TallahasseeMotorcycles

Everything I need to know about riding, I learned at ADVrider.com

2012-01-22T16:10:00.000-05:00

This picture was posted on a 400 plus page thread of Killboy.com 'fail' photos, mostly showing really bad riding form, crashes and squids.

At first glance, looks like the poor guy had a minor crash and was still riding. No gear except the helmet but the bike still looks ok so maybe it was a slow speed get off or something.

Then someone else posted this thread.

The guy crashed, but before that, it looks like he was purposely dragging his knee....wearing only jeans.

Ever wonder what they are saying?

2012-01-21T18:29:00.000-05:00

I saw this on some sport bike forum and it made me laugh.

Thursday Night Ska!!!

2012-01-12T20:58:00.000-05:00

I love Bad Manners.

We got back from Gainesville Sunday. Jen's good and doing better every day but it's going to be a while before she's completely back to normal. She's up and about, but gets tired quickly and sleeps a lot, which is exactly what she needs.

My Mom was over today and I had to take a form for my Dr. to sign so I took the Bandit. I hadn't ridden since New Year's Day.

It was only 26 miles but did it feel good. What's that? Yeah, the Doctor's office is only about 4 miles away, I took the long way home.

Sanity Ride...

2011-12-31T19:09:00.001-05:00

Took a little ride today, you can read it here:

Sanity Ride....

And here is a good song that played on my mp3 player on the ride:

Got a new camera for Christmas...

2011-12-28T22:09:00.000-05:00

It's nice and a big upgrade over my old Samsung Digi Cam. Expect to see more pictures soon...maybe even some from this Friday's The Last Ride Of The Year Ride To Eat. What's a RTE? Well, it's an even where motorcyclists ride a sizable distance to meet up for lunch....It sounds cool and is 250 miles away.

So, dork that I am, I am actually planning on leaving home at 5-5:30 in the morning to make it to the Stagecoach Cafe in time to see all the bikes. Past TLROTY's have had over 800 bikes, so that will be cool to see.

Crazy? Maybe, but it sounds like fun to me. Plus, I've been wanting to ride to Alabama for a while and this may get me motivated enough to do it.

This is what I want for Christmas.....

2011-12-14T19:09:00.000-05:00

Dan Moto exhausts sound good and are priced a lot lower than name brand exhausts. Good reviews, too....

Toys for Tots Ride

2011-12-11T18:44:00.003-05:00

Got up this morning and decided to make the Toys for Tots run this morning, even though it was cold and there was a chance of rain. That wasn't the biggest thing on my mind, that made me question whether I wanted to leave the house.

Not to get too depressing but my wife became ill at work and I took her to the emergency room Wednesday and they found a 2.5 inch brain tumor.... They are 99% sure it's benign but surgery is a must. An MRI is scheduled so we are waiting on the results to have a better idea of what we are looking at. But, to say the last few days have been a bit weird is a bit of an understatement.

So, anyway, my wife asked if I was still going and to be honest, I was already talking myself out of it because I'm just worried. But she said to go and enjoy myself and she'd be fine and I may not be able to ride too much for a little while. I told her I may go and went to bed still talking myself out of going. But then I realized that I needed to go and if I stayed she would probably be upset with herself that this was keeping me from having fun. So, I decided to go.
I got on the road only slightly behind time and made a stop at WalMart for the present.

Riders from two local forums had decided separately to meet up at the Home Depot near Capital City Harley Davidson, where the Run started. One of the forums is Tallahassee Motorcycles, a local forum I started.

So I pulled in a few minutes before 9am and saw no other bikes there.

There is a thread on Maximum Suzuki talking about bushwhack camping and someone mentioned that two forum members took a cross country trip and would stop at Lowes or Home Depots and sleep in the sheds in the parking lot. I thought that was really kind of cool so I took a look at the sheds and could see that could be done.

I also like to kid my wife and tell her once the kids are grown we are downsizing to one of those micro houses, or the North Florida equivalent, one of these. But hey, that two story shed has plenty of room......She's still not buying it, though.

We ended up with two Tallahassee Sportbikers forum members, four Tallahassee motorcycle forum members, two Chrome Divas and four or five sportbike mc group all at the parking lot. So, four different groups picked the same spot to meet up and ride in.

One of the Chrome Diva's rode this Ninja. One day I will own a Ninja 250, 500 and a 650. Don't know why but those are some nice looking bikes to me.

Supercool VW powered trike.

Not quite as cool (but still pretty cool) Suzuki Burgman powered trike.

Not too sure what bike this is but it looks good. Is it a Honda Rune?

This dog was cool. He was also a ham and when anyone pointed a camera at him, he would pose, one ear up, one ear down. Note the doggy windshield.

Nice old Goldwing.

There were two Buells there and yeah, they still grab my attention from across the parking lot.

