Home today with a sick child....

So we need some Clash!

Music of the day...

Have some Sloan...



No riding today, forecast torrential rain and wind gusts up to 60 mph. So, I decided to hold off until I get the new tires on thr bike. Of course, what that means is that it poured for two hours and an hour before I get off work, it clears up and when I left work it was only slightly warm and the roads were dry.....

Got to love summers in north Florida.

And here is some Ugly Kid Joe:



Of course, the only bike that I saw parked in the motorcycle parking at work was the guy with the Burgman. Rock on scooter guy!

I've never told my fifteen year old one of my favorite bands when I weas in college was called Ned's Atomic Dustbin....

Read this review of Michelin Pilot 3's....

http://www.fz6-forum.com/forum/fz6-general-discussion/35444-michelin-pilot-road-3-here-8.html

A 20 mile ride on the Road of Death.

How's that for a title?

It all started when I sent a message to a friend of mine who had offered to help me change my tires. He said we could change them today but he was going camping Saturday, and oh, hey, why don't you ride out with us and have some fun? Sure, the road is dirt but there's a guy that rides with us on a big Triumph, so you'll do fine!

So, what the heck, I decided to go.

I mean, what's the worse that can happen, right? My buddy even said we'd go as slow as I needed to and if need be, I could turn around and go the other way in.

So, I pulled up at his house and this is his bike:

Hmmmm. I don't know a lot about KTM's but I do know they are serious off road bikes. Ok, reminder to self: be sure the roads are decent dirt roads with nothing crazy on them.

The guy that was camping with my buddy shows up on this bike:

Those two bikes weigh less than 300 pounds each. For reference, this is my bike:

It weighs a tad more than 275 pounds and as you can see, the knobbies are a little worn. But as the sticker I saw on a bike recently said:

So, we suited up and headed out. We stopped at Sonic on Capital Circle and I had their breakfast burrito. Not bad, but not What A Burger. And for some weird reason, Sonic doesn't give free refills on soft drinks.... But half of the people that bring you food are on roller skates, so that must count for something.

We headed out and they took a different route to meet up at the entrance road. We met up and headed into the Apalachicola National Forest. We took it slow and everything was pretty good, no serious slipping or sliding, just a little 'floating' and then we hit the first deep sand on the road.

And the fun ride came to a screeching halt. I didn't drop the bike but it wallowed around and I came to a quick stop. Got a little advice and we headed off again. Hit some more deep sand and kept a steady (slow) throttle and made it through ok.

Kept going and Sean (on the KTM) passed me doing a wheelie...which he had told me he very well may do. He slowed down to ride sweep again and the next time he came by, he was resting his feet on the handlebars. It was funny. The bastige.

We hit a tiny bit of paved road and I prayed that was it but after about 25 yards we headed back into the woods on a smaller dirt road. It was actually a bit tighter and was fine. I was actually able to look around a bit and this is what we were riding through:

I kept my eye out for one of these

but we didn't see one. Which admittedly was going to be hard since that is a picture of a Grizzly. And Florida is not a Grizzly habitat. See, entertaining and informative. However, I was on the lookout for one of these:

And we didn't see one of those, either.

So we kept riding and I kept slipping and floating but generally heading in the right direction when we hit a road that to the front wheel on the Bandit, looked like this:

See me on the Bandit in that shot? Yeah, that's what it felt like. For a little bit, the Bandit did ok. But then, the ruts got so deep that I probably clenched a little too much and the front tires tried to walk up the side of the rut. And then it tried to walk up the other side of the rut. Then the rear tire got into the action.

So, the bike went over. It didn't fall, it just sort of leaned over a couple of inches and I stepped off. I'd give myself a 9.2 on dismount. It was a very casual action, although at the moment I was a little umm excited. This is the actual road but imagine it with a lot more sand. A lot more.....

The bike was fine, no harm done at all. I did have to adjust the left rear view mirror, though. Sean then picks this time to tell me this is the where he broke his collar bone we he crashed here....

Now that is not the right thing to tell a guy on a freakin' street bike 10 miles out into the middle of no where, is it? That picture is actually from when he dismounted ungracefully...

At this point I was a little worn out and frazzled but I think I got a little better at the steady throttle and lean on the back and didn't have any mishaps and we made to their camp site.

After they set up camp and I enjoyed the complete lack of any man made sounds, except for the KTM and Yamaha running through the mud, I was talking to Sean when the Yamaha revved up and then cut off.

