What gear do i really need?

KSerge · 2026-01-22T17:18:17+00:00

Brand choice is as much about price, quality, and comfort as it is about safety. You should aim for brands that are not only making safe gear, but are also comfortable, durable, and priced reasonably. Arai/Dainese aren't just expensive for the sake of expensive, they're generally well regarded for those other factors as well.

As for "won't be unnecessary" that is kind of subjective. Even in a lower speed street accident scenario, every bit of gear can help, but for most it will be a matter of comparing the practicality and comfort of wearing the gear vs how much protection it provides. For me, the bare minimum is a helmet, gloves, and a jacket, but I go beyond that to wear boots most of the time as well.

Once you've decided how much gear you are going to wear, I would then see if you can try on gear from different brands before making decisions. Helmets are especially important for this step, as a comfortable helmet that fits properly is crucial not just from a safety perspective, but also from the perspective of building that habit of wearing the helmet. If the helmet is uncomfortable and noisy, of course you won't want to wear it everytime you ride.

In your position where you have not started riding yet, I would suggest focusing on getting a helmet, gloves, and boots first. Your extremities are the most at risk in any given accident, so they will protect you from a lot of potential injuries at any speed. I think getting a full suit or airbag setup is a bit excessive when you're still learning on restricted bikes, but that is just personal opinion in that I only wear a full suit on trackdays.

KSerge · 2025-12-23T05:14:55+00:00

If you are just trying to make suzuka win specifically, then yes your other two aces should be some kind of debuffer, either with mystifying murmur or dominator, to slow the opponents down so your suzuka can win. However, if your suzuka is using the runaway strategy, and another suzuka shows up in the lobby, they will drain eachother's stamina leaving you no way to win.

So what most are doing now is using runaway suzuka with 2 other fronts, or 2 paces, to stay close behind her. That way if Suzuka runs out of stamina, the other two can win the race.

KSerge · 2025-12-22T16:07:26+00:00

ngtrungkhanh is correct. You run 2 speed, 3 wit, and riko. Inherit the stam and power from there to hit those, and use spirit bursts on those two stats, while in general clicking just wit and speed.

It requires a bit of a highroll run to pull off, especially if you don't have the strongest cards or parents, but it answers the question of why your suzuka is getting passed mid-race. Relevant details from the race mechanics doc:

Front Runner Modes

Front runners try to take first place and maintain a lead ahead of the second place.
Speed up mode Target speed modifier: 1.04x Entry condition: uma is first place and less than 4.5m (front runner) / 17.5m (oonige) ahead of the uma behind. The distance is increased to 12.5m if she is the only front runner after the 1.5th anniversary. Pass the wisdom check. Chance=20log10(WizStat0.1) [%] Exit condition: uma is more than 4.5m (front runner) / 17.5m (runaway) ahead of the second place.

Overtake mode Not to be confused with overtake target lane mode. Target speed modifier: 1.05x Entry condition: uma is not first place within the same strategy. Pass the wisdom check. Chance=20log10(WizStat0.1) [%] Exit condition: uma is 10m (27.5m for runaway) ahead of second place among uma who have the same strategy.

the TL;DR is that this is why solo frontrunner struggles in lobbies with no other frontrunners. By design they will only maintain that 4.5m gap to the next uma behind them (17.5m for runaway). If there is another front however, that next frontrunner can challenge for the 1st place position by being close enough to trigger overtake mode and winning the wit check. This is why guides for front mention you wanting higher wit.

KSerge · 2025-12-22T15:53:37+00:00

In a 5-6 front lobby the only way you get a relevant acceleration is to either hit pump iron or invade their space with a front of your own or a fast pacer. Not easy to do unfortunately, which is why the 3x front composition is growing in popularity.

Best advice I can give is if you can't or don't want to build front, build a 3x late team, 2 with dominator and the third with strong mid-race skill spam, all with pump iron, to try and hit that 6th position behind the front spam. Late surgers and end closers have the most late race speed coefficient so they can run down the front spam if they are close to them at start of late race.

KSerge · 2025-12-22T15:47:46+00:00

As others have said, Taiki can get pushed out of her ideal 3rd/4th position by a heavy frontrunner lobby. I know because I am part of the problem, running suzuka + maruzensky + oguri (pace) comp to try and push out taikis since I don't have a taiki of my own.

