Looking for cheap Motorcycle

[Ghery]

I've had that happen several times. Crusing along not bothering anyone..all the sudden there is an explosion on your helmet. It can catch you off guard sometimes.

It makes me want to carry fireworks and see how they like an explosion in their face.

I knew a guy years ago who carried ball bearings in his pocket while riding. Try something obnoxious and he was known to accelerate ahead of the perpetrator and toss a handful onto the road so they'd bounce up and catch the car's windshield. They didn't call him "Crazy Ed" for nothing.

 

[Ken Ibold]

I knew a guy years ago who carried ball bearings in his pocket while riding. Try something obnoxious and he was known to accelerate ahead of the perpetrator and toss a handful onto the road so they'd bounce up and catch the car's windshield. They didn't call him "Crazy Ed" for nothing.

That kind of thing these days will get you shot.

 

[jesse]

That kind of thing these days will get you shot.

Good chance.

Though I'm pretty confident I can outrun 99.99% or so of the cars out there, I'd really rather not try with my life at sake.

Only once did I really feel it was a good idea to make some "seperation" between me and another vehicle and it was just after I seen a passenger climb out the passenger window with a paintball gun (teenagers...actually this was a few weeks ago). I was just behind and to the side of the car..It was some turboed Audi..

I was going around 30 mph in 6th gear (I use real high gears as soon as I can to increase gas mileage..every penny helps)...6th...5th...4th...3rd....2nd...1st gear..11,000RPM....shift..shift..shift.. Never seen that car again.

 

[Bill]

They didn't call him "Crazy Ed" for nothing.

I knew a "Crazy Ed", but he carried old used spark plugs. Accelerate ahead, toss one over this shoulder. He liked big nuts and bolts too, anything that would be commonly seen roadside.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

I LOVE long motorcycle trips. In my younger days: a camping/visiting/bumming trip from Wisconsin to New Orleans to Los Angeles to Seattle over 5 weeks. WoW!! 8,000+ miles on less than $200 in gas.

Cool!

One of my dream trips is to take a bike down to Chicago, follow the old Route 66 out to LA, the Pacific Coast Highway up to the PNW (maybe hop over to Victoria, BC) and then US 2 most of the way back home. No freeways allowed.

Unfortunately, it appears that in NM/AZ, old Route 66 is no longer. In IL, they've taken pretty good care of it and it runs right next to I-55 which replaced it:

 

[DeeG]

Cool!

One of my dream trips is to take a bike down to Chicago, follow the old Route 66 out to LA, the Pacific Coast Highway up to the PNW (maybe hop over to Victoria, BC) and then US 2 most of the way back home. No freeways allowed.

Our house is just off US 2 outside Leavenworth, WA. Stop by, I'll cook dinner and you can have a free room for the night, and a garage to park your bike in.

Dee

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Our house is just off US 2 outside Leavenworth, WA. Stop by, I'll cook dinner and you can have a free room for the night, and a garage to park your bike in.

Dee,

Thanks! This trip is a long way off, though. I need money, and a couple of months' vacation. Oh yeah, and a bike!

 

[fgcason]

Ride safe, ride with the gear.

Sorry for resurrecting an ancient thread but some things just can't be said enough:

Also, if you do get a bike, please PLEASE dress for the crash.

Listen to Bill. He knows what he's talking about.

A very good friend of mine went to Kathmandu for 4 months with her brother doing missionary work building childrens homes and schools in the seriously high and remote regions of Nepal. They were riding a motorcycle everywhere while they were in Kathmandu and the semi local area. Details are very sketchy at this point however about a week ago while in Thailand on the return to the States she had to return to Nepal because her brother was involved in a crash and did not survive.
Just guessing from a near total lack of information and knowing other bikers that ride in the region, I'm assuming no helmet was being worn at the time while driving around in a 3rd world country which probably didn't help matters.

LEARN TO RIDE PROPERLY, RIDE LIKE YOU FLY, STAY PROFICIENT, TRAIN REGULARLY, DO PROPER MAINTENANCE, DON'T BE STUPID, DRESS FOR THE CRASH, RIDE LIKE EVERYONE OUT THERE IS TRYING TO KILL YOU BECAUSE THEY ARE.

Safe flying. Safe riding. Just stay safe doing whatever you're doing...and please please please please please, stay in your own lane and watch out carefully for us 2 wheelers.
Frank.

P.S. I feel like a total heel. I've been sending her motorcycle maintenance and ride reports off and on the whole time she's been away. We were going to go riding when she got back and we were very likely going to get her up to having her MC license. She's a tough character however I don't think she's going to be riding 2up with me for a good while now.
I most certainly won't be telling her that some cager that couldn't stay in his own lane damned near put me in the ditch yesterday afternoon on an isolated mountain road. If it wasn't for 30,000+ miles of experience mostly on twisty mountain roads, knowing my bike very well and having just put myself through another round of rather intense self inflicted proficiency training, I would have dumped it into a rather nasty looking ditch and rock wall.

 

[JRitt]

I just thought I would add my $.02. Because you are a big guy I would suggest you look at a Honda Shadow 750. You can find one in good condition for less than $2000. They are big enough to handle you but not so big as to make it hard to handle at low speeds. They are a 120deg 2 cyl water cooled to give the 2 cyl thump sound. They do not have to much power but make a nice cruiser bike. As posted before "Get training"