[seruzawa]

I used to mount my own tires using a big C-clamp to break the bead. I never bothered with balancing. Even traveling over 100mph on my GSX1100 I never noticed any out-of-balance indications. Sure it'd better to balance them but tires are a lot better then they used to be. For people who travel at cruiser speeds balancing is nice insurance but probably unnecessary.

 

[seruzawa]

They're like fleas on a dog up here. I almost pasted one the other day. near dusk, filtered light through the trees, I came around a corner and there she was in the middle of my lane. Once again ABS saved the day because I just dropped the anchor and steered around her, well..steered around where she had been.... once they're spooked they bounce outta' there PDQ..

Even worse but a little more rare are Elk, basically horses with big giant antlers. The bad thing about them is when the bulls are in rut they want to fight or screw anything that moves and they won't back down, you just have to wait them out or go the other way, stupid bastardo's......

At any rate, that's why triple digit touring ain't such a good idea around here.

25 years ago there were about 200000 deer hits per year. Now it's 1.5 million. That's a lot more increase in hits than increase in cars. Part of the problem is that the wackos have virtually stopped hunting in the East. The fools even put food out for the deer in winter. Too many idiots watching Animal Planet and Bambi.