Quote:
Originally Posted by dredmo
Holy Shit !
I want to meet Arlen Ness lol! Bah, no fair.
I'm pretty jealous right about now. hell, I'm excited for you. And yeah, I'd imagine learning how to work it should be easy enough - especially if you practice it sort of like the MSF courses teach you to do.
i.e.
sit on the bike, put it in first and just feel how the gear pulls a bit, then practice shifting at very low speeds etc...
Anyways, put some pics of the bike you will be buying up here!!!
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dredmo, you really ought to make a trip to Sturgis one day. Meeting "The Man" (Arlen) and the other famous bike builders, as well as seeing all different sorts of bikes (and I mean there are A LOT, besides Harleys) is just worth the plane trip.
Hell, if you can take a few weeks off, grab a buddy and take a ride up there. You will be going through some gorgeous scenery.
Or, you can do what 99.9999% of the so-called "bikers" do up there: "Ride your bike to Trailer Week"
I really wanted to conquer my "fear" of suicide shifters, but after seeing an Asian girl ride one on Main Street in Sturgis (she was one of Keino's crew from the Indian Larry camp), I knew I could do it too. (Sounds chauvinistic, huh?)
The learning procedure was indeed scary......and fun. Once I got the hang of it, I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. The scary, heartbeat-skipping part was when I tried to engage the front binders only to find out that there was no right lever to pull.
You'd be surprise how hard it is to adjust to different controls after learning and riding for many years on a "conventional" bike.
The first pic is probably the oldest bike in the Rally. A 1914 Harley in immaculate condition. I was talking to the owner and he tells me he's had obscene offers for the bike, but since it has been in his family since 1916, he is reluctant to sell it (understandably).
The second is a chopped Honda that we named "The Spike Bike". I sure as hell wouldn't want to be involved in an accident while riding it.
