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[thesoapster]

I thought you guys would like this.

Electric motorcycle maker Brammo introduced a series of motocross bikes that have a proper manual transmission!

http://green.autoblog.com/2011/05/0...ncite-race-off-road-with-mechatronic-6-speed/

I don't know what a "mechatronic" doohickey is, but it's got six speeds and a clutch, so it's gotta be good.

Yeah I saw that. They have some interesting bikes, but I still don't think the range/recharge time make them viable. Batteries keep on getting better so I think that will change, though.

 

[thesoapster]

Ah fun. Got the fuses in, fired up immediately. Life. This is good.

So, yesterday and today I rode for a total of about 5 hours or so...not bad I suppose. My body is still slightly beaten up from the mountain adventure. Ugh.

California Superbike School for me this Tuesday!! Another ride on the S1000RR for the day. I will be sure this time to take before AND after photos of my tires, plus hopefully some video from the stands of the bikes going balls to the wall into the main straight. Such a fucking glorious track.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Does anyone have any suggestions for covers for a motorcycle? I have a ninja 250 and I need a new cover. I had an old one that was made by covermax(?) I think but it dried out from the sun and then when it was windy one day it ripped. Is there a waterproof canvas cover or something similar that won't dry out and be brittle like the plastic covers? Or a really durable plastic unlike the cheapy covermax one.

 

[thesoapster]

Does anyone have any suggestions for covers for a motorcycle? I have a ninja 250 and I need a new cover. I had an old one that was made by covermax(?) I think but it dried out from the sun and then when it was windy one day it ripped. Is there a waterproof canvas cover or something similar that won't dry out and be brittle like the plastic covers? Or a really durable plastic unlike the cheapy covermax one.

Try Dowco Guardian covers. Mine has held up very well.


So, yesterday I completed Level 2 of California Superbike School at NJMP Thunderbolt. What a blast. Today I woke up and nearly fell over when I tried to stand up. I'm sore.

Highlights of the day -

- Body position tweaking: My position, while not quite ideal yet, is much improved
- Better vision training (the focus of Level 2): My sense at the track improved greatly with the pointers/instruction
- Better throttle control: A biggie, as my coach pointed out I was making some key errors that can potentially be dangerous.
- Relaxation: This is actually tied into the throttle issue for me. When I am white-knuckling and not nice and relaxed I tend to be much less smooth and not as focused on the proper things. I got into the swing of things quickly.

Some photos - The track photos were taken by the assigned photographer that day. They were earlier in the sessions so I didn't get any back of me dragging a knee or with my best body positions of the day. Today was the first time I dragged my knee sliders.

edit: Did not get any of the tires before/after because they were already used since I wasn't the first class of the week. Oh well

I am bike 21 out in front.

My left puck which I was practically leaning on throughout turn 10

 

[RapidCancel]

^ Lookin' good!

Got my GoPro HD today. It was $225 from overstock.com. It was raining outside so I didn't want to go test it out. Going to try mounting it on my gas tank tomorrow with the suction cup and take it out for a quick spin to see how it goes.

 

[Flo_Evans]

So jealous soapster!!

Those classes seem really good, very aggressive stance, proper head turning (where you look is where you go!)

Good advice on staying loose. Maybe the hardest thing to do but the simplest way to ride 10x better. Was very hard for me to get there on road, then super hard to relax when the bike is sliding around off road! Sage rider told me: if your hands/forearms are sore after riding, you are holding on too tight.

 

[twinturbo2]

Yeah I saw that. They have some interesting bikes, but I still don't think the range/recharge time make them viable. Batteries keep on getting better so I think that will change, though.

I think the battery is supposed to be removable, so in theory, you can upgrade the battery once the tech gets better.

I want a Harley-style cruiser with electric power and the manual transmission, that would be boss.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Anyone know what size cover I should buy for a ninja 250?

 

[thesoapster]

Anyone know what size cover I should buy for a ninja 250?

I'd think that would depend on which brand, but I'd say medium is safe in Guardian covers.

 

[Flo_Evans]

Going for my 1st post baby ride today... not sure how it will affect performance. Going to put a pic of him in the tankbag to remind me to slow down (and to show off to other bikers lol)

 

[thesoapster]

congrats!!!!

