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A person on an E-Bike forum was complaining about his E-Bike being totally unsafe (again) because the factory forgot to put lock-tight on a frame safety latch. There seems to be a fair amount of this type of individual on that site, and in the world we live in these days, that lack in life's lessons so I wrote this in response to his post: When I was a kid back in the mid 60's, before I started chopping motorcycles in the late 60's, I chopped bicycles by hacksawing the hollow forks off Huffy bicycles and slipping the hollow forks over the forks of a schwinn solid fork set, they fit pretty good too. All was well until I tried my first wheelie on my chopped banana seat schwinn bicycle with the racing slick on its back side. I learned a lot from that 1st faceplant after those huffy forks slid down and my bikes front wheel with cut off Huffy forks attached to them went rolling on without me. Probably one of the most important life lessons I learned was that it would always be something, life happens if you engage with it. As I lay there twisted up in a pretzel this question came to my mind, "do I REALLY want to try that again, ever?". About the time the blood had stopped running down my chin and off my knees and elbows those questions were answered as I slid the hollow Huffy forks with my front wheel attached back onto my Schwinn front end and tossed my leg back over the banana seat on my chopped bicycle. I also learned there are two kinds of people in the world, those that experience living life large while they brush off the blood and broken bones of doing so and those that sit on the sidelines and let life overwhelm them with its "its always something".

Yep it’s always their fault, I think I’ll blame my recent incident on Yamaha for not providing stronger windshield mounts to hold the aftermarket windshield blade they had to have known I was gonna use 15 years after the bike was built. The blade manufacturer for using a material strong enough to break my teeth should get part of the blame, the landowner that let the grass grow that provided habitat for the bird I hit owes me something. The state should’ve made the road wider for more reaction time and put up bird crossing signs. I bet I could find a lawyer that’d sue all of them never taking into account my actions or acts of God. I could be rich!!!!!!!😁😁😁I’d probably lose the the lawsuit because I have a car tire on my bike and as everyone knows by reading the darkside posts insurance won’t pay for a bike with a car tire so now it’s my fault. 😩😩😩. Maybe I can sue the tire manufacturer because it’s not stamped in the sidewall “NOT FOR MOTORCYCLE USE”. 💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰 OK I’ll quit.

I have been involved in various motorcycle groups, Star riders, HOG, Eagles club, etc, etc, and All are Struggling to survive or have closed doors, just like Mom & Pop Businesses. Not sure the answer as we are getting older and the youth mostly care about the next greatest electronic. All I know is when we were all young, we enjoyed the days of working on our bikes or cars, but unfortunately manufacturer development, though great, has taken away the part where Your Bike was part of you, and you loved it, Later-

We are about 90% done with the first wall of shelves. The final coat of milk paint is done and the base coat of wax is done. We just need to wait for the wax to set and then do some dark wax detailing to make the rope mold accents pop. The base mold will be done with white semi gloss enamel to match the rest of the room.

LOL....we all did things back in the day that caused some pain. Today, people would be blaming the manufacturers for every bump and bruise but we dusted ourselves off and tried again. I used to LOVE hill climbing and still have the scars to prove it. I never actually owned a bike that most would consider geared toward hill climbing, just rode what I had. When I was about 15 years old, my ride was a, don't remember but I think 1967, Harley 250 Sprint. That was my street bike, my motocross bike, and my hill climbing bike. It had great torque and did a fine job. I had plenty of burns from that hot exhaust though. Those were some of the best days of my life. Don't have any pictures of my bike but it was exactly like this one. To be honest, I pushed it more than a few times but loved it just the same. I could always get it running again.

While modern tech has made most vehicles more reliable, it has also taken the "I'll work on it" aspect away for a lot of folks. Some of the electronics like cars have made DIY stuff impossible. Most bikes need a manufacture specific scan tool to really get the low down on whats going on. Unlike the automotive industry, government didnt think it necessary to make motorcycle manufacture all use a standard diag program, Like OBD2

We seem to be getting plenty of those types, so many that we now have names for them,,,,, Karens and Kens.

@Larrydr, I wish I still had my VStar 950 Tourer. It was the perfect scoot. Low, quick and nimble. Still Cruise 75 to 80 all day if wanted.

I'd have to say this whole covid thing has thrown a monkey wrench into countless areas of our lives. Hopefully we can get back to normal with logic and good old fashioned common sense. The other thing that is affecting riding, is the recession we are currently in. Had a friend with an RV and trailer for bike tell me he was leaving them home, driving his car to Florida and getting an Air B&B ? as it was a lot cheaper than driving the RV. People will have less money for extras and I believe the companies are anticipating this...

Here's another thing. What about the large riding clubs? As most already know, Star Touring has closed it's doors. Now I'm hearing, but haven't confirmed, that the Goldwing Riders Association is pulling the plug. Of course the Venture Touring Society/Motorcycle Touring Association threw in the towel long ago. I understand that the Ventures are not doing well and our membership here is way down also. I'm sure that there are multiple reasons for this and we have discussed them before but it may go hand in hand with the decline of touring bike sales.

Wow...great info! Thanks...hoping to attack this during this week. I'll let you know.

