When they said a biker from down under, I thought they meant......

Some US Stats

Hay! can the test ride be over now?

A few things; Amy said, the normal road rage things; is it a Normal occurrence for them? Tried to calm Biker down. by saying, that was nothing, it wasn't a dangerous cutoff; Took Responsibility? The Biker pulls out a blade, and George looks down; Typical Reaction? Biker throws a right and snatch George; Biker is right handed? Tiny George is now in the grips of the Big Bad Biker; George still looking down, with his hands by his side? In close quarts, Biker takes blade in left hand, over and across to slash limp George; On George's left side? Bikers barefisted right hook doesn't leave a mark on superman's fair skin? This post was edited by Steve at May 16, 2013 8:46 AM EDT

Oh crap! a tollbooth.

Sometimes a good idea, becomes a bad idea, once you're strapped to it.

Never tell a biker you've just cutoff, "That was nothing, I know cutoffs, and It wasn't a dangerous cutoff" How about , That was nothing, I know throat slashing , and that wasn't a dangerous throat slashing! Works for me. Dum Ass!

D.O.A. Determining, Observing and Acting. Perhaps we should say O.D.A. too establish a specific protocol. The process of awareness in determining the potential of our surroundings. The focus of this discussion is Awareness the O.D.A. Observe, Determine and Action. The ability to read the road, as some may call it, is just as important as Proficiency. Even those of us whom have logged hundreds of thousands miles on our bikes can attest, there will always be someone in a cage, to teach you a new lesson. Over time these lessons become a patterns, if we be so lucky. In other words, many actions can be predicted, and a commonality becomes apparent. Recognizing and developing the ability to determine the potential risk beforehand is essential. We learn to visually scan continuously, yet being primarily focus on our path, but what are we looking for? What indicator do we use? What actions can we take? Can our actions cause a unforeseen hazard? Fortunately our brains can process all this information in a fraction of the time it took to read it. Unfortunately human nature is flawed and our brains ability to process essential information sometimes becomes obscured. Example; Visual Fixation- is maintaining visual gaze on a single location. It's easy to become Fixated on a bike or car in front of us. Perhaps we become lazy, and think we can let someone else do all the work, and we'll just follow. Human Nature is Flawed, recognize it! Daydreaming- is short-term detachment from one's immediate surroundings. You know, riding could be described as hypnotic, the sights, the sounds, the smells, the methodical rumble. Human Nature is Flawed, correct it! Anger- is an emotion related to one's psychological interpretation of having been offended or wronged. So, some guy just tried to move into your lane, no worries, you're a good rider, you saw it coming, slowed down, beeped you horn. The driver pulled back into his lane, and now all you need to do is speed up, so he can read your lips. In the meantime the traffic in your lane is coming to a stop. Human Nature is Flawed, control it! Presume, or some might say Assume- To take for granted as being true or the next action to be taken, in the absence of proof. We've been riding behind a car, and by all appearances a good driver. Came to a full stop at the stop sign, slowed down and moved over for the bicyclist, held constantly the speed limit of 45mph for several miles. But now he slowing down for no apparent reason, 35,25,15 and still slowing, no turn signals. He starts veer to the right and now on to the white line and still slowing down. Obviously he going to pull off the road. At the same time We've been backing off and holding to the left of the lane, no cars are coming, geared down, signal on, moving in the other lane to pass and throttle down. The problem is, the guy in the car just missed his turn, The truth! as in "To take for granted as being true" is now, he was preparing to make a turn. legal or not he dose. Human Nature is indeed Flawed. Fear or Panic also deserves it rightful placement in this category as well. Fixation, Daydreaming, Anger, Presumption, setting your GPS or radio, making sure the tank bib is nice and straight. All are distractions, that can obscure our ability to read the road, avoid approaching threats, and be in control or prepared for any situation. Training ourselves too first recognize this inherent, and potentially fatal flaw of human nature, will better allow us to utilize the lessons learned on the road. Question; what do you looking for? What indicator do you use? What makes you suspicious of potentially hazard or risk? What actions can we take? What cautions would you advise? This post was edited by Steve at May 14, 2013 9:13 AM EDT

I don't have a problem with people trailing their bikes, and understand there's many legitimate reasons. But too do so, and then leave the bike parked in the only covered area and use their car, just doesn't sit well with me. My other issue is passing and blocking both lanes, and in this type of weather we have to back off for the heavy road scum produced by trailers, which continues to build up on glasses, windscreen and helmet shields, obscuring vision. Having to back off to avoiding the scum, leaves too much space for a cage to cut in, and they do. Sometimes as they quickly cutting in, and the traffic is also coming to a stop, gives us only 3 or 4 feet to stop on slick wet roads. Trailers are wide, and don't give much room for an escape path if any, and not having one is call the death zone, especially in bad weather. The point is not to criticize, but educate those not having the experience. In hopes we all arrive safe and have a good time, and that's the real point. This post was edited by Steve at May 12, 2013 11:06 AM EDT

Called my Mom today and wished her a happy Mother's day. The her first words to me were, "Can you believe they let that woman out on bond yesterday. They should keep her in there forever!" Mom 83. and I agree.

