Barrycuda

A gigantic THANK YOU to Steve K.for spending his Sunday in the freezing cold ( Florida standards had us in the 40's much of the day) to hard wire my accessory brake light as well as some LED lights on the side. I can not say enough about Steve and his lovely wife. He is a man of his word. We made plans a few weeks ago, and he did not cancel when the weather was in the low 30's at daybreak. He never complained and worked as long as needed without making it seem like it was a burden. He did a GREAT job with everything. He is meticulous, precise, made everything neat and tidy. He drilled, rewired, soldered and even took time to add fuses to protect his handiwork. I was extremely impressed. I felt like I knew them for 10 years. When Steve said call if you need anything he meant it. I can't thank him enough. He is a class act 100000%. If I can even help any of my venture riders even a fraction of what he did, I would feel better. Steve rocks.

You could have combined them for Captain Easy Rider....

+1 on almost all the posts. You have to be comfortable having it and using it, if you ever needed to. Renting and SHOOTING will give you a feel of what fits right in your hands. I have a few firearms and love them all ( kimber, 2 sig sauer,spring field XD and S&W MP. ones that I thought looked great, were slimmer and more compact, but just didn't feel great. Take your time and ask plenty of questions. This is a big purchase despite the cost. I do not own a revolver so I can't not compare against semi automatic. Each gun and each model handles different. Find what works for you. Try not to be pressured by anyone, especially those trying to make a sale. Good luck and keep us posted. Oh...ammo is getting impossible to find. This may also weigh in on your decision, as well as if you want to add sights, lights and or lasers..

+1 on Johns pass and Clearwater beach. It is an excellent ride and place to park and hang out.

It was a nice read of the article. You tell these guys had a lot of fun and little stress except trying to keep warm. Sounds cold...uh... I mean cool

I have to confess and fess up. That person was ME. for some reason, I had it in my head that it was endorsed by Don, and therefore my statement earlier was inaccurate. My apologies for the mix up to Don, Miles and the forum. ( Insert both feet in mouth)

Don, I thought at one time you were leaning me towards RideOn at some point. I may have misunderstood your position. My apologies

Playboy, One of the things I have found to be available are places like a Walmart, target etc that have the big back for the tractors. I also found, if you can get to a school, a library even government offices that are closed after 5 and on weekends should give you a few locations to try out

I hear ya Dale, rest assured you will gain some valuable insight. You can also wrap the guards and such in the foam stuff for the heater pipes. lets put it this way, although it sucks, I'd rather drop it in a controlled environment then at 50+ MPH in the street and BTW, I didn't drop my bike

any course to help you is a worthy investment. read the post " MY DAY WITH RIDE LIKE A PRO JERRY PALLADINO". There's ALWAYS something to learn

That is a neat idea. You can even get the "official" gas can should some LEO from a small town give you grief about it being a hazard I like the strap to floorboard. Same can be said for water as well.

Steve, perhaps if you can get enough people to partake in the classes at the international rally, he might be willing to head up that way. best bet is to see how many can confirm and give him a call and see. 1-866-868-7433

Big Tom REALLY does love ice cream.

I do not know my friend. If some of the wizards here do not know for sure, best bet is to try it out and report back.