I need one of these. Badly. Very cool.

This Jawa was parked next to the Ural. So they win the coolest bike duo at the Toys for Tots.

My buddy rides one of these...

2011-11-25T17:03:00.000-05:00

Actually, that is his bike and that Vance and Hines pipe sounds amazing. This 83 Honda CB 100F is a cool bike.

Got the lights up.....

2011-11-24T20:22:00.000-05:00

I am embarassed to admit this....

2011-11-15T20:07:00.000-05:00

but Glee made me realize how frickin' awesome this video still is....

Standardized!

2011-11-13T14:52:00.000-05:00

2012 Versys 1000

2011-11-08T19:25:00.000-05:00

Wow. I want.

The Bandit is going through some mods....

2011-11-07T09:34:00.000-05:00

Someone at the Maximum Suzuki forums wanted to go from the naked to faired look and posted saying he'd trade a really clean naked set up for a non pristine faired set up. I emailed the guy and he's serious so he's sending me the headlight, turn signals, brackets and some other stuff like a tank bra and some handlebars, all for my rashed and cracked fairing and fairing stay.

I'm psyched, to say the least. I had been kicking the idea around for a few months but hadn't done anything on it. The other day when I took the fairing off to get to the light bulb on the oil pressure light, I really liked the view from sitting on the bike without the hugh fairing on the front and side of the bike.

I can't wait to get the box and get the headlight on the bike.

And here's some grunge for you:

I was looking for threads for bed liner paint jobs...

2011-10-23T19:42:00.000-04:00

And ran across this thread. Maybe I won't paint my bike. Or hootus.

Did a bit of maintenance today....

2011-10-15T21:10:00.000-04:00

I got around to replacing the turn signal bulb that's been out as long as I have had the bike and also replaced the oil pressure light. Too bad that didn't fix the problem so it looks like my oil pressure sensor is bad. Off to ebay I go.

I got the fairings off without too much trouble. Putting it back together took an extra hand but it looks good and I didn't have any left over parts, so that's good.

Looking at the Max-Zuke forum there are some really interesting looking Bandits with cut down fairings. Very cool looking. Wonder if my neighbor has a Dremel.....

Got some plans this weekend....

2011-10-06T20:32:00.000-04:00

I turned over 45,000 miles this morning on the commute. I think I'll do some maintenance on the Bandit this weekend.

I have a turn signal that's out, my oil light bulb may be bad, might as well change the oil and filter and maybe I'll even take the fairing off and see if I can put on the new head lights I bought.

Pictures to follow......

Took the Bandit off road today...

2011-10-02T17:16:00.003-04:00

Ok, not true but wow, that is some intense riding, huh?

Ratbikes...

2011-09-30T20:31:00.000-04:00

I like them. Here's a thread from ADVrider with some cool ones.

REM quits...

2011-09-23T23:16:00.000-04:00

Kind of sad about them hanging it up. Not that they have called it a day, I can respect that and like that they are simply done and (so far) not going to keep on going through the motions for money.

What sort of got me down was they had been around for 31 years. 31 years. Sure, there's bands that are old that are still together but REM was new for me, nothing like them had hit before and I was sort of there, you know?

Anyway, in honor of REM, one of their videos

:

Ok, I need a new exhaust!!!

2011-09-22T21:45:00.001-04:00

And for around $50, it works for me. Listen to this one:

Ignore the big diesel truck at the beginning.....

30% chance of rain......

2011-09-16T23:12:00.001-04:00

Usually, I will ride to work if the chance of rain is 40% or less. The last two days the chance has been 20% and 30% today, so I rode to work.

Got rained on on the way home both days. Not too bad but it was a bit worrisome yesterday when I'm riding and the road is covered in that white slime. So. I. Went. Slow.

And made it home fine.

Today I left work and the eastern side of town was covered by black clouds. Still, it wasn't raining on me yet and I still had to get home, so I headed out. About two miles down the road a drop or two hit while sitting at a red light. A few hundred yards later, the temperature dropped about 15 degrees in about 20 feet of road.

Well, not going to make it home dry.....

The rain started to really pour so I decided to stop somewhere and give it a few minutes to wash some of the slime off the road.

And, ff I'm honest with myself (and you readers), I'm a little worried about what happened a few days ago, which I never did explain what I did wrong that caused that near accident.

So, in the days since I had the near drop, I have realized several things I did wrong that almost caused at least a dropped bike:

1. I was going a little too fast. No, not 80 mph but enough that it caused the second mistake:
2. I used a little too much brake. I didn't stomp on the rear or wrench the front brake but I think when I realized I was going a little too fast, I grabbed a little too much. And add in my third mistake:
3. I was riding in the middle of the lane. I know, I'm a newbie. So, when I grabbed the brakes, I was in the middle of the lane. And at a major, busy intersection. So, the middle of each lane is black with car droppings and leaks.

