Oh Yeah... let's go for a ride

Gail O'Rourke

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America's Hometown
I did a 2 day training a few weeks ago and then applied for my motorcycle license - this week, I got my license in the mail and put my new bike on the road... a big week!!! Today - I had my first out of neighborhood experience - bike on the road...

I am hooked... show me yours... oh, and here's mine 2005 Triumph America - 865 cc -
See ""
 
Just beautiful Gail! :thumb:

Triumph has always been my favorite motorcycle.

I don't have a bike of any kind anymore but here is the one I want.

Vespa GTS 250
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I've had motorcycles. I've always wanted this scooter type body style. This thing will do 75 miles per hour, that's more than enough for me.

You sure will have loads of fun on that thing.
:biker: :biker: :biker: :biker: :biker: :biker: :biker: :biker:
 
I bought a bike when I returned from Vietnam in 1971. I had two speeds on it: off and on. After several accidents - one really bad one - I came to my senses and sold it.

Here in California, the bikers who ride between cars on the freeway are known as "organ donors". I wish you the very best with your bike.

Mike
 
Nice bike Gail. Congrats. :congrats: I don't ride, but have a number of friends who do. (Lotta bikers in this part of LA.) The captain of my pool team, who's a little less than 5' tall and probably about 95 pounds dripping wet, has been riding since she was a teenager. (She had her 50th birthday a few years ago.) She and her husband just took off on their bikes (both have Harleys) for a four week trip to Ohio and points in between.

The Triumph looks like it'll fit you (and your personality) well. Do be careful. ;)
 
Congratulations, that did sound like a big week. Myself I am not into motorcycles, but I do love riding snowmobile and yes I am having withdrawals. In fact it was so bad last week I fired up my sled and rode it around the lawn a few times....I probably looked stupid, but until snow comes I don't have much choice.

Of course you do know that they now make a motorcycle for us snowmobilers. It resembles a sled and kind of rides and operates like one, so if I had 15 grand kicking around I might buy one of these guys...

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I am hooked... show me yours... oh, and here's mine 2005 Triumph America - 865 cc -

Looks sweet. How's the muffler on that? I think motorcycles are fine, as long as they have a decent muffler on them.

Here's my daily driving bike. It's got front and rear disk brakes, and gets great mileage...
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Great bike Gail, congrats!

For me, take your pick.......

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An original 1985 Suzuki GSXR750! I sold this bike to a guy in the US who raced it in the Super Dinosaur class in California and was the champ for two years running! :thumb:

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2001 Suzuki GSXR 600 full on race bike, even in the rain (on rain tires) this thing was FAST and FUN!

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1997 Honda VTR1000f Firestorm, big v-twin, I just loved this bike!

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1995 Suzuki RMX 250R in full on Supermotard form, this bike was VERY hard at my drivers license:rolleyes:

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But a ball to ride!! :D

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1997 Honda VTR1000F Firestorm, with a 2002 Euro spec motor in it, here in track trim.

OK, I'll Stop :D
 
Make sure ya wear a helmet preferably full faced....I didn't once....only once.

37 stitches around the eyes and down the cheek.
 

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I believe in ATGATT which stands for "All The Gear All The Time" and it is important to me.

Even riding my little 50 cc scooter around the hood doing deliveries, I have a Good 3/4 helmet on, glove, good boots and a Joe Rocket Phoenix jacket, and long pants.

People think I'm nuts, but for me, even falling off at 10 mph is going to hurt in a t-shirt, without gloves, so I wear the gear, all the time.

On the big bikes, that go a lot faster, only my Aerostitch Roadcrafter or full leathers will do, even in the heat..........

stu_looks_hot.jpg


That day it was 43C (110F) and I think I was drinking about a quart of water every 30 minutes (that Camel Back thing is great!).

Cheers!
 
Hey Gail, that is the bikes I've owned in the last 5 years or so, and not all of them either :D

Training and good kit is your best bet.

Enjoy that Trumpet, I helped a guy restore a 69 Bonneville a long time ago, those bikes have real soul!

Four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul! :wave:
 
Gail,

My present bike is a BMW R1100R. For a picture of my bike, just look at my avatar (sp?).

I'm with Stu on always wearing the appropriate gear. You'll never catch me without my fullface helmet, cordura jacket/pants, gloves and boots.

Good luck and ride safe! :)
 
Hi Gail,

Congrats on the new scoot! :thumb:

I have very fond memories of Triumphs (aka 'Trumpets'). My very first bike was a '67 500cc Trumpet that I chopped...front end about a foot longer than the factory intended, straight VERY LOUD pipes, etc. That was followed by a '69 Trident with equally outrageous treatment.

Then I finally decided to take the plunge (and eat macaroni-n-cheese for months so I could afford the plunge) and got my first Harley...a cast iron '67 Sportster. Here's a picture of a few of my riding buddies back in NYC looking over the damage that was caused when a drunk/drugged driver decided that red lights didn't apply to him:

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I rebuilt that bike, but shortly after found a way to move out of NYC and up into the country of Upstate New York. I replaced the Sportster with an '81 Harley Lowrider. Here's a few shots of that one:

DSCN6786.jpg........DSCN6785.jpg

I also had a radical '60s style chopped 1957 Harley Panhead:

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I did a ground-up build of a WWII 1942 Harley Flathead for my ex-wife. Hard to get in trouble when it's the WIFE'S tranmission on the kitchen table! :rofl: I can't find pictures of that one...but I have them somewhere.

