The Motorcycle Discussion Thread

[Dayze]

I figure there are some motorcycle guys/gals on CP, so I thought we could have a place to talk all things Motorcycles.

Tire Mount and Balance Prices (as of 10/29/16)

Prices based on if you remove the wheels yourself and bring the wheels and new tires with you:

Cycle Gear - $35 per wheel if you buy tires from them. $58 per wheel if you buy tires elsewhere
Rawhide - $65 per wheel (assuming it would be the same at other HD dealers. they book it at 1/2 hr per wheel)
C R Cycle Tires (DeSoto) - $30 per wheel

Cheapest I've found my Michelin Commander II's. Seem like they have good prices on other brands too.
http://www.jakewilson.com - Free 3 day shipping on orders over $75

[BIG_DADDY]

Originally Posted by Dayze

I have a gene mutation in my blood that makes me very prone to clotting. Discovered a few years back when my gall bladder went tits up and they found three clots in my lungs.

Dunno, just kicking around the idea. Getting older, and getting re-established after losing a house in 08 and job loss, and tons of debt. Now debt free, with a nice chunk in savings, makes me look at things a little different.

A nice sounding and good looking car could satisfy my urges to have something cool to play with and enjoy. And, be able to enjoy with the wife. Not like a $40k car or anything. More like a $8-14k car that looks good, sounds goood, fun to drive etc as a second car /drive in the weekends in good weather etc.

That really makes it hard. Can you take some baby aspirin for a couple days so you can ride on occasion.

I have a car like that an old convertible e-46 M3 I have had some work done on. My wife hates sitting on the ground and feeling every bump in the road and how I drive it.

[BIG_DADDY]

Originally Posted by mac459

I normally put on 20,000 miles a year from March till around October. I have went 3,000 this year. Between all the kids and their activities and my shit and buying my old truck to restore I haven’t had time to do anything else

I have also thought about selling and just getting back in later in life and put the money into my truck. I have a feeling that if I sell I will turn around and buy another bike, so I might as well keep the Road King.

On a positive note I have got to ride a few different bikes this year that made it tough not to go buy a new bike. The new Goldwing was one and I love that bike, hate they made the storage capacity smaller but it’s a lot of fun to ride

That's a lot of friggen miles brother.

[BIG_DADDY]

Originally Posted by Bob Dole

My best friend crashed my Street Bob on 2/14 and passed away 5/30 from his injuries. It’s all I can do to look at the damned thing. I can probably put it back together for about $1500, but ****.

That's a horrible story. So sorry to hear that. I think I would fix it and sell it and get something else. If you love riding though you gotta get back on soon or this will be it.

[Dayze]

Originally Posted by BIG_DADDY

That really makes it hard. Can you take some baby aspirin for a couple days so you can ride on occasion.

I have a car like that an old convertible e-46 M3 I have had some work done on. My wife hates sitting on the ground and feeling every bump in the road and how I drive it.

Hmm. Not sure. Last time I talked to my doc he was sort of indifferent with riding in thinners. He sort of had the approach of riding with thinners is no more dangerous than riding a motorcycle to being with lol. But, he did say there’s som obvious risk.
Who knows. I still love Ducati monsters. Lol. Helluva dilemma. Lol

[Bob Dole]

Originally Posted by Dayze

Shit man. Sorry to hear.

One of my riding buddies hit a car that ran a stop sign, ejected from his bike, and run over by the car behind him. He’s in a wheelchair now, assisted living.
So far this year, I’ve seen on Facebook /riding groups several people go down, and a few have died. Lots of distracted driving now, more than ever in my gut feeling, just makes me on edge most of the time riding in the street.

Sucks man.

It’s nuts. He was on his way to my house when it happened, too, so his wife blames me. We will never know why it happened. He was an experienced rider and went off a minor curve into a shallow ditch, then rode about 50 feet of 2” pipe fence along the horse farm up the road. It’s lovely driving by the spot every time I go to town. I picked up the orange flags marking the route after 5 days and threw them in the first dumpster I saw.

