Wilsons Sandbox

We all know the big SUV craze feeds on "inadaquacies." In my experiences watching all the idiot drivers who seem determined to turn me and my KLR into road kill, SUV's are occupied by women 80% (or more) of the time. That's an average because the LARGER the SUV, the more likely it's semi-piloted by a woman. An old style Chrokee? Could be a guy. BUT an Expidition, Surbuan or (god help us!) Excursion? I'll bet you it's a woman. SUV's are ised by the women here as a way of playing the once male dominated game of "Mine's Bigger." (NOTE: In some areas here, the variation of the game is "I Can Make My Husband Buy Me More Expensive Things.") A NEW trend here is to further promote one's "tough guy" image by sticking a Harley Davidson sticker on the afore mentioned SUV. Here's the question: Who's the bigger pretender? Someone with a Harley sticker slapped on their on-road only SUV, or someone who actually BUYS a $15,000 Harley to sit in their garage? I hate SUV's AND Harleys! They BOTH contribute to negative stereotypes of women (SUV's) and those of us who ride motorcycles (HD's)! Lamar A14 (that is ridden almost every day!)

well, my bike seems to be running great now, with a modified airbox, stage II jet kit and ids2 w/10 discs. i went to the stage II kit because of knocking under full throttle that seemed like it might be leanness. everything is swell, except that my mileage is down annoyingly to around 49-50mpg. some of this is certainly due to a different riding style. now that the bike goes faster, i wanna twist the throttle more. but i was thinking about jetting, and looking at some of the charts in ron's article on the ds website. i thought about moving the needle clip back up one notch (to the stage I position) to see if i'll get better mileage without going overly lean. it seemed like the medium throttle openings were pretty good with the stage I setting, and really only full throttle (or close to it) was bad, so maybe i coulda just changed the main jet and left the needle setting alone. any ideas? if i try this, what symptoms should i be on the lookout for that would indicate an overly lean needle clip setting? knocking? higher engine temps? surging at steady speeds? mw