We looked over and there was the stuck Yamaha and it looked like this:

So we walked over ands they got it out and after a bit we decided to head out. We went the other way out and I did pretty good but the road was a lot better. We hit pavement and it. was. Heaven. Sean and I immediately took off and that KTM is awesome. We slowed down and I was thinking how cool that KTM is, when at speed, Sean decides to show us how capable the bike is by riding off the road onto the side. Bastige...

At the light in Crawfordville, they took a right to go to Sopchoppy, and I headed back to Tallahassee.

Very cool experience but not too sure I'll take the Bandit off road again. Unless I get some knobbies....

(By the way, almost all of these photos were stolen off the net. That is actually my Bandit and that is the road where I had the lean over.)

The OMGHI2U guys have another video!

Wow, the tires are here already!!

When I ordered them, the salesperson told me they would be here Monday, which seemed reasonable to me.

So, with rain forecast the last two days, I drove the car to work. And it was a good thing, it has poured here the last two days.

I got home today and something told me to check our front door. We use the car port door at our house. So, on a whim, I opened the front door and there where the Shinkos!

I can't wait to get them on my bike this Sunday!

This would suck....

Did some window shopping today....

And these are what I want to buy in the next few weeks....

A headlight bucket because I think I want to go naked on the Bandit. The front fairing on the Bandits are kind of ugly....

Bar end mirrors, because the stock mirrors are pretty good at giving me an unobstructed view of my shoulders. Plus, if I go naked, they look cool.

I saw these cameras on some blog and for $10 bucks, they are cool. And for ten bucks, you can feel ok with sticking the camera anywhere, and if you lose it, no huge deal.

A Bandit key ring. 'Cause I want one.

And last but not least:

A new set of tires. Actually, I bought a set today.  I was going to get a set of Continental Motion tires, for around $150 a set. However, they didn't have the front tire in my size in stock. So I did some investigating. A friend of mine suggested some Shinko dual sport tires. The price was right and the tires got good reviews. Unfortunately, they didn't have them in my size.

They did have Shinko 740 series a really good price and they had both front and rear in my size. So, I was interested. I looked online for some reviews and found some positive reviews from the Ninja 500 forum and the Suzuki GS sites. The sportbike forums returned the knee jerk, 'THEY SUCK DOOD!!! YOU HAVE TO HAVE BRAND X TIRE OR YOU'LL CRASH, BURN and DIE!!!'

Interestingly, those posts and threads were from several years ago, probably when Shinko first came out, so that's understandable.

The deciding factor for me was in another thread, one of the people that actually bought them and used the tires posted in another thread a couple of years later and reported he got 7k miles out of the tires.

And when I thought about it, I decided to go for it. The way I look at it, the people that ride Ninja 500s and Suzuki GS 500's are not riding for show and probably can look past the name and give an honest opinion.

So, I called and ordered a set of Shinkos. Funny thing is, they are listed as cruiser tires..... So, what makes a cruiser tire, anyway? I don't know and they are rated for a higher speed than my Bandit will go (and far faster than I'm going to go) so I imagine they will be fine.

Oh, how much? $115.98. Total.

And have some Dinosaur Jr.

Ride to work today?

I did and didn't even realize it was THE Ride to Work Day. This was my first one and I didn't even know it.

Didn't see to many bikes on the road but I did see Mr. Buell Guy and he returned the cool guy wave today. The ride in was nice and there were actually fewer bikes in the motorcycle parking than usual. I imagine it has something to do with the 100 degree heat forecast for today. When I went on break at 10:30, I walked outside to make sure my bike wasn't leaking oil (scroll back a few pages to see what I'm talking about).

The heat was stifling. At 10:30. Leaving work, I passed by a bank and the temp was 96 degrees. At 7:36.

The bike didn't leak a drop so the oil change was good. And of course, heading out of the office onto Capital Circle, I once again turned into a squid for a reasonably short amount of time. And I have to say, the Bandit at 9000 rpms sounds gooooood. Thankfully, my 'squidliness' comes and goes quickly, because as I topped the hill, there was a FHP trooper sitting in the median. I waved as I rode by at a reasonable speed.

So, for my first RTW day, it was pretty cool.

And for my sake, here's a picture of a brand that has really started to look really good to me:

Leave it to me to really start to dig a brand of bike, right after they go out of business   .....

Well, the streak was broken...

I did not ride to work Thursday or Friday. No excuses, I just didn't. Driving the car was ok, but not as fun as riding the Bandit.

And I didn't get out for a ride yesterday, either. Spent nearly all day outside, working on the yard and selling a couple of things on Craigslist.