[BIG_DADDY]

Originally Posted by Dayze

Hmm. Not sure. Last time I talked to my doc he was sort of indifferent with riding in thinners. He sort of had the approach of riding with thinners is no more dangerous than riding a motorcycle to being with lol. But, he did say there’s som obvious risk.
Who knows. I still love Ducati monsters. Lol. Helluva dilemma. Lol

I too went on a Ducati Monster fixation until I started talking to owners who talked me out of it. Almost all of them tried to talk me out of it and some even offered to sell me their bike.

[BIG_DADDY]

Originally Posted by Bob Dole

It’s nuts. He was on his way to my house when it happened, too, so his wife blames me. We will never know why it happened. He was an experienced rider and went off a minor curve into a shallow ditch, then rode about 50 feet of 2” pipe fence along the horse farm up the road. It’s lovely driving by the spot every time I go to town. I picked up the orange flags marking the route after 5 days and threw them in the first dumpster I saw.

You can't own that brother no matter how much she tries to put it on you especially since he was experienced. I went through this with a guy in high school who let his brother take his kz900 for the day. He was very experienced too. Some lady decided to do a u-turn. It was about as horrific an accident as they come. It could just have easily been any of us. It's the risk we take every time we go out there. he was a man, he made a decision. Hopefully he didn't have any young kids

[Bob Dole]

Originally Posted by BIG_DADDY

You can't own that brother no matter how much she tries to put it on you especially since he was experienced. I went through this with a guy in high school who let his brother take his kz900 for the day. He was very experienced too. Some lady decided to do a u-turn. It was about as horrific an accident as they come. It could just have easily been any of us. It's the risk we take every time we go out there. he was a man, he made a decision. Hopefully he didn't have any young kids

His daughter is grown, but she has two little ones. I’ve been staying in touch with them, but his idiot wife can **** off. She’s one of those that we only tolerated because he loved her.

[BIG_DADDY]

Originally Posted by Bob Dole

His daughter is grown, but she has two little ones. I’ve been staying in touch with them, but his idiot wife can **** off. She’s one of those that we only tolerated because he loved her.

These are hard decisions. All the guys I once rode with have hung it up. They keep saying they will ride again but I know better. Only one of them has young kids. I give them a hard time but I think I will quit doing that.
The other side of the coin is I have a young son who rides on the back and I see the way people look at me when he rides with me. To me life is filled with risks and you have to decide if you really want to live your life or just play it safe. He also does martial arts competitions where kids get hurt all the time and that can be a real life changer. There are always those taken out on stretchers. I get the same look when people know he does that but he loves it so I support him the best I can and pray for the best.

[Dayze]

Originally Posted by BIG_DADDY

I too went on a Ducati Monster fixation until I started talking to owners who talked me out of it. Almost all of them tried to talk me out of it and some even offered to sell me their bike.

yeah, I've always been a fan of Ducati's, but not so much their maintenance intervals back in the mid/late 90's / early 00's. over the last 10 + years, they've steadily improved in that regard; I think the latest Testastretta motor (the one currently in use by the Monster 821, 939, 1200) has the first valve check/adjustment at 18,000 miles. Way better than back in the day when they were generally every 5500 miles or so.

If I were to buy one, it would probably be a 2010 or newer.I think that's the year they went to that motor. They've even improved the timing belt longevity (on the Testastretta, anyway) to 18k miles or 60 months. Which blows my mind .Used to be every 7500 miles or 24 months if I recall.

Nostalgia wise, I have a YUGE soft spot for the 748 / 996. but those were the days when Ducati's earned their maintenance reputation (intervals, chrome flaking off the rocker arms, glitchy electronics etc). But I've seen a few locally here with good maintenance history for like $5k. Maybe not as a primary bike, but as a 2nd bike, I would love to have one.