And then there's the bike I have now. It's a 1981 Harley FLTP Police "Highway Interceptor". I bought it new in 1981 when the Washington DC Park Police bought one too many, and the dealer they bought them from was getting ready to send it back to the factory. I talked them into selling it to me, and after removing the blinking red/blue lights, the siren, and the police radio, I've been riding it ever since...to the current tune of 158,000 miles. (That's as close as I can estimate the actual miles since I rode it for about two years without a speedometer when I lived in Scottsdale, AZ. Heck, if I felt ok doing it, I wasn't speeding...:rolleyes:

Here's a shot of it in my backyard in AZ:

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As you can tell, I've been around bikes for a VERY LONG TIME!



Looks sweet. How's the muffler on that? I think motorcycles are fine, as long as they have a decent muffler on them.

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Art,

Not one of my bikes ever had anything but STRAIGHT PIPES. Ie, NO MUFFLER!

They were/are all VERY LOUD, but that's for a reason. Folks driving cars (cages) might not SEE me on the road, but when their cages start vibrating from the sound of me coming up on the road, they might stop talking on the phone, fighting with the kids, arguing with their spouse, etc., long enough to see where the vibration is coming from. If I suceeded in getting their attention, my noise is worth every decibel!

As it says on t-shirts I have:

LOUD PIPES...SAVE LIVES!


And of course Stu, I can't completely agree with you either...

I believe in ATGATT which stands for "All The Gear All The Time" and it is important to me.

Even riding my little 50 cc scooter around the hood doing deliveries, I have a Good 3/4 helmet on, glove, good boots and a Joe Rocket Phoenix jacket, and long pants.

People think I'm nuts, but for me, even falling off at 10 mph is going to hurt in a t-shirt, without gloves, so I wear the gear, all the time.Cheers!

I won't get on a bike if I'm not wearing boots, and jeans. But helmets...well, that's a sore subject to me. I rode for over ten years in AZ without one. The only reason I owned a helmet at all was so I could slip it onto my elbow when I crossed over into California. (The law said you had to wear one, but not WHERE to wear it. Helmet'ed elbow kept me from getting tickets...although CHP wasn't thrilled...:rolleyes: )

I've had two really nasty accidents, in almost forty years of riding, so I know the pain and scars of failing to keep the shiny side up and the rubber side down. Both accidents were 100% the fault of the cage-drivers that hit me. Knowing how to fall is more important than having the right safety gear on...



Ok, that's enough...Gail was just gloating on her new Trumpet. I'm going off on a tirade. Sorry Gail! :doh:

Good luck with the new bike. The new ones are really sweet. I know you'll have a ball on it. And don't forget...RESPECT IT...DON'T FEAR IT! :thumb:

"Chrome Don't Get You Home"...
- Marty -
 
I rode iron horses for over 20 years and loved it. Truest statement I ever hear was "it not IF you have a wreck, it's WHEN." I laid down two bikes in my riding days and was not seriously injured, I was in my teens and twenties then. I don't think my 50yo body would fair as well. I quit riding when I was a postdoctoral fellow (about 16 years ago). I was riding to work one day and a elderly man just cruised over into my lane close enough I was able to kick his car door. That was very nearly the end but, collision was averted. After that, I sold my last bike. Now, I'm not saying any of this to be a "buzz kill," I would still love to be riding. But, if you don't give a lot of thought to this kind of stuff then you are just kidding yourself. Never ride alone, that's when accidents occur. Also, invest in the loudest horn you can find. My last two bikes had air horns adapted from trucks. I scared the everlovin stuff out of some drivers but, they always kept my alive and safe...
 
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They were/are all VERY LOUD, but that's for a reason. Folks driving cars (cages) might not SEE me on the road, but when their cages start vibrating from the sound of me coming up on the road,

Clearly, Marty, you and I are not going to agree on this. :rolleyes: That's okay, I still want to visit your shop some day. :D


I don't much like car horns either. Car horns are loud, because they are designed to penetrate through steel and glass to be heard by a driver in another car. But they aren't very nice for the people who aren't in another car. I cycle to work every day, and I can assure you, that to people who are not in a car, the horn is painfully loud. Even if I'm looking directly at the car and know they're there, I still am not expecting the horn to sound, and it startles me, a lot, every time. My first reaction, most every time, is to have a split second wish for a gun so that I can shoot out their tires. Fortunately, handguns are illegal in Ontario. It'd save me some embarrassment when it turns out to be a friend giving a "friendly toot" on their horn to me. :doh:

(once, exactly once in my life, did I have a guy come up to me and say "Hey, I saw you on your bike the other day and I was going to toot on the horn, but decided not to, as I thought you might not like it.)
 
Marty I respect your right to be completely and totally wrong :D
I also respect your right to choose. :thumb:

I don't ride big fast bikes much anymore, I cannot see myself owning one again, but I will get a smaller dual purpose bike for some fire road riding/camping.

Once I got bitten by the track bug, I had zero desire to go fast on public roads, heck a Harley almost made sense to me :rofl: ;) :wave:

Gail, Wear a helmet, and one thing I forgot, that I'm sure Marty will agree on is some sort of eye protection, a must, a bug at 60 mph in the eye smarts! :eek:
 
Hey, I just saw these.........

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That folks is a GSXR1000 SPORT BIKE! :eek:

And this one really makes me smile.............

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and yes folks, that is a little girl! :headbang: :D :thumb:
 
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