 

[RapidCancel]

Congrats Flo_Evans!!!!

Got a test video of the Go Pro mounted on my gas tank with the suction cup.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe3MZe3ke0I

Pretty boring video, I was just taking it nice and easy around my neighborhood to see how well the camera would stay.

How do you guys compress your videos? The video is pretty fuzzy compared to the uncompressed .mp4 that I have. You can even read my speedo easily, but after I compressed it, it seemed to have lost a lot of quality.

 

[daw840]

At least he's learning good gear habits early!

Congrats!

 

[Flo_Evans]

Congrats Flo_Evans!!!!

Got a test video of the Go Pro mounted on my gas tank with the suction cup.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe3MZe3ke0I

Pretty boring video, I was just taking it nice and easy around my neighborhood to see how well the camera would stay.

How do you guys compress your videos? The video is pretty fuzzy compared to the uncompressed .mp4 that I have. You can even read my speedo easily, but after I compressed it, it seemed to have lost a lot of quality.

Youtube compresses it pretty hard... .mp4 is compressed, not familiar with the gopro settings but you should be able to keep the same quality in your editing software - video compression is a bit of an art, lots and lots of settings. What software are you using? How you set up the timeline (fps, color space, NSTC, DV-PRO, on and on....) and how you do the final render quality (frame blending, quick render, resizing, output compresion, single or double pass, VBR vs. constant, target bitrate, max and min!) I could write a book about exporting video...

The jist of it is is make sure your software can edit in native .mp4 and not have to convert the video 1000x times to edit... everytime you mess with it you lose quality. Non-pro software will generally convert it on import to whatever it was written to do, with good stuff (premiere, final cut) you can tell it to edit in the same space it was shot and save yourself lots of trouble...

I set my camera to record at max bitrate in 720p. Premiere CS5 can play and edit that in realtime (on a fairly fast PC...) then export at around ~75 compression at max render quality double pass VBR. Preserves what the camera shot very well, but then when you upload to youtube all is lost in their space saving, quick recode bullshit.

Vimeo is somewhat better in that regard, I just have more fans and followers on youtube For the best quality you are going to have to host your own videos, all the public sites will re-code all of the hard work you put in to save space/time.


As for the ride is was awesome and stupid at the same time... I got pissed at the people I was with (I just wanted to take it easy around camp and take pics for the BMW website...) they decided to go exploring and I finally had enough and tried to go back, only to get extremely lost, bushwhack through some shit I had no business riding alone. I got soaking wet and really tired from picking the bike up - then the temp started to drop and I got mild hypothermia... fucking stupid fucks left and took my dry thermal layer form the campsite I was really looking forward to getting into before I you know, died... had to ditch the bike and hitch a ride home in a truck. lol so much for an easy weekend. Video to post soon

 

[daw840]

Holy shit man. Did...did you go back for the bike?!?

 

[Flo_Evans]

Holy shit man. Did...did you go back for the bike?!?

Yeah did that today.

I actually hid it in the army tent in my avatar lol.

 

[thesoapster]

Don't you love forest adventures, Flo?

 

[RapidCancel]

Youtube compresses it pretty hard... .mp4 is compressed, not familiar with the gopro settings but you should be able to keep the same quality in your editing software - video compression is a bit of an art, lots and lots of settings. What software are you using? How you set up the timeline (fps, color space, NSTC, DV-PRO, on and on....) and how you do the final render quality (frame blending, quick render, resizing, output compresion, single or double pass, VBR vs. constant, target bitrate, max and min!) I could write a book about exporting video...

The jist of it is is make sure your software can edit in native .mp4 and not have to convert the video 1000x times to edit... everytime you mess with it you lose quality. Non-pro software will generally convert it on import to whatever it was written to do, with good stuff (premiere, final cut) you can tell it to edit in the same space it was shot and save yourself lots of trouble...

I set my camera to record at max bitrate in 720p. Premiere CS5 can play and edit that in realtime (on a fairly fast PC...) then export at around ~75 compression at max render quality double pass VBR. Preserves what the camera shot very well, but then when you upload to youtube all is lost in their space saving, quick recode bullshit.

