Jim

Note: The Koerta offers no protection for your ankles. Or stators! At least I rode out!

Spent weeks trying different armor, and finally came up with Acerbis Koerta full armor. You can get it from MX1West (they paid the tax since they are in CA), or in San Diego at Baja Cycles. Very happy with it, as I seems to offer the most shoulder, elbow and back coverage of any of them. Also, the mesh is a very open mesh, making it more comfortable in the heat (lived in El Centro when I got it). I have found it to be very comfortable, although at first I was concerned that it wouldn't be. Gone down many times with it, and once at speed landing on my shoulder, and no injuries. Don't ride without it. Would recommend buying locally, as compression suits are meant to fit tight, and Acerbis, being European, tends to size small.

There was an article about these guys in this months AMA magazine I believe. The original route went out 94/I-8 into El Centro, up toward Nyland and down the canals to Yuma. I guess back in the 1910's they had to go north out of El Centro as the highway didn't connect El Centro to Yuma and they couldn't cross the dunes.

Since it is for a BMW, I'm surprised that's all it cost!!! You should see the price of a disposable air filter for a GSA,

I have an older version of this and it has worked great for the last two years. Others on this board have recommended getting a good quality button for transmission, as cheap ones tend to impact other riders with noise.

I think one of the biggest reasons people don't realize it is legal is because CA is one of the few states that it is legal to do it. So CA is the anomaly rather than the norm.

The Klim guy was saying that you don't need to take it off and stow it. He said it can be used in 80 degree temps with the vents open. I don't know if I buy that. What's your experience with that Jim? Thanks! Short answer: I live in Monterey. I haven't seen 80 deg in the year since I moved up here from the desert! Longer answer: I believe it can be used in warmer climates, but I am one that would rather be cooler than warmer, so I very rarely ride with a jacket, and normally go with body armor and a jersey or just armor, while in the desert. So I have no practical experience with it while riding in the desert, but I think it could be warm. Sorry I don't have more specific info that you're looking for. Jim

I have the Traverse suit and don't think it is designed to be rolled up into a small ball. It CAN fit into a backpack, but is a heavily made product that isn't very compactable. But last year in British Columbia, after eight straight hours of rain in the 55 deg range, I was bone dry and was as happy as could be with the product. I think the waterproofing is its strong feature, which also works against it rolling into a small tight ball of clothing.

Bum, Never said the sport was too dangerous. But I think there is inherent danger in the sport, just like many others. I would also argue that riding CAN BE more dangerous than others if good risk management isn't employed, from something as simple as riding with a buddy, to much more extreme measures. Having a flagman in expected areas of crashes is not out of line, and I don't think it would be out of line to have them not have their flags wrapped around the flag stick. These are simple little measures that would make the sport much safer and help to prevent injuries. Do you think it is correct to ignore some of the mistakes from this accident and not take corrective action for future races?

I don't think it is bullshit to bash the flagger at all. Whenever you have a mishap, you have to look at all causal (not casual) factors. I wouldn't call it bashing him as much as pointing out that he was a contributing factor not to the initial crash, but follow-on participants in the crash. While he may have started waving his flag within three seconds, it was rolled up around the stick, thereby causing him to wave a yellow stick to riders that had already crested the jump. Flag should have been out and held by the hand against the stick for immediate deployment. Not much a guy can do once he is in the air. Then, he also pulled that partially unrolled flag back a time or two after he decided not to assist the rider, which wasn't his job. Then, as CID stated, 10 seconds later he started to make his way to the top or other side of the jump to alert others to the up coming crash...which was way too late. I'm not in anyway saying he was the cause, or major contributor, but he was a causal factor and it needs to be addressed. While he may have been unpaid, and some may have not appreciate him, that doesn't relive him of doing what he is supposed to do and doing it well if he volunteers for the position. Not bashing, just analyzing.

While I think the driver was way out of line, I don't think any of this would have gone down if the rider hadn't kicked the car. What the driver did by closing the lane down wasn't illegal (I don't think, but smarter people please correct me), and if the rider just stopped and eventually went on without any provocation, I think both would have been better off. From a sequence of events perspective, I believe the kick is what "kicked" all of this off. The triggering event. Like Mimi said, they both let their tempers get the best of them. Sometimes we riders have to rise above, be the bigger person, etc, and avoid situations.