And that was more than enough for me to lose traction and have ..... an experience. Thankfully, no harm was done and I certainly don't ride the middle of a lane anymore. Also interesting how several minor mistakes could have led up to a big problem, huh?

But, back to today. It didn't stop raining so after about ten or fifteen minutes, I decided to head home. And of course, in less than a mile, the rain stopped and a little farther on the road was bone dry. Just my luck.

This is a video of Husker Du. Extremely good band:

Take a look at this ride report from ADVrider.com

2011-08-28T19:51:00.000-04:00

Mini Bike Ride Report . Very cool.

And here is a video they made of the RR:

And here is a video of a song that was running through my head on my 120 mile ride today.

My Brother was a Beach Bum....

2011-08-23T21:37:00.001-04:00

I say was because he died 11 years ago.

Anyway, he was a very cool older Brother to have, even though as I got older, some of the coolness was exchanged with a little bit of corniness. But, to a 12 year old, a 22 year old Brother that moves to Panama City Beach every Summer is cool. Especially one that lets you spend a weekend with him.

Then I got older and he was even cooler cause he could buy beer. Not that he ever did, of course....

One Summer my Mom and I drove down to PC Beach to see my Brother and he asked if I wanted to stay. Well, duh. Of course I did! He even told Mom he'd drive back to Tallahassee to drop me off later in the week.

Back in the 70's and 80's, PC Beach was very cheesy, filled with lots of homey recreational type things. Game rooms, bars (my Brother was 6'6", so he was a bouncer at one time or other at most of them), air brush shops, Mom and Pop food stands, Putt Putt Golf, go kart tracks and even a Wax Museum. Outside the Museum, they would have someone dressed up as Frankenstein or some other character to wave at cars driving by. Well, again, my Brother was 6'6" so when he worked there, he was Frankenstein, but he didn't have to wear the platform shoes. And to a 12 year old, if your Brother is paid to dress up like Frankenstein, well, that's just cool.

Back to the go kart track. This place was awesome. After my Mom left, we made a bee line to the go kart track. We rode several of the tracks and then came to a tiny little track. It looked kind of boring. It was maybe 50' by 50' and all the track had was a long railroad tie in the middle of the track. So basically, you rode in a fairly small oblong circle

We watched the race that was ongoing and we realized this was the coolest track at the place. The track area was oiled down. So you basically drifted around the entire track.

We raced with about 8 other cars on this tiny track and it's a wonder no one died. All I remember was drifting almost the entire time, riding sideways around the entire miniloop around that railroad tie in the middle.

Sort of like how I was on the Bandit yesterday riding home from work!

No, I didn't crash or anything, but riding down the road and then rotating from straight to left then back the straight to almost 90 degrees to the right was a bit......disconcerting.

I've since had time to figure out some of the things I did wrong but will save that for tomorrow.

Shop Rates

2011-08-18T20:26:00.000-04:00

Found this on a really cool site: Volksrat. Which has some really awesome shots of old air cooled VW's, bikes and NSFW women.

Can you imagine this show?

2011-08-18T09:08:00.000-04:00

This shot was borrowed for the Sedgeyard, which is linked to the right. If you haven't checked it out yet, please do. It is a very cool site.

What an absolutely gorgeous day.....

2011-08-16T21:37:00.000-04:00

It is generally understood that August in Tallahassee is going to suck. Heat. Humidity. More heat. Any time after 11am means either disgustingly hot temperatures or torrential downpours which end and turn into disgustingly humid and hot temperatures.

So I was amazed when I turned on the TV this morning to check the weather. The Weather Guy said temps were in the high 60's - low 70's. What? Really?

I couldn't wait to get out of the house and get on the bike for the ride to work.

Opening the door, I was met with a dry, cool car port. No sticky humidity. No fogging up eyeglasses.

Riding to work, I actually felt cool. It was awesome.

Riding to lunch was warm. Just warm. Didn't even break a sweat. At 1pm. In Florida. On August 16th!!!!

O(f course this means it will soon return to 150 degrees. But it sure was nice.

200th Post!

2011-08-13T22:20:00.001-04:00

I was driving home last week from work and saw some of the coolest bikes. There were two sets of bikes and they were very cool. The first set looked like a husband and wife and they were both on ratty BMW's. I like ratbikes and a BMW ratbike is cool. They looked more or less like these two:

The next pair actually work where I do, but I haven't met them. They ride Triumphs, a Sprint and a Speed Triple. Very cool bikes and one of these days I'll meet those two riders. What's a three cylinder bike sound like, anyway?

But the coolest thing I saw on the way home that day was what looked like a homemade reverse scooter trike. I googled and searched for a picture that was even sort of similar to what I saw being driven down the road. No picture even came close.

