Comments on: Old Bike Barn – Bear’s Rant: To Ride, Or Not To Ride

By: K.G. Miller

K.G. Miller — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:42:42 +0000

Have you read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance? I just bought my 79′ KZ650 (9000 original miles) about a month and a half ago. I’m 29 and it’s my first bike. I like the classic standard look, and I could have gone out and bought a new Ducati GT1000, or a Triumph Bonneville – but what’s the fun in having a bike you don’t have to fix? Beyond changing the oil and brakes on my car I’ve never seriously wrenched…and it does take a bit of learning…but there’s something about working on your bike that brings you closer to the machine, making the ride all the more personal.

By: David Boily

David Boily — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:59:25 +0000

right said fred! I’m from Qc City and we are invaded with baby-boomer who thinks they’re biker because they have the money to buy new bike and they don’t haven know how to ride a paddle bike.

right said
David Boily

By: Curtis H

Curtis H — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:23:26 +0000

The guy probably said 2 stroke when he meant two cylinders. I don’t know much about the newer Hondas but I like the older 4 cylinder Hondas because of how smooth they ride, especially the shaft driven ones.

By: Tareq

Tareq — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:50:51 +0000

Yo’ Bear,

Hope all is well is with you. I’m good.

I am a Bike Maintenance LEARNER who enjoys working on my two Suzuki bikes, a 79′ GS-550L Four and an 80′ GS-450L Twin, and I defy that idiot you wrote about to identify, with his eyes closed which is the twin. I appreciate your comments on this matter and agree with your summary on the incident. Some folks need (for lack of some self-respect) to pretend that they are something they’re not and get a weird sense of false pre-eminence by voicing lies – that they believe gets a listener to look up to them – to whomever is ignorant enough to listen. Keep up the good work…

Regards, Tareq

By: P.A.Klinkhammer

P.A.Klinkhammer — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:52:07 +0000

I live in Mountain View ar.Its a little place in the ozark mtns.A few years ago I was about the only rider here and rode all over the west and Mexico and was really thought if as odd.Now we are covered up with newbes and wannabes that look at me and my old bike with pitty.Twenty five grand just to show up on the square and pose.They are crashing and dieing regularly here in the mtns.I had better stop beforI really get going.
peteklink

By: Hiroak

Hiroak — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:17:24 +0000

I think most, not all, sales persons are BSers that’s what they do and if you don’t research what you want, especially with the ease of the in old interweb you deserve everything you get. I started riding a KX50 at 6 and never looked backed. At 11 I started really wrenching on an old WWII Harley my grandpa brought back and so on and so forth. What I see today is that the fake bikers are the majority and the real bikers are the minority. With the warranties on the new bikes you can’t do anything, even change the oil or you it voids the warranty and when you pay 30 grand for a bike you just take it into the shop. I build and ride café racers so I’m the guy fixing his own bike.

By: Adrien Whan

Adrien Whan — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:17:58 +0000

Right on Bear!
I completely agree with you, people should be willing to share and learn and experience, and be honest about their knowledge.
Have a great summer.
Adrien
From Toronto
‘77 Honda CB750F
‘90 BMW K100LT

By: Texianbiker

Texianbiker — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:29:58 +0000

i started riding 40 years ago when all bikes were unreliable and you either fixed them by the roadside or rolled them into the drainage ditch and walked away.

Nowadays motorcycles are so finely designed and crafted that it is possible to own and ride one long term without even knowing how a box end wrench works. That ain’t necessarily a bad thing.

I will also say that I restore old rice burners as a hobby and knowing how to synch carbs and the relationship between point gap and timing is still personally satisfying. That said if I’m going to California from Texas I’ll ride my Honda ST1300 and leave the box end behind thank you.

As regards faux bikers…posers is posers and if that’s all the reality you’ll ever experience too bad so sad.

By: Randy Clough

Randy Clough — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:40:37 +0000

Quite agree. My ride is a 1978 Honda CX500, a nostalgia bike I bought off ebay when I reentered riding after a 25 year hiatus. I had owned one before amd liked it’s quirks. The guy I bought it from was honest in telling me it had a noise and when I finally got tired of the vibraton as well I took it apart and found the thumb pad on a rocker arm was worn off and the cam chain tensioner was broke.
Point is, it was a lot of fun puzzling that all out and fixing the problem. After puttig it back together an hitting the start buttom and having it fire up was a real sense of accomplishment. I was pretty proud of myself until shifted it into second and then couldn’t shift any more. (I didn’t index the shift lever right and had to take it apart again to figure that out. It was frustrating but like you said, I learned something new and important.)
I like riding because you have more, should I say it, intimate and focused relationship with the machine and the road. Working on your own bike strengethens that bond.

By: Peter Franz

Peter Franz — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:34:23 +0000

I’m in 100% agreement with the sentiment, but I feel kind of sorry for the guy doing the talking, because he IS being overheard by people who know better and marking himself as an uninformed “wannabe.” On-the-other-hand, if he is too mentally lazy to do his homework, he probably deserves the humiliation.
Just one thing though, I have not before nor do I presently consider being a motorcyclist a “sport.” To me it is a way of life, essential to my existence, from which I derive my identity.