QuinceDaPence

People do eat bear meat. I’m sure some just skin it and leave it but it is plenty edible.

SCOBYs (Symbiotic Cultures of Bacteria and Yeast) could have some possible applications as fake leather but I don’t know if anyone is working on it or if it could actually be made strong enough.

One example where we just do not have an equivalent is motorcycle gear. Yeah we have textile jackets, and I have one because where I am the risk of heat stroke in a leather jacket is more of a concern, but if you want abrasion resistance, leather is the best you can get. Can SCOBYs compete with that? I don’t know.

S’all good.

Yeah the MSF Basic Rider Course doesn’t go on the road. It’s an evening of classroom and two mornings of parking lot drills on 125-250cc bikes

Of course there’s 50 different states so 50 different ways of doing it but for Texas, if you already have a car license then you do the weekend MSF and then go to the DPS office, fill out some forms, and then they re-print your license with the “M” class added.

There are also MSF BRC2, Adventure Bike, and Advanced Ricer Course but you have to seek out those. I’d like to do them but the nearest place that does those is 80-100 miles away (“the other side of town”) so I’d have to stay two nights in a hotel since I ain’t driving after a full day of those involved courses.

Except that OP is in the UK.

I was responding to the “American Men’s” thing.

Hell, I remember one American on Reddit who swore up and down that you shouldn’t use the front brake to emergency stop

That is an unfortunately common erroneous belief. The only upshot is mostly it’s non-riders that push it. It is addressed in the MSF course that 60-80% of braking should come from the front. The only real hold outs on that front though are old cruiser riders that never took an MSF because they were grandfathered in, and they think if you touch the front brake you will immediately stoppie or lose traction. Given the weight distribution of their bikes the rear does more than with others but they should still be using the front.

Edit: as for your BMW, why not just add a tooth to front sprocket?

When I take it off-road there have been cases where I wanted 1st to be a bit lower so I wouldn’t want that any higher. I swear a while back I had found some two speed sprockets rear drives but I haven’t seen any for this bike. That would be an option.

Part of the reason bigger engines are desirable in the US is because to get anywhere other than local riding you’re going to be on quite a bit of long straight highway at high speeds. I can drive for 15 hours straight at highway speeds and still not leave my state.

A 250 will be absolutely tapped out to the point of being unsafe because you have no reserve power. And that seems unnecessarily hard on the vehicle.

A 500 will typically be usable but uncomfortable because it’ll still be high in the rev range and vibrating.

On the longer stretches doing maybe around 75mph I even find myself wishing my 800GS could chill at some lower RPMs (currently around 5k maybe a bit more at those speeds), whereas my brothers 1400 with 2/3 the horsepower of mine just chugs along at those speeds (no tach but I think about 3200rpm is what I calculated and that sounds about right). When I pass him he says mine sounds like a mosquito.

Y’all got windows though right? You could throw some portables in.

No Fair

My HTPC has accounts in chrome on there for each member of the family. All are configured the same with ublock origin but only one is getting the popups.

Without studded tires I don’t see how it’s possible on ice. Snow, I feel like as long as it’s not transitioning surfaces (ex: asphalt->snow or snowy dirt->snowy asphalt) I might be able to figure it out.

I should clarify, that coldest time I went was still a beautiful clear day and it warmed up later.

Only time I was truly miserable was when it was about 40F, on top of a mountain, and started raining unexpectedly (so no waterproof liner). I went back to the cabin as quick as I could and took hot bath.

Though not intended as motorcycle gear, the insulated overalls are probbaly the biggest improvement.

Upper part of my body was a Sedici Aventura with all vents closed, water/wind proof liner, insulating liner, and I can’t remember what jacket I had on underneath but I think it was a Carhart. I ended up taking out the waterproof liner to get some breathability. Also keep in mind the coveralls insulate your core as well, just not shoulders or arms.

My face and neck were pretty cold though but I think I have a solution.

So that puts my cold weather ability in the 30s and hot weather at upper 80s, I can do 90s but it’s not that enjoyable. I need some actual motorcycle pants instead of just jeans, and also a mesh jacket would be nice.

I’m in mostly Texas so this temperature range lets me ride year round except for the hottest part of the summer when I have to do it early in the morning.

Lol, if I see those numbers they’ll be acompanied by a yellow triangle with a snowflake in the middle…

And yes that means us Texans will get a cold weather warning if it hits 68F. Since people ain’t used to driving on asphalt that ain’t melted anymore.

I’ll just throw on my near-freezing weather motorcycle gear. I only rode once in the full getup at 35F and had to pull out a layer.

You’d want to use a deep cycle (sometimes labeled “marine”) battery, not a car battery. Car batteries can put out a shit ton of power for a very short time but their total capacity is pretty low.

Also you still want AGM, Gel or something else sealed like that. You don’t want a Flooded Lead Acid battery charging/being trickle charged inside your house.

Op could also swap to LiFePO4

I pull it out of the shed, start it, go back in and put on helmet, jacket, gloves and then go down the driveway (~500ft) just off idle and then it’s up to temperature as I pull onto the public road.