RustyNails

My Scores and I have never been on one nor had any desire to own one.  Yamaha YZF R1 You scored 9 moxie, 11 zeal, and 2 pomp! You're addicted to speed, but have the knowledge and experience to match. Although you like to win, you don't really care so much about competing with others as much as competing with yourself. Your bike is the Yamaha YZF R1. Given how easily the rear wheel on this beast spins up coming out of turns, it is fortunate that you constantly work to improve your skills. (I've seen more R1s crash at track days than any other bike.) It was a close decision with the Suzuki GSXR1000, but your personality seemed a bit more R1-ish. (But hey, I could be wrong. Its only a silly test.) COMPARED TO OTHER TAKERS 82/100You scored 9 on moxie, higher than 82% of your peers. 86/100You scored 11 on zeal, higher than 86% of your peers. 35/100You scored 2 on pomp, higher than 35% of your peers.

I am referring to the top mounted rack. Let me know how much for the mirror and if you have it, the Adapter. Rusty

Bob, I need the left hand mirror and the adapter for the passenger headset and a trunk rack if you have one.

Personally, if I ever get the money together I'll buy one. Was going to buy one this spring but ended up having to buy my wife a new car.

Thought ya'll would enjoy this. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAckfn8yiAQ]YouTube - Christmas With a Capital "C"[/ame] Merry Christmas

That is one of the most despicable things I have heard in a long time. Instead of thanking the soldiers for their service they reviled them.

First off you do not need an impact wrench to remove the lower Allen head bolt. The Allen head T-Handle that Yamaha sells is 17mm, what i did was use a 17mm nut welded to a 1/2" ready bolt as a very cheap replacement. This tool is used to hold the damper rod still while you remove the 10mm lower bolt. I have never had to use any kind of hammer to remove the inner fork tube, clamp the upper housing in a vise (protecting it from damage) just tight enough to hold it in place and the pull steadily on the lower tube, it will slide out. Using a sledge hammer around the lower fork tube is inviting disaster, one slip and the tube is useless. As for buying most generic parts from any manufacturer is just throwing your money away. O-rings can be purchased from any hydraulic repair shop for 10% of what Yamaha charges. Or @: http://www.allorings.com/ Bolts, fasteners of any kind at the local hardware store.

Just an observation, but I have never "Driven" a bike before. I have "Ridden" many miles on many different bikes though. :witch_brew:

Good info. I'd also like to point out that most motorcyclist I see on the road don't leave enough room between themselves and the vehicles in front of or behind them. This is especially hazardous when approaching an intersection, if you are following a vehicle and are closer than 4 car lengths at city speeds then you are too close if someone is wanting to make a left as soon as the car in front passes by. You are too close for the driver to see you and he will make his move, right in to your path. If you are in the right wheel track, then you are inviting trouble. When on a two lane highway I ride the left wheel track and make sure that I can see the mirror of the vehicle I am following, this also allows me to see what traffic ahead is doing. Also I find that most cagers will follow me at about the same distance I am following the vehicle ahead of me. If I am too close then they will follow me too close. If they are following me too close and I am at the right distance I will slow down until they get the message. Always "Ride To Be Seen!"

This is a sticky one. Me personally if I am going straight and am first in line at a light I will stay in the left track, look behind me and if I see that there is a a car that wants to make a right I will signal the driver that it is alright with me, this way I am not surprised when it happens and I find that the drivers are more cautious in passing me. If I am making a right and have to wait on pedestian traffic I move as far right as possible to allow traffic behind me to go straight. I think that by making these courtesies the drivers don't feel as hostile about having to wait and are more willing to be more careful in passing. In doing this I have never felt threatened by a cage in these instances and it is a practice I adopted about 30 years ago.

You're right Jim. That is why you have to pay attention to your surroundings and the situation of the moment. My statement was pretty general but as you have stated there are always situations where one solution is not the total answer but a guide. The main thing is to be aware of your environment and adjust your position to accomodate any variables.

Thanks Don, Practicing safety should be a constant activity while riding. Just the act of observing your environment is a safety maneuver. Good points Carl, It is important to make the driver see you and not make any changes in your track. By making yourself known to the driver you are also sharpening your own senses and will be more aware if the driver is about to do something stupid, like make the turn anyway. I have observed drivers that will look me straight in the eye and I can see them thinking, "It's only a motorcycle, I can make it." They then proceed to turn, if I am not watching them I would not know their intentions until it was too late. I ride knowing the fact that I am invisible to cagers so I ride with the attitude of LOOK AT ME, I am here.