Vimeo is somewhat better in that regard, I just have more fans and followers on youtube For the best quality you are going to have to host your own videos, all the public sites will re-code all of the hard work you put in to save space/time.


As for the ride is was awesome and stupid at the same time... I got pissed at the people I was with (I just wanted to take it easy around camp and take pics for the BMW website...) they decided to go exploring and I finally had enough and tried to go back, only to get extremely lost, bushwhack through some shit I had no business riding alone. I got soaking wet and really tired from picking the bike up - then the temp started to drop and I got mild hypothermia... fucking stupid fucks left and took my dry thermal layer form the campsite I was really looking forward to getting into before I you know, died... had to ditch the bike and hitch a ride home in a truck. lol so much for an easy weekend. Video to post soon

Damn that really sucks, but I'm glad you got your bike.

As for the video, I was using VirtualDub. Is there any program you recommend? I was shooting at 720p 60fps. I also have an option of 1080p but only 30fps, so I decided to stick with the 720 instead. I really don't know anything about video editing or compressing, I've only worked with photoshop. I signed up for a vimeo account too, but you can only upload one HD video per week, so I'll wait till I have something worthwhile to upload before I load on there.

I heard youtube destroys it with their own compression too...but I've seen some videos on there that are pretty sharp. It feels like mine in comparison is pretty bad.

 

[ClassyPenguin]

Congrats Flo_Evans!!!!

Got a test video of the Go Pro mounted on my gas tank with the suction cup.
.

Nice gear.

Try something like this guy's angle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-RZOndeFpY

 

[Flo_Evans]

Damn that really sucks, but I'm glad you got your bike.

As for the video, I was using VirtualDub. Is there any program you recommend? I was shooting at 720p 60fps. I also have an option of 1080p but only 30fps, so I decided to stick with the 720 instead. I really don't know anything about video editing or compressing, I've only worked with photoshop. I signed up for a vimeo account too, but you can only upload one HD video per week, so I'll wait till I have something worthwhile to upload before I load on there.

I heard youtube destroys it with their own compression too...but I've seen some videos on there that are pretty sharp. It feels like mine in comparison is pretty bad.

Never used virtualdub. I like premiere CS5, because it can edit .mp4 that my camera shots in and I have used it forever. It also has an export for YouTube option that should save some conversion but YouTube is currently messing around with switching everthing to webM (googles codec based on onV6 or something) so that may not even work well anymore. I think, and I can't really confirm that YouTube gives more quality to "partners" that allow those annoying ass ads...

If you are shooting 60fps I know for sure YouTube/vimeo only does 30, you will lose allot of temporal/motion clarity right there. Probably best to have your software do it on export. That way you can either have it drop every other frame (what I suspect YouTube is up to) or have the software evaluate both and combine them (better) but can be more blurry depending on how well the software blends frames/how fast the action is.

I like my camera because it has 2 presets you can switch in the field. I have "HI" set to 720p 60fps and "LOW" 720p 30fps. I try and only use the 60fps for high action shots that I may want to slowmo latter. It does look amazing but eats up the memory card (and probably the battery...) way too fast for my taste. Memory is cheap though, so I may just end up getting more cards for it. I dunno. Sheesh listen to me ramble

It's all quite a mess, the whole adobe v. the net with flash/mp4/open source codecs is making it hard to know what you should be doing... I kind of figure YouTube is just a low quality web version of my masters, and at the end of the day my camera is usually covered in mud anyway

 

[RustyO]

Anyone here done some seriously long trips?

 

[Flo_Evans]

never underestimate the 2 stroke

I'm pretty sure I weigh more than the bike itself as well so its no slug.

For sure, I tried the demo of a husky 310wr and that thing is a demon straight from hell.

Can't decide if I want to go full on woods bike + trailer for my next ride... It's nice to be able to street a dual sport, but at the same time a total drag to actually ride long distance on the road. I am always jelly of the dudes that roll up on a trailer and get to go home in a nice warm car.

I think instead of increasing performance further on my X I will add some comfort

 

[awilliams213]

Anyone here done some seriously long trips?

