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Forums, What's Your Opinion?


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I'm curious what forums our members go to, besides this one. What other forums do you find interesting, and why?

 

What aspect of a forum (this or another) do you find worth the time? Brand/model specific forums? Area specific? Subject specific?

 

Mostly my own curiousity here :).

 

CF

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I only go to a local one for motorcycle riding because my friends are on it. I want to talk about riding. I have a movie site for movies and another one for idle chit-chat. On the other motorcycle sites it doesn't matter who is correct, they are concerned with who has a racing number on their plate and faster lap-times. That equates to who knows more to those people.

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The place I spend the most time is http://www.mcnews.com.au/forum/ because it is open to any- and everything revolving around motorcycles + just about any other topic that may pop up. These kind of forums often end up ugly, but this one has stayed friendly for well over a decade. Members range from people who rarely ride to active racers and team managers, from slow wobblers to really fast, from long distance tourers to commuters, from teenagers to the retired. It is definitely the last forum I'd like to see go away.

 

I used to be very active on a model-specific forum when I owned an old KZ400 twin and learned tons. I also spent a bit of time on the triumphrat forum when I owned a Sprint in 2006 and when I started my Daybird project (blending a Daytona and a Thunderbird into one) in 2009, but again it's mostly of interest when you seek specific information. The same holds true for a Volvo forum - uI use to gather information primarily.

 

Finally, I enjoy this forum a lot and would have spent much more time here if there were more action. That said, my presence is also an intrusion here in that I don't race nor have I any interest in riding tracks. So in that regard I'm forcing my way in and as such have to respect when I'm told to shut up ;)

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I spend most of my time on the Biker area on Pistonheads. Then I occasionally drop into the S1000RR forum, but it seems to be populated by a large quantity of what you guys refer to as 'squids', so you have to filter a lot of their rubbish out in order to get to the good information.

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When it comes to motorcycling I frequent the forums at K-Bikes.com, I-BMW, and NESBA. K-Bikes has been a wealth of information, advice, and good conversation about BMW K series bikes (which often come with unique problems) but it's a small community so I started checking out I-BMW and enjoy that one as well. NESBA has been a great place to learn about the track riding community, in general and specifically in my part of the country (there are regional forums and many of the members socialize outside of cyberspace). ADVRider.com is a big community and there is a lot of useful (and entertaining) information but its target audience is adventure riding enthusiasts.

 

I also frequent Jeepforums.com as Jeeps can be as big of an addiction as motorcycling if you aren't careful. :D

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Interesting to see the above, not surprising though.

 

On this forum we have quite purposefully kept it from having any ads, and any other subjects besides riding related. Certainly not that I don't have other interests and subjects, but we just wanted to keep this one narrowed down. I certainly think there are plenty of street related skills that we train, but doesn't seem like everyone connects those dots...many do, but not all.

 

Please continue to add other feedback, like to know what others think, even if only it's a +1.

 

Best,

CF

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For me, the Gain from forums is knowledge, parts, and machines. which is unlimited on the internet with search engines such as google. Definitely find it worth it, time is money. For parts and machines, you can usually find stuff for a fraction of the price even brand new unless you go to ebay. Depending on what your looking for knowledge wise, is that most of the people you'll find to answer your questions have 1st person reviews or experience on what your trying to figure out. Sometimes for mechanical failures,problems, fixes, and upgrades I will wait till i find 3-4+ confirmed identical answers for accurate results, unless theirs a legit reason and they break it down to physics and explain why. Only Forums i can currently confirm to be on is this one, and s1000rrforum. cause i jump in and out of way to many of them depending on what im trying to gain.

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The WERA Roadracing forum is one that I watch, great place for race info, clarification of race rules and classes, mechanical info, race bikes for sale, etc. The forum is very active but can get opinionated, mean, rude, and crass, and has sections for politics and other non-motorcycle stuff, which I avoid entirely. The forum is good for finding race items for sale like tire warmers, stands, bikes, trailers, you name it, or if you need a fast answer on race rules or a mechanical issue. It's a great resource for me for my Moriwaki MD250H because it seems like the only people who know much about that bike are the parents of the kids that are racing them, and they frequent the WERA forum and the USGPRU forum.

 

I also look at the BARF forum occasionally because they have an "Ask Keith Code" area, and it's always interesting to read his answers to rider questions.

 

I hate sites that have tons of ads and take ages to load. I like this CSS forum best of all and check this one most frequently because everyone is helpful and there are experts that I trust available to answer questions, like Cobie, Will, the Dunlop tire guy, etc. It is moderated well and no one is rude or condescending. I wish more people would post, though!

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Me too on the posting!

 

Just talked with another student a few days ago...reads the forum, loves the info, never posts.

 

If nothing else, it gives an indicator of what guys are interested in knowing/talking about. People posting on the forum will/have made a difference in the content, and diretion.

 

OK Lurkers, get out of the closest :).

 

CF

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I like this forum and this is where I do 95% of my motorcycle reading and posting.

 

I rarely read/post on a Yamaha R1 forum since I belong to a regional riding group that maintains a page on that website.

 

As for other forums, I used to do a lot more on some gun forums, but now I keep mostly to a 1911 forum.