This thing looked like the front of an old 70's VW kit car, very angular and it had a bench seat. But in the back was the single reartire of a scooter. And it was painted flat black. Like I said, very cool.

Which brings me to my next point. I am really thinking my Bandit would look good naked and painted olive drab or flat black.....

Last week sucked.

2011-08-08T21:16:00.001-04:00

I woke up Monday morning, dragging, and thought it was just normal Monday drag. Got to work and started with the coughing. Not too bad but didn't feel too good. Went to lunch and when I got back, I felt worse. My Supervisor stopped by and told me I lookd pasty....

About an hour later she stopped by and told me to go home. Went home and crashed. Didn't get off the couch Tuesday, but made it to work Wednesday. Went in a few hours on my day off and rode the Bandit. Still felt bad and didn't stay all day. Made it to the weekend but still felt bad.

Finally feel sort of ok but still have some coughing.

Sorry for no updates but not much happened all week. So, enjoy some music:

Way too much rain....

2011-07-28T20:08:00.000-04:00

So not a lot of riding, but I did manage to clean and lube my chain this week.

As for some music, enjoy some old school...

And have a song from probably the greatest and coolest person to ever play guitar. I saw Dick Dale once at The Point in Atlanta. I had never heard of him but was told he was great. The show was awesome and the coolest thing was as the show neared its end, and they finished a song, Dick Dale said 'Ok, we have a couple of songs left ad instead of doing the bit where we walk off stage and you sheer for an encore, how about we play three more songs then hang out and let us talk to you guys?' More or less. That is not a direct quote, I was pretty smashed by then that night. I was young :)

But I do remember that was some of the best music I have ever heard.

Hmmm.... what color is Bel Ray chain lube?

2011-07-26T21:34:00.000-04:00

I needed to lube my chain, so went out last night to do it. My can of chain lube is empty, so I wander over to my neighbor and he has some Bel Ray lube. Cool!

So, I get home from work and have a few minutes to clean and lube my chain. Spray the lube on and notice it looks different than the other lube I had. The directions say to leave it on for a while, so I do.

Went outside to check on it and it's still looking different.

Off to google what color the lube is supposed to be :)

Saturday Night Punk

2011-07-23T23:27:00.000-04:00

I really like this song.

Not much to report bike wise. Rode to work all week. Riding is still such a blast. Played a bit at 10k rpms this week, just to see what the Bandit sounds like. It sounds good.... but the stock exhaust is very quiet. And that's fine and I keep telling myself I do not need an after market exhaust.

And it's time for The Jesus and Mary Chain. This was/is my favorite band. Still good stuff, 20 plus years later....

Oh, wait, there is something new and interesting going on. Seems I got a lead on a dirt cheap spotless GSX-
R. May not turn out but it will be cool if it does. I don't think I need or want a GSX-R but it would be cool to ride it for a few miles.....just to see what the fuss is all about, right? Right?

And I'm back...

2011-07-17T00:07:00.000-04:00

That was a relaxing break. Sad thing is, I didn't ride much but I did spend a lot of time on the beach with the kids, impressing them with my skill of finding sand dollars. No major sun burns, and a lot of fun had by the whole family.

I headed back Thursday and while riding east on 98 I noticed a large and dark mass of clouds sitting to the north of me. But the sun was out overhead and the ride was nice. However, once I hit Panacea, the temperature fell and a few drops hit my faceshield.

Oh boy. Well, nothing to do but keep on riding, so that's what I did. The rain wasn't too bad and I was barely getting damp. By the way, the bike and tires did fine, I am really liking these Shinko tires.

I was enjoying the ride and then noticed that it looked a lot darker on the road in front of me. Well, I soon rode into a typical North Florida rain storm. It poured. Nothing to do but keep going. I was soaked. I did sort of look around to see if there was anywhere to pull over and get out of the rain, but I kept going. What was the point? The bike was doing fine, no real traffic behind me riding my bumper and I was already soaked.

So I kept going. Once I hit Crawfordville, the deluge had stopped and I was halfway dry when I got home. Fun ride, actually but those bridges were ... interesting. Don't like bridges on the Bandit. I mean, I know I'm ok but I guess the fact there is nothing next to the edge of the bridge makes me a little ummmm ... clenchy. Guess I'll have to get over that if I plan on any travel longer than a day or so.

Well, the vacation was nice but it is nice being back!

Loud pipes save lives....

2011-07-11T13:59:00.000-04:00

(shamelessly stolen from some thread on ADVRider.com)

Vacation time.

2011-07-10T22:43:00.002-04:00

And when it sort of worked out that I needed to ride the Bandit to the beach, I was even happier. So, Sunday morning, we all woke up, got ready, loaded up the Explorer and the Wife and Family headed out. After I got ready, I hopped on the Bandit and followed.