Rusty0 over the summer I had the opportunity to ride down from Connecticut to North Carolina. This was my first real trip I did overnight stays but it was a full week trip in all types of weather. I now have at least three trips like that planned for later this season. If you ever have the opportunity DO IT I used my Kawasaki Versys it’s a dual sport so the upright position also helped my back on the long trip.

 

[Flo_Evans]

haha found this on one of my videos... need to go back to work so I can edit them on a decent computer with current software...

http://youtu.be/7Tj-jy5M8xg

 

[thesoapster]

Fuck the weathermen. They were so wrong. I am not going to let their bs forecast (which turned very wrong in <2 hours) overrule my own eyes. Oh well. Didn't get TOO wet, and the bike needs to be cleaned, anyway.

 

[Flo_Evans]

Rain is gods car (bike) wash.

My bike is in some serious need of a little TLC. Got it home and started taking it apart, air filter completely clogged, so much that it pulled itself into the airbox... Rear rack missing 2 bolts, mirrors gone, front wind deflector gone, skidplate missing bolts. Rocks embeded in the rear brake pads shredded rotor. Back wheel out of alignment (hence the chain popping off video...) rear sprocket teeth chipped. BMW parts counter guy loves me lol.

 

[thesoapster]

Rain is gods car (bike) wash.

Nah, if anything it made it more dirty as the spray flys up and coats the wheels and everything in grimy shit. It's all clean and sparkly now, though (so I can make it filthy this weekend). Speaking of filthy, I, for the first time, looked under my chain guard. Oh god. I got most of it out of there...just this thick, goopy, sticky, sludge tar-like nastiness. So much Gojo.

 

[Coins]

So I finally have this sitting next to my car now.

10 miles on it. Im new to riding so I only took it up and down the street before dark yesterday. I plan on practicing in a parking lot all weekend.

Im fucking excited. Couldnt even sleep last night.

 

[thesoapster]

Nice

You even bought it an H-D rug. How cute. (I'm just messin' with ya)

 

[Flo_Evans]

Nice

You even bought it an H-D rug. How cute. (I'm just messin' with ya)

Wouldn't want the ground to get the chrome dirty

I like the "black" HD's very nice!

 

[RustyO]

So I finally have this sitting next to my car now.

Sweet! Nice work and congratulations.

 

[daw840]

That sporty looks nice. You should get a set of black Vance and Hines Side Shots for it and get the kit to make it a 1200, would be sick.

Nice

You even bought it an H-D rug. How cute. (I'm just messin' with ya)

Well, he wouldn't want it marking it's territory on the garage floor now would he?

 

[Coins]

That sporty looks nice. You should get a set of black Vance and Hines Side Shots for it and get the kit to make it a 1200, would be sick.

Well, he wouldn't want it marking it's territory on the garage floor now would he?

Im going to put some miles on it before I think about mods. Then a bunch of more practice before I think of moving up to a 1200. Im a new rider and this feels like too much even though its said to be a great "beginner bike".

 

[Flo_Evans]

The biggest issue with harleys is the wieght, low speed parking lot practice will get you used to it. Find a mark and do circles till you wanna puke. Experiment with modulating throttle, tighning your line, coming out of the loop and rolling the trottle on. Use the trottle to keep the bike upright, countersteer to lean it further. Do both directions, new riders will usually prefer a side to lean. Also practice locking up the rear - it WILL happen, and you need to know what it feels like and how to correct it.


and if you want to be a true harley rider you need to know how to "lay her down"

Spoiler

I didn't crash I ment to do that!

 

[Coins]

The biggest issue with harleys is the wieght, low speed parking lot practice will get you used to it. Find a mark and do circles till you wanna puke. Experiment with modulating throttle, tighning your line, coming out of the loop and rolling the trottle on. Use the trottle to keep the bike upright, countersteer to lean it further. Do both directions, new riders will usually prefer a side to lean. Also practice locking up the rear - it WILL happen, and you need to know what it feels like and how to correct it.


and if you want to be a true harley rider you need to know how to "lay her down"

Spoiler

I didn't crash I ment to do that!

Ive been doing laps in a hospital parking lot. I find it strange how I prefer to lean to the left vs the right. I wonder what makes us behave that way. I also preferred to do crossovers to the left when I was ice skating or rollerblading. Humans are odd creatures.