That my friend, is not opinion, but rather fact! Now, if what the state is spending is appropriate or not, is opinion!

I do carry both a clutch and shift lever. While on a very simple, low-speed low-side (I've dropped the bike like that a million times and nothing happened), I broke my shift lever, and my ankle!! I was going maybe 10 mph when I came upon a sharp left turn at the top of the hill, locked the rear brake and the rear end just came around and the bike went down on the left side. Again, I've dropped the bike on the left side a million times, and nothing ever happened. This time the tab on the shift lever broke off. We were in the AZ desert on a loop of the Grand Canyon. Luckily we were only 25 miles from payment. Since I was in quite a bit of pain, Paul was nice enough to swap out my shift lever, and I was able to shift using my left heel (no way was I able to shift normally). So I suggest carrying one. While I still do carry a clutch lever, I haven't broken one at all since I installed my Highway Dirtbike guards, and don't know if it is even possible to break one with these things on! And don't think that I don't drop the bike. I've dropped it so many times I can't even keep count anymore. The guards take a hell of a beating, but still keep everything where it should be. I also think they strengthen the bars a bit, since they are bolted to the top clamp.

Grand Central Station. At least to see the Apple store which is there!

Times Square at night, drop in to the Today show and be on tv, see if you can get tickets to a taping of Letterman, see a Yanks game (you could see the Mets, but why?), WTC - 9/11 site. So many things in the greatest city in the world!

I don't know if I would like it if real life were in slo-mo, as then I would have a lot more time to know my drops, falls and wrecks were coming, and like the picture above, would have a lot more time to think about how much this is going to hurt!

Monterey is cloudy today, but it hasn't rained yet! Best of luck on PCH.

I have that tube, bought it from Agri Suppy for $4.99. It's mean to carry Farm Equipment paperwork but is not water tight, there's a drain hole on the bottom. I haven't figured out how to mount mine yet I had one of these for tools. Bought a kit to mount it to the Girl Bike, and it fit extremely well, worked great, etc. Only problem I found about 10 miles into the first ride with it, was that the mounting brackets between the tool tube and the bike were aluminum, and I guess they weren't thick enough for all the vibes with the weight of the tube, and it ended up with a fatigue crack (stress point for those that have worked with aluminum on airplanes) and cracked along the trail, leaving it hanging, as you will see in the picture below. Make sure you have good mounting hardware.

In looking at big bikes, I always assumed the 990 was lighter and more nimble than the R1200GS. Both cut and pasted from the factory websites. Here is the 990 weight: Weight without fuel, approx. 209.5 kg (461.9 lb.) Here is the R1200GS weight: Dry weight: 461 lbs I was amazed to see how close they were in weight. I never knew. The 990 felt so much lighter than the GS. But then again, my WR250R also feels lighter than the pig it is at 300 lbs.

Well, JCR took him off their webpage overnight and added Timmy Weigand....might have been a surprise (to them) defection. You just gotta think there is something wrong at JCR.

Did Kendall officially leave JCR? If he did, and Quinn did, whose left and why is everyone bailing from the recently dominant JCR/Honda team? Funny that JCR still has him listed as a member of the team. Bad PR. And Quinn still has JCR on his webpage. KTM's release.