[Chief_For_Life58]

Originally Posted by Dayze

Hmm. Not sure. Last time I talked to my doc he was sort of indifferent with riding in thinners. He sort of had the approach of riding with thinners is no more dangerous than riding a motorcycle to being with lol. But, he did say there’s som obvious risk.
Who knows. I still love Ducati monsters. Lol. Helluva dilemma. Lol

riding in thinners? whats that?

[Chief_For_Life58]

I have a 2011 ducati monster 696. I dont really have many complaints? What are peoples complaints? I dont ride it for long periods. Just to work and misc rides. Work roundtrip is like 30 minutes. I wouldnt want to ride it for long periods or rely on it as my main mode of transportation. Not comfortable enough. Shifting isnt super smooth but again its enjoyable enough for what it is. Cheap - easy to maneuver - looks good.

[Dayze]

Originally Posted by Chief_For_Life58

riding in thinners? whats that?

blood thinners.


luckily, when I went down in '16 and rashed my arms and shoulder, I wasn't on them at the time. Even though I should've been but was waiting to get the medicine 'approved' by my new insurance etc, so there was a lag of a few months where I wasn't on them.

[BIG_DADDY]

Originally Posted by Chief_For_Life58

I have a 2011 ducati monster 696. I dont really have many complaints? What are peoples complaints? I dont ride it for long periods. Just to work and misc rides. Work roundtrip is like 30 minutes. I wouldnt want to ride it for long periods or rely on it as my main mode of transportation. Not comfortable enough. Shifting isnt super smooth but again its enjoyable enough for what it is. Cheap - easy to maneuver - looks good.

Comfort was one. It didn't handle as well as they thought it would was another. Maintenance was the 3rd and the expense that came with it. I was looking like 10 years ago approximately. As Dayze said it may be a completely different bike now.

Speaking of Ducati that new X Diavel S sure is a sharp looking bike. Sure like to take one on a test ride.

[Dayze]

Originally Posted by Chief_For_Life58

I have a 2011 ducati monster 696. I dont really have many complaints? What are peoples complaints? I dont ride it for long periods. Just to work and misc rides. Work roundtrip is like 30 minutes. I wouldnt want to ride it for long periods or rely on it as my main mode of transportation. Not comfortable enough. Shifting isnt super smooth but again its enjoyable enough for what it is. Cheap - easy to maneuver - looks good.

yep.

*edit...Nevermind...BD covered it before my post**

I think Big Daddy's comment was from the older generation Ducati's that were known to have frequent and costly maintenance intervals, that made them almost cost prohibitive to ride if you didn't have deep pockets. Beyond the initial cost of buying a beautiful Italian bike, we're talking probably $1k service every 5k miles if the shop were to do it (check valve clearances / adjust, timing belt replacement etc).

Once they went to 7500/15k intervals for the belts & valves (starting with the 696/1100 2v motors I 'think'), things started to improve from a $ maintenance standpoint. Now they're up to 18k on the 821, 939, and 1200 motors. Which, compared to where Ducati was at 15 years ago or so, is amazing to me. The cost of the dealer doing these major intervals is still expensive, but the frequency is much much less / more in the ball park of the Japanese bikes etc in terms of frequency of valve clearance checks/adjustments (I'm not sure what the Japanese manufacturers are for their I4 motors, but I would 'guess' probably around that 20k-24k range? Big Daddy probably has a better handle on that).

But, if you had a 2v air cooled Ducati, the maintenance is alot easier than a 4v S4R (if we're talking that same time frame of 2004 to say around 2009)

I test rode a 696 and 1100 back when they still had the 2v motors and both were a blast to ride. especially the 11100

the 696 might be too small for my frame in terms of weight/ suspension. but nothing a new shock with correct spring weight/rate wouldn't fix. power wise, it was a blast. The usable power / street-ability (If that's a word) of the Monsters are what make them a hoot to ride and can be picked up relatively dirt cheap $.