I do as much of everything I can on my own to save money, but I understand. When I was younger it was more out of necessity. I used to take the tires off the wheels with spoons. Now I just take the wheels to a guy with machines. Figure that’s my compromise at this stage in my life, between paying someone and saving money.

Thank you! I am hoping to replace my seat for a little more comfort soon, even if it isn’t wore out. If you’re not having fun, you’re doing it wrong!

Seem like the best for my use case! I haven’t really pushed them or anything, but I like what I’ve felt on the road so far.

On a highway? My 400 was a thumper, and the hills in my area really made it lag. Not necessarily the same for all displacements, however. I borrowed a friends XT250 dual sport recently and it can keep up with my current NX500. A twisty back road on the 400? I had no problems keeping up with my buddies with larger bikes and would often out pace them because I could really whip around corners and it was less crucial to consider the weight of the machine and its inertia.

My SR400 was quite similar to the bikes at the MSF, but my NX500 is very different. I feel like the skills I built on those bikes were fundamental to graduating to different kinds of bikes, and it is an easier transition than you may expect.

There are a few factors to consider here. What is your level of experience? Did you ride any kind of motorcycle before (even like a 50cc minibike)? Have you considered taking a rider’s course before diving in? Why are you riding? Are you looking to regularly commute on your bike, even in inclement weather? Or are you looking to hit a track on the weekends and just see this as a recreational hobby?

I started riding about six years ago around my mid twenties, only having ridden a small dirt bike a couple times as a kid. I took the MSF course and bought a used 400cc standard Japanese bike that I could really get used to and not worry so much about if I made mistakes. I wanted an alternative to commuting to work from my car because it was ultimately cheaper. I ended up loving that bike and kept it until just last year. That did not prevent me from experiencing other bikes though, and as my experience and skill grew, friends and others allowed me to ride their bikes just to have fun. From cruisers to sport bikes and dirt bikes. I feel like it was only after all of that did I really settle on a middle of the road adventure bike for my purposes. It is my primary way to get anywhere and do anything, even in the winter. I wouldn’t recommend that for everybody, but it suits my purposes. There is nothing wrong with really dialing it in over time. Find what you want out of riding and the right bike will find you.

I bought some off brand stainless 32oz insulated bottle 12 years ago for around twenty bucks. I fill it with ice and then fill the voids with water, and there is still ice a day and a half later, even at the height of summer. I’ve been through several universal lids with different designs for various ways to sip and to carry it. I have dropped it from several feet onto concrete a number of times, resulting in denting you can’t even really see. I probably got the one gem out of many duds, or one of a good run in production, but I’ll be disappointed when it does inevitably fail and I have to get something else.

I’m genuinely interested in seeing what the folks of South Carolina are saying about this, from large forums to the kitchen table.

The state of WV is full of it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to change the votes or general attitudes of many mountaineers and their politics.

R.B.'s got the meats, as they say.

Nah man, you have to ask. What are you truly risking if you do? The world where you admit yours and everyone else’s spirit is raped? It really does smell like shit in here, doesn’t it?

I’m honestly surprised this isn’t better understood in this community, at least as an approach to the tree of life system of classification, with or without its merits. I didn’t go to college and went to public school that suppressed science education, but this was how I came to understand evolution and that all types of life had a universal common ancestor.

I’m not speaking to the accuracy of the meme, and the science community at large has its criticisms of cladistics, but I’m not sure I would define this as a problem of biology or language, or a problem at all. It is the most common method of evolutionary classification at this time.

Keep in mind I’m a blue collar worker on my lunch break and not a scientist nor college educated. I just like to learn in my free time about a bunch of stuff.

It’s cladistics.

“Theoretically, a last common ancestor and all its descendants constitute a (minimal) clade. Importantly, all descendants stay in their overarching ancestral clade. For example, if the terms worms or fishes were used within a strict cladistic framework, these terms would include humans.”

I share the name of a child murderer. They aren’t super duper famous, but when you look up my first and last name in a search, they are the only thing to pop up unless you really get specific to me. I have had people that were strangers to me hear my name on a roll call do a thorough look at me, then bring it up when they are relieved to see I am not that person. I think providing more details here would doxx me.