Vintage is cool and fun, but you have to be careful. The temptation is to dispense with safety gear because you're "just taking a quick ride" around the neighborhood. Plus, full body armor looks out of place on vintage. Usually, I wear an old school (looking-it's current) white full face, leather, gloves, boots, and jeans. Unfortunately, I occassionally go for very short jaunts dressed like, or no better than pictured below. This taken VERY close to home. No excuse I suppose.

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/7...bonbikepr4.jpg

I will say that I was at least wearing an extra thick ball cap, warm and soft- before you hit the ground jacket, pre-road rashed jeans, and safety sandals.:rolleyes:

awesome bike bob! i recently missed out on a cl175 just an hour from me on ebay. i just wasn't ready to drop over $1k on the thing. it was nice but far from perfect and would have made an ideal bike for putting around the neighborhood and exploring local off road trails (we don't have many but there are a few) while scouting for ducks.

i hear you on the protective gear. a client of ours was in the office a while back and says to me 'i saw you tooling around on that scooter without a helmet! you better get one!'.

while we're OT in OT Bob do you know of any major Honda swap meets? i'd love to be able to root through bins of parts for these things and maybe find a project scooter/bike.

Vintage is cool and fun. I've been a VME (Vintage Motorcyle Enthusiasts) member for years. While I don't make many these days, we meet once a month in south Seattle. Funny the attitudes within the vintage crowd; no one wants to wear "modern" gear and look out of place on their vintage iron. Yet they still (some of them at least) ride those old machines for all they are worth. The ones that "take it easy" are still getting there through Seattle traffic, on the freeway or on busy surface streets. Maybe they think "vintage" road rash doesn't hurt as much...

Well, that's usually true. Road rash often stops hurting by the time it's 20 to 40 years-old.

Out here in the Rocky Mtn west animals are big problem related to motorcycle
"safety".

A tragic story from this last weekend, losing a good local CSP officer, safety advocate & father of 3. Hit a deer while riding his motorcyle & was killed instantly.


http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_p ath=/news/07/news071015_1.htm

he survived a stint in Iraq but a fencepost took him out.

And animals aren't just limited to CO...

Very true indeed. It can still ache in the morning and scare the ladies, though.:p

The running joke, or play on words in the VME name is whether they are vintage motorcycles or vintage enthusiasts. It's usually one riding the other... And yes, there is more vintage road rash gathered together in one place at one time than likely anywhere else you'll look. These boys have definitely "been there; done that".

Admittedly, I haven't read every post here. But the ones I read seem to be horror stories in general. You're going to crash, you're going to become a paraplegic, you're going to die. But it's fun, so you decided.

Nonsense!

Like anything else...common sense is the answer. Anything can happen...when you walk across the street, drive to work, or mow your lawn. I rode for 20 years without an accident or even a close call. I recently got back into it and bought this bike:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1192795315.jpg


If you live in a high-traffic area...take up another hobby. Riding a motorcycle in So. Cal traffic shows a gross lack of common sense. I see more make-up being applied, and text messaging going on on Jamboree Rd., than anywhere else in the world that I've visited. Would never ride there. NYC, Chicago, Atlanta, San Fran, Dallas, Miami, etc. Use your head.

If you ride for recreation, live in a low-traffic area (or can access one easily), you will have a great time. Sure, animals can run out in front of you. Satellites can fall from the sky and you can wear a suit of armor and spend your life inside your house peeking out through your mini blinds. Gotta live!

Remember....common sense. The beemer guys use an acronym...ATGATT. All the gear, all the time. Don't ride in shorts. Don't ride in sneakers. Spend $1k-$2k on safety gear. Pants with CE armor (mesh or leather), Jacket with CE armor, proper gloves, a good helmet, and proper riding boots. Wear them even if you're riding to the store and back. This is common sense and takes a bit of discipline.

Don't twist the wick between traffic lights. Common sense. Don't twist the wick in high-traffic areas. Common sense. Don't day-dream, even if you're on a quiet road. Common sense. Leave an escape route always. Common sense. Learn to counter-steer. Common sense. Don't ride side-by-side. Common sense. Stay off the painted stripes, especially in the rain. And most importantly...ride your own ride. Don't worry about how your buddy rides. Keep your wits about you and trust your own instincts. Again...common sense.

