperate motorcycle skills course which is only required if the operator is under 18. These classes are usually sponsored by the local motorcycle dealers and riding clubs. So they are really cheap (sometimes as low as $20.00). They teach you how to ride, how to care for your bike, etc. And at the end of the course, they give you your skills test so you can get your endorsement. Just go to any motorcycle shop and they can get you in touch with the people running the class. Though they are usually given at a local community college. Unfortunately for me I live in Michigan where three out of our four seasons are winter. So where I live the classes are all given late spring/early summer. So because I bought my bike near the end of July, I had to teach myself to ride (none of my friends ride bikes).  |  IP: Logged Jason Black Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1723 From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 08-11-2003 11:22 PM                        Someone remind me to post to this with an intelligent reply. I'm just not in the mood now. Josh, from the sounds of the replies, I am one of the few, if the sole, person to actively ride sportbikes at this time. IMO, for a beginning rider, don't go out and get the 954RR, R1, GSXR-1000 or the aforementioned 'Busa (as they are most commonly known). Look around in the trader, local paper and even the local dealers for a used (97+) Suzuki SV 650. It's a nice looking bike, relatively light, decent power (about 75hp IIRC) and it is plain out fun to ride. This bike allows a new rider to the chance to find out what "extreme lean angle" is all about, all while not breaking the bank, nor your insurance rates... I'll post more later.. if you'd like a really good place to learn about one bike, in particular, check out rrzone.com. This is one of me along with my last bike, a '93 900RR. If I have to explain any more than that to anyone, you're obviously not into modern sportbikes.. and another one of the garage a year or so ago.. Bikes you say, yeah, I like 'em..  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 08-12-2003 07:48 AM                     Jason, in the first image, are you in the NC mountains? I was not going to go on this topic, but here goes. I used to ride a Yamaha 400. No, it's not a crotch rocket. I was taught to ride by a pal that had an immaculate 1962 Harley-Davidson that he rode often. This HOG just happened to have mufflers on the exhaust. It had a fantastic rumble, and was quiet at the same time. My pal always stressed to me that I need to always keep an eye on everyone around me on the road even more than when in a car. He and I went riding often, and he would point out potential hazards as we rode along. BTW: We had radio headphones when we rode. One day, months later, I was near Marion NC on my 400 on a 2-lane road (old US 70) I was running at around 35 mph. It was a long straight section of the road. I noticed a car on the left side getting ready to pull into my lane. I thought that the driver saw me. WRONG. I was about 30 feet from the car when it lunged out and into my path. If I cut to the left lane, I'd been hit head-on by the car that was my witness. I had to go off the right side of the road... chain link fence and telephone poles. I went over the handlebars when the bike went to the ditch. I remember rolling for what seemed like an eternity, then I stopped. The bike hit a telephone pole and bent its frame. I was wearing my helmet, a heavy leather jacket, and some heavy leather pants that were just given to me by my Harley friend as a present. I got lots of scrapes and little cuts, and one cracked rib. My Witness got the drivers license tag number of the car that caused the accident. The owner claimed that she never saw me, and she looked... Claimed that I was flying for her not to see me, because she looked... The police had to serve her papers at home because she never even knew what she had done. It was revealed in court that she had just finished screaming at her 4 kids in the car just as she pulled into the highway. So, friends, you never know when or where its going to happen. I've been on other bikes since then, but have not really wanted to own one again. Remember, I was only going 35. I dont even want to imagine an accident going 60, 80, 130 mph. I'll stick with 4 wheels as my primary mode of transportation.  |  IP: Logged

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