Excellent writing, great story, thanks Edge.

Yep, 1960. One day a guy stopped and asked my Mom if I ran out to the street every time I heard the Bike? She said yes he does. The guy then asked her if he could give me a ride? only after my desperate pleas she agreed. Never looked back. The next three years, built my own, from bicycles and old upright birggs, all were confiscated. They always got the bike, but never their man LOL. The last time was right in front of the guys house. I should have known, the Cops were always around there. Years later the guy told me that one of the members actually peed his pants laughing. 15 mph, lights flashing, siren blasting, hell no I didn't stop, not until I could bail and getaway. OK so I didn't have the best example to work with, and on occasion, I still make bikers look bad, oh well some things will never change. Good one SkylineX, some impressions become obsessions.

Weather reports called for rain all week , as we headed out Wednesday morning to Thunder Beach, Panama City Beach, Florida. Heavy cloud cover threatened throughout our 500 mile trek, and on the last 100 miles we hit moderate to heavy rain. While riding on roads having only single lanes we had no choice but to except the heavy mist of road scum from trailers, which stuck to the windscreen and face shield. That along with the lack of forward visibility do to width of the trailers. finally the road opens to two lanes, only to have one sticker clad trailed attempt to pass another. We arrive at our hotel , the porte-cochere, the covered area in front of the hotel, had an area reserved for about 50 bikes, of course it was full. We unload our bikes, checked in and headed back out for dinner. We returned, still raining, we park as close as possible, just outside of the covered area. Before heading in we check out all the beautiful bikes under the porte-cochere, and called it a night. Thursday morning still raining, dried off the saddles and off to explore the many venues. Picked up a schedule of events and headed back to hotel at 1pm , wrung out our gloves, un-prune our hands and plan out our week. About two hours later back on the road, rained on and off all day and night. Friday morning still raining on and off, drinking coffee and having a smoke under the porte-cochere looking at the bikes, I said to my buddy, look at how clean these bikes are, now that's dedication. He laugh and said that bike hasn't moved in three days. Say what! you mean to tell me these people are staying in their rooms? He says, nope, they unhooked their cars/trucks from the trailers and are using them. Look, as he pointed to the parking lot. I asked, you don't think they parked their bikes under the porte-cochere and then take their car to drive around, while those of us that ride have to hop on wet bikes, load and unload our stuff in the rain? Man that's just wrong. The traffic this year was horrendous, clogging all three major routes, Beach road, middle beach rd, and 98. In years pass motorcycles dominated the area. This year SUV and Pickup ruled the streets, perhaps this was the reason for all the congestion. Parking was setup to facilitate thousands of motorcycles and not thousands of autos, causing lines of traffic to spill out into the road way, backing traffic for miles. You might have guessed, but I wasn't impressed at all this year. Ride 500 miles to meet up with SUV and Pickup Trucks, Isn't my idea of Bike Week. That's not to suggest that were no other Bikers on the road, there were thousands, but this year we were out numbered 20 to 1 buy trucks, if not more. This post was edited by BikersPost at May 11, 2013 9:16 AM EDT

Did about seven hundred fifty miles this weekend, with half of that in heavy to moderate rain. Most of which was on the supper slab, a good test for my GIVI. The bike handled well with minimal influence from wind gusts and everything was dry. On the second day I stopped to take out my rain gear and forgot to latch the trunk lid, after fifteen miles or so, I started think if I had, I reached back and lifted up on the rack, yep, the lid opened, didn't latch it. Pulled over but couldn't check if things got wet, it was raining to hard for that, latched it and went on. Later that day it had stopped raining when I reached my destination, Isn't that how it suppose to work? To my amazement it was bone dry, not one drop of water had gotten inside, even without it being latched. Wow, dummy proof, now that something I need. Note to self, latch lid. Note; when the trunk is loaded and has been on for a period of time, the rubber mounts tend to stick to the bottom of the case and will dislodge, or loosen enough to fall off when the trunk is not on. Best to check after each removal and just push them back down. In all aspects, much better than my travel pack. I would recommend this product. This post was edited by Steve at April 23, 2013 9:15 AM EDT

I replaced the OEM brake pads with DP's #SDP Sport HH+ pads. The difference is incredible, most notable on the rear brake. The Concours had excellent braking to start with, this just takes it to a level I've never experienced. True feather braking, all I can say is wow, you've got to try these things. They cost a little more, about fifteen bucks per set, and glade I spent the extra bucks. Below is the Manufacture description. "Recommended for all late model sport bikes, the highly acclaimed SDP Sport HH + compound offers the ultimate in fast road, track day and high-performance braking. The unique sintered copper alloy friction material has been specifically developed to provide an industry high "HH+" friction rating with consistent, powerful, controllable braking performance together with low lever effort, no noise, low rotor wear and reduced dust. All SDP Sport HH+ part numbers come with a high-tech plasma applied ceramic heat shield to help prevent brake fade even under the most extreme conditions". Impressed!

Received the parts I needed in just a few days, a reasonable and timely response. Now we will see how this thing holds up to my abuse, and the weather.