I wouldn't say it was because of cost recovery, but it was a large factor I have to assume. As Rob (AMA D38 President) says, lack of participation and the amount of work involved was a big factor. Trying to paint it all on BLM cost recovery would be incorrect and misleading: ------------- Re: No National Hare and Hound Race in D38 2012? by Rob Niemela » Fri Oct 28, 2011 12:12 pm I think the real problem with the national is the difficulty of the event. Yes the final straw was the expense of the event. That was something that could not be overcome by working harder. But there has always been very few people doing all of the setup, 100 miles of stakes with cards and ribbon for a National. Road Runners put on four events a year and it is the same few guys out there days before and the same guys leave late on Sunday. I think everyone should volunteer once in their lives to see just what it takes to do a race from start to finish. Look at District 37. Racers are all members of a club. The club that puts on the event is not allowed to race in their event. The club comes together to put on an event and they make it a good time. That is there culture. Our culture is the FUD culture. The FUD culture is where Fud did everything we just raced. Fud did this for a living so it was OK for him to be out at the race for day. We are volunteers with jobs of our own. We (District 38 and clubs) ask for help all the time. Some clubs are doing better and some are not. If you come out and give of your time, you may realize that it is fun and rewarding. If everyone gives a little, it keeps the few from giving too much and getting burned out. Look at District 37’s clubs they have people show up that have not raced in years. It becomes a reunion of sorts. It is a chance to see old friends and make new ones. Make this your time to step up and commit yourself to something positive otherwise we will always struggle with low turn outs for our core workers. Believe it or not I would like to see people (yes even Mark Brown) at least once a year. ------------- Re: No National Hare and Hound Race in D38 2012? by 10motorsports » Thu Oct 27, 2011 8:28 am Kirk made the announcement at the last D38 meeting. Cost recovery is one of the biggest hurdles. The National has cost both the RoadRunners and the district, it hasn't been a money making event. Lack of D38 participation has been a problem too...entry numbers should have been much higher. Come to the meetings and keep abreast of what YOUR district is doing. ------------- Quoted from this thread (13th post) on the AMA D38 boards found here

Obviously doing it at night helped, but I can only imagine it took a lot of coordination with FAA to fly on non-eastablished routes at 35K feet. We used to do training from 20K-25K (well below most airliners) over about a 30 mile radius (in a non-military operating area) and we were always being called by ATC because we were approaching traffic of some sort or another. On another note, I used to fly with a program that flew in support of The Treaty on Open Skies. While DoD executes the mission, it is flown under the control of Dept of State, since it is a treaty. We used to fly to Russia and take pictures of whatever we wanted, but they could do the same in return. Most of you would be pretty surprised to know that every single square inch of US territory is open for the Russians to photograph to about a 30cm resolution. Yes, even all the places that I as a military pilot couldn't fly, the Russians have access to. Even smack dab over the center of the Pentagon, White House, Area 51, any military function, etc. When we are in Russia, they flew on our plane to ensure we only photographed what was agreed to and vice versa when they are flying over the US. Well, they're not required to submit their flight plan until 48 hrs prior to take-off. Once they submit it, the entire US government is notified so the various agencies and departments can take whatever measures are necessary to do whatever they feel is necessary. The missions aren't flown along established airways, and when an Open Skies aircraft is flying, they are supposed to have a 20 mile bubble around them where no other aircraft are allowed to be. Well, commercial airplanes fly closer than that, especially when taking off and landing. Not only that, but the only other aircraft that have priority over an OS aircraft on a mission are MEDIVAC and Presidential movements. Yep, if the SecState or someone else other than a medical emergency or the President is flying, they have to get out of the way of the Russians So, on this one mission, the Russians propose to overfly Chicago and New York City in the same mission, in the middle of the day, and make a few circles over each city it so they can ensure they get all the photos they want. You can only imagine the cluster that was caused for all the traffic going into and out of O'Hare and the NYC airports. Needless to say, we (the Russians actually), really screwed up a lot of airlines schedules and cost them a whole ton of money. But, we have the same privileges over Moscow... So, the only time the USG asked the Russians to modify their proposed plan (you don't want to ask them to make concessions, as then you "owe" them one, it goes both ways), was when they were to overfly a Shuttle launch within about an hour of launch. It would cost the USG just too damn much to modify the launch, we we asked them to go around by about 25 miles. They agreed, and it all worked out. But whenever they are in the southeast, they always for some reason we can't figure out, overfly Disney World!

Yea the question was I guess how much force I could use on it, I was worried about breaking it. I like the added leverage idea. Thanks I've always been concerned about that, or more specifically, not being able to get the nut off. Every tire change I've done I've always used the MP lever (to practice for a real repair in the middle of nowhere) and was pleasantly surprised to find I could get it off with at most using my foot to put some pressure on it. And, I've always used a torque wrench to put it back on, so I know I have sufficient torque on it. Now out in the field tube repairs I just put it on as tight as I can get it by hand and it has never let me down. When I get home, I torque it to spec.

There essentially flying the Boeing symbol plus a 787??