| Author | Message | ||
     Essthreetee |
Why I haven't liked to ride with anyone, that is. I like to ride FOR THE RIDE, while it seems that those around me (family and friends) like to ride for the destination. For example, I am planning a ride with my brother this summer...I have a good route planned but my wife and my mom both are telling me, "Why do you want to go there...that will be A LOT of riding, and there is not much to do once you get there." In my mind I am thinking...yeah, so...then my brother tells me, well I don't want to be riding any more than about 4 hours a day....I think, what about the OTHER 20 hours...Once again, we are going for different reasons. Anyone else have this problem??? Suggestions?? | ||
| Diablobrian |
You've run smack into the difference between Buell riders and H-D riders (for the most part). Your riding philosophy is diametrically opposed to theirs. You won't find an easy solution to this one. | ||
| Daves |
Leave your brother at home. Go ride. | ||
| Buelletta |
I can tell you my experience as to why HD (or really cruiser)riders aren't as much fun for Buell riders to ride with. I am a Sportster rider and I have a spouse (Aydenxb9) who is a Buell rider. I love to ride with him, but a cruiser is not made for the curves and you wear yourself out on the curves because it just doesn't handle like a Buell does. It mentally takes more out of you. And physically you have to use your hands and shoulders more. I have ridden a Buell on the curves and there's not much thinking about it. The bikes are so awesome that you don't have to think about the curves they just come natural. You kind of feel like you could almost let go of the handlebars and just lean and the bike will go where you want. I know when I ride with him, I don't have the fun that I could (and will---the sportster is for sale) have. The Sportster has it's place also, I enjoy riding a relaxing ride once in awhile. Now I do know some guys on cruisers who do a pretty good job of riding with Buells. I think you have a different thrill level on a Buell. The thrill comes from the curves and a cruisers thrill comes from a cruise. BUELL RULES! This is just my opinion of course. | ||
| Mikej |
I'm thinking you have two rides to go on. One with your brother, call it The Brotherhood Ride, or TBR for short. Ride for an hour or two, stop for gas, see the sights, wander around a small town, ride another hour or two to the next destination, stop for gas, eat some food, wander around town, set up camp for the night. Next day finish the loop, ride an hour or two, wander around town, see some sights, eat some food, ride for an hour or two, see the sights, wander around town, get gas, head for home. Second ride for you, call it the GFMS ride, Good For My Soul, or the RR ride for The Ride Ride. Get on your bike, ride, stop for gas, food, rest, ride some more. Head home when it's time to head home. The TBR will be talked about by your brother for years to come and will be something he really looks forward to each year. The GFMS will be for you, won't be talked about much, but will be remembered for years and mostly only talked about with like minded friends. Them's my thoughts. | ||
| Glitch |
Your riding philosophy is diametrically opposed to theirs. You should see the look on the faces of the service guys when I have to get something done like a TPS reset. They walk around the bike, check the lights, blinkers, brake light & tail light, then the switch the display over to see the odometer reading, that's when I wish I had a camera. It's like they've never seen a bike with over 43thousand miles.  | ||
| Imonabuss |
I'm with Mikej all the way. There are two different riding philosophies, and guess what, you are a sport rider! What you have to do is throw in a "love ride" every once in a while with your H-D riding friends (it won't take long, and they're fun people), and then hit the road for real riding. The worst thing to do is to try to ride the way you want to ride with folks who are of the cruiser/tour mindset. It's not fun for you and scary for them. | ||
| Gowindward |
Let's hear it for taking the "Long Way" to any where. The journey is what makes motorcycle travel so much fun. Keep looking and you will find like minded riders. | ||
| CJXB |
I'm with Mikej all the way. There are two different riding philosophies, and guess what, you are a sport rider! What you have to do is throw in a "love ride" every once in a while with your H-D riding friends Ditto !!  | ||
| Lovematt |
