Ziggy

I joined May of '08. Was persuaded over here from CR after I bought my first bike. Always felt like I missed out on a lot of stuff living down here in Cincy, don't post much as a result. I did make it to a couple of OR Anniversary Scavenger Hunts though. That was MUCH fun!

Competition Accessories in Springfield isn't too far away either. Not as big as Iron Pony, but typically more stock than Cycle Specialties.

If you're looking to take a step up from your VStar 250, I can't say enough good things about the VStar 650. I've owned 3 of them, two classics (full fenders, fat front tire) and one Custom (19" front tire, ducktail rear fender. They're dead simple to maintain, and with a couple of pretty simple, and relatively inexpensive mods, they can be pretty entertaining to ride. Between the two, from the triple trees back, they're pretty indistinguishable from one another besides the rear fender. I will tell you though, if you like riding twisty back roads, the Custom is the way to go. The taller, skinny front tire communicates better, and the front end is much lighter than the Classic. Neither one is going to keep up with sporty type riding 600s in the back roads, but they can be fun to twist the throttle and run through the gears. Definitely buy used VStar 650s, never new. Depending on your size, you may find the VStar 650 to be kinda small dimensionally. I'm 5'11" and 230 give or take, and didn't find it cramped until I rode my Custom back to back with my Heritage Softail. If your 2-up cruising tends to stick to rural routes and biways, you should find the 650 to be perfectly adequate. If you think you'll find yourself on the slab, you'll likely find yourself looking for another gear and light on power. My dad had a Suzuki Intruder Volusia 800, the predecessor of the Boulevard c50, and he liked it okay. I rode it several hundred miles over a couple of months, and found it to be more powerful than my VStars, but I couldn't say it was a better bike. It was water cooled, which was nice, but you're much more limited as far as mods go. There isn't a simple carb re-jetting procedure on the Volusia, if you need more fuel (to account for intake and exhaust upgrades) you'll have to pull the carbs and drill the orifices. The Volusia 800 falls into the same lightweight cruiser class as the VStar 650, and they're really very similar bikes, but despite the additional power provided by the 800cc engine, I prefer the simplicity and modability of the VStar. Keep an eye on Craigslist, you should be able to find either of the VStar 650 variants or a Volusia/c50 Boulevard in nice shape in the $2000-$3000 range pretty readily through the winter. Even in the spring though, the meaty range for those bikes only jumps up to about $2500-$3500.

It's pretty rare for me to keep a bike longer than about a year. I've done the same thing over the years, buy one I like at a decent price, ride for a while, and then sell. I started with an SV650, and flipped my way up through my Heritage Softail, and now my VRod. Hoping to flip the VRod in favor of a bagger of some sort come spring time. Just keep in mind that profit is made in the buy, not the sell. Buy 'em right, and you'll ride for free!

Not entirely true. The VRod engine was developed WITH Porsche, but it's roots are in HD's VR1000 Super Bike Racing program. It wouldn't be inaccurate to say though, that the Motor Company needed the Germans to get the engines to run for more than 500 miles at a time however.

That may be, but the tow vendor would have to sue the guy to collect anything beyond the seizure of the vehicle, and that means they'd have to argue and defend their tow bill in court, wouldn't they?

Article says the tow company owner has placed a lein against the vehicle. My question is, how much can a square body Cherokee (which is typically prone to rust anyway) from Massachusets be worth?! I think I'd roll into the tow lot with the title and let 'em keep it. "Congratulations, you just bought yourself a $2000 Jeep Cherokee for the low, low price of $49k!"

Damn.