So, today I was going to ride, if only for a short ride. I woke up and was thinking of taking a ride to breakfast but instead decided to take the kids with me to What A Burger. Taking the kids was the better choice. It was nice.

Then when I got home, I decided I was going to change the oil. And since that meant a trip to Wal Mart, I decided to pick up a couple of items I'd need for the week ahead. But, I decided to take the bike and make use of the 'luggage' I made.

So I picked up the 5 quart oil and a big bag of Doritos and hoped that would fit in my luggage.

I didn't want the oil to crush the Doritos so I sort of angled the oil in the case and set the bag on top of it. Sort of.

Regardless, it worked fine.

After letting the bike sit for a bit, I went out to change the oil. Letting the oil drain, I decided to check the tire pressure. They were both a little low. I had read somewhere you can use a bike pump to pump up tires. So, I decided to try it. I removed the adapter that was on the pump and aired the tires up. It worked pretty well.

So, got a short ride in, used my luggage, changed the oil and aired up the tires.

And for the record, I changed the oil at 43,255.

Rain.

That's what it did yesterday. First time in months. I got to watch it most of the day at work, all the while thinking about how 'fun' the ride home would be.

On bad tires.

On bad, old tires.

On bad, old, mismatched tires.

On bad, old, mismatched tires with one of them being a Shinko.....

Ok, it wasn't that dire, the tires still have enough tread and the Shinko's never given me any problem. But, I was worried about how slick the roads were.

And they were slick. And the bike did not feel settled at all, although I didn't have a problem. I just slowed down and braked lightly.

And it only took me ten minutes to unclench from the seat once I got home....

That being said, the Bandit not only needs a new seat but it needs new tires!

The bandit needs a new seat!

Well, it's not that dramatic, but the front end of the seat cover had been sheared off before I got it. The 'rip' hasn't spread so to be honest, spending $150 or more to cover three inches or so of missing vinyl on a three hundred dollar bike seems a little weird to me. Plus, I've been busy. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Well, that is until I ran across this on YouTube:



I met Max a year or so ago and he is a throwback to a different time. Not sure exactly what time, but it's a good one.

All I know id I'm going to spend 25 bucks and give it a try.

Just a quick update...

since it's Monday. Figured everyone could use some cool music:




This band was one of the first punk bands I ever heard. I was instantly a fan, good lyrics, good loud music, awesome. Holds up pretty well, in my opinion.

I love YouTube, found another of my old favorite songs:



And one more, just for good measure:



Glad I found that video. Remember when grunge was new and exciting , cause it hadn't been done yet?

My luggage handles Interstates speeds!

Went for a short ride today. Found an errand that needed to be done so out the door I went. I had to return some library books (World War Z is a cool read, if you're looking for something) so in the tank bag they went. Made the return and stopped off at What A Burder for a grilled chicken sandwich.

After dinner, I decided to hit the Interstate to head home, but was a little curious as to how the tail bag would do. I believed it would be fine, since it is tied to the grab bars and has a pretty tight bungee over the top.

Accelerating onto the on ramp and then merging on I10 was fun, as always. Big sweeping curves are fun. I quickly hit 70 mph and the bag didn;t budge, nor did I feel anything different riding the Bandit.

Oh, and earlier I wrote that the face shield on the Exo fogs up. Ummmm, it doesn't. That would be my glasses. Sorry for the mistake, I blame it on my kids :)

I guess I'm a commuter now....

By my records, I've ridden to work every day the past two weeks. Cool. I didn't really make a conscious effort to ride my bike to work every day, it just sort of started. After a few days, it became kind of automatic. Plus, summer break started so it is even easier to ride the Bandit now.

I'm getting a lot more used to the bike, much more comfortable riding, smoother. Not nearly anywhere close to being a really good motorcycle rider, but I think I'm getting better.

As I have mentioned before, there are a number of riders in the complex where I work. Today there weren't as many riders as usual. Don't know why, it was a little cooler than it had been the last couple of days. I think it was only 91 at 7:45 this evening!

There is a guy at work that has a Harley. At least he says he has one :) He's admitted he would never ride it to work, because 'he doesn't like how people park in the parking lot at work'.... Anyway, he rags on me a little for riding a Kawasaki ( heheh! ) and I rag on him for not riding a Harley. It's all in fun and I must admit he actually thought my 'lugagge' was pretty cool.