I ride for the ride too...that is why I have a number of 300, 400, and 500 miles days under my belt...and for each one I started and ended up at home! | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Yes. I will often take the long way home from work. Maynard to Uxbridge via Albany or Providence or Nashua. Sometimes I try to rationalize it by telling myself "I'll get a bite to eat on the way home" Then I get home after 250 needless miles to find that I forgot the eating part. oops. | ||
| Ezblast |
The peace and joy I find in riding is well worth the risk I take in riding - I'm happy to say I live this daily! Got Thump?! Just Blasting on the Dark side! EZ  
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| Brineusaf |
It's not just HD riders that ride differently than us. My closest riding partners all ride R6's/R1's, they always want to take the Autobahn everywhere, whereas I want to stroll through the mountains and through all the villages. They say they like the parts in between the villages where there is no speed limit... I say I like listening to them shift a million times going through a twisty village. I enjoy a nice relaxed pace, I'm not one to push the envelope; unless confronted by a "hot shot", then things differentiate. Kyle Brine United States Air Force | ||
| Road_thing |
Well, not to be argumentative, but I've got 72,000+ miles on my Road King. I don't think being an "HD" rider and being a "sport" rider are necessarily mutually exclusive. rt | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
A poser is a poser no matter what bike, car, plane, or boat they operate. | ||
| Cochise |
8 out ten times, a sport bike rider tells about how fast he went, a Gold Wing Rider tells how far he went, A Harley rider tells how many bars he stopped at, and a Custom rider tells how much he paid for the bike and how many times he polished it. | ||
| Tom_b |
I guess my friends are all weird cause we just ride to ride. we all own buells, crotch rockets, road king kings and customs just a mix and we all get along and ride together. Eveything from a 38 harley which just did a 180 mile round trip in one day to a zx-9 to my 400 yamaha cafe. It all depends on friends and attitudes. Just ride and be friends. Some days I ride fast, Others I ride slow, it depends as well with me as my co riders. I could tell stories about boneheads I ride with or how they ride slow or too fast, but at least we are all out enjoying it together. if you don't like gang riding ride alone. | ||
| Essthreetee |
Alot of things here are helping me make some sense out of this...first off, my brother rides a BMW. r1150r (?) I don't know the lettering, it is the one CHP's use, or used to use. Second, this is something that I have just recently REALIZED...I have been riding (on and off) for about 15 years. I always enjoyed riding, some bikes more than others. Started with a Rebel 450, after a month bought a new Suzuki VX-800, similar to Buells. I rode this bike for about 2 months and over 7000 miles. Every chance I had I was on it...I have not had the same feeling about a bike UNTIL the Buell. I can't get it out of my head...I want to ride. I don't care where...just ride. I don't want to stop, I don't want to go FAST, I don't want to go SLOW, I just want to go...somewhere. My parents both ride HD's...Dad had over 100k on his FXLR, and is going on a 3 week ride on his V-Rod. Mom was with him every mile, as a passenger, a rider on her Sporty, a rider on her FXR, a rider on her FXD, and now on her Screaming Eagle V-Rod. But even as much as they ride, they like to ride TO somewhere so they can eat, drink or something...I don't know how to explain it. Daves...may have the right idea (this time) MikeJ...definitely hit the nail on the head (but I think TBR will start next year) Johnnylunchbox...yup! Anyway, co-workers that take an annual fishing/camping trip (I usually go with them) are going and I will probably ride up and camp with them. While they are fishing all day, I will go riding. Then we will meet back and drink the night away.... | ||
| Smitty808 |
Cochise said: 8 out ten times, a sport bike rider tells about how fast he went, a Gold Wing Rider tells how far he went, A Harley rider tells how many bars he stopped at, and a Custom rider tells how much he paid for the bike and how many times he polished it. And a Buell rider tells about how much fun he had! I have ridden with the cruiser guys...highway miles don't thrill me, and the sport bike guys all wanna' either make cruise laps in town, or run 140mph, and do stunts(or both at the same time!) I have fun! I have a route that takes me through some of the best 2 lane blacktop in southern Indiana...I ride for the ride!! MikeJ has the idea...time with your brother is important, but you need to have your GFMS ride too! | ||
| Lonexb |
