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The Killstar

Idle Thumbs Motorcycle Club

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Visiting a Steam Fair today I spotted this beast (not my pic, but same bike). It occurs to me that steam bikes are step up in danger from the usual 'life in your hands' motorcycling, for one, there appears to be more controls that the average human has hands and feet.

1914-haleson-steam-motorcycle-3-858x570.jpg

more pics here, http://www.vintagebi...eam-motorcycle/

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I had a weird experience the other day when I was walking up to my bike and noticed that part of the plastic on my key had melted. I had dropped them a few days before and they fell between the header and the engine and it took me a bit to get them out. So I thought I'd switch it out with my spare key which is not melted in the slightest. But then it occurred to me that how many other keys have the opportunity to ever get melted because you dropped them in your engine? Certainly not car keys.

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Also, I really like that mesh grill over the headlight. Good touches! I'm in the market for a new bike and the more cool stuff I see people do to their bonnies the more I'm thinking it might be it.

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I would HIGHLY recommend them. But if you want to jazz it up a bit then the Triumph Scrambler is about the best looking bike I think I've seen in a while.

Triumph%20Scrambler%20900%2090%20%202.jpg

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I would HIGHLY recommend them. But if you want to jazz it up a bit then the Triumph Scrambler is about the best looking bike I think I've seen in a while.

Triumph%20Scrambler%20900%2090%20%202.jpg

I've always wondered about those scrambler pipes for a passenger -- I'll probably go two-up with my wife quite a bit and she is not enthused about those exhaust pipes near her right leg.

I've looked at the Scrambler a bit though at the local Triumph dealer in SF.

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There's an extensive amount of heat shielding over the pipes. The scrambler pipes' most limiting factor is the lack of a lot of saddlebag options. People have come up with a good amount of stuff, but very few are all that elegant.

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hey guys,

i just got back from the most fantastic ride ever. 18 days on the road. i went from amsterdam to budapest and back around and over the alps through eleven countries. roughly 6000kms (just under 4000 miles?)

the plan, in it's entirety, was: go to budapest and stay with a friend. i planned nothing else. just packed a sleeping back in case i had to sleep outside, bungeed my backpack to the pillion seat and rode away. i slept in hostels wherever i could find them and never even used my sleeping bag.

after a very dull time on the autobahn i made one rule: if the road has more than two lanes, take the first exit. the number of gorgeous abandoned b-roads i stumbled on to...

this is budapest:

IMG_0239.jpg

this day was a highlight:

IMG_0303.jpg

from milan up into the alps (on a road that was nothing but bikes) over col du mont cenis and down into france.

talk about freedom. jesus.

i could go on.

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I've always wondered about those scrambler pipes for a passenger -- I'll probably go two-up with my wife quite a bit and she is not enthused about those exhaust pipes near her right leg.

I've looked at the Scrambler a bit though at the local Triumph dealer in SF.

Have you thought about the Tiger? Its not as cool as the others, but it has a bit more grunt and might be more comfortable two up.

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VEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERY cool. Squid Division needs to post a link to his blog so we can see pics of our trips. I would look it up, but I am lazy.

any chance of this blog? i'm considering doing the states and it sounds like you guys have got around.

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When I was a wee lad, I remember having romantic notions of Che Guevara riding his motorcycle through South America. I didn't want to be a violent revolutionary, but I thought it would be rad to take a similar motorcycle trip.

Then I saw what his motorcycle looked like:

800px-CheMotorcycle.jpg

Granted, he did later get a proper Norton, but my image of Che was forever turned into the goofy image of some med student on a silly motorized bicycle.

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When I was a wee lad, I remember having romantic notions of Che Guevara riding his motorcycle through South America. I didn't want to be a violent revolutionary, but I thought it would be rad to take a similar motorcycle trip.

Then I saw what his motorcycle looked like:

800px-CheMotorcycle.jpg

Granted, he did later get a proper Norton, but my image of Che was forever turned into the goofy image of some med student on a silly motorized bicycle.

Someone on my block makes mopeds like that, I kinda think they are awesome.

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wow what a great trip. i would love to hit the road with my dad.

would you recommend the rockies then? (that's colorado right?) i can't say kansas looks too inviting - too much flat open space - but i love mountains.

i would also love to do guevara's ride. i'm learning spanish next year just so i can do south america. the andes by bike would really be something.

definitely not on a moped though.

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Someone on my block makes mopeds like that, I kinda think they are awesome.

In practice I think it's really cool, it's just the contrast between my original image, of Che with long black locks flowing in the wind as he revs up his Norton, and this guy (the real deal):

CheOnBike1950.jpg

Who's a cool guy in his own right, and that's probably more how I'll look in a year when I'm 22, but it's a huge drop from what I envisioned.

@chickenontheceiling, I've been sort of planning for a while to possibly take a trip to Argentina to live there for a year (Americans don't need a visa, so I can legally stay indefinitely as long as I leave the country for at least a day once every three months). I've been rethinking the plan in favor of moving to California to get my foot in the door of a decent career. I'm really kind of torn.

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yeah it's a tricky one.

depending on your industry you could do both? don't underestimate overseas experience as a foot in the door once you get back.

i can't speak for any other industry, but in graphic design bosses love that shit - it shows you can adapt (or at least that's how i sell it)

also buenos aires is pretty amazing.

also you lucky __. i would be stuck in visa hell if i moved there.

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nah, i'm from new zealand. i've been living here for a year so i could ride around europe on my british passport (dual nationality rules)

i thought you meant you could work in argentina on a US passport - in a sort of EU agreement type thing.

tourist visas are a bitch. this is what i mean by visa hell. i have a few friends tangled up in all the dutch bureaucracy trying to marry or be sponsored. cash jobs are easy to find but then having no bank account or official address can be really difficult.

if you can make it work though… there's a whole lot of country there to be seen.

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