I was walking out of the office and he called me over. He introduced me to one of his buddies who has a Vulcan 1500. Nice guy, seemed he enjoyed giving Harley Guy a little guff, too. All in fun.

Today they stopped by and the Vulcan Guy handed me a flyer. Seems his riding group is putting together a ride to the Dragon's Tail and have scored some really nice prices on accommodations. If only there was a bit more time, I'd go. But I need a little more time than a week and a half to order and install new tires and set the reservations and more importantly, earn enough brownie points with my wife.

I didn't get a chance to ask Harley Guy if he was riding on the trip :)

The Clash

This photo is awesome.

(Short update, huh?)

Cheap, really cheap motorcycle luggage!

Take one of these: 

It's a 36 can cooler from Wal Mart. It was around 17.92. Add a couple of these:

Again, from Wal Mart for about 1.11 each. I used two. Then I found one of these in the garage:

I took a drill and drilled four holes in the bottom of the cooler, all the way through the rubberish bottom, through the nylon and through the plastic liner. Then you need to attach four of these:

to the four holes. I found a similar kit at Wal Mart in the camping section for around 3 or 4 dollars.

Once you attach the grommets, fit the straps through the holes and wrap them around the grab handles. Attach the straps so the clips are inside the bag. Get them tight. Then hook the bungee over the top and that bag is not going to move! At least, mine didn't and I hit speeds over 60 on the commute....couldn't be helped, you know?

This is the end product:

Not the prettiest luggage, but then again, it cost a grand total of less than $22 dollars.

It's big, too, probably more than enough room for a weekend trip. Tie the tent on and load up the bag and you're good to go!

I was wrenchin' on my bike and thinkin'.....

Well, more of spraying, wiping and spinning but I was thinking. I cleaned and lubed my chain today. And although I had lubed my chain, I hadn't cleaned it before. It was easy and the chain looked like it was in great shape so all's good on the maintenance front. I was going to change the oil but since I had Marley with me, I wasn't able to get to it. That's a job for this weekend.

Anyway, I've been finding quite a few really cool motorcycle culture blogs the last few days and have started thinking of what I could do to not only express my motorcycle 'lifestyle'. Wait, that is absolutely the wrong word. Ok, motorcycle hobby, but that's not quite right, either. Whatever it is, the purpose of the blog is to show me and my experiences. Ahhh, that sounds better, my motorcycle experience. And in doing so, show a bit about me.

Confused? Me, too, but after posting the Social Distortion video last night, it hit me today that my blog could use some music! So, read about my motorcycle stuff, which will include more rides, more maintenance and cool stuff and check out some music I consider cool. Yeah, it might be from a couple of decades ago, but it will still be cool.

For example:

Rode to work again today....

And for some reason, there were only two bikes at the complex today, mine and a cruiser parked at the other motorcycle parking area. Guess the forecast 40% chance of rain made people take their car.For the record, no rain, but coming home, someone somewhere had burned their home down or their neighborhood.

Smoke was everywhere.

Oh, and Mr. Buell Guy, when I nod or give the cool guy wave you better nod or wave next time. Buell riders ought to appreciate anyone acknowledging them :) All kidding aside, that Buell always catches my eye, always just north of Mahan on Capital Circle NE. Buells are such cool bikes.

And since I'm in a good mood, some music for you guys:

Bought the latest issue of Motorcyclist..

when I was at Wally mart buying a couple of presents for Marley, who turned five today. Looking at the cover, I was happily surprised to see three 250cc bikes on the front cover, a comparison of the new Honda CBR 250, the Kawasaki Ninja 250 and the Hyosung 250.

Very cool. Seems that the bike mags think that anything less than a 1000cc superbike is not powerful enough to do anything except maybe ride a few blocks down the street at 35 mph. I still read them, but it gets a little silly when you read an editorial or their 'Smart Money' feature that points out really good bikes, regardless of their engine size.

So, a few pages into the magazine, they do a road test of the Suzuki GZ250.

I rode one of those when I took my MSF, pretty cool little cruiser. Not for me, and not really for anyone wanting to get on the interstate but a fine little bike for riding to work, or around town, while enjoying around 134 mpg. Well, ok, that's slightly exaggerated, but still, 65 mpg is still darn good. Ought to be millions of these bikes on the road, considering the number of people commuting where 60 mph will be as fast as any traffic along the way.

I was thinking it was about time that bike mags started talking about bikes that would appeal to newer riders or people like me, who could care less about a bike with 160 hp. I mean, sure, they are cool and all but there's a lot more bikes out there, right? Not everyone rides a BMW 1200GT or Ducati or GSXR, right?