And the meet is 5 weeks+ Hope she mends well and on schedule.

sad to hear about Charlie but we hope you get to come

Ronnie, Yikes! I'm sorry to hear! Glad you are ok other than teeth! Whoa!! Get better fast! D

I grew up to about 5 foot 6 inches and for some reason I am back to 5 foot 5 inches ...They tell me that it is a aging process , which it may well be ...But sometimes that different sizes and strokes makes life interesting ... Maybe that is why manufactures cannot always get it right

Sorry to hear this. We just got a Bichon Friese a few weeks ago... 3.5 lbs and faster than a rocket! We keep him in a small baby playpen with cardboard on bottom with a large dog pad and small dogvcrate, so far so good. At 9 weeks he's just about potty? trained... Hope everything turns out well.

Just lettin' everyone know....Ashville may be up in the air for us right now. We have 2 Pomeranian pups in our lives now. We've had them since early April, and took them to W Kentucky with us in May without issue. We were at a friends farm with them in Western PA for the 4th weekend and one of them suffered a badly broken arm. We had a baby gate keeping them towards the back of the motorhome, and I heard a cry and went to check and "Charlie" was on the other side of the gate with his front leg bent at a 90. I think he climbed or jumped over the gate and got his tiny leg caught on something. He's getting surgery this morning,....getting a tiny plate screwed to that tiny leg bone, but he's going to need to be kept in a small pen....kept from activity for at least 6 weeks. I don't know how this will affect our Ashville plans yet. Already had to cancel July Myrtle Beach trip. Will keep everyone informed.

Yup...My first street legal bike was a 74 Honda XL350, rode it from Y-Town to Hillsville PA to hill-climb, then back home. Got a bit more beat up each time, but I don't remember it ever NOT getting me home...even with a rear flat, I still (almost) made the 20 mile trip home. Was getting close and the car in front of me braked hard....so did I....Tire separated from rim and I went down...fairly soft drop, but had to wait for my buddy to bring a truck to get the last few miles. That was a great bike, even though hill climbing generally beats the crap out of a bike, it always started and ran.

Whether it's a car, boat, lawnmower or motorcycle, working on it yourself brings you much closer to that machine. It's what builds the understanding and "love" of that machine. When you work on it yourself, you take a greater pride in it....you much better understand what's making it "tick" and how this machine is propelling you down the road at 70mph and how / why it stops when you brake. That's part of the work / understanding / love / and joy of riding that would be lost with any machine that needs a higher level of service tools. I'll bet the mechanics who would perform such service would lack much of the understanding of what makes it tick....just do what the 'puter tells them..... LOVE of your bike is a lot like the love of your wife...Takes work, and the understanding gained by the personal interaction and frustration, anger, joy and success of every aspect of those interactions.

From what I've read, most of the larger clubs have folded due to lack of new leadership. They say that a very small percentage of people want to do the work. A lot of members want to attend the large events but don't want to help with the work. As the leadership has aged, the younger members aren't willing to step up and take over. Don't know if that's true or not but it makes sense.

Always something is right .... No one wants to be responsible for them selves or willing to take care of the little things that happen in life ...It is time for all these so called helpless to pull up their socks and get things done .

Contacts looked ok. I used a steel emery board on them but it did not help. I hooked it up to it's connector and grounded it to the chassis. I turned the key on to supply 12v. The 12v wire to the pump goes down into the body and the ground wire to the pump frame. There is a red wire coming up from the body connecting to the top of the contacts which I assume should be the 12v. With my volt meter I measured from the red wire to the bottom contacts which are on the grounded pump frame and got no voltage. What does that tell me?

For those of us that shop in the big n tall shops smaller bikes just don’t work. I had someone tell me a few years ago my bike looks too small for me. I’m not comfortable folded up on a smaller ride.

Put the pizza through the blender, it'll still eat. Glad your feeling somewhat better.

I am a bit surprised that there has been no talk of a hybrid. I doubt that I would be a customer but it seems that bike manufacturers jumped right over the hybrid idea and are going straight to all electric. Not at all good for long distance touring.

Went and installed an old shield yesterday and rode it home. Took the front end apart and found minimal damage to the fairing. One screw hole on the outer broke out around a windshield screw and the inner flanges broke where the shield bracket bolts to it. From what I understand mine was one of the few that hadn’t broken at the bracket bolts. More of the tabs on the chrome strip under the shield broke. Insurance took pics, we’ll see where that goes. Talked to Clearview, they are good on stock so I’ll order the shield soon. Teeth are healing and tightening well, pain has been minimal. Really the worst part is eating canned soup and apple sauce watching wife n kid eat pizza🤣🤣.

The $$$ it’s costing to go so high tech isn’t helping. Most of us older riders want to get away from technology and go relax. I don’t care for all the infotainment, touch screens, glitzy tech on my truck let alone my bike. Go back to a simpler fuel injected water cooled bike we can work on ourselves and drop the prices so more can afford it. It freaks me out when my truck text messages me about oil changes and low tires, I don’t want my bike doing it.

Wow... grateful that it wasn't worse. Hope you mend quickly.

Well at a minimum I’m sure glad you’re fixed and healthy enough to type the tale. I hit a bird with my Wrangler probably 18 years ago I saw it coming and distinctly remember it’s wing stretched across the windshield. I was shocked and felt bad but was thankful no damage and I think the bird flew off.

2 weekends ago up on the Pitbull it went. Oil change, check the air filter and a general look see and check 'most' bolts. Then a good bath cleaning of the underbelly of the beast. A lot of road grime now washed down the drive. Then Thursday out for new rubber on the rear.

I caught a large bird that pulled my windshield out of the fairing straight into my teeth. Lots of dental work, minor damage to the bike but to major priced items.