Criticisms from other riders

[Charlie Bravo_imp]

I'm sure all riders have been on the receiving end of other riders opinions. Here are a few of the ones I've received:
Out at my BIL's place in Hesperia, the high desert, we were getting ready to head out one fine autumn day when I see him looking over my bike, the FJR I had at the time. Admittedly, I'm not in the wash-and-polish every time I ride it school of thought, but it looked pretty decent, at least, but he shakes his head, snorts, and says "Don't you ever wash that thing?" Well, I look at his bike and it is spotless, no brake dust on the rims, no road grime anywhere, it looks like a garage queen, but I know it has over 75k miles on it. All I could come up with was a mumbled statement that I did wash it when I thought it necessary. He just shook his head.
Another time, me and a bud are at my house, getting ready to head out. It's a little cool, so I don a leather bike jacket that I'd had for a long time. My bud looks at the jacket and says, "That jacket needs some leather conditioner on it." I acknowledged his statement but didn't defend myself. Later that day, we're at our fave meet-up place, the famous Sancho's Tacos in Huntington Beach. It's getting late, and I say, "Well, gotta head home, see ya." He says, "Yeah, go home and put some leather treatment on your jacket." The nerve!
Another time, me and another bud are coming back from the American Legion post in Newport Beach. He is coming to my house because he is carrying a large sack of take-out grub that I'm bringing home. We get to my house and pull into the driveway. We dismount, and without a word, he comes over to my bike, leans down and gives my chain the tension test, then straightens up and says, "You oughta see to that chain, it has way too much slack in it." After he leaves, I check the chain. There is some slack, but not "way too much". The nerve of some people, but I did adjust it the next day. Has anyone else ran into this kind of thing? But, I guess it means something that our friends are looking out for us, right?

[the Ferret]

dirty bike? leather jacket needs conditioner? chain has too much slack? Naa never bwahaahaahhaa. That's how I live man. Bike get washed twice a year in spring and fall. Leather jacket never gets the bugs removed. Chain gets adjusted when I get new tires.

Don't have time for that stuff, it takes away from my riding time. I'd rather ride.

[GoldOxide_imp]

dirty bike? leather jacket needs conditioner? chain has too much slack? Naa never bwahaahaahhaa. That's how I live man. Bike get washed twice a year in spring and fall. Leather jacket never gets the bugs removed. Chain gets adjusted when I get new tires.

Don't have time for that stuff, it takes away from my riding time. I'd rather ride.

This is understandable Ferret.

Why would anyone waste life washing a bike and storing it away when it could be enjoyed in the festive winter time?

On the other hand, I suppose a nice, shiny clean bike will sell faster in the estate sale after the owner missed all those winter riding opportunities before passing on.

[the Ferret]

Probably, no, definitly, but I'm not worried about that, that will be my son's problem lol

[misterprofessionality]

Oof. Those are at least good natured things. In their mind they're helping you. Try this one:

I took a test ride on the vaunted BMW R18 not too long ago. It was a nice slow ride down country roads in Alabama. After the test the guy singled me out and asked me to talk to him about what I thought about the bike. Probably because I was far and away the youngest guy there and I had a passenger. I said it was like something from another universe.

"What universe is that?" He asked.

"One without turns." He laughed and asked what im talking about.

I told him point blank that I'm sure it's for somebody. But its not for me. Not at all. I'm used to feeling response and feedback from my bike. I'm used to being able to lean more than 3 degrees without sparks coming off hard parts. And the worst part of all I told him the thing was literally rattling the fillings out of my head. There are vibrational bikes and then there's this. A 1.8 liter boxer feels like a literal jackhammer anywhere above 3000 rpms.

He gets a bit of a sour look and goes "if you're feeling that it means shift up."

Really? You're going to defend your bike by implying I don't understand manual transmissions? I said, "The bike is a 6 speed...I was getting serious vibrations at around 3k rpms. This means if I get anywhere north of 60mph in 6th gear I'm in full vibration mode. If I'm intended to 'shift up' before 3k rpms that means I run out of gears before reaching highway speeds. So you're telling me your 1.8 liter transcontinental touring bike can't handle the highway? "

He was quiet and then said something about how it's meant to take in the scenery...yea ok.

Don't tell me when to shift man

[redbirds_imp]

Never have that problem with the folks I ride with, we're all too old to care about such things. The only comment shared is a recognition of a new mod or a heads up if a dangerous condition is noticed. I clean mine with a good wash couple of times a year and a wipe down with some Honda cleaner and a rag before I ride. Living on a dirt road has made me picky about chain cleaning and maintenance though.

[Houtman_imp]

I must say that I never had any negative comments about my bikes from anyone ever , if they did they would regret it for the rest of their life.....

[pdedse]

I had one last summer...I pulled over on the side of an on-ramp to hiway, completely out of harm's way, right next to the guard rail...about as far from the solid white line on my left as I could...must have been 6-8 feet from the right edge of the on-ramp. Guy pulls up to me in his car, his partner rolls down the window and he says "Man, you just picked the absolutely worst spot anyone ever chose to pull over on a motorcycle...and I ride, like, lots, man so I know what I'm talking about".

He gave me an exasperated look when I said "ok, thanks for that info" as I went back to checking my phone for an upcoming turn-off I didn't want to miss.

It seemed lost on him that there were two cars behind him waiting for him to finish giving me his opinion so that they could continue.

I thought he stopped because he was going to compliment me on the CB1100 or to check and see if I needed help.

[Whoops]

dirty bike? leather jacket needs conditioner? chain has too much slack? Naa never bwahaahaahhaa. That's how I live man. Bike get washed twice a year in spring and fall. Leather jacket never gets the bugs removed. Chain gets adjusted when I get new tires.

Don't have time for that stuff, it takes away from my riding time. I'd rather ride.

This is understandable Ferret.

Why would anyone waste life washing a bike and storing it away when it could be enjoyed in the festive winter time?

On the other hand, I suppose a nice, shiny clean bike will sell faster in the estate sale after the owner missed all those winter riding opportunities before passing on.

This is understandable Ferret.

Why would anyone waste life washing a bike and storing it away when it could be enjoyed in the festive winter time?

On the other hand, I suppose a nice, shiny clean bike will sell faster in the estate sale after the owner missed all those winter riding opportunities before passing on.
Oof! Never felt guilty for having a clean bike before. Hoping my estate sale is quite a ways off then.

[the Ferret]

You dont have to feel guilty about having a clean anything. For some of us, its just not our thing. My estate sale is a lot closer than yours I'm sure.