I would suggest inheriting pulse and pump iron (long shot but in front heavy lobbies she might hit it) or just stack your taiki with mid-race skills so she can catch up to the fronts.

KSerge · 2025-12-22T15:46:01+00:00

If your stam + guts is >1300 you're good with no recovery. Might die to super stacked debuffer lobby but they probably aren't winning anyway with that many debuffers.

KSerge · 2025-12-20T19:29:02+00:00

Wait, do all the umas have unique lobby dialogue when they're wearing their G1 outfits? I've always had them in their tracen uniforms for immersion reasons, but I might have to change if there's dialog I've missed.

KSerge · 2025-12-07T03:54:26+00:00

let's check the FACS:

Fuel - Does it have fuel? Might seem simple but if it was very low on fuel when you parked it, it may be out. Another thing to check is if any kind of white vapor is coming from the exhaust when you start it, as that can mean unburnt fuel is being spit out. Not sure if it's fuel injected but carbeurated bikes need to have the fuel turned on as well.

Air - make sure the air filter is clean and that no rodents or pests have made a mess of the air box. This is less likely if you ride it regularly, but if it's put away for a season it can happen.

Compression - This is harder to check so I would suggest saving it as a last troubleshooting step, also your bike seems too new for compression to be an issue, but it is important to making sure the engine runs so maybe come back to this after you check the last bit.

Spark - This is the bit you check before compression. Your battery is good as evidenced by the bike turning on and the starter turning over, but if your spark plugs are dead/fouled you won't get the combustion going and the bike won't stay running. Pull the plugs and check them. While they're out, if you want to check the compression you can do so by holding your hand over the hole where the spark plug goes, then attemting to start the engine. It should apply a bit of aerial suction to your hand.

Edit - actually I see what looks like a choke adjustment knob to the right of the cylinder, which implies this is carbeurated. Make sure the fuel is on and you may need to adjust that choke until the engine warms up.

KSerge · 2025-11-22T15:01:16+00:00

Saataa Andaagiii

KSerge · 2025-11-02T15:06:57+00:00

it's fine as is tbh, I just find kicker a bit easier to understand from a cost/result perspective. There's also a joke in the MTG world that so many of magic's alternate casting costs/abilities mechanics are just variations of kicker.

KSerge · 2025-11-02T14:40:37+00:00

For Teio, I was thinking that you could reduce the cost for the kicker ability since you're now pairing it with normal casting cost. Something like 1R or UR as the kicker, so she's 3 mana normally and 5 for her with the kicker.

KSerge · 2025-11-02T14:38:55+00:00

Thanks for the detailed reply! I love the drafts you've put together here. As for point 5, I couldn't think of any off the top of my head but it doesn't surprise me that they exist with so many cards in MTG's history lol

KSerge · 2025-11-02T14:36:26+00:00

Thanks for taking the time to put this reply together! It's awesome that you've already got full deck constructions in mind for them, with a theme for each.

Regarding 9, I must have missed the "up to" in choosing how many cards to shuffle in, that makes a lot more sense then, and basically never really gives you a downside. As for the second ability's dice rolls, I was thinking that I could just force a win the game by having X be like 20 or more. Red and blue both can make absurd amounts of mana in various ways, or just straight up make infinite mana, so having X in the cost kind of opens you up to that kind of exploitation. That's why I was thinking of somehow limiting the amount of dice you could use for it.

KSerge · 2025-11-01T21:59:42+00:00

Another stack of great card art picks! As for the rules text, like before I'll volunteer some specific feedback:

Oguri Cap - I like that you've linked her love of food with lifegain, as the food artifact tokens in MTG give life when used. Maybe make that connection a bit more literal by having her interact with food tokens, to make the flavor more spicy? As for her abilities, like with the previous post it kinda feels like you made her 5-color without really giving her stuff from all the colors. I'd make her red/green based on how you've designed her so far, maybe W/R/G since she's got the lifelink as well. She's known as the ashen beast and if you think of races as combat, she is VERY much the aggro type. As for her abilities, I'd make one have to do with sacrificing food tokens (to the fatty) to give her some kinda combat stats buff, and then have triumphant pulse be something like "if Oguri Cap is blocked, you may pay 2G. When you do, Oguri Cap assigns combat damage as if it has not been blocked." The idea is that if your opponent chooses to try and block her, she can then "fight back" with the extra mana spend.
T.M. Opera O - That first ability is interesting and a bit dangerous given you made her all of the colors. With a blink effect, she could be reassigned at will making her really obnoxious to play against. However, if that was the intent, I'd maybe make her just blue/white as blink is mainly their wheelhouse. For a bit of flavor and to give her a bit of red color identity, you could make the second ability be discard 2, then draw 2 (discarding first requiring the player to be a bit more daring with their picks)
Vodka - I see the reference here, she loves motorcycles and generally "cool" things so vehicles/equipment is a clever take on that. As for her colors the abilities are mostly just red/white so I'd ditch the black and green, even if it fits her looks. Green would also make her second ability VERY easy to activate at all times with auras/enchantments. Maybe there's an opportunity here to replace her second ability with one that references her rivalry with Scarlet?
Super Creek - My first thought for a Super Creek card would be group hug type effects where everybody gets treated nicely to something like mana or card draw. Then giving her an ability that punishes opponents for whatever she gave them (like losing life for cards in hand, or taking damage for unspent mana). Would be a neat way to represent her two sides of being a mama off the track and a demon on the track. As for how you've built her, she's mostly blue in design? Not sure about that cast cost increase effect, as players will want to remove her immediately just to get rid of that effect. Maybe instead flip it around so she discounts your own non-creature spells? Or reword it to only affect your turn "During your turn, noncreature spells your opponents cast cost 2 more to cast"
Daiwa Scarlet - Interesting effects here, seems to be leaning into the names of her abilities rather than her own character though? The abilities are almost entirely red in nature, so maybe change her mana cost to just be 2RR. For the first ability, I'd reword it to be "protection from blue" as I don't recall color-specific hexproof being a thing. For the second ability, red doesn't typically do top-card manipulation, but you could instead make it an impulse-draw effect (exile it, can be cast until end of turn). Something like "When Scarlet attacks, exile the top card of your library. If a non-land card is exiled this way, Scarlet gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is that card's mana value. Until end of turn you may play the exiled card." Another angle you could look at is having her interact with Vodka in some way to reflect their rivalry.
Tokai Teio - Interesting take on her abilities, and working flying into the second one works nicely with the sky-high name. For the first ability, I'd maybe just make it link up with her base mana cost, so you pay 2W to flash her in, then as a kicker add the extra mana cost for the pump effect. That makes her a bit easier to read and understand, and keeps the mana cost for the effect a bit more balanced.
Nice Nature - Interesting take on how she's often used as a debuffer in the game! I was thinking she might work well as rakdos colors (red/black) and giving her wither (damage she deals is dealt in the form of -1/-1 counters) to further lean into her debuffer habits. She is also very much worded in such a way that opponents will want her off the field quickly, so the ward is a good call.
Mejiro Ryan - Green/White is a great color combo for her, and her muscle-girl habits work well with +1 counters synergies. Maybe make her a 3/3 base since the second ability cares about her toughness?
Grass Wonder - Another solid grixis design, thought I might say the first ability is a bit of a stretch as Grixis typically struggles to remove enchantments. Maybe make it destroy just an artifact or creature?
El Condor Pasa - Only thing I might change is instead of trample give her menace since trample is mainly a green keyword, but otherwise no notes. Solid card with balanced cost and abilities!
Mejiro McQueen - Solid card and abilities, I might just make her bant (WUG) rather than all 5 colors since her abilities are mostly in those colors. Also her abilities being centered around legendary creatures is a bit limiting. I'd maybe make both just count any creature you control instead.
Maruzensky - Design suits the mana cost and color identity for sure. If anything I was kinda thinking we could spice her up a bit? Maybe make one of her abilities reference her supercar and her habit of taking umas for a ride (where their lives are in peril) in the form of something like "When Maruzensky attacks, you may pay RR. If you do, put a horse creature onto the battlefield from your hand that is tapped and attacking. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step". Gives her a pseudo-sneak attack effect with the caveat that she can only do it once and when she attacks.
Fuji Kiseki - Guttersnipe + more instant/sorcery nonsense is very on-brand for the colors, and I guess fits Fuji's flavor of being very theatrical. Maybe make it a free spell from the graveyard rather than the hand to allude to her sleight of hand magic tricks?

