Peabody

If the weather gets cold enough (rarely ever does) I layer my leathers. Traditional leather vest, American police leather jacket and a full-length leather duster. But usually I only wear the duster until it gets toasty here. It's been close to 90 deg. F. lately and will only get warmer until maybe November. I keep it to the vest and gloves at this point. If I crash asphalt poisoning will be the least of my worries.

Let's see. The U.S.S. Constitution ("Old Ironsides") Sank 2 British ships of the line, and captures two in a single encounter. This isn't fanciful thinking or creating history on a whim. This is well documented history. The steering wheel she wears now is the very one she took from a British ship, the HMS Java, before sending her to a watery grave. Aug. 19, 1812: Constitution sinks HMS Guerriere, in less than 30 minutes. Dec. 29, 1812: Constitution sinks HMS Java, but only after taking her steering wheel, since ours was shot away. 1814: Constitution captures H.M. Schooner Pictou. Feb. 20, 1815: Constitution engages both the H.M.S. Cyane and the H.M.S. Levant single-handedly and takes BOTH. The crew of Constitution releases Levant only after encountering a British squadron, due to the very poor condition of the severely battered Levant. According to a Sea Vessel Encyclopedia (written in Britain) The Constitution's only claim to fame was "narrowly avoiding capture by the British navy." Sounds like its the Brits who are creating history on a daily basis. Again I will ask, if we didn't win the war of 1812, then where are the friggin' American based British brigades? The only time I've seen British troops in the U.S. was for training, with America's permission. Oh, and yeah, it's flat, and hot is relative, but it is true, Georgia and Alabama (at least the northern areas) are far more entertaining for two-wheeled fun.

U.S. military personnel are still allowed to ride motorcycles (at the moment, may change), but you have to wear a helmet, a leather jacket and an orange reflective safety vest. If you get hurt you are subject to court-martial. "Damaging government property." The property being YOU of course.

I only got 3,000 miles out of an "X" ring chain on my 250 rebel, but that was due to improper installation at the dealership. I did get nearly 16,000 miles out of an "O" ring chain with proper install. I think you get more ring with the "O" since they didn't cut material out of it to get the "X." I will never buy another chain drive bike again after that.

Yep. After cooking off 200-300 rounds from the AK-47 I can't hear jack.

Thanks for the gunship!

I'd say that's reckless, but you couldn't hear me anyway. As a bagpiper I can tell you with experience, too many decibels will wreck your hearing.

Dat's a spicy de meat boll! It's too beautiful of a day, I'm going riding.

If there isn't any ice on the ground, ride it! I ride to work five days a week (20 miles one-way) all year long. At least a half-dozen times this winter the temp dropped down into the mid 20s. The liners for my gauntlets don't work completely, but help for a few miles. Also remember-they don't sell cold weather gear down here. Just leathers. Or in the alternative, haul it down south for a weekend. I would never put my bike on a trailer, but up in Freezerland, I mean, Canada you have an excuse.

What exactly are the rules in England? I've never heard of restricted horsepower before. Here you must be at least 16 to get a license/motorcycle endorsement. If your under 21 you must take a motorcycle riding class first. If you want to ride on two wheels you can get a scooter without the endorsement, but it can't be more than 2bhp and run no faster than 20 mph. But that's just the law in Florida. I've also heard that the Hyabusa and ZX14 are voluntarily kept at 186 mph, but not required by the government. Can you legally ride a Boss Hoss in England/Europe?

7omly, Hatchet buried. Sounds like we have the same problem. You know how you can tell when a politician is lying. They're lips are moving.

I heard they're also buying Jaguar. Isn't it bad enough that they have the bomb?

The V-Star / Dragstar designation was driving me up the wall too when I had a XVS 650 custom. I thought the "C" was for custom, but I can't remember. It's been a year since I upgraded to the 1300. Have you tried J&P Cycles for the parts your looking for? They're in Iowa, but ship almost anywhere. They have the lowest prices and you don't have to worry about getting ripped on Ebay. That and they also carry over 10,000 items for Harleys, metrics and sportbikes.

The mercury outside was hovering around 89 yesterday. I put 250 more miles on mine.

Has anyone done the Four Corners run here, in the U.S.?

I wanna go just to find out what real beer tastes like!

I haven't been able to add photos to this forum, and I'm better at turning wrenches than figuring out software glitches. However, there is a Yahoo group with photos of my 2D and 3D work (I build miniatures too). I didn't create it, and the girl who did needs spelling lessons, but the group is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/minaturereplicagablehouse/ I don't even know if the group is maintained, but there are photos of some of my paintings including at least one that I was still working on when the pic was taken. I'll have to get some pics of the bikes I've painted soon.

A bike in the garage and you CAN'T ride it?! Ouch. Thats torture just reading about it. The last time I let a day go by without riding it was in 19, ah, I can't remember.

