so i took the freeway today.

[ZooTech]

you are wrong man, wrong i tell you...wrong!

both the 405 and the 101 are horrible...you get stuck in cracks, potholes from time to time.....

the streets are horrible as well, the street i most ride on is is ventura blvd....try taking it from winnetka to van nuys....SO MANY holes and cracks in the ground.

LA ROADS SUCK!

Take just one trip to Detroit on your bike, then we'll talk.

[jstark47]

it's annoying to ride around the parts where the road isn't smooth... the bike was shaking all the time.

I run a 14 mile stretch of I-295 on the way to work. The road has deteriorated so much I won't take the bike to work if it means riding after dark. At 80mph I out run my headlights, and it's dangerous to hit some of the holes on that road. The seams between the lanes have widened into jagged trenches in some spots. If I don't run 75-80, I'll just get run over, the drivers out there at commuting time are nutz. Run in the right lane and I'm fair game for every blind idiot merging in who can't see a motorcycle.

Dueling with the cagers is kind of fun.... ...but not after dark!

[cruisinflatout]

I assume you've never gone over 55??

I'm an advocate for safety but I don't regard going 90 on a virtually empty freeway that unsafe - go ahead - call me squidly now.

I ride that fast quite often. A few weeks ago I had a hubcap rolling at me from two lanes over. S***t happens very fast at 90. My point to VX was that maybe his skills have not yet been honed to the point that he can safely react to things that happen at 90mph.

It was just a bit of advice from a former noob who'd been there, done that, and paid the price (1 new bike and some ER bills). It's his to take or leave.

BTW - I'm sure it can happen, but I've never seen a "virtually empty" freeway in LA.

Fair enough - I hear where you're coming from...I just thought you were being a little harsh is all.

I just go back to when I was a n00b...I played it safe but I still got her up to 90MPH when it was as safe to do so as possible (virtually deserted highway etc) - mind you we have more deserted highways out here than say - LA.

It's never completely safe to ride fast but then anything can happen even at 40MPH - I figure if you're gonna worry about going down all the time, then perhaps sticking to something 4 wheels plus would be the best plan.

The speed & acceleration is part of the riding experience - the goal is to embrace that as safely as possible.

[Dragonhawk]

Congrats on the freeway ride, V! Bumpy huh? LA freeways must be terrible.

All the LA streets and freeways are VERY nice.

you are wrong man, wrong i tell you...wrong!

both the 405 and the 101 are horrible...you get stuck in cracks, potholes from time to time.....

the streets are horrible as well, the street i most ride on is is ventura blvd....try taking it from winnetka to van nuys....SO MANY holes and cracks in the ground.

LA ROADS SUCK!

You conveniently left out the rest of my statement when you quoted me.

Like I said, the first time: Anyone who thinks roads in California are bad has never been to Ohio.

Go ride the streets of Cleveland in the springtime after a winter of getting ripped apart by snow and ice and salt. Then you will see what real cracks and potholes are like. The 101, 405 and Ventura do NOT have any cracks or potholes. Those are divots and grooves.

[VermilionX]

The 101, 405 and Ventura do NOT have any cracks or potholes. Those are divots and grooves.

what are those for?

[Shiv]

I think just different terminology. It essentially means the same.


Or actually, probably to a lesser degree. A divot isn't quite as deep as a pothole and a groove is just a dip, not actually a crack.

[scan]

you are wrong man, wrong i tell you...wrong!

both the 405 and the 101 are horrible...you get stuck in cracks, potholes from time to time.....

the streets are horrible as well, the street i most ride on is is ventura blvd....try taking it from winnetka to van nuys....SO MANY holes and cracks in the ground.

LA ROADS SUCK!

Take just one trip to Detroit on your bike, then we'll talk.

I know what this means! During my trips to Detroit on my bike I have to play dodge the pot holes and surf the cold patch mounds. And to add to that Detroit has some of the fastest drivers I've ever seen. There is a strecth of freeway where the speed limit is 70 MPH and most folks do around 20 over. I forget why I go there now.

[Dirtytoes]

Take just one trip to Detroit on your bike, then we'll talk.

The 101, 405 and Ventura do NOT have any cracks or potholes. Those are divots and grooves.

i guess i have alot of riding to do then....

still though, L.A. roads are HORRIBLE! they are definitly on the top 5 worst roads list.

[flynrider]

One of the nastier things I noticed about the freeways in L.A. was that the slabs don't fit together very smoothly. I don't know if it's just age or all of that seismic activity, but some stretches have these bone jarring lips and dropoffs every 30 ft. Maybe I've become a freeway wuss riding on the smooth rubberized asphalt here in PHX, but I really thought I was going to do some suspension damage last time I rode there.