Yep

[Greg]

Go fast, curvy roads, empty head, fill soul, BE!


 

[vince]

And your point is your leading another ride?

[Greg]

no, just random musings.

[Deplorable, thank you!]

Fast is always relative, and one persons fast is another persons reckless abandon, and still another person slow......

Curvy roads, there is no other road worth riding on!

Empty head...............personally when I ride, my head is always full......... I am positive I would not ride if my head was empty, way too much information to soak in and make actions from


but that ... fill your soul.......... Now that I 100% agree with you on!

BE......... interpretative I suppose.... but not so much for me based on my interpretation of BE

So I guess we can agree on 2/5........... 40%, another failing grade I suppose, that first one we may or may not agree on, since it is so subjective........maybe we are 3/5 and 60%

 but I do have a yep...........
 Customers, not all but some- would be far better off to never speak a word, just drop off bike and pick up bike and never utter a single word!!!

[Greg]

"Empty head...............personally when I ride, my head is always full......... I am positive I would not ride if my head was empty, way too much information to soak in and make actions from"

Sorry to have to state the obvious . I mean "empty" of other thoughts. Head is strictly focused on one task, riding. A common thread for decades among motorcyclists is this central point. The "zen" like experience of BEing in the moment, empty head of other thoughts, focusing on one task. Pretty sure there is even a very famous book explain this. https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Motorcycle-Maintenance-Inquiry/dp/0060589469

[sleeper404]

I agree with the Zen, exhaust drowns out the cell phone ringer, rumble of the seat dampens stupid cell phone vibration... maybe I should just throw away my cell phone to achieve nirvana?

[Deplorable, thank you!]

Isn't that book about some father son motorcycle trip?
A few customers have mentioned it........ I do not see how it relates to motorcycle maintenance really, especially not the art there of!

I mean maybe they had some mechaincal breakdowns they needed to address, still isn't about the art of motorcycle maintenance.........


cell phone............. Shut it off, throw it in the tank bag and use only for emergencies.........oh wait, I got in trouble last ride for doing just that......... _
 but that is my thought on a cell phone, use only when absolutely necessary otherwise ringer off and let it be far away from me, or just shut it off all together and have peace and quiet

[naustin]

"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" is not about motorcycles, or about motorcycle maintenance, or about a road trip between a father and son -- though all three of those are described circumstantially.   It is an exploration of the metaphysics of Quality, where ever it can be found, whether in in experiences, endeavors, or relationships.

From Wikipedia:

"In an example of the classical approach, the narrator explains that one must pay continual attention: when the narrator and his friends came into Miles City, Montana[4] he notices that the "engine idle is loping a little", a possible indication that the fuel/air mixture is too rich. The next day he is thinking of this as he is going through his ritual to adjust the valves on his cycle's engine. During the adjustment, he notes that both spark plugs are black, confirming a rich mixture. He recognizes that the higher elevation is causing the engine to run rich. The narrator rectifies this by installing new jets.... and the engine runs well again."

"With this, the book details two types of personalities: those who are interested mostly in gestalts (romantic viewpoints focused on being "in the moment", and not on rational analysis), and those who seek to know details, understand inner workings.... (classic viewpoints with application of rational analysis, vis-a-vis motorcycle maintenance)."

"The narrator aims towards a perception of the world that embraces both sides, the rational and the romantic. This means encompassing "irrational" sources of wisdom and understanding as well as science, reason and technology. In particular, this must include bursts of creativity and intuition that seemingly come from nowhere and are not (in his view) rationally explicable. He seeks to demonstrate that rationality and Zen-like "being in the moment" can harmoniously coexist. He suggests such a combination of rationality and romanticism can potentially bring a higher quality of life."

"It has been noted that Pirsig's romantic/classical dichotomy resembles Nietzsche's Dionysian/Apollonian dichotomy as described in The Birth of Tragedy." 

[sleeper404]

cell phone............. Shut it off, throw it in the tank bag and use only for emergencies.........oh wait, I got in trouble last ride for doing just that......... _
 but that is my thought on a cell phone, use only when absolutely necessary otherwise ringer off and let it be far away from me, or just shut it off all together and have peace and quiet

I agree, sadly the rest of the world seems to live in the post "It can wait until tomorrow" world.

[Greg]

"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" is not about motorcycles, or about motorcycle maintenance, or about a road trip between a father and son -- though all three of those are described circumstantially.   It is an exploration of the metaphysics of Quality, where ever it can be found, whether in in experiences, endeavors, or relationships.

From Wikipedia:

"In an example of the classical approach, the narrator explains that one must pay continual attention: when the narrator and his friends came into Miles City, Montana[4] he notices that the "engine idle is loping a little", a possible indication that the fuel/air mixture is too rich. The next day he is thinking of this as he is going through his ritual to adjust the valves on his cycle's engine. During the adjustment, he notes that both spark plugs are black, confirming a rich mixture. He recognizes that the higher elevation is causing the engine to run rich. The narrator rectifies this by installing new jets.... and the engine runs well again."

"With this, the book details two types of personalities: those who are interested mostly in gestalts (romantic viewpoints focused on being "in the moment", and not on rational analysis), and those who seek to know details, understand inner workings.... (classic viewpoints with application of rational analysis, vis-a-vis motorcycle maintenance)."

"The narrator aims towards a perception of the world that embraces both sides, the rational and the romantic. This means encompassing "irrational" sources of wisdom and understanding as well as science, reason and technology. In particular, this must include bursts of creativity and intuition that seemingly come from nowhere and are not (in his view) rationally explicable. He seeks to demonstrate that rationality and Zen-like "being in the moment" can harmoniously coexist. He suggests such a combination of rationality and romanticism can potentially bring a higher quality of life."

"It has been noted that Pirsig's romantic/classical dichotomy resembles Nietzsche's Dionysian/Apollonian dichotomy as described in The Birth of Tragedy." 

He seeks to demonstrate that rationality and Zen-like "being in the moment" can harmoniously coexist. He suggests such a combination of rationality and romanticism can potentially bring a higher quality of life.

Yep. Be. Zen.
Eat sleep ride, repeat.
Very few things in life have had this effect on me like motorcycling has. This learning curve has also taught me how to focus on "BEing" in the moment in other areas of life as well. It's very spiritually freeing.

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. :-p

[Elk]

There is a passage in the book I recall from reading it in high school where a specific maintenance task is stymied by a stuck screw.  He is trying to get a side cover off. I enjoyed the recognition that a small part can be very valuable. 

“Normally screws are so cheap and small and simple you think of them as unimportant. But now, as your Quality awareness becomes stronger, you realize that this one, individual, particular screw is neither cheap nor small nor unimportant.

“Right now this screw is worth exactly the selling price of the whole motorcycle, because the motorcycle is actually valueless until you get the screw out."