 

[Flo_Evans]

Ive been doing laps in a hospital parking lot. I find it strange how I prefer to lean to the left vs the right. I wonder what makes us behave that way. I also preferred to do crossovers to the left when I was ice skating or rollerblading. Humans are odd creatures.

Easy ER access not a bad idea

I would say after you do that for awhile try and find an area with hills to practice your starting/stopping clutch action.

Remember to stay loose and you are not a "rider" but a pilot in perfect control of an amazing machine

 

[Coins]

Just got back from riding all day. Went all the way from being scared in the parking lot to driving all around my city. Just have the freeway left to do and I'm very nervous about that. Ended up putting 75 miles on it. Was a bummer, though, as I had to use the car (I really like my car) and when I sat down in it this evening, I felt cramped and enclosed.

 

[RapidCancel]

Never used virtualdub. I like premiere CS5, because it can edit .mp4 that my camera shots in and I have used it forever. It also has an export for YouTube option that should save some conversion but YouTube is currently messing around with switching everthing to webM (googles codec based on onV6 or something) so that may not even work well anymore. I think, and I can't really confirm that YouTube gives more quality to "partners" that allow those annoying ass ads...

If you are shooting 60fps I know for sure YouTube/vimeo only does 30, you will lose allot of temporal/motion clarity right there. Probably best to have your software do it on export. That way you can either have it drop every other frame (what I suspect YouTube is up to) or have the software evaluate both and combine them (better) but can be more blurry depending on how well the software blends frames/how fast the action is.

I like my camera because it has 2 presets you can switch in the field. I have "HI" set to 720p 60fps and "LOW" 720p 30fps. I try and only use the 60fps for high action shots that I may want to slowmo latter. It does look amazing but eats up the memory card (and probably the battery...) way too fast for my taste. Memory is cheap though, so I may just end up getting more cards for it. I dunno. Sheesh listen to me ramble

It's all quite a mess, the whole adobe v. the net with flash/mp4/open source codecs is making it hard to know what you should be doing... I kind of figure YouTube is just a low quality web version of my masters, and at the end of the day my camera is usually covered in mud anyway

Thanks dude...I did a bit more research and it looks like I found a good way to compress it while losing very little quality.

Here's a video from a ride we went to on Saturday...it was an alternate route since the main one we wanted to go on was blocked off for some triathlon event. As a result..this one was pretty boring, not enough turns and too many straights.

So I decided to see what speed I could hit. It was a long straight with an open road and I just looked at my camera..and since it was recording, I figured why not >.> So yeah...video of me going from 75 to 150. Dangerous to do on the street, only did it once.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-gdWac-lwQ

Compression is ages better than the first vid, which I'm very happy about!

 

[Flo_Evans]

Looks great! Now find some turns!

Reminds me I still have hours of video from my last ride to edit...

 

[RapidCancel]

^ Thanks. I used to go out at night on Wed's that had a lot of turns...but cause of my new job and having to wake up at 4am that's a no go anymore =[

But this Saturday we're supposed to go to where we were supposed to yesterday. So hopefully that'll turn out better.

 

[rass]

ahhhhhh fuckit

last weekend I got knocked off my bike after getting sideswiped by a prick in a lexus—was low speed (25-30km/h), damage didn't look too bad and I got up and walked away(the important bit).

just got the quote to fix it—$6k
I'm insured for $11k
I think my glorious bike is going to get written off, hadn't even made 10,000 kms yet (it was new in October last year—9,361 kms at stack). And it was on <500km old Pilot Power 2cts

be careful out there people, even a low speed down can spell death to your much loved machine. Also, it means time away from riding even if it isn't your fault. The '97 Barina I borrowed off my GF's family isn't nearly as exciting as my (probably dead) bandit 1250.

On the plus side, I might be on the market for a new bike. I have no idea what to even look for, I don't want to look until I know for sure that the Bandit is dead.

tl;dr—
got knocked off my bike, it's now probably a write-off, be careful out there people!

 

[krypt0nian]

So I finally have this sitting next to my car now.

10 miles on it. Im new to riding so I only took it up and down the street before dark yesterday. I plan on practicing in a parking lot all weekend.