But like most of my Bandit trips, it started here :

The Taquito was especially good, knowing I have the week off. So, I took my time and read the newspaper and enjoyed my breakfast.

After breakfast, I headed out of town in the quickest way possible, which took me by my office. I swung in for avery quick photo.

The ride was nice and uneventful but I was planning on stopping in Carrabelle for some history.

Back in the 70's, there was a show called Real People . For a 9 year old kid, it was an awesome show. I was completely amazed when it did a feature on a spot that was fairly local to me. Hey, I was 9 years old, cut me some slack.

But you have to admit, the police station is pretty cool, huh?

Soon after you pass through the small town of Carrabelle, you hit Carrabelle Beach, where I spent many a hot Summer day back when I was a young kid. So, I had to stop and take a few pictures. The place is exactly the same as it was 30 years ago. It just seems a lot smaller....

I hope these pictures convey a little of my area and experiences. I by no means whatsoever claim to be anything more than some guy with an old digital camera. Maybe when I have the correct date on my shots, I'll act like a photographer :)

Anyway, the beach house is nice, all the kids are asleep and I'm heading to bed, too...

Had some rain today...

2011-07-06T21:51:00.000-04:00

And the bike did fine. I was working a half day today. I work a four day week and my day off rotates every four weeks...... or whenever the higher ups remember to change it. But we can work overtime, but it's not overtime. You get time and a half leave instead.

Since my wife rented us a beach house next week ( YAY! ) I needed to build a little extra leave. So I went in today. I did not get going too quickly this morning so left the house about 30 minutes late.

I didn't see Mr Buell Guy but did get passed by a guy on a Suzuki....a Suzuki streetfighter/ratbike/commuter. I've finally defined my favorite bikes. I guess my perfect bike would be defined as a low dollar 'fighter/ commuter with a bit of ratbike added in.

I think the bike was a GS 500 or possibly a Katana with the fairings removed. It was black, of course, and slightly dirty, of course. It did have an after market exhaust and it sounded good. Cool bike,

Leaving this afternoon at 3:30 instead of my usual 7:30, it was sunny and hot. Some small dark clouds were in the sky but it didn't look like rain. Stopped at What A Burger for a late lunch and as I was leaving, I realized it was raining lightly, but the sun was out. Looking South, I saw a wall of dark rainclouds. Not good, I had a stop to make before I could head home. I made the stop and coming out of the Post Office, saw that it had rained quite a bit while I was inside.

Being overly careful, I headed out and the bike and new tires did fine. No problems at all and after a couple of miles, I passed some invisible line and the temp rose about 20 degrees and the road was bone dry.

As for the beach house, I can't wait. I am going to ride the bike down and ride back a day before everyone else comes home. Expect pictures of the beach. And a picture of the world's smallest police station. But more beach pictures. We may not have curvy mountain roads, but we do have beautiful beaches.

Got my tires installed Saturday.

2011-07-04T18:47:00.000-04:00

Found a local mechanic who works out of his home and charges a reasonable amount. He didn't mind me waiting while he changed the tires and we talked bikes while he switched out the tires.

He was impressed by the Bandit, especially when he found out what I paid for it.

So far the Shinkos feel really good. They feel softer.... and ummmmm grippier. So much for my idea of giving an informative review, huh? They look good, too. And for the riding I do, I imagine these tires will do exactly what I need them to do.

What's interesting is that they have the same tread design as the 005 Advance that came on the rear of the Bandit.

So, new tires at 43, 304 miles.

Home today with a sick child....

2011-06-30T13:39:00.002-04:00

So we need some Clash!

Music of the day...

2011-06-28T23:27:00.000-04:00

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....

2011-06-27T06:51:00.004-04:00

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.

2011-06-26T20:17:00.001-04:00

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!

2011-06-26T09:55:00.001-04:00

Wow, the tires are here already!!

2011-06-24T21:25:00.000-04:00

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....

2011-06-23T22:07:00.002-04:00

Did some window shopping today....

2011-06-22T19:57:00.001-04:00

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?

2011-06-20T21:05:00.000-04:00

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...

2011-06-19T19:49:00.001-04:00

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.

2011-06-16T21:15:00.001-04:00

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!

2011-06-14T21:57:00.000-04:00

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...

2011-06-13T22:24:00.001-04:00

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!

2011-06-12T00:20:00.000-04:00

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....

2011-06-10T22:59:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-09T22:13:00.002-04:00

This photo is awesome.

(Short update, huh?)

Cheap, really cheap motorcycle luggage!

2011-06-08T21:07:00.000-04:00

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'.....

2011-06-07T21:02:00.000-04:00

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....

2011-06-06T22:31:00.000-04:00

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..

2011-06-05T21:16:00.000-04:00

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...

2011-06-04T21:45:00.000-04:00

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...