Had a chance to wash it this weekend. Really needs a full detailing, but just washing the storage crust off of it did wonders... Early impressions: Riding position isn't terribly different from my Heritage Softail. Bars are a little lower, but the controls are easily located without hunting around for them. The 1130 cc vtwin is, as mentioned by Pokey, a real gem. 9k RPM redline, and it pulls pretty hard all the way there. It's really smooth, too! Totally unlike any Harley I've ridden before. The bike is really long, I think it might be longer than my Heritage was. It carries the center of gravity really low, so handling is confidence inspiring as compared to most cruiser type bikes, but being so long, cornering is going to take some getting used to. The gas tank is stupid small. Even with my Heritage, I was looking for gas after about a hundred miles, but good grief! And honestly, I don't think it would be so apparent how small the gas tank is, if the fuel level guage didn't work, or wasn't there at all. Obviously it is there, and in my case, it actually works. Knowing the tank is only 3.5 gallons helps, but seeing the fuel level drop from full to 3/4 over the course of my 22 mile commute is depressing. Speaking of commuting, I rode it to work this morning on I75. I never would have guessed that the solid disk wheels would have so much of an impact on how stable the bike feels, and didn't notice it at all while riding back roads yesterday, but sustained 70+ on the highway around the high and low pressure zones on the trucks did not instill confidence. The transmission is fun. Seems to be optimized to put you in the power, no matter what gear you're in. That said, the ratios are very close together, and sometimes actually leave you wondering if you actually changed gear! 70 on the higway is had at about 4200 RPM, and does seem to be a little buzzy, but passing on the highway does not require a downshift, which is nice. The guy I bought it from was the second owner. The original owner drilled the exhaust and pulled the baffles. It sounds throaty and pleasant, but it doesn't appear he added any kind of programmer to it, so I'm sure it's down on power compared to a totally stock one. Otherwise, it doesn't appear to have suffered any negative affects. I'll be making some ergonomic adjustments to the bars and such to better suit my long arms and legs, but overall, I'm pretty happy with it. At least happy enough to keep it in the garage over the winter.

Well, I bought it. 2002 VRSCA 17k miles. Filthy dirty. Not posting pics until I have a chance to clean it up a little bit. Looking at the market here in Cincinnati, I couldn't pass it up for the money. Hopefully, we'll still have a few nice riding days before it gets silly cold again.

I sold my '94 Heritage Softail this week, and set to look at a 2002 V-Rod tomorrow. I know the early ones had small 3+ gallon tanks, and I've read that the fuel gauges can be kinda wonky. If anyone has owned, or currently owns a V-Rod, I'd love to hear about any issues I should be looking out for.

Thanks for the tip on Jack Stack's. I'm still waiting on the word from the hiring manager. All I know at this point is that I've made the final cut, and it's down to me and two other candidates. At least one of the two others won't require any relocation assistance from the company, so I'm sure that's weighing heavily on the decision. If all the cards fall my way, I'll be looking for a rural subdivision type of neighborhood. You know, preferably someplace with neighbors, but 1-2 acre lots. Hoping I can find something like that within 30 or so miles of the city.

I've been an AMA member for 5 years, and the roadside assistance has paid for the membership every year. I've had a bike or car towed for one reason or another every year. I've got roadside assistance through my insurance, but my insurance will only cover 10 miles. AMA covers 25. My insurance roadside coverage is tied to the VIN on the policy, AMA follows the driver, and extends to my immediate, same household, family members. I'll keep my membership. Also, AMA has been one of the most vocal opponents of motorcycle only checkpoints all across the country.

Hey y'all! I'm looking at potentially moving to Kansas City in the next 45 days or so (relocating for promotion) and was hoping to get a little bit of insight on the area. I was out for two days this week to interview, and drove around a bit to check out the area. Been doing some research online, and trying to figure out if I got the job, where would I want to set down roots. Maybe someone familiar with the area could chime in, and make some recommendations for good and bad areas to look? The employment location is on the West side of the city on West 45th St. Was thinking that since my job would be on the Kansas side, I'd probably want my house to be too, but I'm not completely opposed to Missouri. Only beef I've got with Missouri at this point is the fact that Kansas doesn't require a front plate, and apparently Missouri does. Ideally, I'd like to stay within 30 miles or so of 66106. Looking for good schools, kids are 10th and 7th grade, and if I can come up with a couple of acres of property, that'd be awesome! Realtor websites can only help so much.