Who rides motorcycles?

[Darth_DMack]

Added two scoots to our stable... For her, a 2022 Triumph Street Scrambler (900cc), and for me, a 2022 Triumph Scrambler 1200 XE (off road edition) to add to our two BMWs.


Hers

Mine

We are both "Adventure Riders" meaning, we like to explore when the pavement ends. Throwing my big GS Adventure around has been a learning curve, but so much fun. My new Scrambler has 10" of suspension travel, and is more "dirt oriented" out of the gate. This thing is a HOOLIGAN's Dream! Wheelies on command. My R1250GS Adventure is quiet, unassuming, but I ride the big beemer like a sport bike. This new Triumph will become my fair weather bomber, and give me tons of fun!!!!

 

[JeepHead]

Added two scoots to our stable... For her, a 2022 Triumph Street Scrambler (900cc), and for me, a 2022 Triumph Scrambler 1200 XE (off road edition) to add to our two BMWs.


Hers
View attachment 2409128

Her bike is pretty sweet!

 

[Darth_DMack]

Her bike is pretty sweet!

She says she's 5'3... maybe on her toes... so the Scrambler 900 is good for her. It has PLENTY of power, but the short stand over height is nice, for her short legs. Mine is the 1200 XE, their more "off road" oriented scoot... it has 47mm Showa upside down forks up front, fully adjustable with Compression, Rebound and Preload... hers is non adjustable. Mine has Ohlins rear, fully adjustable shocks, and it gives 10 full inches of suspension travel.

She really loves her new scoot. It will be fun to see as time progresses, which bike she chooses on any given Sunday.

 

[3930dave]

Thanks. I rode scoots for the better part of 30 years. I keep my MC license up, but I haven't ridden in many years. Sold my cruiser back in 2008. I hated riding the super slab, always enjoyed riding back country roads. Middle Tennessee has a lot of them out where I live. I always rode with my left hand covering the clutch lever. People would come flying down their driveways as you approached. You just automatically assumed they will pull out right in front of you. About 40% of them did. People are way too distracted by their phones while driving. One of the main reasons I quit riding is one of my best friends was killed on his bike in Nashville. No fault of his. A vehicle stopped on I-40 in rush hour traffic, my friend stopped, but the pickup truck behind him was texting on his phone and never saw him stop. Sandwiched him between both vehicles and threw him into the next lane, right under a 18 wheelers tires. Killed him instantly.

Tough losing anybody close; doubly so when that senseless.

That "accident" highlights the lie of superslab - "Our Safest Highways". Hidden in the volume, are horrendous accidents.... typically here, it's transports, slamming into stalled traffic. One of the worst, was about 20 years ago, Western Ontario. No, not Winter, just fog (how long ago, did Euro vehicles have rear fog lights....), dry roads. Many people in cars and trucks died.

At best, slab is boring on 4 wheels, so never interests me on 2. I'm not a fast road rider, and even slower on non-paved surfaces, so picking through back roads on my KLX300 is a Perfect Day.....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Added two scoots to our stable... For her, a 2022 Triumph Street Scrambler (900cc), and for me, a 2022 Triumph Scrambler 1200 XE (off road edition) to add to our two BMWs.


Hers
View attachment 2409128

Mine
View attachment 2409129


We are both "Adventure Riders" meaning, we like to explore when the pavement ends. Throwing my big GS Adventure around has been a learning curve, but so much fun. My new Scrambler has 10" of suspension travel, and is more "dirt oriented" out of the gate. This thing is a HOOLIGAN's Dream! Wheelies on command. My R1250GS Adventure is quiet, unassuming, but I ride the big beemer like a sport bike. This new Triumph will become my fair weather bomber, and give me tons of fun!!!!

View attachment 2409131

I had been drooling over their offroad Tigers, now I can't UnSee your 1200 ! Darn you Dmack !

Turns out, even their offroad Tigers have more of a front-end street geometry than I'd expect, and jumping out of the dream, most all of these have more power/weight than I should be playing with off-road....

Let us know how your Ohlins testing goes on your 12 !

Rgds, D.

 

[Darth_DMack]

I've been riding on two wheels on the street, since I was 18. Off road, since I was 12 years old (old YZ80 two stroke was my first dirt bike). I bought my first brand NEW bike off the showroom floor, in 1988... a Honda VFR750R. That bike was my entry into the world of track days and privateer racing. I became a certified track day junkie, and budding club racer... I would have gone even further, but the Army kept me from attending enough races to gain enough points to be competitive, but it never kept me away from the track.

I have had three crashes in over 35 years of riding. Two on the track, one on the street. The one on the street was my fault, 100% and then some.

2004. South Florida. I was coming home after a long day of riding the twisties with my friends. I had a set of "race take-offs" (tires that I had done a few sessions on my track bike with, fitted to my street bike). I knew this was not a good thing, because of the rubber compound, regular street pace, would not get them "hot" enough to really work, plus they had been through some serious heat cycles during my track sessions... (fast A Group Rider) and I was 10ft tall and bullet proof... so I thought.

Short ride down the Sawgrass Expressway, coming home, led me to my exit. This was a constant radius off / on ramp, that I had taken hundreds of times. I have ridden that 35 mph off / on ramp at upwards of 65, knee down, no issues... until there was.

