[burkbuilds]

I really miss my GZ's helmet under seat "locks", they worked great, and were easy to use. My Vulcan 500 came with a helmet melter, you hook your helmet on, lock it, and let go of the helmet and it hits the exhaust pipe and melts. :shocked: I finally just removed the one on the Vulcan and bought one that mounted to my handlebars. I wouldn't leave your helmet just hanging on the sissy bar or handlebars unsecured though, several people at my previous school lost helmets that way.

As for parking, park boldly, take up the space and don't feel badly. As someone pointed out on a past post here, he parked in a space at the mall and the lady next to him got out and started griping about him taking up that whole space for just one motorcycle, his reply, how many people are riding in your car lady? Since stats show that 78% of the commuter drivers in Metro Atlanta are riding solo, I don't feel bad taking up the entire space. Now, having said that, if I see another motorcycle parked in a spot and there's room for me to park without being to close to the other bike, or blocking them, I'll often park with them.

Good leather boots will offer you good protection. Steel toes are designed for crush resistance on a construction or manufacturing job and it is unlikely that they will make much of an improvement in an accident. Besides, steel toes get really cold in the Winter. A lot of construction workers I worked with over the years avoided using the steel toe boots unless management forced them to just because they make your toes feel colder in the Winter weather.

The Harley Riding boots I own are the most comfortable shoes I have, and that includes my tennis shoes, however, I found the zippers (made of vinyl not brass) to be of poor quality and after about a year of riding the leather was holding up well, but the zippers were shot. That's way to much money to pay, in my opinion, for a pair of riding boots that have to be replaced or have expensive repairs made to them in a year, so I went to Milwaukee for my next set of boots, not as comfortable, but still okay, and much better quality zippers and "eyes" for the laces. Let me add that I ride daily and wear the boots 10-12 hours a day, so that's probably pretty extreme compared to most riders needs, therefore, the zipper problem may not be an issue with someone who only wears the boots a few hours a week.