I am SO sick of being in a cage every day. Yeah, I know, probably not a lot of sympathy with the snowy regions currently, but every day it's beautfiul, I'm stuck in traffic while dozens of happy motorbikers go whizzing by me in the carpool lane. Happily splitting past me to the lights, paying to heed to traffic patterns, rush hours, and anything else one endures in a cage.
I'm annoyed. I have a perfectly good working bike that I can't ride. I took it out on Sunday. Tuesday? Still hurt. The working out has helped, but a ride still leaves me in agony. A downright depressing agony, of being unable to do something I so enjoy, I'm wasting time, avoiding the twisties. It sucks. Closet full of perfectly good gear, gathering dust. I think the ride Sunday really set me off-I so very much enjoyed being on a bike again, and now...back to the grind. Fellow riders going to lunch together, group rides every weekend, and I'm just...hanging out. I've spent so much time sitting at lights I know where, exactly, I need to be to even make it through the light. It's downright depressing, frustrating, and the pain doesn't help because I can't avoid thinking about it, and why it's there.
Living in one of the most moto-friendly parts of the country, with some truly excellent roads, walking past my bike, to go spend twice the amount of time to get to work blows.
I want to go try out new bikes, but I'll be out of the country for the moto show. I want to just go buy a bike, but, I should be buying a house soon, so I should leave the coin set aside, at least until after the purchase. Not happy. [bang] [bang] [bang]
you have my sympathy. I know the feeling.
have a hug and a beer from neenja :-* [beer]
yeah I get too homeboy, alas everything is temporary but boy does it suck in the now
Quote from: cbartlett419 on November 18, 2008, 02:17:00 PM
yeah I get too homeboy, alas everything is temporary but boy does it suck in the now
It's approaching a year.
what did i miss here?
why can't you ride?
if it bothers you enough you will find a way around it.
nowit's time for me to ride home. it's 34 degrees with flurries right now :P
Quote from: somebastid on November 18, 2008, 02:20:44 PM
It's approaching a year.
Dude, seriously? That sucks. Sorry to hear it...
Quote from: KnightofNi on November 18, 2008, 02:59:15 PM
what did i miss here?
why can't you ride?
if it bothers you enough you will find a way around it.
nowit's time for me to ride home. it's 34 degrees with flurries right now :P
Causes incredible neck and shoulder pain for about three days after, no matter how short/spirited/slow the ride.
Imagine if you will, a hundred pound asian woman standing on your neck in stilletos.
She is not attractive.
It's like that.
I needs me a new bike, basically.
But, what caused the pain in the first place? Injury?
Quote from: NAKID on November 18, 2008, 04:13:40 PM
But, what caused the pain in the first place? Injury?
No specific injury. I woke up with it one day. Months of physical therapy and workouts have reduce the pain to where I'm actually feeling good again, but I still can't get on my bike. I'd test ride some others, but most of the locals have ducs. Crap.
Pilates?
Yoga. It's done wonders for some of my friend's backs.
sidecar?
Trailer? http://www.bicycletrailers.com/Chariot-Cougar-2.pro
Quote from: NAKID on November 18, 2008, 04:20:04 PM
Pilates?
I would think the physical therapy would've been enough but hey, I ain't a doctor. This is just.....getting out of hand.
Have you tried a Multistrada? The position is so different it might work.
Quote from: howie on November 18, 2008, 09:33:00 PM
Have you tried a Multistrada? The position is so different it might work.
I have but I can't deal with the way it looks [puke]
I'm thinking the GS line from BMW-fairly upright, windshield, footwarmers (aka boxer engine).
Quote from: somebastid on November 18, 2008, 09:35:14 PM
I have but I can't deal with the way it looks [puke]
I'm thinking the GS line from BMW-fairly upright, windshield, footwarmers (aka boxer engine).
Cuz, they do not look any better than the MTS.
What's this I hear Ducati is making a motard. [thumbsup]
Quote from: trouble on November 18, 2008, 09:43:15 PM
Cuz, they do not look any better than the MTS.
What's this I hear Ducati is making a motard. [thumbsup]
Ugly with a purpose beats out ugly.
I'm debating the hyper, but...if I can actually ride again...I'll be back to doing four services in a year. Gets old quick.
Quote from: somebastid on November 18, 2008, 09:44:39 PM
I'm debating the hyper, but...if I can actually ride again...I'll be back to doing four services in a year. Gets old quick.
It's worth it. [evil]
Yup, loved it.
Not quite the top end pull of the S4, but I don't wring out the 1k I've got anyway. :P
Go down to Hattar and test it out.