7omly (or should I say 7 I.Q.?) Simply put, Germany wasn't at war with the U.S. That said, Britain got involved (and eventually the U.S.) because we both had signed the same treaty with France, Poland and a handful of other countries agreeing to defend each other. Germany wasn't the biggest bully on the block (at first), so the U.S. expected the Allies in Europe to handle this spat. But the allied countries (including Britain)chose the course of appeasement rather than put that homicidal nut job in Germany in his place when he invaded Poland. Europe just kept backing up and giving him more (standard operating procedure for France, they've been waving white flags for so long its become a tradition). I know people who lost family in the concentration camps. I'm a member of a non-Jewish religion that were the first victims of the Holocaust (1934). There is a well documented statement made by a German POW that was brought to America and loaded on a train for the west coast during WWII. He said on his 4th day of nearly non-stop travel that only a mad man would think he could defeat America. My family made sacrifices at Normandy and the Pacific theater. Dimwits claiming or downplaying the difference that America made in Europe are asking for a fight. Remember, we were fighting on TWO fronts and we didn't hold back or limit the resources we put into stopping Germany once we committed to the war. I have friends from all over. My wife is Philippine, my best friend is Jamaican. I would travel the world if I had the money, but it is true, most countries don't like Americans. If it isn't jealousy for what we have its hatred for what we believe in. But our ego and arrogance isn't much unlike the arrogance of England, which is why my neighbor from India hates England. We make more of nearly everything on the market (or have sweatshops in china make it for us) and develop a lot of technologies, but unless its military hardware or aircraft, we make cheap, poor quality versions of everything. Just look at our monthly train derailings. Even the imported beers are altered (lower alcohol content). My kingdom for a stout? Seriously, your money is worth twice as much as ours and your make double the wages, so if you get the fancy to ride your bike on a warm, January day, come on over for a visit. Florida is flatter than a plate and the roads are straight, but there is no such thing as a riding season here and the mountains are only 400 miles away.

Blackhat! Vietnam a "superpower"? That was the result of incompetent politicians and a country that didn't want us there (not to mention we didn't want to be there either). My uncle was over there. They would push Vietcong out of his huey over rice patties and watch 'em die from heart failure. What I was referring to was the U.S. ever being successfully invaded and occupied. Britain tried it, but didn't fare so good. I just found out about Scotland having a parliament. Is independence from the Brits not too far off? You should try it. It feels good to tell Limeys to stuff it. Yeah, its been close to 90f here. I'm gonna have to turn on the air conditioning if it gets any warmer. Won't get hot until next month. You gotta come down to Florida and ride!

First of all, Britain was getting pummeled by German V-2s before America got involved with a war that didn't concern us. You wouldn't have won anything with the Germans at your front door (Normandy), which WE took care of. Africa? What are you smoking? It was the Tuskegee Airmen and 11th bomber wing of the U.S. Army and the fighting 1st that took Africa AND Italy. We had the largest Army and Navy before WWI and Germany didn't want to mess with the U.S. Adolf even apologized for "accidentally" sinking U.S. ships. It is well documented that Churchill repeatedly contacted our president asking for us to get involved in something that you obviously couldn't handle. Russia has never lost a war because of their weather. Just look at history. Napoleon ring a bell? Russians just back up and let the cold do the dirty work for them. They hardly fought at all. As far as the U.S. being crushed by such a tiny country as Germany, that's hilarious. No one has ever come close to beating the U.S. EVER. Check your history books. Even better, read history books not written by self-glorifying Brits, but people who actually refer to facts. Britain was going to get involved whether they liked it or not. Germany didn't ask for permission when they bombed London. Hell, America has had the largest Army (China currently excluded) since before WWI. If it wasn't for American bomber wings taking out actual strategic targets in broad daylight the war would have been far different for you. Brit bombers were such cowards they bombed blindly at night, hitting orphanages, hospitals, neighborhoods, whatever happened to be there. America has had a few arrant bombs throughout all of our wars, but those are few and far between. We have always taken the higher ground and put ourselves at great risk to make certain that we hit viable, military targets. Britain can't say the same. This is why Americans are proud of their Scot/Irish heritage, but I've never met anyone who ever admitted to being of English background. Strange how a motorcycle forum has turned into a history blog. I'm going riding.

There are NO restrictions on bhp in the United States that I have ever heard of (I've been to most of them). My Honda 250 did the exact same thing a few months after I bought it in '99. It was gunk that clogged the carb. It took about an hour to disassemble it, clean out some sand that was clogging the holes in the brass flow rods and reassemble it again. Until I cleaned it out she wouldn't run past 40. If you roll the throttle all the way back but the revs stay the same, then its most likely the carbs.

Yeah, this site is obviously the work of a Limey twit. Any American sites for riders that can run 100,000 miles without ever riding the same road twice?

Hate to say it, but ya Scots would have been extinct in Florida yesterday. 90 degrees F. Almost rode without my leathers. If it gets any warmer I'll have to turn on the air conditioning.

With all the restrictions in England, I wonder how the fatality/crash rates compare to the U.S., where any plank can get a license.