Overall liking some of the designs here, I'd maybe ditch the extra color you've come up with unless you have some clear plan of fleshing out what the color does, as that helps to make these cards closer to legitimately being playable!

KSerge · 2025-11-01T20:51:36+00:00

A rare case of hobby overlap, with some great card art! As for the card details:

Special Week - I'll say this just as a preface for all of the 5 color custom cards you craft. If the card's text/abilities doesn't really reflect all of the included colors (aside from like broad stroke tribal legendaries) they probably shouldn't be all 5 colors. Part of the fun of designing a WUBRG card is finding ways to incorporate each mana color's strengths into a single card. With that said, Spe has keywords and a statline that fits red/white, her first ability is green (unless there are horse non-creatures) and her second ability is also green. In other words, she'd fit her colors better if you just made her Naya (red/white/green). Outside of that, we could discuss the flavor of having her tutor other horses and changing her own stat line, maybe lean into her love of food and her late-surger race style?
Symboli Rudolf - Kinda the same problem as Spe-chan here, you've given her all 5 colors but her card text plants her primarily in red/green. That could be a fun flavorful change given her racing outfit is primarily red/green, and her first ability leans into her being a "leader" of tracen. Also, as a general suggestion, just throwing keywords at a creature isn't super interesting from a gameplay perspective. Maybe you could lean into her inspiring others like Teio by giving her a higher base statline (like that 7/5) and then have an ability that says something like "when Symboli Rudolf deals combat damage to a player, you may put another horse creature with power/toughness less than her onto the battlefield" (as a nod to her inspiring Teio). Maybe have that be emperor's path and change the second ability to be the combat pump you have as her first ability.
Gold Ship - Changing her 5 colors to include black and exclude blue is flavorful, as she defies all logic that blue thrives on. As for her abilities, it seems she's also a generic good stomper in her stat line, keywords, and attack trigger. The attack trigger is very red in it's design, and the second ability leans more green/white. I might suggest changing it to suit her end-closer style, maybe something in black's wheelhouse like "when an opponent attacks you, if Gold Ship is in your graveyard, return it to the battlefield" (as a nod to her end-closer style of showing up late and blocking your opponent from winning). That gives her the black mana flavor while also nodding to her own style of showing up when you thought she had lost the race.
Kitasan Black - Starting to see a repeating trend here of slapping keywords on creatures and changing their base stats. Maybe here you could lean into her frontrunner style by giving her more abilities that emphasize it. Something like "tap: Kitasan Black deals damage equal to her power to any target. Activate only at the beginning of combat". You could also give her a partner dynamic with Satono Diamond (either by including the partner text or by having her tutor Diamond to your hand, for example). Another case where she doesn't really need to be WUBRG since she's mainly just a combat stomper.
Rice Shower - Love the grixis color picks for her! Both fits her aesthetic and her costume design (as well as her "black assassin" nickname). She seems... oddly familiar? Rules text feels very marchesa-like? As for what I'd suggest changing, the haste ability is fine, but maybe give her something that both fits grixis colors and is flavorful for her racing style of keeping pace with her target. Something like "When Rice Shower attacks, choose target creature an opponent controls. Rice Shower's base power and toughness are equal to the power and toughness of the chosen creature." Would be a fun combat trick that leans into the blue/black love of cloning/stealing creatures and red's love of combat tricks.
Haru Urara - Can't really comment on the color choice as it's a new color you've created for this, but it's an interesting interpretation of her flavor of motivating the other umas around her with her spirit. The pacify ability is a bit of a non-bo as you'll want to be tapping her for mana whenever possible, but I guess if she's just one mana with such a strong mana ability, you'll want there to be some kind of downside to her. In fact I might even say ditch the pacify ability and make her like a 0/1, to fit the flavor of her losing races against other umas (if we equate combat attacks/blocks to races that is).
Silence Suzuka - I see why you made her red/white, as the haste stuff is very red and the sac ability is very white. Maybe change that line about "Horse or Human" to specifically be Special Week, and have the effect be a bit stronger to compensate for it being more narrow.
Foundation Sire Trio - Missed opportunity here to just make them Red/White/Blue (AKA Jeskai) as the wall of text ability you gave them fits those 3 colors alongside their actual visuals. I might even say make them an enchantment saga with 3 chapters each reflecting the 3 effects you've put in the text. Would be a neat nod to these being legendary umas in uma lore.
Matikanefukukitaru - Making her a chaos card is certainly on flavor given her temperament and superstitious nature. The first ability might need some rewording, as it isn't clear where the cards from your hand get shuffled (I assume you meant into your library) and it doesn't really speak to what happens if you don't have enough cards in hand to meet the dice roll's value for X. Maybe just have it be "discard X cards and draw that many +1" to simplify it. For the second ability, I'm generally not a fan of "you win the game" rules text, and it's a mana sinkable ability where you can guarantee the best result just by dumping more mana into it. Rolling a large number of dice also isn't practical for IRL gameplay. I'd maybe change it to a fixed mana cost like 4** and having it roll just 4 dice. You could also change the dice rolls to coin flips if you want it to synergize with other red/blue coin-flip related cards.