I came in very hot, mistake number one... full leathers, knee down, when I felt the front tire wash out. I pushed HARD with my right knee in the effort to stand the bike up, and regain traction. That was mistake number two.

The bike stood up, and it straightened out. Due to my excessive speed, I had no room to lean it down again. The only option was to bail off the road, and not hit the guard rail. So, I did... and the bike was airborne. It was about a 15' drop off, and my bike did not have wings. I hit the ground hard, shattered my right collar bone, and knocked the breath completely out of me.

My riding buddy was right behind me, saw everything. I was taken away via ambulance, and checked into the ER. My new Helimot Kangaroo track suit was cut off of me, and I was told that my collar bone was shattered as well as my right rotator cuff. Surgery was needed, and I was very lucky.

That was the one night that changed my riding style. My beloved SV1000S was totaled, and from that point forward, I stopped riding on the street for a long time. My riding stayed on the track, until I matured enough to know that the street is NOT the racetrack. I was victim to over confidence, excessive speed for the conditions, and my front tire hit some oil that had been deposited onto the road way. My track experience gave me the instinct to push with my knee to get the front tire to bite again, but I didn't have the width of a track to recover. Had I hit the guardrail, this story would have ended up differently.

Now, I'm much more reserved, I don't push my luck, and I tend to hunt the least traveled path. My wife and I both ride, and we love it. We love exploring the fire roads, gravel back roads, and off road adventuring. My track days are a thing of the past, and I do miss it, but I don't bounce anymore at 56 the way I did back then.

Safe riding out there, rubber side down!

 

[Darth_DMack]

I had been drooling over their offroad Tigers, now I can't UnSee your 1200 ! Darn you Dmack !

Turns out, even their offroad Tigers have more of a front-end street geometry than I'd expect, and jumping out of the dream, most all of these have more power/weight than I should be playing with off-road....

Let us know how your Ohlins testing goes on your 12 !

Rgds, D.

My next scoot will be a KLX3000R!

 

[JasperFrank]

I look back at all the bikes I have had and the experiences they facilitated. Would not change a thing.

 

[Rockbadchild]

Darth-DMack inspire me to wright my bike bio...

I started very young with a 50cc Honda Monkey, it was my friend, I still remember my first ride and wipe out, (it happened at the same time) his dad was like '' just go, it's just like a bicycle''... Zoom I go in the back yard straight in the playset slide. I wiped out twice with that little bike, my first ride and my last one lol, he was a good friend despite that he still let me use his bike he got later on lol...

The second bike I tried was a Honda XL125 that same friend and my cousin had one, I got to ride these bikes quite a bit, that's when I got hooked on bikes. I was used to driving 3 wheeler but I remember the freedom on a bike it felt like you simply think to go somewhere and it turned in that direction, that and the added complexity with the clutch I was in love... I never crash with these one.

Third was a Yamaha DT 350 enduro with a engine swap of a three-wheeler Honda 125 in it ... Not much to say about that junk but it was a fun project and ho that's the first bike I experience speed wobble, It scared the hell out of me.

After many years without being on one, the dream of owning one never fades so I bought a YZ 250... That's my fourth bike I got on and the first I owned. I wipe out twice with that bike. Once in a corner I came in way too fast for my skills and I did the old moving your body to one side while keeping the bike straight and went straight in the bush. The second wipeout was I wanted to do a drop off jump but I didn't have enough speed so I downshifted to get a good blip but landed on neutral so over the handle bars I went ... That's when I figure out that sand pit riding is not for me, two stoke is not fun on a dirt road and I wanted a 4 stroke.

Fifth, I got a WR 450 F... I wipeout once with this one as well in a field this time, the dew came down and I didn't adjust my driving, the bike was gone from under me before I could even react. I did lots of riding, develop lots of experienced and riding technique (off road and dirt road) with this bike. I also had many many close calls and learned a bunch but I wanted to go further on a single gas tank and it wasn't very comfortable...

Sixth, (at the same time as I had the 450) I bought a Yamaha 250XT for the wife to ride with me and for me to putt around with... I wipeout with that one as well because of the dew same replica situation then with my 450, yeah I am a slow learner, 2-0 for the dew that's right .... I really push my boundary with this bike, I don't care where I drive this thing because I know I can muscle it through anything. So I did lost of exploring and that gave me the confidence to go back with the 450 at the same location. This little bike really gave me a push in my riding abilities. I still have this bike I will never sell it, its slow and powerless but I love it to putt around.

I drove one street bikes, one Harley's and one chopper to try to figure out what I wanted to buy next but I won't count them.

Seventh, I figure I wanted to ride longer distances while not being restricted to the pavement so I bought the Tenere 700. I love it, I love the versability but it's not a offroad bike by any mean, I do it but it's over my skills, I get worried about it's weight and heigh. I know very well it could get me in some situation that I don't want to be in, so I tend to not get too adventurous in areas I am not familiar with but it's a dirt road destroyer and I love it for that. Yes I drop that one too, coming in too fast on a long slimy clay hole with ruts in it.

If you counted right that's 7 bikes 7 drop

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Getting the throttle body out, is pretty involved. Have to clean the high idle circuit