Well I have 1st hand experience of city driving in Atlanta being I live there (Sort of) and I daily drive my bike.

Atlanta is full of crazy ass drivers. When on I-85 remember that unless you want to get ran over you need to be traveling atleast 85mph (except for mornings and evenings where you average 1mph). But Atlanta also has a booming Motorcycle and yes a huge growing scooter community. Which means people are noticing bikes even more now. The news has even covered it and told it's viewers to pay extra attention.

As for theft. Most bikes that I hear of that are stolen are from apartments at night. You don't hear much about bikes being stolen while you are at the store or at work. When they are stolen they are usually thrown into the back of a truck by 4 dudes and it's gone. Most I do is handlebar ignition lock and throwing it in 1st gear and my bike has been left in some very questionable places. Nothing much but my bike's ugly enough so that no one wants it anyways.

No doubt. I went to EMU for a year and used to go up to Detroit all the time. Fucking ridiculous. And thats not even factoring the parts of Detroit that youll probably just get jumped and have your bike stolen right out from under you.

as for backpacks, this one is on my xmas list
http://oakley.com/pd/5473
http://oakley.com/a/3f/fb/BAh7CGkKIg...dIaQhpAgwf.jpg

but i havent been able to inspect one in person. its marketed for mt. bikes, but it looks there shouldnt be a problem fitting a helmet in that space.

m0n1, good find on that link. That is about the same price range of back packs I had been looking at but it seems to have all the goodies. Meaning things such as a hydration slot, phone/mp3 pocket, helmet holder etc etc.

Smittie, thanks for tuning in with the first hand experiences. Having driven in Atlanta I know first hand that people are loco. I also realize that if they could rarely see my loud, bright yellow Mustang then I am probably upping the anti on my bike.

Sounds like this is giving me even more of a desire to get an exhaust system on it and brighten up both the tail light and the headlight. Even beyond those mods, I am pretty sure that it will always be up to me to avoid the idiots trying to kill me.

From the looks of it I am going to go ahead and order new oil and a filter for the bike. I litterally changed the coolant right before I left and I can't see how my Mother's living room would be harsh enough to justify changing it. But I will check it too be safe.

What about brakes? Any reason to bleed them or anything like that?

Never hurts to put fresh fluid in the brakes. If nothing else they might feel a little better. Inspect the fluid. If it looks off color or the levers feel spongy, change it.

For heavens sake, BE CAREFUL!! I lived in ATL for a year, and visit family every few months and every time I ride or even drive up there I am stunned at the manuevers needed to NOT get run over. And I am a fairly aggressive rider/driver...nothing like the ATL 500 to get the blood pumping!

All the anti theft info is good, and there are plenty of places to run a cable thru the frame, I myself have done this on a few occasions and it worked great. Not saying that your bike wont still be in danger depending on where you are, but its worth it to make the effort.

Keep us posted!

Thanks for the info Chi.

I will probably go with a cable lock and just try to lock the bike to a well founded object in front of where ever I am heading. I just upped my insurance so that I am now covered on theft. So if something does happen, I will really just suffer from the basic inconvienence of being stuck somewhere and losing my beloved baby.

I wont start up another job for about 3 weeks after I get back to Atlanta so I will have plenty of time to take things slowly.

It's called the Watermelon 500 by truckers.

Here is what happens if you drive the 55mph speed limit on a road where most people are running between 70-90mph.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B-Ox0ZmVIU

They should all be ticked for impeding traffic.

The head of the GDOT (Georgia DOT) saw it and said everyone could learn from this video and slow down and drive 55mph. It was brilliant and everyone in Atlanta loved it (Except for the people on the 63mile loop which).

Oh yeah quick281. There are some local forums to check out for Georgia.
You have GSB or Georgia Sportbike: http://www.georgiasportbike.com/
Then BSB or Blokes Sportbike: http://www.blokessportbike.com/index.php . Don't let the name fool you. It's Georgia based. They had a split similar to TWF and TWFix. BSB is barely moderated and people have flamed the owner and the owners wife to not be banned. It's Drama central but fun. GSB is more moderated but still a good website. Together they both make a great combo.

Then there is the forum in my signature (www.SEMF.org). My buddy started it and it doesn't get a lot of activity but we are getting more members everyday so it's worth a look see.