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This is the only forum that I consistently visit.

 

It is about what interests me the most about motorcycles... Riding them. Other forums are model specific and therefore I only visit those to find information like parts, service techniques, specific distributors, etc, and mostly via google.

 

I think that the high standard of information in this forum is what makes people really like to read it... Maybe it is why some are hesitant to post as well?? Fear of being wrong??

 

I know when I post, I usually put a disclaimer saying that that is my understanding of it, and I ask for opinions / confirmation, etc...

 

I love that there are no attacks, constant joking, member bashing, etc etc... It is mature, to the point, and shares accurate information. I have been on lots of other forums and I can't believe the rubbish advice some people give to others... Or someone asks a question and the answer is totally irrelevant and disrespectful... That wastes my time.

 

I can read posts on this forum over and over again... just like the Twist books...

 

Keep doing what you doing, how you doing it!!!

 

J.

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J,

 

Thanks for that, nice specifics to hear about the forum.

 

For what it's worth, I find it helpful when people do post, as we don't think questions/opinions are stupid. Like how many agree with you? The majority, or just the ones that have responded?

 

My continuing quest to convert lurkers...

 

Best,

Cobie

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  • 4 weeks later...

I like this forum because it covers riding issues in a much deaper, more realistic and accurate manner than most of the others. I can talk about trading braking forces for cornering forces and you folks get it! I hang out at the GL1800Riders forum because I'm Mostly a commuter/touring rider and not a racer. Also, some of those guys have literally travelled 200,000 safe-street miles, two up, in all kinds of weather. They offer a depth of real world wisdom I enjoy. I belong to writing and health e-mail groups. FaceBook, Twitter (a little-don't really get it), and a few blogs I enjoy and comment on. Thinking back, I LIKE the way many of these focus on a specific topic: riding-cornering, touring-my state, health-my health issues. Keep up the good work.

 

PS

May I add that I really appreciate the respectful attitude maintained here.

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I hang out at the GL1800Riders forum because I'm Mostly a commuter/touring rider and not a racer. Also, some of those guys have literally travelled 200,000 safe-street miles, two up, in all kinds of weather. They offer a depth of real world wisdom I enjoy.

 

PS

May I add that I really appreciate the respectful attitude maintained here.

 

Ditto on the Post Script B)

 

As to safe street miles - the funny thing is that typically the least skilled riders also have the least number of accidents! No, I am not kidding you.

 

Many years ago, Cycle magazine collected 50 riders from all over USA that had been riding for some time and never had a single road accident. What they learned was that virtually every single one of them listed "riding within your limits" as the number one reason for staying accident free. Strangely enough, virtually nobody knew where their limits were, and the majority weren't even interested in learning about them or expanding their knowledge. Another interesting point was that a surprising number of them only used their rear brakes for stopping and wasn't interested in learning how to use the front brake safely; from memory I think only about 1/3 accepted the offer of free training similar to the MSF safety school.

 

Basically, what the Cycle staff learned was that you do not have to understand how to properly operate a motorcycle in order to stay safe. What you need to do, is to be careful. Sure, if you need to come to a quick stop, being able to use both brakes to their maximum ability will enhance your chances of stopping in time considerably. Just as it would be safer if you had to come to a full panic stop with linked ABS brakes over some old drum braked motorcycle provided the same starting speed.

 

And speed is the key word here. From any given speed, you need roughly twice the distance to brake to a standstill using the rear brake only as with both brakes. On a BMW S1000RR the difference would likely be greater, on a Gold Wing with passenger less, but the approximate figure works here. But although it takes twice as much braking distance, you cannot go twice as fast; double the speed and braking distance goes up 4 times. So if you have one rider using both brakes to perfection that can come to a full stop from 100 mph, the rear brake rider can do 75 at the same spot the brakes are hit and still come to a stop.

 

My point is that I would be very sceptical regarding the information long distance riders can give me when it comes to riding techniques; I'll rather get that from people who know how to ride at the limit. What I would listen to from the long distance crowd is how they behave to avoid trouble in the first place.

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Usually read NESBA since I belong and do track days with them. I to have encountered many, mainly cruiser riders, that never use the front brakes. Their reaction is interesting when I tell them I usually use just the front unless I'm two up. I just chuckle and tell them to "crush" the front brake sometime and see how quick they stop. Jeez why do I have to be a squid?

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I hang around on the GB Bikers forum, it's more social really but the main sections I look at are bike-related like Maintenance. It has a bit of a funny atmosphere sometimes though, a bit cliquey. Also the SV650.org forum which is great, lots of good info on the bike plus a good spirit of the people on there, if you ask a stupid question then someome will take the P then give you an answer as well.

 

As CBRkid says above, this might not be the most active forum going but if you filter out the waffle, BS and general filler of many other forums, it's up there with the biggest ones. I don't know of anywhere else where you can ask such highly technical questions or follow the conversations of riders of the calibre of many on here, which in itself is like going to the CSS compared to a track day. This could be why the volume of posting is fairly low, and there are a lot of lurkers, I read a lot of threads I can't make any useful comment on (and no doubt post in others that are just the same!).

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