2011-06-02T21:07:00.000-04:00

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.

2011-06-01T20:48:00.000-04:00

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 :)

Not quite the same, is it?

2011-05-29T17:12:00.000-04:00

Wow, this is crazy!

2011-05-26T18:52:00.000-04:00

Why do we ride?

2011-05-19T21:32:00.000-04:00

You can say what you want but if you are honest with yourself, it all comes down to that smile. That smile you get when you go really, really fast.

Not necessarily fast as in 140 mph, but fast none the less. It might just be going from 0 to the speed limit faster than you've ever gone before. It might just be giving the bike a little gas and passing that annoying person in the tricked out sports car. It doesn't matter what it is, as long as you get that smile.

The trick is to get that smile and not get into trouble.

Correction...

2011-05-15T20:50:00.001-04:00

The magazine with the article mentioned earlier is Roadbike Motorcycle Cruising . Sorry about that :)

It is definitely not Miller Time!

2011-05-15T07:48:00.000-04:00

I was checking out Maximum-Suzuki and saw this thread. To make a long story short, this is what the guy found when he went in his bike to do a valve adjust:

And the bike ran fine....

A few months ago, I was reading Rider Magazine and they have a feature where a mechanic on staff talks about easy fixes, common problems and assorted bike maintenance and repair. He was talking about stuff he has found in oil drain screens and basically said that if those bikes ran with that stuff in the system, then a few small metal flakes shouldn't make much difference. My thought on that is that I'd rather not have anything in my oil except oil, although that is a purpose of oil: to take guunk out of the system.

That does make you wonder how long it had been in the bike, though....

Every time I ride to work....

2011-05-03T20:51:00.000-04:00

I keep trying to figure out why I'm not riding to work every day. Well, sometimes I just feel bad and decide to drive the car, instead of taking my son to the bus stop, going home, parking the car, gearing up and riding the bike.

I used to think it would take too long to do what I just described but have since proven I actually get to work just as soon as if I drive. Reasons for that is that on the bike I get to park right in front of my office, which saves quite a long walk from the outskirts of the parking lot. Also, somehow, it seems as if the actual trip is quicker on a bike. Not that I ride like a squid or anything but I am able to go a little quickewr and maybe pick a better lane a little more than in the car.

Of course, rain means riding is out. Although.....I could take an outfit to work and if I got caught in the rain on the way in, I could change. Not really considering a rain suit since it is already warm in my jacket and shirt on the way to work these mornings, and pretty soon it will be quite warmer.

Regardless, I am going to do my best to ride to work since it puts me in a great mood that usually lasts at least a couple of calls into my morning :)

A review of my new Scorpion Exo 400.

2011-04-26T21:29:00.000-04:00

Again, I do not have a lot of experience with helmets, my experience is limited to a few hundred miles with the Scorpion and 5 thousand or so with my old too big Zues Helmet.

In a word, this helmet is awesome. It fits very well, and I sort of like the tightly snug fit. It's much quieter than my old helmet, but again, that's probably from the fact the helmet didn't fit correctly to begin with. Around town and even riding around 60 mph, the helmet is very quiet. I can hear my bike at those speeds!

With the vents open, you can get some whistling but it's not really worth mentioning. Also, the faceshield fogs up first thing in the morning but as soon as you click into gear and move a few feet, it clears right up. Honestly, this worries me a little since we have yet to hit our 'warm' Summers.... But I imagine any helmet would have that problem here in Florida.

All in all, I am really glad I took a chance and grabbed the helmet. I have a feeling it's as nice as any high dollar helmet and I got it for a fraction of the cost.

Oh, and a word about motorcyclegear.com . As I stated in my last post, I spoke to one of their reps online and he was great. He listened to my questions and gave me an honest opinion, which was basically 'I think it will fit but I can't be sure but let me tell you about our return policy...' I appreciate honesty much more than 'Buy it, buy it, BUY IT!!!' you can sometimes get from salesmen.

So, if you are looking for something bike related, check them out. You may find a deal too good to pass up.

So I needed a helmet...

2011-04-05T21:52:00.000-04:00

My old helmet didn't fit right, had been dropped a million times and was probably worthless in its sole job of protecting my head in the event of a crash. So, I tried on a few helmets locally. But to be honest, I felt kind of cheesy trying them on locally, knowing I was going to check online prices. Of course, if the price was fairly close, I'd have bought locally, not only to help local businesses but also because the whole waiting thing sucks....

I also decided it was ok if I tried on helmets and not buy if I had spent money at a local shop before. So, I had two shops I would check. One was a dealership where I had inquired about how much it would cost to have a mechanic check out a bike I was interested in. When the shop manager told my $150 I thought that was fairly reasonable and asked what they checked. His reply started ' Well.....uhhhh, we check the turn signals, and ummmmm uhhh the oil level....' I silently crossed that particular shop off my list.