Can ***** happen? Sure. But you can minimize your risk, and maximize your fun. As your skills develop, find some windy mountain roads. Countersteering through esses and tight curves as I navagate my familiar route up through the foothills of the Applachians near where I live, is one of life's little rewards. The whole world goes away. My blood pressure is consistently at 120/80 or below since I've started riding (for recreation) again. There's something healthy in that!

Two comments: ATGATT. Common Sense. Nuff said. :cool:

I disagree. The traffic in southern CA is one of the BEST reasons to own a motorcycle. It's an incredibly efficient tool for beating the gridlock. You can split lanes (I've written about this ad nauseum - there's a smart way to do this and a stupid way to do this), you can use the car pool lanes, you can park anywhere, insurance is MAYBE $300 a year, etc. The reasons are endless.

AND contrary to amateur beliefs, it's actually safer to ride on the freeways than on the surface streets. No intersections on the freeways and WHERE DO MOST ACCIDENTS OCCUR? Oh yeah. Intersections. Check your statistics.

Look, I'm not saying it's a perfectly safe activity - it's not. It does come with certain risks that you better damn well be willing to accept, and do everything possible to mitigate. But if you simply dismiss "riding in LA traffic" as stupid, you're missing the point. My last job was a 75-mile-a-day round-trip commute. Right through downtown LA. Every day. If it were not for the motorcycle, there's no way in hell I'd have worked there. I used to be able to literally make the one-way trip (38 miles) in about 45 minutes. That's not riding like a maniac, that's keeping the bike moving, splitting traffic when it was dead-stopped, using the car pool lanes, and generally just "keeping it rolling" at a reasonable rate of speed for the trip. In a car (no exaggeration here), the same trip occasionally took me over two hours.

Tell me again why this was such a bad idea?

Everyone has a different threshold for safety I guess. Riding through downtown LA freeway traffic, splitting lanes, etc., is far below my threshold. I wouldn't do it. One moron opens his car-door to pour out his coffee while you're splitting lanes, and your day is ruined. Doing the same for commuting (rather than for recreation) is also far below my threshold. IMHO...there are lots of reasons why it is a bad idea.

I can leave my house and ride for 20 miles without encountering more than 2 stop signs. I don't care for riding in dense traffic....and simply wouldn't do it if I didn't have to. I've seen the traffic on the 405. It ain't my thing. But, again...everyone is different. Riding is purely recreational for me. Not the case for you, so it's not an apples to apples comparison.

The fewer variables (other drivers) in your proximity, the better. . .in my opinion. If I lived in S. Cal...I'd only consider riding on the weekends to get away from town and enjoy a relaxing ride in the country, if at all. I don't see S. Cal as a recreational riding environment. Common sense? You have to decide for yourself.

RIDE NAKED!!!!!!!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1192803798.jpg

I ride a CB550. I bought it for $300, spent about $300 getting it back in good shape/mild cafe wannabe. It will just break 100MPH which is plenty fast for me on a bike. Been a fun little project and will be a good commuter bike once the waether gets better.

Picture? Please?

I'm not talking anyone into riding a motorcycle, but I miss my Triumph Speed Triple. Here's the latest incarnation. Dang it...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1192837058.jpg

As soon as i finish painting the tank/sidecovers, I'll get some pics.

Nostril...this is a website for you. Lots of cafe racers at the Ace Cafe in London. I've always wanted to run the "ton"!

www.ace-cafe-london.com

Some pics for inspiration:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1192842277.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1192842305.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1192842338.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1192842361.jpg




http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1192842419.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1192842469.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1192842505.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1192842533.jpg

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Not to sound like a *******, but after 26 yrs of riding I've given it up. The roads are just too dangerous for bikes. We have had four bike fatalities in my area in the past month. All where the result of cars hitting them. Cant count how many this past yr. Way too many inattentive drivers, cell-phone talkers, soccer moms, etc, etc... One was a large group of bikes on a charity run, the car pulled out in front of them. The driver claims she didnt see the group of 50 plus bikes coming at her. 6 bikes slammed into her car. Two of the riders died.
I love riding, Ive owned sport bikes, Harleys, you name it. Its just not worth the risk to me anymore.

Wow, Dueller, thanks for the link. That is some very, very cool stuff. Too bad it's raining like hell here right now; otherwise I would have to unlimber the old Ironhead and go for a blast. oh well; now I can sit here and drool over the cafe's racers, anyway.