Motorcycles BS Thread 2.0

My g/f had some meds she'd been given for her knee so she shared those with me for a few days. Swelling is all gone and knee is back to a "normal" state. Normal for me says that I can feel when rain is coming and it only hurts when I use it LOL. Doing good all things considered. Been trying to walk more and bicycle some to try and take off a few pounds as I know that will help. Thanks for asking.

 

I try to ride as if I'm invisible and do everything I can to increase my visibility on the road. The guy that hit us made an illegal left turn to come out around a turning tractor trailer and ended up right in my lane less than 25 feet away. I had no chance and I'm thankful the truck driver had a dash cam to help the police make their decision. When he made the comment "I never saw you" I about lost my shit.

We were very fortunate in many ways. We had just pulled out from a traffic light so I was only doing bout 15-20 mph. We were wearing full gear. I ended up with a badly sprained left wrist, she had 2 compression fractures in her lower back and a bruised knee. Most of our gear was ruined but that's it's job.

 

Glad you’re okay! I was dumb when I was younger and rarely wore a helmet. Just gloves and eye pro. Glad to say I actually gear up these days.

 

Cool! You don't see a Kettenkrad very often.

 

Oh I did my share of stupid shit in my youth. 5 hour ride to the beach wearing shorts, sneakers, and a helmet. No shirt for much of the trip. Just taking a shower when I arrived was enough to tell me what an idiot I was. Nasty case of sunburn over more than half my body. Now I'm almost an ATGATT rider. I will ride with jeans on without riding pants over them sometimes but usually not. I won't even ride in boots with laces anymore after having the loop on my tied boot catch the little tang on my side stand and damned near ended up pulling the bike over onto myself. I might occasionally be a slow learner but I am a learner.

Quality gear cost less than quality hospitals.

 

Only liked cause y’all made it out fairly unscathed considering.

 

I've learned to always ride defensively and assume other drivers cannot see you. That means changing between all lane positions based on others around you, and not just holding to inside line and assuming people see you (bright lights / colors and all). I had a pretty scary situation in 2019 as well - a semi merged into the right lane from a 3->2... then just kept his ass coming over into the left lane w/o looking. He put me in the shoulder @80, then proceeded to push me into the roadside ditch. I couldn't lock up due to traffic behind me, and I wasn't aware that he was coming into my lane until it was too late to accelerate past. I was fortunate to keep it upright, only grab a boatload of vegetation in my boots, brakes and pegs, and was able to pop back up onto the shoulder after a ~250' run of waiting to get piled up in ditch. As much as I would like to assume there are things that make us more visible, it really comes down to awareness of the rider at all times.

Glad you and yours made it out alright from the incident.

 

Pretty sure this is the first use of conspicuity on TW. Bravo.

I try to be the first to use a word at least once a month, but don't always get to, as sometimes it makes me seem mealy-mouthed.

 

First ride today. It's beautiful here today. 'twas a short one because I need tires and just realized the registration expired at the end of March.

It's a victory too, because I changed the oil, cleaned & lubed the chain and washed the bike. (I'm not mechanically inclined.)

Tires Friday.

 

I've been waiting for a replacement battery and it finally came in on Friday. Swapped out today. The Lithium battery starts my FJR quicker.

 

Make sure to use the correct tender for the lithium battery and be aware they don't like cold weather very much. Most FJR owners on the FJR specific forums have switched back to regular batteries.

 

The for the info.

 

Excellent spring dust off ride today

 

I have LiFePo4's in two of my bikes, and I'll second what Chuck says. They don't like the de-sulfation mode on a normal tender and charge to a different holding voltage. I have a NOCO 1.5 amp charger that has a special mode for it that was fairly cheap and has been great. I have a Shorai that's been going strong in my CB750 for four or five years now. It's so nice for bikes that you only ride once in a while, the self discharge rate is so low for Li-ion's. I RARELY have to put either of mine on a tender anymore. For the cold weather, as long as it's above freezing I'm usually OK. Sometimes I have to let it internally "heat" up with the high beam on for five or so minutes before it likes to start if it's near or below freezing.

Also, when I got my first one, definitely thought the box was empty with how light they are.

 

I have the same battery tender with the dual mode setting.
I bought the Lithium primarily to reduce top end weight since the location is in the upper RS fairing. Also, it cranks the engine a bit faster and so it starts quicker.

 

This happened yesterday... time to start looking at a stryder, ha. Baby girl

 

Congrats man!

 

Congrats! Start her off with a gsxr 1000

 

Good call. Great bike for starters

 

She’s beautiful. Congratulations!