Jerry from ride like a pro emailed me and wanted me to share some things he said that may pertain to the guys here on the forum. My previous post said the exercise speed on the bike was 3-7 MPH, that was what I WAS DOING, Jerry below explains the correct speed. I will also attach an entry level doc ( if I can ) on some of the exercises I went through. hopefully some of you can take this, print it out and take it with you. here is what he wants you to know: I just read your review on the Venture forum. Very good. Remember what I suggested about the adjustable clutch lever. Having the ability to bring the friction zone closer to the grip goes a long way toward mastering the clutch/throttle. Tell your members about that as it is important. Also, speed thru almost all the exercises should be 10 to 12mph. The u-turn is the slowest at 7 to 8mph. You were going 4 to 6 mph thru everything, there by making it hard on yourself. Your head and eyes technique was at times good, other times not so much. In the intersection your head turns were not fast enough and you weren't looking far enough ahead at the green cone. When you did pick up speed and turn your head and eyes, you did the intersection pretty good. When we started the slow race and slow cone weave I had serious doubts you could complete all the exercises but once you got thru the circle and started listening to me you improved in leaps and bounds. I would say your 300 percent better rider at the end of the course. Now you know the techniques and how to use them. All you have to do now, is refine the skills you learned. By the way when I told you guys got frustrated and kicked their helmets and quit, I was speaking of the Motor Officer course at 18ft, not my ride like a pro course. You can print this on your forum if you like. Jerry OK...I misunderstood about people quitting HIS COURSE, my bad. check out below some of what I picked up, (on the cheap) to help me design my course to practice. Of course whatever works best, and I will see how these work before going to another outlet. instead of cones, I went to the dollar store for the following: tennis balls (6) - will cut in half and place strategically down. paint- to mark off small spots so I can use them next time 36 foot tape measure round 3 inch reflectors ( red)- to mark my area. you can see them and "feel " them with the tires yellow duct tape- to use to tape underneath reflectors and to add to any pivot point and design a green foam " float stick" that kids use in a pool - I will be cutting them down and using them as well for any pivot points. total cost: 16.00 I do not get, ask for or want credit for the exercises. These were taking from the site and all I did was try to make it easier to bring with you to read and set up. Also...after 15-20 minutes, let the bike "cool down" by riding it in 2nd and 3rd gear around a bit , allowing you and the clutch to calm down Please let me know if any of this was helpful. Thanks and safe riding. BTW: I do not know how Jerry was tipped to my posts, but if he is reading this one, email me and let me know if I missed anything. Barry

Jerry somehow read my initial and subsequent posts (crafty of him huh?) and contacted me via email. I will transpose what he mentioned he wanted the forum to know, a way to help on here shortly. I also have taken some of his exercises and put them down in a word document. This way you can read, see and set up these same exercises with diagrams and words instead of trying to remember off the DVD. I am waiting for one of the exercises to be sent to me, as they were not on his site. Hopefully, this can make it easier to bring with you and use anytime. Stay tuned...

I am happy I went. Yeah YD, it was a bit nerve wracking at first. One I saw how the bikes CAN move and did move, I felt better. Mind you I can not say I can ride like a pro. But I can say I can ride better then I did before I started. And I will still be nervous with some of these drills, but I can do them, because I did them at the class.

He and his gang make it look easy, don't they? In reality, it got easier as the day went on. I must say Dion, we can all benefit from learning some of the techniques. I am planning on working on them daily. My biggest deal is the friction zone/ throttle balance. To build enough speed to not drop the bike. He rode my motorcycle like it was a Honda rebel 250

Definitely money well spent Steve. As for the padding, look, if I did, it's possible. And I will be practicing a lot. I didn't realize how much energy I used during this course. Part holding the bike at low speeds, part nerves

Thanks for reading phoneman1981 Wade, billmac and captain Joe: the cost of a "class" is $150.00. I do not know the class limit. His wife stated last week there were 10 in the class because a group of guys wanted to learn as a group. Not a bad idea if you ride with the same bunch. in my case, I had the luxury of having only TWO in the class. so, that meant more personal instruction, as well as more repetitions because no one else was waiting in line. Sad to say, with the other gent having a difficult time keeping his bike on 2 wheels, it actually gave me almost exclusive time. As for private lessons one on one, they go for $100.00 hr. so I REALLY LUCKED OUT TODAY, because I was alone doing the course a portion of the day

Thank you Wade and midnightventure. It was stressful at first. However, I feel better. Remember him stating he was going to be at the HOG rally in Marysville, TN in late May. Maybe you can call to see about if they head up your way a bit. He did say he had students quit his course and break their helmets in frustration. that's stupid. You're there to learn to ride better. Not try to show off in front of him.

Miles, I definitely showed my support and donated.

There has been a complete wipe out of .223/.556 ammo in my immediate area as well as 9 mm and 40 mm has shelves scarce. Was able to pick up some .223 at a gun show last month. Its been getting harder and harder.

Is screaming Banshee the only horn that can give you your regular horn and then the HORN ?

Steve, He does all the major rallies and events. His DVDs will help. For me being there live was the kick in the pants I needed. Watching him glide through on MY bike was proof it can be done. Barry