Anyway, went on and read the Joe Gresh article and then continued flipping through the magazine. Came to the reviews section and they reviewed a video game. Seems they thought the graphics were great but lacks 'the realistic riding experience' that real riders would want. Well, duh. I doubt the game designers really cared too much what real riders thought and were more concerned with what real gamers (and there are of course a heck of a lot more gamers that don't ride than gamers who do) want.

So, the next review was for a movie. Skimming over the article, seems someone in Motorcyclist thought it would be cool to review a porno and then whine because it didn't have enough motorcycling stuff in it.

Really? This was worth wasting a half page on? Nothing else that was actually motorcycle specific could be reviewed? So we had to have a half page of sophomoric innuendos about some low budget prono?

Wow. Lame.



Nice short ride today...

A few months ago, I joined The Tallahassee Sportbikers, hoping to find some people to ride with and talk bikes with. I've ridden with them once before and it was cool. Seems like a good group of guys, but I haven't been able to get out too much on group rides, due to being old, married and with kids.

About the time I joined, another newish member started talking about putting on her own Poker Run, to sort of show that sportbikers can do community service type things. She started organizing it/thinking about it in mid February and had the Run today. I was not able to make due to my 4 year old graduating VPK and there was a celebration today. But, a few of the forum regulars were going to meet up beforehand and have a bite to eat and head over to the first stop together.

Anytime food (breakfast in particular) is mentioned with riding, I'm in :) So, at 9:30 I pulled up at the meeting spot and met a few new people. One of the forum peeps has the coolest bike I have ever seen. (Quick google search to see if I can find a picture of her set up.....)

It was not the usual side car. Her Concours has low profile car tires, front and back. It has a leading swing arm and was very cool. Very. Cool. It was a Hannigan Sidecar and one would look very cool on the Bandit....

After hanging out, seven of us rode over to Hardees foir a bit and then I peeled off from the group and went to a local shop to find out some tire prices. Seems the Bandit needs a new set.

Oh! While sitting at a red light waiting to turn onto I-10, I looked down and my bike was at 43,000 miles. I think I'll get up early tomorrow morning and clean and lube the chain and wipe it down with some Pledge.

Also, while I'm talking maintenance, I did a little on the site, too. Added a few links, deleted a few (Skutergruven, where did ya go!?!?) and have a few more to add. Of particular note, make sure you check out The Selvedge Yard. That site is extremely cool.

Rode to work again today...

And was thinking about squids. No, not squids

 but:

The reason for thinking of squids was that lately on my daily ride to and from work

I've noticed that I tend to ride like I'm driving a car, which is fine. But, I'm not in a car, I'm in a much more maneuverable motorcycle. Is it squidly if I use the bikes smaller size to arrive at work in a faster time than if driving a car?

I guess I'm wondering where the line is drawn? I'm certainly not going to be doing wheelies down Capital Circle but if I'm honest with myself, I do enjoy zipping around (those slow slow slow why can't you at least get somewhere near the speed limit) cars we all know and love from driving anywhere when you have to be somewhere on time. That doesn't make me a squid, does it?

Rode to work today.

Awesome fun as always. Even though you must be more aware of what is going on, I find riding the Bandit gives me time to think about things. Temps were in the 70's on the way in, warm and a little humid but not bad at all. Traffic wasn't bad and I got to work in plenty of time.

Work was fine, as usual and the Bandit had some good company today. I parked next to a Suzuki Burgman, a Harley, a Triumph and an old Kawasaki 454. I've met the guy on the Suzuki and the owner of the Kawasaki.

A month or two ago, the Burgman owner pulled up as I was parking. As he parked I nodded and said 'Nice scooter!'. He looked at me sideways, as if I was going to say something else. I continued and told him Burgmans were cool. He realized I was serious and we chatted. He was suprised that the engine is bigger than the engine in the Bandit. He told me he was new to riding but loved it. I imagine so, I bet that Burgman is comfortable!

The guy with the Kawasaki I met a few months ago and had a nice chat with him. He rides probably more than anyone else, I almost always see his bike, and the days I don't, he may park in the other motorcycle parking. Nice guy and a cool bike. Like I said, I like old ratty bikes.

After a long ten hour workday, I was ready to hop on the bike and ride home. I opened the door and stepped outside and was whalloped by the heat! Wow, when did the middle of summer get here? It felt like August out there! Riding home, at 7:45, the bank thermometer said 97 degrees!

Regardless, it was still a great ride home :)