Motorcycles

That's me at Circuit of The Americas in 2013. Just got rid of my last track bike a few months ago, still have a Harley for the street. You can see where my forum name comes from.

I am actually teaching in this shot, taught track/road racing for years. We're going pretty slow here, my best on the back straight was around 175mph.

jeepins said:

I'm a pretty serious rider. I'm in a tough club with leather patches and all that. Come near my ride and I'll cut you good.
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I used to have 7 of these but down to 3. 1 I can ride, one is being restored, 1 is in pieces next in line.

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Damn dude save some women for the rest of us!

Tomcat said:

In my younger days I used to ride a Triumph Bonneville 650cc., always breaking down, but I loved that thing.

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Got a collection of vintage dirt bikes too. Can anyone guess make, model, year?

I have truly missed riding. Bought my 00 ZX7R in Utah. Did the squid thing chasing girls and doing wheelies.

then I moved to Germany and learned how to ride. Dragging pegs at 145mph all the way down to 15mph. That was a blast, had an awesome mentor.

moved back to the US and couldn’t really ride without getting into the triple digits. My daughter was born after I high sided doing a drift around a corner and follow that up with my bike leaking fuel out of the carbs along with moving to Fayetteville NC. I parked the bike and haven’t ridden since.

still own it. Going to restore it after I finish the current changes to my Jeep.


I’ve been looking into the adventure side of the house.
BMW F850 or the KTM equivalents.

Did three hours of a four hour ride in the rain Saturday with my wife in the sidecar. She wanted an adventure. 07 Ural. More fun than you are legally allowed to have.
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Had this 79 CX500 for ten years. My foray back into riding after a 30 year hiatus. I saved it from becoming a cafe racer. Updated with 21st century electrics.


This came home on Monday. What’s left of a 1985 Suzuki GS550L in kit form.


Somehow, I am going to fit this in the Suzuki frame.
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Black Betty and me...

in the Ozarks with some of my buddies...



Dirt riding the Skyway Motorway in the Talladega Mountains with soem of my other buds...



With my best bud... Mrs. Irish on the BRP. She's on one of her 6 motorcycles she has owned since we got married...



Me and my SV...



Mrs. Irish and her first real motorcycle after I taught her how to ride.

I sold my Harley last year.
Maybe in the future i will buy a Triumph Bobber

More Ozarks on a week long trip with 3 other idiots...



Mrs. Irish and I on our way out to Hot Springs, AR. We stayed overnight at the John Clark House in Clarksdale, MS and got our fill of Delta Blues at Red's Juke Joint and Ground Zero Blues Club.

My 06 R1 50th Anniversary LE. Came from the factory with Marchesini Magnesium Wheels, and Ohlins suspension all around. I’ve owned several bikes, but man this thing was like the Rubicon of the sport bike world in terms of factory capability.

My ‘09 Fat Bob showing off her new shoes.

Currently on the hunt to add a R1150GS in order to give adventure biking a shot (and admittedly, I want an R1150GS specifically because that's what Neil Peart rode and Neil Peart was a goddamn badass).

Currently only have one left, a road glide custom. It's pretty much my primary transportation.

Crossing the Tallulah River on my XR650L. It’s currently in pieces in a buddy’s garage after needing to get the subframe welded after too many Colorado mountains rough roads.
And the little GS I sold about three years ago. It’s over in Spain now living its best life exploring the countryside.

Catalyst~ said:

Crossing the Tallulah River on my XR650L. It’s currently in pieces in a buddy’s garage after needing to get the subframe welded after too many Colorado mountains rough roads.

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How long have you been riding off-road?

Being late to the two-wheels game, a couple friends and I are going to sign up for some adventure riding courses next year. We hit the roads on our street bikes a few years ago. I don’t think any of us have the confidence to tackle off-road riding without some sort of training.

Jeffreybomb said:

How long have you been riding off-road?

Being late to the two-wheels game, a couple friends and I are going to sign up for some adventure riding courses next year. We hit the roads on our street bikes a few years ago. I don’t think any of us have the confidence to tackle off-road riding without some sort of training.

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I've ridden bicycles my whole life and always enjoyed mountain biking. After college, I took the 2-day Motorcycle Safety Foundation class to get the basics down because I had zero experience with motorcycles. After that it was a natural evolution from road to mostly dirt. I guess I got my first dual sport around 10 years ago. It was 250cc and I quickly realized it was under-powered. Moved to a Suzuki DRZ-400, which was great, but got stolen, then wound up with the Honda XR650L.

I think my mountain bike experience helped a lot with riding a motorcycle on dirt and gravel roads, but I can see where a class would be valuable if you didn't grow up with a dirt bike or have any other relatable experience. And it's more fun dropping someone else's bike than your own during the learning process.

Adventure riding covers a wide spectrum of bikes. You guys are going to have a blast! My two pieces of advice would be:
1) Decide to all buy similar style and size bikes. Having one buddy on BMW GS1200 and one on a Honda CRF250L makes no sense if y'all enjoy riding together and planning some future adventures. The little Honda will struggle to keep up on any highway stretches and the BMW may struggle when anything tricky or technical off-road pops up. And it's a bear to lift.
2) A smaller bike is more fun. 400-650cc was the sweet spot for my group of riding friends for the type of dirt road/gravel road riding around here in Georgia.

Catalyst~ said:

1) Decide to all buy similar style and size bikes. Having one buddy on BMW GS1200 and one on a Honda CRF250L makes no sense if y'all enjoy riding together and planning some future adventures. The little Honda will struggle to keep up on any highway stretches and the BMW may struggle when anything tricky or technical off-road pops up. And it's a bear to lift.
2) A smaller bike is more fun. 400-650cc was the sweet spot for my group of riding friends for the type of dirt road/gravel road riding around here in Georgia.

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The sort-of issue with smaller bikes is that my friend and I are both big guys. I'm 6' 5", so that basically canceled out the Sportster line entirely and a few Dyna rides when I was shopping for my cruiser. That kinda sucked, because I really was hoping to snap up a Forty Eight. I'm really happy with my Fat Bob, though.

Thanks for the advice! I'm trying to find some classes around us. So far, one of them is up near Milwaukee.

Don't ride anymore, but my last bike was a HD Nightster 1200.





I had a blast with it, but after a flatbed truck almost killed me I kinda lost the joy in riding it and sold it in 2013.