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Major Softie wrote:Well, now that you bring it up, the Leatherman is the Swiss Army knife of multitools, which, by your analogy, makes my Gerber the Leatherman of multitools.

The designs have of course changed since then, but back in 2004 I was at the IBMWR Blitz To Branson, where an informal debate arose as to whether the Leatherman or the Gerber was the superiour tool. The Leatherman won because it had a bottle opener and the Gerber didn't. Hey, BMW-riders got prioroties!

Zombie Master wrote:My Leatherman is out of warranty now (25 years). The original is a tool that you have to be careful handling. I wonder if the newer models are safer to use.

What sort of unsafeness do the old ones have? I sliced my finger GOOD on my first one in the 90s, but it was my own damn fault. HOLY CRAP THAT BLADE WAS SHARP! Took 20 minutes to stop the bleeding.

Steve in Golden wrote:The "proboscis" grows on you, as does the appearance of the bike in general. I used to think the GS was a bit on the homely side but after owning and riding it for 13,000+ miles I have grown to like the way it looks. Including the "proboscis".

I liked it from the git-go. But then I'm a little weird.

Haven't put crash bars on yet because they are expensive and add more weight when I already long for more power.

I recommend getting them anyway. Repairing a damaged head will be MUCH more expensive, and they really don't weigh enough to worry about, at least mine didn't. The part I hated was the bar that tied them together across the bottom- and had to be removed to get the bash-plate out of the way for oil-changes. Of course different bars will have different quirks. I had the SW Motech bars.

Excuse me, Steve, but we're trying to discuss multi-tools here.

My Gerber (about 15 years old) has a bottle opener. The Leatherman was first, but the Gerber was far superior as it had smooth handles when you used the pliers, while the Leatherman really bit into your hand when you squeezed the pliers hard. The Gerber pliers could also be opened one-handed. Since the Gerber came out, Leatherman has, of course, come out with other models that address the grip issue, but I still prefer Gerbers because of the ability to open them one-handed (very valuable when working at heights and thus very popular with lighting technicians), but I bought my daughter a (Leatherman) Juice Xe6 because it came in purple (commonly known as The Grape Juice), and that was far more important to her than any little practicality issues like one-handed opening.

My Gerber (it's the "compact" model):



The "Juice"

My neighbor was telling me about his daughter bugging him to get her a laptop.
When he asked her things like how much memory and disk space it had, she said "I don't know, but it's RED!".

Having a GS doesn't mean you're a poser but one thing it (usually) means is that you have longer legs than I do.

And, for the record, I likes me my big Swiss Army knife. It's the one with the bigger, thicker blade and a coupla screw drivers and a cork screw. I use it many times every day. I see the value in those multi tools but I've never warmed up to them.

Chuey

Edit: I saw an article in the MOA magazine about a guy who crashed his modern GS off road and the valve cover broke. That is to say that they're not as tough as the old timey ones on Airheads. Just something to add fuel to the consideration of whether or not you want crash bars.

Chuey wrote:Having a GS doesn't mean you're a poser but one thing it (usually) means is that you have longer legs than I do.

Chuey, you know I suffer from the same congenital inseam deprivation condition as yourself, and I've always felt the same way about GS's, but last weekend I was embarrassed by a young lady who is only about 5' - 4" tall and was riding her boyfriend's GS - with no lowering kit or even a low seat. Her own bike is a 750 Magna (very low seat), but, on pavement, she handled that GS just fine.

It made us look like....






pussies.

Was it a GS or a GSA? GSA's are even taller than GS's.

The young lady must have been quite the accomplished motorcyclist.

But the real question is.....











was she cute????

Steve in Golden wrote:Was it a GS or a GSA? GSA's are even taller than GS's.

The young lady must have been quite the accomplished motorcyclist.

But the real question is.....

was she cute????

Just a GS: a late GS1100. I think it was a '99. She is not what one would call a "hottie," but she's not unattractive either. Of course, she's about 17 years younger than me, and that always accounts for a certain amount of "attractive." And she rides. Just those two things add up to a lot of "attractive" right there.

(If you're a boob guy, then she was stunning)

Of course, it's been well established that I'm a pussy. I kind of just accept it.

I saw a video of a short guy riding a GS and he did some sliding around and stuff but when he stopped it, he had to do a horsey type dismount. That could get old really quick..............for a pussy.

Chuey