Quote from: somebastid on November 18, 2008, 09:35:14 PM
I have but I can't deal with the way it looks [puke]
I'm thinking the GS line from BMW-fairly upright, windshield, footwarmers (aka boxer engine).
The good news is you can't see it while you are ridin it.
Quote from: howie on November 18, 2008, 10:05:02 PM
The good news is you can't see it while you are ridin it.
You can get blinded by ugly?
As per my PM to somebastid..
Well the GS is (for me) by far the most comfortable and easy to use bike there is. Period. I am 5'10" with a 30" inseam and my bike is the GS Adventure. It is a very tall bike but, with the lower seat option from the standard GS I can get both feet on the ground pretty much flat footing. Since I've got used to the height and weight of the bike now I used the standard Adventure seat in it's lower position.
The bike is very comfy with the bars at a natural position from your body, none of the Monster reach out and splay position. The seat is all day comfy for me, the pillion seat is also very comfy. On the ADV version there are no rubber covers for the rider pegs, only the passenger ones but I haven't yet found a need for these as the vibes never get too bad. My bike has covered 7000km since August and this includes 3 weeks of not being ridden when I was on vacation.. not one of those kilometers was bad/uncomfortable or weird. The engine pulls very well once warmed up, it is an oil cooled 1200cc beast so it will drink up to 750cc of engine oil (mineral only on the boxer, so very cheap) per 1000-1500km. My ADV has shorter gearing as it's more of an "off roader" or enduro tourer but it still shows a v.max of 215km/h on the speedo (205kmh according to the GPS unit). The acceleration is very strong for such a large bike and the torque is amazing.. something like 82lb/ft at 3500rpm or so.. it's a monster that could uproot a tree if req'd.
Fuel consumption is minimal.. if you ride gently with a max of 90-100km/h I have acheived 700km out of one 33litre tank. Being me, I generally get from 450-500km per tank with my shenanigans. The ESA suspension is a must have, you can adjust settings with the following preload and associated damping:
Preload Damping
Rider Only Comfort, Normal, Sport
Rider + Passenger Comfort, Normal, Sport
Rider + Luggage Comfort, Normal, Sport
Off Road Normal Soft, Hard
Off Road High Soft, Hard
The Off Road preload settings raise the front and the back of the bike up to 2cm above normal, the standard preload adjustment only affects the rear suspension. The different modes all work very well and you can tell the difference. For wheelies use the Rider Only setting with comfort damping.. you can wheelie off the throttle in first and second gear. [evil]
As for options.. well I bought mine with ASC (traction control), ABS, ESA (as above), heated grips, Akrapovic end can (very fruity.. the popping on the overrun is evil), enduro side cases and top box (the manly aluminum ones), on road tires, BMW Garmin Navigator III and Alarm. I should have bought the inner bags for the cases.
I would test ride both the standard GS and the Adventure. I'm sure you will enjoy the bike. Make sure you go out alone and that you give yourself 30 mins or so to get used to the bike's size and weight. The centre of gravity is very low on this bike and once you are above 1mph it is very manouverable.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
NuTTs
Quote from: somebastid on November 18, 2008, 04:17:23 PM
No specific injury. I woke up with it one day. Months of physical therapy and workouts have reduce the pain to where I'm actually feeling good again, but I still can't get on my bike. I'd test ride some others, but most of the locals have ducs. Crap.
make the beast with two backs the physical therapy!
I was involved in a minor traffic accident a while back and that was the route my doctor had me take. I did it for like 2 months with zero results. Then as a recommendation from my attorney I went and saw a chiropractor. Less than two weeks later I felt almost 100%.
Some of you will remember this from TOB. Two years ago a woman pulled out in front of me exiting a Dunkin's parking lot. I was doing around 30mph and threw my Monster down the road. I was all kinds of make the beast with two backsed up. Bruised bursa sack in my right hip, really bad neck and back pain, and headaches that lasted for days. Headaches that hurt so bad I couldn't even get out of bed. My hip hurt so bad I counldn't lay on my right side. My bedroom is upstairs in my house and I had to get a bed pan because I couldn't get up and down the stairs it hurt so bad.
After a few days all the paperwork was finally filled out and I started seeing the chiropractor I saw for the auto accident. In less than a week I was mobile again. Granted I still had terrible pain in my hip from the bruised bursa sack but my headaches started subsiding and the most of the pain in my neck and back went away. I treated for a few months, twice a week and the results were 100% recovery.
Go see a chiropractor, case closed! [thumbsup]
+1 on the Chiropractor.
If an MD and PT can't solve it....
A friend of mine is going through the same type of thing, chiro in addition to swimming and workouts is making real progress.