Out on a ride today...

Hill country of Texas... I live in a beautiful place.

Drove out with the girlfriend on an improptu trip through some twisties in the high places out here. Going through a reserve on the way back, supposed to be some Bison around.

Going to hit 4k on the bike since I got it two months ago, just passed 29k last night on the odometer.

I really love this bike.

Check out the backrest/luggage rack--I found it on an old Virago 750 and got it for $20. Couldn't get it to adjust because the adjustment screws were rusted shut--instead, we used the mount points we could fit as it, cut spacers from pipe to support long screws used to fit it to the bike, and fabbed some custom rear brackets to add an extra mount point on the frame. I wouldn't put this much, but the rack easily holds at least 175 pounds, as I can lean over and rest on my belly and take my feet off the ground, and nothing budges... Pretty sweet.

Still looking at ways to try and get the original grab bar to fit with it, but for now I had to have it removed.

 

Notice the red badanna on the throttle to ease the vibration that causes mild numbing of the right hand when driving... Works! $2 fix! Anyone else have that?

 

Man, these backroads were beautiful. Sorry the pics suck, I had to shrink them 90% to get them to show here.

 

Riding naked?

 

Shirtless. Low speed, low traffic, hot... Decided it was worth the risk of some scratches on the very low chance I would low side it.

The idea when you're two-up is that you ride to not wreck.

 

Sorry mate but riding without leather is dumb. Until you've had gravel rash you have no idea just how agonizing it is!

 

I have had it, bicycle wreck couple years back first time I was on a fixed gear.

I knew I was going to get crap for that picture... It was for just a part of the ride, and I knew the risk. It's not like riding without a helmet.

 

Photobucket, then past the IMG code. It even resizes to a screen readable size on the upload.


As for the no shirt, the choice is yours and I'm not going to knock you for it.

But I always laugh and shake my head at guys around here with shorts, flip flops, tank tops and a full face helmet. Guess their body from the neck down in expendable.

 

Thanks for the tip; I'll definitely do that instead of looking around for something that will resize for me next time, ridiculous hassle.

Appreciate that respect to make my own choices... I 99% of the time wear a mesh jacket, even in the Texas heat. It's all just a statistics game. You weigh your risks, costs, and benefits. This particular time, low speed on quiet roads, I decided that A) road rash won't be so bad since if I wreck, it'll likely be a spill at 10mph +/-, and B) since I'm going slow and know my abilities, the chances of me wrecking on this stretch were very slim. Add that to C) It felt really nice with a shirt off this particular day and I almost never do it, and I decided that the shirt was coming off.

Lastly, no matter when you ride, if you're talking damage on the rest of your body like a broken arm, leg, ankle, damaged organs, broken ribs, etc.--leather ain't gonna help ya. Leather protects from rash, and that's it--it protects one organ, your skin.

Now I grant you that high speed road rash sucks--I experienced 15 or so mph on that bike, and that was enough to imagine the horror of a 'lucky' scrapes-only highway accident--and that's why I wear a mesh jacket; not just that, but also I know I'd be reluctant to lay the bike down to slide and avoid a wreck at high speed if I didn't have a jacket, and that moment of hesitation could cost me my life.

 

playing the devils advocate here for a moment,

the right gear will allow you to 'slide' across the asphalt, sliding on your skin and putting your hands down, etc and spin or flip more so than good gear with built-in slide points.

even with ATGATT, I've had stones or bees end up in weird places. bees in the helmet from underneath the chin bar is no fun