But they have really nice shiny new bikes to look at so every once in a while I stop in to stare at new bikes. I went there and saw they had actually expanded their offerings. There was a fairly large selection of helmets (for Tallahassee, anyway) And the salesperson knew what he was talking about and didn't try to sell me a GSX-R.

I even found a helmet that was comfortable, and fit well. Too bad it was way out of my admittedly cheap price range. So, I then spent a few minutes drooling on the Bandit 1250, Versys and Er 6N. Wow, very nice looking bikes.

I then headed over to a local shop were I bought my chain and sprockets. Their selection wasn't quite as large and sadly the few helmets I tried on did not even come close to fitting. No Icon helmets for me!

Well, part of my trip was to compare helmet brands and to see if hopefully anyone local sold a Scorpion Exo in a size that would fit my hugely long head. No one did.

So I went to Motorcyclegear.com and after speaking (well, ok, typing) to one of their workers, ordered this helmet:

Here's the info. on the helmet. It was too good of a deal to pass up. Even if it totally doesn't match the bike, my jacket or me :)

Motorcycle hand signals...

2011-03-24T10:36:00.001-04:00

2011-03-21T10:18:00.001-04:00

I still think this is funny but sadly it is what I say to myself when I pull into the gas station to gas up.

2011-03-12T16:52:00.000-05:00

All I need...is my Bandit and my tent.

I love old bikes in good shape. I also love old bikes in beat up, grungy, ratted out shape, too. This bike was nice.

If you can't ride a bike, at least drive something really cool.

This BMW sort of looked out of place, ya know?

Remember me posting about a thread started on ADVrider called, 'You might be a KLR owner if....' ? Well, one of the points was 'if you have ever replaced a stock part with one made out of wood'.

This bike is seriously cool.

A picture from Daytona, and a picture from work...

2011-03-11T21:09:00.000-05:00

Good thing the Ducati wasn't there, my Bandit may have gotten a complex.

Some pictures from my Sunday ride...

2011-02-22T20:41:00.000-05:00

Well, so we wanted a group photo, but let's face it, grown men riding minibikes is a little silly. But, we still wanted the group photo....

We are suddenly much cooler since one of us drives this really cool truck.

And it doesn't matter if you are riding a minibike you rescued out of a field and slapped a Harbor Freight lawn mower motor in it or if you are riding a $10k KTM dirt bike, this is cool!

Local Craigslist ad that cracked me up:

2011-02-06T14:44:00.000-05:00

Here is the ad:

http://tallahassee.craigslist.org/mcy/2198556056.html

Here is what it says:

Like New Condition. One Owner. Size LARGE. Liner included. Kept in Non-Smoking Home. Used very Little. No Marks or cuts. A Great deal, a Sacrifice. Original Harley hanger.

Duct tape, WD 40 and Sea Foam.

2011-02-02T18:15:00.000-05:00

Tool Box 101:

If it moves, and it shouldn't, use duct tape.

If it doesn't move, and should, use WD40.

And now,

If it runs like crap, use Sea Foam.

Pine Sol Carb Cleaning!

2011-01-28T22:43:00.000-05:00

Take a look at these photos, then read the thread here (thread from ADVrider.com) .

Start with some regular old carbs:

Then put them in a bucket with some Pine Sol and hot water:

Let them soak for a day or so and take them out:

Not too bad, huh?

Some random thoughts...

2011-01-27T21:57:00.000-05:00

On my drive home (can't ride yet, fixing it Saturday!) I start thinking. That's not good....

So:

1. Why is it a law to wear a seat belt in a car and not a law to wear a helmet?

2. Why is it necessary to buy a 400 pound bike for $8000 that comes stock with 120 hp, and save 10 pounds and gain 4 hp by spending $800 on a new exhaust?

3. If loud pipes do save lives, why doesn't every bike come with really loud pipes?

Well, seems my oil pan is stripped....

2011-01-26T20:50:00.000-05:00

which is a common problem on lots of motorcycles. Who knew that a steel bolt in an aluminum pan is not a good idea? Anyway, checking with various forums and experts, there are a million fixes. Buying a new pan, buying a used pan, helicoil, timesert, jb weld, rubber plug with wing nut, self tapping drain plug, self tapping drain plug with piggy back drain, etc etc etc.

What's really confusing is every answer to the question is also soundly rejected as a viable fix on the various web sites I found discussing a stripped oil pan.

So I decided to go to a local shop that I have heard nothing but good things about. I went in and explained my problem and was instantly given the answer of a stripped pan. The guy then told me the best fix was to replace the pan and he had a used one. I had already checked Ebay and knew that pans could be bought for around $30 shipped to my door. I had also checked my Haynes manual and knew that you'd have to remove the exhaust to get to the pan and a replacement pan gasket would be $15 or so. You have to remove 8 bolts to take off the exhaust so it can't take too long, especially for someone used to working on bikes so I was thinking maybe $200 total.

