[sarnali2]

I take the wheels off and take them to Cycle Gear, if you buy the tires there it's like $11.00 to mount and balance them....

I've used everything from a vice to a brake press to a hammer and a 2x4 to jumping up and down on them to break beads, never tried my bare hands though...........

 

[sarnali2]

Balance Shmalance, just air 'em down to about 20 psi and you'll never know the difference

 

[sarnali2]

I go by the adage that it's more fun to go fast on a slow bike than slow on a fast bike.... There's plenty of places around here you can flat haul ass, the only thing stopping you is deer and elk, log trucks and the occasional WSP trooper. I actually enjoy checking out the scenery. That's what my bike does best, just lope along at a nice reasonable 40 to 60 on the back roads, 80 or 90 on the freeway and life is good.

I even found a set of Dunlops I like, the standard D402's actually work well on the dresser and I got almost 20k out of the last set. I can't remember what I paid to have them mounted and balanced but the bike runs pretty smooth so it was money well spent.

 

[sarnali2]

Indiana had a lot of Deer which thankfully I never encountered. You almost don't stand a chance with animals that are that fast.

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.

 

[sarnali2]

Having ABS doesn't take away skill IMO, it's just one more tool in the box. You still have to use normal braking skills in most situations, just in those "OH M' GOD!!" moments it's handy to have because you can employ max braking and still retain steering control.

Like you said, to each his own. I've found it to be handy at times.

 

[sarnali2]

10 years ago, it was estimated that there were nearly 2.5million deer living INSIDE the Little Rock City Limits. That's about 4-times more deer than humans living there. People were complaining about the deer eating their roses and hanging plants. So, the Game Commission solicited talk about allowing bow-hunting within the City - stupid-ass activist groups had a field-day.......

I imagine the population is higher, now.

That's the way they are around here, they eat weeds on the side of the road right outside my development. You can just about walk up and kick them in the butt, they have no fear at all.