Short, Fun Rides

[PitchlerBrick]

Been out on a quick ride lately? How'd that go?

My son got him a Yamaha MT7 which he is tricking out a little at a time. Typical of 20 and 30-somethings today, his is a Naked Bike. Luggage free, tank bags unheard of, backpacks only. Spartan fun.
 [ Invalid Attachment ]

We had a nice Texas Spring evening last week and went out to the Andice General Store. They make a great burger, I got mine with jalapeno, no cheese and we split the fries. GOOD burger, fries too. Sat outside at a picnic table, no TV, just talked. Time goes on and you realize each night like that's a win. The ride was rural, mostly. Lots of fields at a sixty-ish pace. On the way there we each rode our own scoots, on the way back we switched. The kid's proud of that MT7 and couldn't wait for me to taste the torque. He had somewhere to be, so the whole adventure with dinner, was an hour and 15 minutes. When mom's not with us we can eat pretty fast, ha!

[PitchlerBrick]

Father-Son Fun.jpg (49.77 kB . 527x576 - viewed 112 times)

[PitchlerBrick]

Anyone else have a short, fun ride lately?

[Laitch]

Not lately.

[PitchlerBrick]

Not lately.

Haha! My bike will be parked a fair bit in August, when your riding weather is perfect. We don't have to shovel the heat, though.

[natalena]

Just picked up the new ranch scooter. Super slow, below 3k RPM riding the dirt trails, while breaking in. Our snow just melted ... sort of, Montana's weather is fickle. Beartooth Rendevous is right around the corner!

[Laitch]

Hey, Natalena! Glad to witness your evolution and have you posting. Is Texas Catheters the name a medical school soccer team?

[natalena]

Thanks Laitch, it rounds out the 1, 2, 3, and 4 cylinder group of rides. A neighbor had an RE5 rotary for sale, but just too "interesting" for my tastes. I'd post a pic of a Texas catheter, but guidelines might frown .. it let's you procure relief at anytime, anywhere via a tube down the leg :)

[Laitch]

Thanks Laitch, it rounds out the 1, 2, 3, and 4 cylinder group of rides. A neighbor had an RE5 rotary for sale, but just too "interesting" for my tastes. I'd post a pic of a Texas catheter, but guidelines might frown .. it let's you procure relief at anytime, anywhere via a tube down the leg :)

Is the holster tooled? 

[PitchlerBrick]

So maybe not as fun today - learned for the first time about Motorcycle Gang etiquette, holy crap! Most of the way through a 3-hour ride, on a 6-lane highway (3 per side) I see a dozen or so bikes up ahead, taking over the far left lane of three. Beautiful, sunny day, upper 70's temps and a perfect riding day. Rolling up on these Harleys, I mean they're pretty sweet, I'm traveling 5-10 mph faster than their group and I'm looking forward to seeing their bikes.

To give them some space I get over in the far-right lane, which is wide open. They're definitely a club, matching colors, cohesive, a little slower than the flow.

Not blasting past, I drift up to them, two lanes over. on the right. No colors, I am by myself wearing safety gear. Suddenly their guy in back dives across two lanes, puts himself RIGHT in front of me, and locks 'em up, down to about 50 mph. WTH? I move over to the center lane so I don't end up on his back seat, and he cuts me off again. I move back right and he is yelling and motioning I should go left to the passing lane. Which is where they all are.

This is all very unclear and was not in the Motorcycle Safety Foundation class I took 20 years ago, so I drop back and let him/them own the road. They pick up their pace to about 80 so I figure, well I don't want to go faster than that anyway so whatever, I'll stay back.

Then, there's a big traffic jam, all three lanes are crawling, they all get over into the far right lane. I'm in the far left lane now and moving with the flow of traffic, and I'm coming up almost even with these guys, and the tail-gunner comes into the middle lane and waves me around, giving permission. I give him the thumbs up and a little salute from my helmet. The overall impression, looking back on this (it happened about an hour ago) was "Dude, don't pass us on the right, pass us on the left when we decide to get out of the passing lane" - near as I can tell.

I'm totally cool with being respectful to everyone. This was a new one. BTW I am pro-Harley and I'm not anti-club. I got to know a Chicago MC club member named Sonny back in the late 1970's, he was awesome. His club was legit and for real. I met his mother as well, she was a kind person. When he was in need I gave Sonny a ride when his car was broken down. That is a long story and this one is long enough. Very nice people though, and ironically, based on meeting Sonny I've defended club members many times.

[sooprvylyn]

Well, you've run into the typical "clubs own the road, respect us" thing.  Its usually just asshats that wanna play billy-bad-ass, not real outlaw clubs.  Real outlaw clubs dont go slow and you arent going to easily pass them anyway.  Very little to worry about with those hobby club jokers, but might as well just give them their space cuz life's too short.

The basic rule: Dont pass a patched biker...unless they make it clear that you can.

*usually when traffic is heavier they dont try to enforce that silly shit....they are concerned with "respect", even tho most never earned it.



The problem with those clubs is that unless you know for sure they arent connected, you run the risk of irking the wrong one.  ALL clubs are required to get permission from the club that owns the territory in order to start a chapter in the territory.  Many of those smaller clubs are in fact muscle for the outlaw clubs.  That means that ya never know.  Just play it safe and give them their space, there's plenty of road for both of you.

[sooprvylyn]

Make sure your son is aware, especially if he's under 30. Those are the bikers the bill badasses might choose to confront, and those young kids think they are invincible. Those patched guys won't usually mess with older riders other than to "correct" them.

[PitchlerBrick]

Yep, good advice. Although I already told the boy about what happened, I just read him your response, thank you for that.

Another layer of situational awareness to adopt. Thanks for your perspective.

[sooprvylyn]

I often worry about the sporty bike kids with regards to the patched guys.  There is an attitude among many of those young sporties(especially riding in groups) that the patched riders are a joke and to ignore them, or even antagonize them.  Mostly they ARE a joke, but its not a good idea to test it, even against a single patched rider who can easily call backup, since you dont know if they are connected to an outlaw club. They(outlaws) are smart enough not to go too extreme because it attracts unwanted attention from the law, but a lower level muscle club may not be so smart, especially younger patches riding without higher ups.