i compared my Hawk to the Suzuki DR650

[Bruce's]

Originally Posted by 2LZ

Then why don't they require helmets in convertibles? I'll tell you why. Politicians drive convertibles!

I have no idea other than you look like a tool in a big ass helmet in something that resembles a car running around town .At least on the can am you ride it like a bike in the wind .
I can do you guys one better ,for 5 years I drove a 5 mph Zamboni at a hockey rink .The last year ,they handed us snowboard helmets and made us wear them .I didn't like that so I asked the manager of the city arenas wtf is up with the stupid helmet ,he told me "what if you have a stroke and fell off " ,after laughing my ass off I asked him why he doesn't wear one in his pickup truck ,he could just as easily have a stroke as any of us and hit his dorky head ? he had no answer for me so I left him high and dry with a pre season NHL game to deal with in an hour ,and never went back .

[RogerWFarrier]

Originally Posted by Bruce's

I have no idea other than you look like a tool in a big ass helmet in something that resembles a car running around town .At least on the can am you ride it like a bike in the wind .
I can do you guys one better ,for 5 years I drove a 5 mph Zamboni at a hockey rink .The last year ,they handed us snowboard helmets and made us wear them .I didn't like that so I asked the manager of the city arenas wtf is up with the stupid helmet ,he told me "what if you have a stroke and fell off " ,after laughing my ass off I asked him why he doesn't wear one in his pickup truck ,he could just as easily have a stroke as any of us and hit his dorky head ? he had no answer for me so I left him high and dry with a pre season NHL game to deal with in an hour ,and never went back .

I can tell you why. It's because some asshat at the insurance company decided that there was a one in a million chance of you falling off of the Zamboni so they decided to make the employer require the helmet or they would jack up their premiums or not insure them all together. That's why every single piece of safety equipment is required from seatbelts to helmets to safety glasses. It amounts to nothing more than legalized extortion. Here in Florida you don't have to wear anything besides eye protection to ride a motorcycle as long as you carry at least $20K worth of personal injury insurance. As a result you see tons of people out riding in nothing more than sunglasses and flip flops. Yet to ride a Personal Water Craft according to the information that I've seen you have to wear a life jacket and a helmet. Since there's more people that ride motorcycles than PWC's the insurance companies benefit because they are collecting premiums from people that ride bikes but choose not to wear a helmet whereas the PWC crowd is much smaller so they get saddled with a ridiculous helmet law.

[2LZ]

Originally Posted by Bruce's

....for 5 years I drove a 5 mph Zamboni at a hockey rink .

I don't know why but I've always wanted to try that at least once!

[Bruce's]

Originally Posted by 2LZ

I don't know why but I've always wanted to try that at least once!

Everybody wants to drive the damn thing ,it's a pretty neat machine ,and the real zamboni machines are the best ,they are hydrostatic drive ,so all the pumps keep operating correctly when you slow down for the corners ,while the crappy Olympia machines are just Silverado truck chassis ,so you have to let off before the blue line ,and then your water pumps and augers slow down with the rpm of the engine .
We got a brand new machine when I worked there ,and all the other arenas get a little jealous (14 arenas in Sudbury ) ,so they start messing with each other playing pranks etc .Anyways after a week or so I got a call asking about the new machine ,dude says he is Frank Zamboni ,I thought he was just another prankster so I basically told him to F off and I was not very nice about it .Turns out ,it really was Frank ! Frank runs the factory in Canada ,and he told me that happens all the time ,people don't believe who he is .Pretty nice of him to follow up on his product .

[BlackBike]

Originally Posted by Bruce's

Everybody wants to drive the damn thing ,it's a pretty neat machine ,and the real zamboni machines are the best ,they are hydrostatic drive ,so all the pumps keep operating correctly when you slow down for the corners ,while the crappy Olympia machines are just Silverado truck chassis ,so you have to let off before the blue line ,and then your water pumps and augers slow down with the rpm of the engine .
We got a brand new machine when I worked there ,and all the other arenas get a little jealous (14 arenas in Sudbury ) ,so they start messing with each other playing pranks etc .Anyways after a week or so I got a call asking about the new machine ,dude says he is Frank Zamboni ,I thought he was just another prankster so I basically told him to F off and I was not very nice about it .Turns out ,it really was Frank ! Frank runs the factory in Canada ,and he told me that happens all the time ,people don't believe who he is .Pretty nice of him to follow up on his product .

[emptyschmitz]

Had the privilege of leading rides on Suzuki demo days last summer...two days of getting to ride sweet bikes? Yes please! My faves were the C50 (total couch in town riding but anemic above 55) the GXS-S750 (what a sweetheart of a motor and frame!) the Vstrom 650 (such an easy bike to ride) and the DR650, though I would have loved to play with it on some dirt.

I would love to try the Van Van out! I was bummed we didn't get to play with the brand new SV650 at the time, I was looking forward to that one. Always a sucker for the TU250X! Would definitely have one of those in my stable if I had unlimited storage/funds.

[Sullybiker]

I saw a new DL650 (Vstrom) at work today, and I tell you what, they are much, much bigger and lower-looking from the front quarter; photos usually show the side. The front end looks a bit sportbike-ish.

I think they're much prettier than the Versys, which always looked like the Ninja 650's weird taller sister, even though it's a better bike than the Ninja.

The TU250 is a gorgeous little bike. Learnt to ride on one of those.