it seems like when ever i am not on one of my bikes. i have that stupid song from the honda commercial stuck in my head. i want to ride, i want to ride... brian (lonexb) | ||
| Road_thing |
Lots of good observations here, some of them are serious and some are (I hope) tongue-in-cheek. My point is that it's inevitably wrong to say that all (insert bike type here) riders always (insert gross generalization here). No matter how convinced you may be that all cruiser riders always ride from bar to bar at 35 mph, there's probably some guy out there stunting his FLHR, and he's going to take offense at being lumped in with the bar-hopper crowd. We're all riders. We all love to do the same thing, albeit not necessarily in exactly the same way or with exactly the same equipment. We ought to be celebrating what we have in common, and coming together in support of our sport, not splitting up into small groups flicking boogers at each other over little stuff like full face helmets versus do-rags. rt | ||
| Sportsman |
I've a T shirt (it came from sailing but still applies) "The journey IS the destination" Should be a Buell motto | ||
| Imonabuss |
Road_thing, I agree with you in many ways, but... The stunting FLHR rider is the exception that proves the rule, and I'm sorry, chopper riders with do rags mean organ donors to me. As do baseball caps on backwards and knit caps on sport bikes. Big arrows pointing to | ||
| Road_thing |
Busboy: I think we're probably in total agreement, particularly with respect to headgear. The notion I'm trying to put forward is that we're all riders first. Splitting up into sub-groups and arguing amongst ourselves weakens us in the eyes of the non-riding majority, some of whom would like to restrict our freedom to ride. Kind of the AMA argument. rt | ||
| Bomber |
lots of different kinds of people -- just as many different kinds of riders, and, therefor, rides Chopper pilots with do rags are doing what they wish to do, and I've not heard of them forcing anyone to do it along with em ride your own ride, whatever kind it may be that minute, and enjoy the company or solitude, as the case may be no reason to limit one's self in this endevor, any more than there is to listen to one kind of music or read one type of book back when the Highland House was in bidness (Chicago's version of Marcus Dairy and Alice's Restaurant), the touring and BMW piloits would all be braggin on their milage, paying no attention to the 40-something guy in the crowd wiht the 15 year old 400-4 Honda with the milk crate bungeed to the rear of the seat . . . . who rode 125,000 miles a year . . . . it's easy to get caught up on all kinda things, and overlook the ride our sport is under enough public scrutiny as it is (see HD's recent discontinuance of selling "Race only" exhausts for but one example of this) -- creation of further balkanization of the motorcycling community will only make it easier for bad things to happen to all of us It is better to be shot from a gun than squeezed from a tube -- HSThompson | ||
| Imonabuss |
OK, here is my one rant for sanity. Folks, the facts are that riding without helmets is one of the greatest things heading us towards banning of motorcycles. It's sheer stupidity, and increases deaths dramatically, which gives the anti-motorcycling people more and more fodder. I personally have lost a number of friends due to their riding without helmets, and it really pisses me off. In Europe where people really ride motorcycles a lot, not like here, no one rides without a helmet. It's the law, and it sure didn't slow down the use of motorcycles now did it? In all countries you are allowed to lane split and use special lanes and avoid tolls. Why? Because motorcuycling is seen as reasonable transportation. No one who has children and sees a kid zooming down the highway without a helmet can do anything but cringe. I love freedom, but I'd rather have the freedom of riding a motorcycle than to lose it because idiots riding "free' without a helmet cause the lawmakers to squeeze out motorcycling. So, I get pissed off every time I see someone riding without a helmet, because his stupidity is putting my real freedoms at risk. I mean, you have to wear a seat belt in a freakin' Hummer for Gods sake! What in the world makes these idiots think they can ride without a helmet? | ||
| Bomber |
Well, shucks, Harvey, if there's only gonna be ONE rant on Badweb today, that's worth memorializing ;-} our experiences wrt lost friends are very similar, and I agree with you -- it's a shame that fashion plays such a large part in so many things, ain't it? It is better to be shot from a gun than squeezed from a tube -- HSThompson | ||
| Road_thing |
Amen. I'm gone till Monday. Everybody ride safe and have a great weekend! rt |