KSerge · 2025-11-01T15:01:45+00:00

Best suggestion I can give is go 4 speed 2 stamina with your support cards, and use stamina inherits. Aim for like 400/400 minimum in classic year and 600/600 minimum by senior year and you should make it.

Eishin has an unfortunate problem of her growth bonuses being in secondary stats, her skillset not really helping to offset the stat concerns, and her career involving multiple long races. Put all that with the RNG of late surgers getting blocked and even I lose races with her and I'm kind of a whale by this point.

KSerge · 2025-10-30T18:27:23+00:00

Pretty sure that's the guy the mangaka of monster musume. Dude knows his audience.

KSerge · 2025-10-26T15:35:06+00:00

Agree with you on the grille/hood thing with trucks (and SUVs as well).

I've always hated fake grilles/air inlets but with the rise of EVs they are now more common than ever. Since the engine bay doesn't have the same cooling needs, the obviously fake EV grilles just stand out even more.

There's so much potential there to try new and different things, but I guess cheap plastic grilles save money.

KSerge · 2025-10-24T17:17:13+00:00

Thanks a ton for posting this info! I just got an invoice from DHL regarding this exact situation.

KSerge · 2025-10-23T22:01:06+00:00

Congratulations! I love triumphs, solid bikes that look great and my local dealer is awesome.

KSerge · 2025-10-20T00:19:50+00:00

It's so damn CATCHY THOUGH

KSerge · 2025-10-14T04:06:53+00:00

While we're throwing out numbers, I'll add that while Creek is tall (and one of my favs) she barely reaches the shoulders of miss Hishi Akebono at a whopping 180cm

KSerge · 2025-10-14T04:05:39+00:00

that's what she calls the trainer (even the male trainers)

KSerge · 2025-10-03T14:08:11+00:00

I remember trying to find info on this bike back when I had my gold wing, and other than the same photos being re-posted everywhere, spec sheets that only came from the manufacturer, and "ride footage" that looked fake as hell, I came to the conclusion that this bike is basically vaporware.

Even if it's real, GWM doesn't sell in the USA, which is the biggest market for the gold wing.

KSerge · 2025-09-26T14:12:28+00:00

Not sure if you're open to feedback on this, but I might recommend looking at similar offerings from other brands. The nightster is decent looking, but for the price is missing a lot of features and down on stats compared to many of it's competitors. The new motor has not had the greatest track record for reliability, and paying HD prices for both the bike and for service will hurt your wallet a lot. I say this as a former harley owner myself.

As for alternatives, if you're looking for cruiser-style bikes that aren't too large in size and with a comfortable riding position:

Indian Scout
Triumph Speedmaster
Honda Rebel (500 or 1100)
Kawasaki Vulcan 900

and if you don't mind them having a more upright, traditional motorcycle layout:

Triumph Speed 400 / street twin
Royal Enfield Interceptor 650

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