March 2009 Archives

Got the paint marker from the insurance company off as well!

Got my new pro-taper bars on, took a lil tweaking, but everything feels great. A huge improvement over the drag bars w/bar riser setup that was on the bike when I got it.

Chris and I are going riding in the morning, about 65miles of riding, with about half of it being nice canyon roads.

Carluch came by to do some work yesterday. Since he rode his bike over, I decided to snap some pics of our bikes together. Whenever we have the two bikes next to each other, I enjoy noticing the differences between the 03S and 04+S models (rear subframe, tank, seat, rearsets, etc.). The first picture demonstrates my dire need for an USD front and the third picture show just how goofy the stock mirrors are. But before I go making any changes, I really ought to sort out my headlight issues. I think I think I'm probably going to stick with the Buell headlights because the output is great, and I like the look. I just need to either clean up the HID wiring, or switch back to halogen and add some Osram Hypers and relays. Fortunately, I already have my windscreen off because I had to remove my ignition lock a couple weeks ago, and never got the chance to put it back on. This allows for easy access to all the wiring.

Anyway, after Mike finished, we went for a ride around the nearby lake (see his post below) where my PAIR system came in handy for scaring a lovely couple with some loud backfires. God, I love doing that.

Also, as I had hoped, my license plate frame does a good job of hiding in the shadows under my tail. I'd still really like to cut away the whole bottom section, though.

Went out for a brief ride with Andrew around the lake yesterday.

Twas a beautiful day on Saturday so Noah, a friend of mine in Phoenix and I saddled up for a nice ride thru the Arizona mountains and up to Lake Bartlet. The road to the lake was amazing and once we got there the road that winds around the lake was even better.

Shit. I am so cold I can barely type. I just got back from my 1.5 hour ride back from Carluch's, where right before a lovely dinner I picked up my new bike, seen below. It is awesome, I love it. it chose me. It's amazing. Amazing. It is so awesome god had to sacrifice the sweet carbon fiber rear seat cover on my first 10 min. ride back to luch's just to appease the gods of the road. Thanks again to luch for looking at it, Ryan for driving me up there, everyone for the help in researching and getting psyched on it. I love it so much, the color that I thought I would hate I don't one bit. I cant wait to get it ready for the trip.

I also have the Icon Urban tank bag and can concur that it's awesome. Using on this Bay -> LA -> San Diego trip right now and it's working great as both a tank bag and backpack.

I snapped some pics of the bike with the bag on it today...







In the photos it has a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and a hat in it, so it's far from its capacity. I rode with it about 120 miles last Sunday, and its like its not even there... until you want to rest, and then you can just lay on it while you are riding. It's AWESOME! Al and I rode downtown and parked at the harbor and walked around. I put my helmet in the carrier underneath, and my gloves and other stuff in the main compartment, and it was awesome as a backpack also!

It's available from Parts Unlimited:
http://street.parts-unlimited.com/

View Larger Map
For the entire length of the trip, I traveled in 90-120 mile intervals. Stopping for a cigarette, some fluids, a stretch, fuel, etc each time. I could have gone longer without stopping at the beginning but by the end of the trip 90-100 was the max I wanted to go without a little break. My stops were only for about 5-15 minutes each time as I wasn't really sightseeing but rather trying to get to LA before rush hour traffic hit. I think slightly longer stops, maybe 20-30 minutes, would have been better. This is what I'll do on the way home.

The weather was absolutely perfect. I wore a T-Shirt, a thin hoodie over it, and my A Stars Textile Jacket (with inner lining) on top. Bottoms were regular tennis shoes cause I didn't feel like packing separate shoes and wearing riding boots, jeans, and my Textile Cargo CE riding pants over them. No problems with temperature. I was comfy the whole time.

The bike felt pretty good. It cruises at around 6-7K rpm between 75-85, and I got between 45-50 mpg the whole time. I kept my speeds between 70-85 mph for most of the trip, depending on speed limits. I used 10 mph over as a rough gauge. I went by numerous cops and not one of them looked at me twice. I even got a nod from a few CHP Moto cops as well. By the end of the trip though the front is now making a small rattle when i hit bumps, so I'm gonna be checking it out and giving the rest of it a full once over today. Rides great though. No complaints.

So anyway, things i noticed, felt, etc....

• A comfy seat is super important. I will definitely be getting some sort of extra padding or gel insert for my stock seat or an aftermarket seat before the trip. From the 200 miles and beyond, my ass was sooo sore.
• I think I'll be getting a taller windscreen as well for the trip. It really wasn't that bad with the one I have as long as the air around me was calm, but cross winds coupled with the head winds were a super bitch. Coming through some of the coastal cities was super annoying, and I was getting blown (not in a good way) all over the place.
• I want to get a better helmet. My shoulder, neck, and upper back muscles were super tight, sore, and stressed by the end. I think a higher quality, lower weight, better aerodynamic helmet would help a lot. The winds made my head would rock side to side.
• A tinted visor would have been nice, but not necessary.
  
• Some sort of cruise control throttle lock would be good as well. My wrist really didn't even start to get sore until after the 300 mile mark and never got really bad, but with multiple days I think it would be a good thing to have.
• I think we should all be doing some sort of physical conditioning for our backs. My back is really sore today. It feels like I worked out really hard yesterday for the first time in a while, kind of like going to the gym for the first time after a year of slacking off. I'll be starting some sort of exercise regiment when I get back. There were only so many times i could adjust my position while riding, and being in pain on the bike at the end was no fun.

All in all though it was pretty damn awesome. Highway 101 has some really beautiful areas. Pismo Beach was amazing. I'll take pictures for those who have never seen it before on the way home as like i said coming down was more of a get it done mission than sightseeing.

Is it June yet!!?!

... little 200cc standard, so cool!

Another try and uploading a somewhat decent picture of this beast I just picked up

I picked up an Radiantz "Hardcore Lighting" LED license plate frame from Biker Hiway the other day. It's a nice, clean frame that has been finished with a gloss black powdercoat. For now, it's just ziptied into place, but I'm very happy with the overall look and output. Naturally, the top of the plate is brighter than the bottom, but at night, the entire plate is highly visible.

There are two downsides to the frame. The first is that you need to cut a notch out of the top edge of your license plate so the wires can pass through. The other is that the top holes don't quite match up with the NJ plate as well as the bottom holes do. It's something that could be solved with smaller hardware.

All in all I'm happy with it. It's one less thing for the cops to harass me about... so I thought I'd share.