NGWClub®, Inc.

+1 on the bread bags on the knees and legs and taped over the handlebars as a shield for my hands and then bought a 6 dollar vinyl rain suit after getting stuck in a sleet and 35 degree with snow on a run back from yellowstone to Chicago. So cold it was hard to keep going but made it somehow. March/April can be some tough long distance riding weather. I have definitely softened up in the last few years. I am usually done when it is below freezing now for any distance riding.

I think the people who ride 25,000 miles a year are just as relevant to motorcycling as the noobs who buy a new $25,000 touring bike to ride once a week to the coffee shop.

I figure it's a big tent with room for all.

The accountants who buy a new Street Glide and all the high-end replica biker gear when they separate from their starter wife are just as relevant as the guy who commutes year round on his '85 v45 magna with duct tape on the seat.

There are more bikes on the road now than ever before....and nowadays there are no "bad" bikes.... The expansion in riding has upped everyone's game....even Harley's are reliable now.

The noobs who ride a few thousands miles a year are the people we all ought to welcome and thank for swelling th ranks and relevance of motorcycling IMHO.

As for bikes being toys for rich people, my bikes have almost all cost under 1500$.

I ride regularly to a semi rural coffee shop 17 miles from my home, where there are usually a few riders and on fine evenings up to 200 other riders of all ages and types on all types of bikes.....if you're into labelling riders, they're all there.

I like the ride, I like the hanging out an chatting and I like the coffee.

I also like ths site and like it much better than any of the other motorcycle sites with which I am registered ...because the diversity and camaraderie here are unrivaled.

i have to agree. doesn't matter what you ride, or how far you ride.....only that you ride. a lot of young kids on scooters around my town these days. some decked out in bags and stereos. and some of them seem surprised when i wave at them. we are all brothers in the wind

winston wrote: I figure it's a big tent with room for all.

I like that comment. I would ride more but it would cut into the time I spend hunting and digging for fossils and landscaping and playing with the grandkids and reading and snorkeling and skiing and building things and so on and so on. My motorcycle has a lot of competition from a lot of other fun and interesting things to do in the little spare time I have.

CYBORG wrote:i have to agree. doesn't matter what you ride, or how far you ride.....only that you ride. a lot of young kids on scooters around my town these days. some decked out in bags and stereos. and some of them seem surprised when i wave at them. we are all brothers in the wind

Yeah, they do look a little surprised when you wave to them.

MSGT-R wrote:Yeah, they do look a little surprised when you wave to them.

My favorites are the guys riding their tractor/mowers out on the country roads. They've come to anticipate our waves and generally they wave back.

well riding with a friend, who was behind me, when ever we passed a john deere mower or farm equipment my turn signals would flash. he asked me about it,and i told him that my bike has a considerable about of john deere influence, and it was just saying hi. and i wave at them as well

Interesting, I see that Fred Rau of Motorcycle Consumer News has written an editorial of the same name or almost the same as this post, but about a slightly different subject, more or less about trailer queens.

mikenixon wrote:Interesting, I see that Fred Rau of Motorcycle Consumer News has written an editorial of the same name or almost the same as this post, but about a slightly different subject, more or less about trailer queens.

I'd bet he has nothing on you, Mike. You're really a very talented writer.

Being an urban Los Angeles kid

You would appreciate my restored lisc plate frame..

"Bob Chambers Van Nuys Honda"

Er, Bob Gibbons, that is

I went to school in Ellensburg WA 65 to 68. My only transportation was a 62 CL72 250 Scrambler. My avatar was taken soon after I got the bike in 64. I used to ride between Seattle and Tacoma and Ellensburg. Winter rides were always wet and cold. Snoqualmie Pass was a challenge in winter. I could usually make it as far the diner in East Nelson Siding and had to stop to thaw out.

sunnbobb wrote:You would appreciate my restored lisc plate frame.

I can appreciate that. I learned to ride in Van Nuys.

Wow small world I used to stop at that diner too. There was also a laundromat near where I would dry my wet clothes after going over the wet pass.

JBz wrote:

JBz wrote:I grew up on the other side of the tracks from Watts.

I worked in Compton........... NO Jb

Daves Home of Chrome on Long Beach blvd


Me edit button is not working at his time.............. jb[/quote]

Neither is mine.

Van Nuys used to be where the nice homes and people lived.
South Gate was just a city next to South Central LA..