Converting from soft to hardtail?

[Drew]

Its still stupid. Why would you make something handle a lot worse andf take away a whole load of mechanical grip? And the point I am trying to make is that you are significantly lowering the ''threshold'' of how easy it is to crash that bike.

So long as it gets ridden accordingly, what's the problem?

Chap's hardly trying to turn it into a performance bike. Just something different to reflect himself when people see it.

[admenk]

Its still stupid. Why would you make something handle a lot worse andf take away a whole load of mechanical grip? And the point I am trying to make is that you are significantly lowering the ''threshold'' of how easy it is to crash that bike.

I take your point Robert, but I guess the whole bike riding thing is all about personal choices and preferences. Most of us ride bikes for enjoyment, and we all get that in different ways. For some it's performance, others it's practicality, safety, economy, style, speed and so on and so on. Which one is most important to us, helps to determine what kind of bike we ride.

For me personally, I have more fun on my chop than any other bike I've owned or own at the moment. Of course it has it's drawbacks, but then I know that and try to ride accordingly.

If we all thought the same and rode the same bikes, we'd have nothing to argue about!

[Robert Taylor]

I take your point Robert, but I guess the whole bike riding thing is all about personal choices and preferences. Most of us ride bikes for enjoyment, and we all get that in different ways. For some it's performance, others it's practicality, safety, economy, style, speed and so on and so on. Which one is most important to us, helps to determine what kind of bike we ride.

For me personally, I have more fun on my chop than any other bike I've owned or own at the moment. Of course it has it's drawbacks, but then I know that and try to ride accordingly.

If we all thought the same and rode the same bikes, we'd have nothing to argue about!

Yes I hear you about freedom of choice etc. But I think at normal road speeds to keep pace with normal traffic a rear end that has no means of positively reacting to and compensating for road irregularities is actually dangerous. There would be people that would ride such machines at elevated speeds, a danger to themselves and to other road users

[Drew]

Yes I hear you about freedom of choice etc. But I think at normal road speeds to keep pace with normal traffic a rear end that has no means of positively reacting to and compensating for road irregularities is actually dangerous. There would be people that would ride such machines at elevated speeds, a danger to themselves and to other road users

There are people who ride inappropriate machines at elevated speeds everywhere. Customised or no. Your argument is flawed to my mind, because there are many vehicles out there currently that cannot keep up with traffic flows anyway.

So this bike needs to use suggested speed signs at turns religiously, (hypothetically of course), and the rider needs to learn to read a road surface. Fuck, it'd be a wonderful thing if every rider had to do that for a while before getting on a thou and trying to carve up.

[buggerit]

So its illegal for a boy racer to drive round on his bump stops, but this is ok?

[Drew]

So its illegal for a boy racer to drive round on his bump stops, but this is ok?

No it isn't. The car just needs to be certified, same as the bike.

Christ, when did everyone turn into grumpy old men?

Hard tail it, and ride it like ya fucken stole it!

[Robert Taylor]

There are people who ride inappropriate machines at elevated speeds everywhere. Customised or no. Your argument is flawed to my mind, because there are many vehicles out there currently that cannot keep up with traffic flows anyway.

So this bike needs to use suggested speed signs at turns religiously, (hypothetically of course), and the rider needs to learn to read a road surface. Fuck, it'd be a wonderful thing if every rider had to do that for a while before getting on a thou and trying to carve up.

Yes its a whole issue that needs to be tidied up, including as has been correctly pointed out boy racers and bump stops. So much stuff that shouldn't be on the road

[admenk]

So much stuff that shouldn't be on the road

I know it's far from perfect, and is only a minimum standard, but isn't the WOF meant to look at the physical safety and suitability of the bike to be on the road. The way it's ridden is all then down to the rider, and even the world's safest bike in the hands of an idiot is still going to come to grief.

[Robert Taylor]

I know it's far from perfect, and is only a minimum standard, but isn't the WOF meant to look at the physical safety and suitability of the bike to be on the road. The way it's ridden is all then down to the rider, and even the world's safest bike in the hands of an idiot is still going to come to grief.

Idiots are being made faster than improvements in technology! Plus common sense is only common to those that have it.

[admenk]

Plus common sense is only common to those that have it.

Ah, that's where I've been going wrong all these years!

[AllanB]

Get into it mate - for tooling around the city it will be cool. You'll find you run a lower tyre pressure in the rear to compensate for the lack of suspension. Mind you 80's Italian bikes sported suspension at the rear but it was effectively rigid and Jappers of the same era had mush shocks.

We survived (OK most survived) - it was quite a thing dragging your stand and bouncing your mufflers off the road mid corner.

[ellipsis]

...couldn't be much harder than my Sportster...

[F5 Dave]

Or for a change you could consider riding a real motorcycle and discover what the rest of us are on about rather than a posing platform. Went for a great ride today out the boondocks. Bumpy in sections but discover this great country we live in.


And and the pies at the corner store in greytown.