Any motorcyle rider in MD?

well here is my baby
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxEl6kW71GqqTjJITTBXRFNwdlE/view?pref=2&pli=1

@fdpower - I've been wanting to do a track day @ summit point....but wify won't let me :( even tho I've told her and tried by best to convince her that track is a lot safer than street riding. Plus i don't have a one piece suit yet which is mandatory. So for now my "track" days are in the farmland of maryland..lol. I found a few good set of roads in the farmland with the twisties. I even found a particular section that reminds me of laguna seca track....a good straight quarter mile full throttle, hit the brakes hard then a very sharp almost 90 degree left, followed by the famous laguna seca cork screw with the elevation and all. I hit this weekly both direction and i find it safe because ur surrounded by corn fields.

Just added my bike as the profile pic.

Beautiful bikes!!

Just posting to keep the thread alive.

I had an interesting weekend and would like to share.

I guess I did not tighten the bolts on the fender holding my tags properly. As i was was taking off from a stop sign I heard a noise in my tire/chain area. The tags fell to the chain and was cut half. The tire looks fine,however there is a one spiral line of scratch on the tire. Not sure if it is safe. It is right of the mid section of the tire so I was scared it would slip on the curves. Your thoughts please.

Also during the ride , we had a newbie riding almost crashed his cbr 500. He was not able to hold the line on a curve and went to the curb and eventually stopped in the grass. He is safe and the bike was snot damaged.

One thing I realized while riding with some of the new guys is that they were making it very complicated and over-prepared themselves in lieu of safety. I believe riding is 80 percent confidence and 20 percent technique , at least to the basic level. The curve that he overshot was was not a sharp curve at all , he probably was going 30mph and since I have seen him ride back home ..he would be fine riding a pulsar on the same kind of curve in BaraBise.
When I first got my bike , I just rode it ..I did not go crazy on it but I did not care for techniques and over-prepare. I was careful but I was definitely not scared. I found the bigger bikes handle and perform lot better than the tiny 150 -200CC .

Just a thought, What do you guys think ?

Sorry to hear about the mishap, fdpower.

I unfortunately don't have much to say in regards to the tire (due to lack of enough knowledge), but I'd check the tire pressure and make sure there are no anomalies for assurance. A scratch, unless it's significantly deep shouldn't hinder the tire's ability to maintain its traction though.

'Overthinking' while riding is dangerous. I have had moments when the results were suddenly unexpected, and against my favor while trying to intentionally maneuver the machine. The subconscious works well in most cases, which is what helps us retain confidence; but there are certain things I've noticed that are worth knowing and consciously repeating to make sure we know how we are actually handling the bike and continue remaining safe on the road. Skills like counter-steering and throttle blipping were something I had (and we all do) unconsciously developed and had been doing all the time, but had a hard time understanding how and why I was using those techniques!

Proper throttle control and counter-steering are probably the two most important skills in cornering. Perhaps your riding buddy could have avoided that situation with such techniques if carried out consciously.

RE: the bike size and handling:
Bigger bikes (engine-wise) certainly handle better. You can swerve them faster due to higher power and torque, the larger wheel-base provides enhanced traction, and you typically get better mechanical dynamics such as stronger brakes, thicker rear tires, etc to be on par with the engine size.

Looking forward to hearing more stories of experience and lessons learned!

~@~