Tomorrow.....

[TarzanBoy]

Yea yea ... That ... you better not drop it ... Its no 89 ... Its the 89/04 Frankenbike ... and where is the pics Cheesy - or you ... someone better send me pics, I want before and after, to show the wifey, and no I lost them all ... I am horrible at documenting stuff ... so that entire project is now subject to the frailities of my memory ...
Cool.
Srinath.

I'm going to be riding it naked for quite a while before I put the fairings back on.  It does look sweet with the fairings, but I was about to buy a naked GS500 anyway (2001), so tempation won't be a problem.  Cheesy mentioned something about some brace tubing that you still owed him... I'll put'm on the bike to protect it as soon as they are in my hands.

Progressive told me there is no discount for MSF.. all insurance Co's told me the same... Possibly there is a discount on full coverage, but I only pay $69. a year.. you cant get much cheaper than that

I just got off the phone with progressive and they quoted me just a teeny bit over that for minimum coverage.   I'll most likely go with minimum for a few weeks/months until I start taking it out in traffic, when i'll go with their uninsured-motorist-damage/injury for ~$200 a year.

I'm starting to get excited.  Tomorrow's going to be the longest day of work ever, due to the anticipation/waiting.  I'm going to head out and shoe-shop for some boots as well as bike covers.

-kevin

[Roadstergal]

If you have the money...



I'm still waiting for someone to get me a set for my birthday.

[Hugh Jardon]

I agree with davipu; you can wear just about any type of boots, so focus on getting a good (low-cost) jacket. Hell, as long as they protect your feet and cover your ankles, a cheap pair of workboots from a discount store like Target or KMart will work just fine, but you NEED a real motorcycle jacket. Motorcycle jackets are designed to fit snugly, which means they WON'T ride up in a crash; anything else is a skin-graft waiting to happen. Any experienced rider will tell you helmet, jacket, gloves, footgear (head to toe) is your FIRST priority. Since you already have a helmet and gloves, take davipu's advice and find a suitable jacket, and add some good cheap workboots.

Once you have the basic gear (including overpants), you can focus on upgrading, but start with your priorities straight; helmet, jacket, gloves, and boots. Don't make the mistake of waiting until you can "afford" the basic protection a jacket provides; any surgeon will tell you he'd much rather treat a flesh wound than have to operate on a skull or a chest, because bad things can happen inside of them. Though a skingraft is painful as hell, a chest puncture is REALLY serious, because of all the delicate items hiding behind your ribs (heart, lungs, spleen, stomach, and intestines, to name just a few).

Covering the extremities is also important, because both your hands and feet are highly vascular areas (means a lot of blood flows through those parts), but they don't have a lot of flesh to protect the bones and blood vessels. If you sever a vein or artery, you better hope that someone applies a tourniquet before you bleed to death. One of my brothers-in-law ripped his left arm off in a crash; he was only going to the store for a pack of cigarettes, it was a hot day, and he didn't bother wearing his jacket for a simple five-minute trip. He was one of the lucky ones; he crashed across the street from a fire station (hit by a drunk who ran a red-light), so they were able to save him before he bled out, and his arm was successfully reattached, but he hasn't been on a motorcycle since then (1982).

Well, the rest is up to you; we want you to ride safely and well for a long time to come, but you have to be willing to make the effort to protect your vital areas every single time you get on a motorcycle.

[pantablo]

... would investing in a bike cover help prolong the period between chain maintenance at all?

-kevin

it will also prolong the period between now and you getting a replacement bike...

[Hugh Jardon]

Check this jacket out; if it fits you, it might be just what you need:

http://gstwins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19871

[TarzanBoy]

I went to Target and K-mart looking for some boots.  Didnt find much for under $40 (i'd probably rather spend the extra $20 or so for 'riding' boots than $40 on regular ones).  I've been told that steel toed shoes aren't necessarily desireable because it makes it difficult to tell when you have successfully shifted.  Is that true?

At the moment, i have 2 pairs of (non-leather) hiking boots that i plan to use for MSF (they do cover the ankle).  Is this acceptable interim footwear?

I am pricing jackets.  Best deals i've seen so far is closeout stuff on newenough, but they don't have my size in on the best priced stuff.

At 5'7" and ~157lbs, should I shoot for a large or a medium?  I have a slightly athletic build.  Not quite stocky, but almost (Old photo when I was a bit bigger).

[average]

Quite a small pick there,TB and btw;which one are you?

[davipu]

medium.   and no steel toes, imagine a bolt head in a socket, that's your toes in a steel toe cap, only your foot's not made of steel so it's going to break in this nice clean line right across the front of your foot.  whereas just having leather boots, they will bend and fold, but worst case scenario is that you pull some tendons off.

[TarzanBoy]

Quite a small pick there,TB and btw;which one are you?

Here is a larger version.  I'm the guy.
I guess I'll have to find a way to try on some medium sized jackets.  I tried on a large and it
seemed to fit ok (it took some effort to get my arms out of the sleeves), so I was thinking
about a large.

[pandy]

Am I missing something? There are three guys.  

[TarzanBoy]

Am I missing something? There are three guys.  

Oops! I thought that I'd linked a different picture (large version).  

I am the guy on the right in the dark green shirt with the hat on backwards.  I'm still right around that size... alas, just not quite as cut anymore (don't cheer anymore).

-kevin

[scratch]

Hiking boots that cover the ankle and capture the heel are decent interim footwear. You will want to eventually get something that will be stiffer and more crush-resistant.

To try on medium-sized jackets, search the phonebook for local motorcycle shops to go to.

[TarzanBoy]

Alright, I found/bought a jacket on something of a whim.
In response to the what-size-am-I part of the discussion... I went to a stealership and tried on medium and large jackets.  They both felt comfortable.  The main difference I noticed was that the sleeves on the medium were a bit tighter, but both felt very wearable for riding (not that i've ridden yet).  I must be right between the sizes because I have noticed the same thing with medium and large helmets.

Anyways... on with the tale:

I had seen an ad on craigslist selling a jacket, but the asking price ($120) was more than I wanted to spend. after getting suggestions of waiting for an $80-or-less deal.  

My plan was to wait for a newenough.com closeout jacket, but I responded to the craiglist ad because the seller lived so close to me and since I was going to be in the area this weekend running errands.

Basically, it was a new jacket whose owner had bought the wrong size, due to his long, gangly arms (he said the rest of the jacket fit well).  I didn't get much off his asking price, but I still ended up paying $50 under the lowest sale cost I've found to date (~$80-$100 under avg retail price).   So, I spent about $30 more than I was shooting for, but I got a much, much nicer jacket than I thought that I would end up with.

Its Joe Rocket's Rasp model.  Here's a photo from newenough.com:


So, how important are riding pants?   I've read that some people think denim is alright?    I've fallen while rollerblading in wearing denim and gotten scrapes and cuts through it pretty easily... I don't imagine that it would offer any meaningful protection on a bike.

Opinions?

[Hugh Jardon]

You need textile or leather pants; denim disintegrates just like all the other non-ballistic fabrics. About 20 years ago, Motorcyclist Magazine did a test of different materials to quantify abrasion resistance as the fabric was sliding along on pavement. Heavy denim did best of all, and it sucked completely. Everything else disintegrated even quicker than that, so ballistic overpants are the minimum you should be shooting for. Check the sales and closeouts at newenough.com; you might find exactly what you're looking for. Joe Rocket has some good ones, and I'm sure others will recommend the ones they prefer as well.

Let us know what you find; as far as I can tell, you're doing pretty well so far...