I have read a lot of posts here and on other forums about accidents between motorcycles and cages, most of the time the incident is blamed on the cage. The most common comment is that the cage driver says the he did not see the motorcycle. This affliction can be caused by any number of things. The flavor of the day is CELLPHONE. While there are a lot of reasons why a cage driver doesn’t see a motorcycle there some things that you the rider can do to make sure that you are not one of those reasons. 1. Ride to be seen. Where you ride on the road makes all the difference in whether or not you can be seen. On a two-lane road or highway, if you are not riding close to the centerline you are invisible. Try this, next time you are on the road and there is a good sized vehicle coming toward you with a smaller vehicle behind it, watch that trailing vehicle as it weaves back and forth in its lane. Even a car or SUV can become invisible behind a larger vehicle. If you are riding too close to the vehicle in front of you, you are invisible. This is especially bad at intersections on a busy street. If you are too close behind a car and there is a car that the driver is anxious to make a left and there is a gap between the car in front of you and one behind you that the turning car thinks he can make, he WILL not see you on your motorcycle. But if you are at least a couple of CAR lengths behind and in the left wheel track then the driver has a chance to see you. Whenever I approach an intersection and am behind a vehicle I position myself for maximum visibility, I sit tall in the saddle and look directly at the turning driver. This method I have found draws the driver’s attention to me. When riding on multi-lane roads and highways the riding area changes with traffic and requires due diligence on the riders part, in California where splitting traffic is allowed, I found that the safest place to be on the freeways was the white line between the two farthest left lanes. I hope that one day splitting traffic is legal in all states. California aside, multi-lane highway traffic varies and it is up to the rider to determine where he is the most visible. I have found that if I am traveling a long distance on a busy highway that the fast lane is the best place to be, I ride next to the white line between lanes. I do this so that I am visible to any vehicle around me. If there are two cars ahead side by side and two behind side by side you now can be seen by all four vehicles. This also has the affect of giving you an exit in case someone does something stupid. If a cage decides that your lane is greener than his, instead of veering left and possibly running into a k-rail or into the median, with a little throttle and slight adjustment of direction you can split between the vehicles ahead of you. Although it may be illegal, if it saves your life, who cares. 2. Ride aware. (Leave plenty of space around you.) If you are aware of the traffic around you, then you are much safer. You can avoid incidents just by watching the traffic around you. If you scan your mirrors every few seconds then you will be hard to surprise from behind. If you watch the driving habits of those in front of you, you can avoid most incidents ahead of you. If there is a driver that is driving steadily and he swerves a little and comes back in line then there may be a road gator or some other small obstruction ahead. Not too dangerous for a car but could be bad for a MC. If he slams on his brake and swerves then look for a path that will take you away from the hazard while looking to see if it was an animal that may travel into your path. This is a good time to mention that the brake is not always your best friend, sometimes the best way out of trouble is the accelerator. I guess an example of that statement is in order. I had just bought my VR and was riding it home from Tennessee on I40. There were several tractor-trailer rigs in front of me in the right hand lane. As I was approaching the rear one he turned on his signal to move into my lane, I slowed down to let him over, as he passed the second rig he hit a two by four and threw it up in the air, there was a rig to my right and no where to go to the left. I saw that the board would fall before my front tire and accelerated so that I would go over it before it had a chance to bounce back up. It had the affect of breaking my exhaust collector, but it may have bounced up and hit the fairing or worse, me. Animals are some of the most unpredictable objects you can encounter on any road. There is one very important thing to note about animals and that is if they are frightened, as by a vehicle on the road, their instinct is to get in front of the danger and try to out run it. So if you see a cow, deer or… on the side of the road there is a good chance that, even if it had no intention of crossing the road, your approach will cause it to panic and run in front of you. So the best defense is to slow down when you first see the animal and give it a chance to cross. We also know that animals can run on the road from a totally invisible area and be a complete surprise. This again is where the accelerator and not your brake could be your best friend. Any of us who have ridden dirt bikes knows that if there is an obstruction in front of you that you either have to get the front wheel off the ground or at least unload it, take the weight off of it, if you want to go over the object. If there is no chance of not hitting an animal up to deer size then accelerating or at least not hitting the brakes could be the difference between life and death. By panic hitting the brakes you squat the front end and bring up the rear end, this is a recipe for disaster as more than likely you will endo. By accelerating you have the advantage of momentum and have the possibility of either pushing the animal aside or going over the top of it. Yes, you will damage the bike, yes you may get hurt, but your chances of survival are greatly increased. If the animal is larger than a deer then… Remember, YOUR safety is up to YOU, NOT the other guy. RIDE TO BE SEEN

:cool10: National Drivers Test - Results Your score was: 100% :cool10:

Did you have to change out your seals when you went to DOT 5? I am going to change to S/S cables when I change my pads and would like to change from DOT 3.

I would also suspect the battery cables since they are what you messed with last.

I have been using Castrol Since I started riding in 1959, I have never had any trouble with it and haven't seen any reason to change.

Go to the gym. :rotf: Rusty