That car dependence was engineered by massive marketing campaigns from the automakers btw, they’re the reason “jaywalking” even exists and is considered a crime. Streets used to be for people and they intentionally worked to change that mindset for their benefit.

I’ve never seen them banned and our licensing is… well you can just get one and then buy a 200hp machine if you want, there is no tiered system like the UK and Europe have. I think it’s a culture thing, the US was already car dependent by the time motorcycles became popular (shortly after WWII).

Oh that’s understandable, I should have checked where you were from. Here in the US the auto lobby is practically almighty, has been for decades. I don’t know why motorcycles never caught on as regular transport here. If you must move only one person, they’re much more efficient than a car.

The joke I’ve seen on forums from former dealership owners is that “the best way to make a million dollars in powersports is to start with two million”. My point being that they really do not hold a ton of power like the auto lobby does.

According to my local mechanic who has worked for dealers, most inventory is financed by… I think it was Wells Fargo. The big OEMs (Honda, Kawasaki, etc) do their own financing though (Kawi works with a division of Truist for example). None are great for the dealer.

Motorcycles aren’t with cars. Either as transportation or financially. Financially they’re Powersports, which also includes side-by-sides, UTVs, ATVs, snowmobiles, jetskis, etc. An industry (on the dealer/user side) already under the thumb of various banks.

They don’t have the time, or they have a new project/had a kid/etc and will no longer have the time, or they need the money for something else. Those are the reasons given for used low-mile motorcycles I see, and the ones for my dad’s KLR (800 miles) and mine (2700 miles) when we got them.

I got one side cover off and some snapped piece immediately fell out. I’m sure I’ll find more once I pull the motor and split the cases.

Can confirm 😬. I got a 1991 XT350 that “just needed a base gasket”. One timing chain guide snapped, no timing chain retainer, RTV everywhere, no base gasket at all (just RTV??), crank discolored, bore screwed, piston shot, oil plug was full of RTV and aluminum shavings, etc.

Here’s mine, a 2022 KLR650 Adventure:

Oh I see now, I can filter searches down to feeds and find ‘em that way, should have realized that 🤦

There’s a motorcycle feed? (Legit question, if there is how do I add it, new to bluesky)

It’s PC only from my reading 🙁. I don’t know if there’s a comparable tool for mobile.

SkyFollowerBridge. Browser extension that’ll run through your following list on the other place and find any matching usernames here (or exact matches if they put their link to here in their bio). Found ~2/3s of the folks I was following.

Understandable. When I was a kid I crashed a KDX50 off a jump badly, buncha forward rolls, rushed to the hospital for X-Rays, all that. Thankfully 6 year olds are more rubber than bone so nothing snapped, but I refused to ride the 2-wheeler for years after that.

Oh man 😧. I hope they weren’t hard to replace. I’ve been lucky that all my low-sides have been on gravel or creek crossings at 10-25mph, so the bike just falls and maybe slides a bit on a flat surface at most.

The only actual injury I’ve had was tweaking my ankle badly in a high-side on the KDX I used to freshen up before getting a street legal bike. Lost grip, regained it at just the wrong moment, bike basically suplexed me into the ground. It’s a good ole machine though:

It did not! I’ve slipped on that same crossing before, going faster so the bike slid ~25 feet and ended up pointing the opposite way I was going. In a low-side you kinda just fall on the ground and the bike slides away. Worst I’ve had was a sore ankle when I low-sided on gravel as a new rider.