Just let me know if you want to cage up here with your road wheels and hit the Skokie Lagoons & CBG area starting in south Wilmette.

 

Strip the bike of everything unless it's absolutely essential - pillions, grab rails, pegs and mountings that kind of thing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_Pa5BDv_hM

 

yeah! If you wait for the wife or anyone for that matter, you'll never do anything. take a lesson from the pro's. they all train with bikes. It's a natural match. and it's fun. don't just pedal around leisurely though, kick it up, push it, pedal down hill, do some two to three hours bonzai runs. Guess what! your riding will improve significantly and you will become a believer.

 

thanks guys I'll keep that stuff in mind. no road wheels tho, just a mountain bike. but I've got trails all over the place down here. when the hawk comes out of storage, so will the bike. maybe a week. I hope.

 

mountain bike is better. I got rid of my road bike. ride the mountain bike on the street, jump curbs, down steps, cut through gravel and dirt, grass and it generally deals with adverse conditions better and it's a lot more fun. It's harder to pedal with the wider tires and so you don't coast as easily and therefore get a better workout.

 

No way, roadies rule. Feeds the need for speed and handles more like a motorbike!

 

MTN bike for the win. Trials bike was my preference. I was damn good too.

 

my freshman year in college, this bike was my only means of transportation. hasn't gotten more than occassional use since then. but I did work in a bike shop part time during college building bikes, so I'm no stranger. let me tell you, there are some nasty thorns in northern NC. used to go thru an inner tube every ride.

 

I'd estimate that the PAIR valve and plumbing don't total up to more than 1/2 pound.

On a California bike however, the EVAP system is several pounds.

 

i lost as much weight as i think you can for under 1000 bucks




weight is all over the bike but the heaviest part of the bike is the beefy v-twin, but the only people i trust to ride my bike that have ridden my bike before and after agree with me it is remarkably more flickable now its a canton carver and rides and turns as fast as i could dream.

 

Lay off the McDonalds...

 

you sure did it!! now everyone know you're serious. Did you weigh it?

 

umm, he broke his bike. It should weigh even less now than it did having ground so much of the left side off.

 

There are several considerations relative to motorcycles and weight. Overall weight is important, no doubt. And there is much being done lately in the area of mass centralization. Then there is unsprung weight, where we can derive major benefits, because it's not merely spinning, but it's gyrating. most of us never think of it, but contrast what a bike is doing compared to a car and how centrifigal force is working in moving planes as it is leaning and spinning simultaneously. Somehwhat akin to magnetism in it's feel of pulling. Unreal and unique concept and feeling. The implication for me is that tire, wheel, rotor, and caliper weight, or all weight that is spinning/gyrating is probably the single most significant upgrade that can be made to a sportbike that is being ridden like it is designed to be ridden. the problem is that these upgrades are relatively costly, but considering the benefits performance wise in terms of handling, it's surprising how few actually prioritize this area of upgrade.

 

wholeheartedly agree Nath!

 

that actually seems to make alot of sense. hmmm. has anyone seen any actual full blown studies on this?

 

I'm sure there is a lot of info on this, but 2 million miles in a semi taught me alot about the effects of unsprung weight. I started with 11x24" tires, steel wheels, drum brakes and eventually changed to low profile tires(significantly lighter-shorter sidewalls), aluminum wheels and lighter drums. The difference was nothing less than phenomenal in terms of smoothness, steering ease, acceleration, stopping, bump/roughness absorption, noise reduction, and overall comfort. It was unbelieveable and I wanted to go further and replace all the heavy brakedrums with disc brakes but the cost was prohibitive for me. The amazing thing is that all these positives are only the effects of unsprung weight and relatively less spinning weight in mostly a vertical plane and do not consider adding the dimension of the motorcycle's leaning axis.

If you put a 20" bicycle wheel on an axle/pipe long enough for you to hold with a hand on each side and have someone spin the wheel fast you can feel some of the effects of centrifical/gyrating forces as you move the pipe similar to turning your bike bars. The faster the wheel is spun the more you can feel the effects of centrifical forces in different planes. And this hand spinning is only low speed comparatively. Once you feel what's happening, it's easy to see the value of lightweight spinning components on your bike.