Im fucking excited. Couldnt even sleep last night.

Aww nice! Welcome to the HOG!

And remember, that when daw is mean to you, I'll still have your back!

Advise: stay within your meager riding skills for a while and don't venture out on the highway. Also, If you ever are white knuckling it, you're driving beyond your current skillset. Obey your instincts.

 

[Tater Tot]

Planning on buying a motorcycle. Never rode before, I am mostly interested in chopper/cruiser. What do you guys think about Yamaha Vstars. I was thinking about getting a Vstar 650 as my first bike.

 

[Flo_Evans]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsEcEgf1VOs

Not even sure I should make this video... wife might never let me go riding again

 

[Dahellisdat]

Planning on buying a motorcycle. Never rode before, I am mostly interested in chopper/cruiser. What do you guys think about Yamaha Vstars. I was thinking about getting a Vstar 650 as my first bike.

That'd be a great place to start. Also In terms of cruisers....these are ones I looked at when I was lookign for my first bike last year:
Honda Shadow 750
Suzuki Boulevard 800
I ended up getting a Kawasaki Vulcan 500. I'm very happy with it as my first bike, but will probably upgrade to something bigger within the next couple years.

 

[garath]

Try Dowco Guardian covers. Mine has held up very well.


So, yesterday I completed Level 2 of California Superbike School at NJMP Thunderbolt. What a blast. Today I woke up and nearly fell over when I tried to stand up. I'm sore.

Highlights of the day -

- Body position tweaking: My position, while not quite ideal yet, is much improved
- Better vision training (the focus of Level 2): My sense at the track improved greatly with the pointers/instruction
- Better throttle control: A biggie, as my coach pointed out I was making some key errors that can potentially be dangerous.
- Relaxation: This is actually tied into the throttle issue for me. When I am white-knuckling and not nice and relaxed I tend to be much less smooth and not as focused on the proper things. I got into the swing of things quickly.

Some photos - The track photos were taken by the assigned photographer that day. They were earlier in the sessions so I didn't get any back of me dragging a knee or with my best body positions of the day. Today was the first time I dragged my knee sliders.

edit: Did not get any of the tires before/after because they were already used since I wasn't the first class of the week. Oh well

I am bike 21 out in front.

My left puck which I was practically leaning on throughout turn 10

Nice job!

I love Thunderbolt. I try to make it there at least once a year with Tony's track days (great organization).

can't wait to go again. Didn't get to last year thanks to the purchase of a house but I'm planning on Sept this year.

How did you like the California Superbike school? Nothing really replaces seat time but I could use a little more instruction. I was debating the Lee Parks ARC course in New Hampshire but I really really prefer NJMP.

 

[thesoapster]

How did you like the California Superbike school? Nothing really replaces seat time but I could use a little more instruction. I was debating the Lee Parks ARC course in New Hampshire but I really really prefer NJMP.

It's a great time. It was my second time there.

Basically, you have one big meeting with everyone, then split off into groups (levels 1-4). At that point you each get a bit of class time and talk about a "drill" that will be practiced in the upcoming session. After class you rotate into your session, and then you do that drill. There will be a rider coach assigned who will follow/lead you on the track for part of the time to check your riding/technique. After the session is over, you return and then go talk with your assigned coach about the session. Both times I've done this there were 2 other students assigned to the same guy, but it's a small enough ratio that it's virtually 1 on 1 instruction. If you already have bike, gear, etc it's in the $400 range for a day. I recommend it highly. I paid around $600 because I rented the BMW. And yes, I <3 Thunderbolt.

 

[daw840]

Planning on buying a motorcycle. Never rode before, I am mostly interested in chopper/cruiser. What do you guys think about Yamaha Vstars. I was thinking about getting a Vstar 650 as my first bike.

That's the bike my wife started out on. It's got plenty of power for a beginner, but I made the mistake of letting her rent a Sportster 1200 and now she wants to move up.

 

[Darth Pinche]

I took the day off since today was going to be the only dry day for the coming week! I had a blast, discovering some new roads!!! My bike looked so pretty today.

 

[DoomGyver]

Anyone know of the most friendly motorcycle insurance?

Hey Flo, what brand of helmet was your little guy wearing?