$400.

Wow.

I then asked how much he would sell just the pan for, I was told $200. Then he added that they had to remove the exhaust to get to the pan and that's why the total was so high.

Wow.

Needless to say, I won't be going to that local shop. I can understand paying more at a local shop and am quite willing to but 8 times more? Nah that's ok.

So, I had wanted to learn how to do my own maintenance on the Bandit. Seeing as how I haven't won the lottery, looks like now is a good time to start.

I now have Wednesdays off along with weekends and work 10 hour days. So far, it is great. Today my plan was to find the self tapping plug and get it on the bike. It didn't quite work that way but I did get all the stuff I'll need except the self tapping plug. The NAPA I went to didn't have it but was going to bring it from the store on the other side of town. I'll have to pick it up tomorrow.

So, looks like this weekend, I'll be working on the bike. And saving $395.

Today's Tom Sawyer....

2011-01-25T22:22:00.000-05:00

Ok, I'm not a huge Rush fan but I do like a lot of their songs and 'Tom Sawyer' was played nonstop by my (older and way cool) brothers back then and of course, you still hear it today.

I had read somewhere that Neal Peart, Rush drummer (and one of the best in the world, according to the best in the world experts...) also rode motorcycles and had written some motorcycle touring books. Having enjoyed 'The Long Way Round', I asked for the book for Christmas. And my family got it for me.

So, right before Christmas, I started a new job. It's great and has really made a huge difference in our home. And there is a nice break room so it made it a low easier to take my lunch and a book to work and have an hour to read. 'Ghost Rider' became that book the first day back at work after Christmas.

It's a good book but not as motorcycle focused as I had hoped. But, Peart has done a pretty neat job of describing the locations he visited, both physical and mental. Very good book. What's really strange is that as I read it, I realized my Mom, of all people, would get more out the book than I did. She's had a tough time the last few years, losing her brother and sister only a couple of years apart.

Weird that I'd want her to read a book about some rock star on a bike, huh? Anyway, take a look at the book, if you're into 'bike books'.

The problem is lately I've had the song 'Tom Sawyer' in my head for about the past month. Not the whole song, just the part where Alex Lifeson has his guitar solo, then Peart absolutely destroys his drum kit.... You know the part, right?

Anyway, I guess I could have a worse song running through my head but after five weeks of that song, I need a new song!

I want to ride with these guys!

2010-12-07T20:18:00.000-05:00

Shamelessly stolen from ADV Rider:

What a beautiful day for a ride!

2010-11-28T14:59:00.001-05:00

It was chilly but not too bad and the Bandit was quick to warm up, so I headed out to grab a bite to eat. My neighborhood is small and to get out of my 'hood, you get on a six lane road. So when you go, you have to usually GO!

Crossing over to the median was easy, no traffic headed north, so headed into town, was a solid three lanes of traffic. So, I waited for a bit and it opened up on the inside lane...and if I got in and got up to speed, I could make it over to the far side, where I'd need to be.

I'm a new rider, only around 1000 miles on the Bandit but I don't do anything silly. I do sometimes go 0-speed limit really fast though, and this is one of those times. There is nothing that can describe that feeling. I can only imagine what it feels like on a Hayabusa or ZX-14 or anything like that. Can't really say I want to see what it feels like (yet), as I'm quite happy with the speed from my 'lowly' Bandit

Riding into town, I took the long way because I was on the bike, it was a beautiful day, and do we need any more reasons? Halfway there, I realized I didn't have my wallet.... It's almost like I planned that...so after a return trip home, I finally made it to lunch.

The ride home was just as nice, absolutely beautiful weather and shared a few lights near the end of the trip with a guy on a really nice shiny BMW 650/800. Those BMW's are very nice looking but then I think of what they do differently than my $300 bike and realize the price difference isn't worth it. (Plus, I'm cheap)

Speaking of cheap, I'm heading out now to finish up my $8 tail bag! Edit Post Reply Reply With Quote Blog this Post .

2010-08-21T20:27:00.000-04:00

There's my Bandit and my buddy's Moto Guzzi at Lake Seminole. We rode up there a few Sundays ago, but there's no way I could trace our route except to say that it was full of curves, tight curves, long swooping curves, uphill and down hill curves and then a few more curves, just to make sure.

I also found out that that Moto Guzzi is a curve maniac. George would hit the curve and just....disappear.

Anyone needing a visual for why ATGATT is a good idea.....

2010-08-14T22:11:00.000-04:00

That's not me, I know nothing of the rider, but I hope he is ok. Good thing is, he was wearing a full face helmet. Bad news is he didn't land on just his head.

I'll remember this whenever I think about not wearing my jacket and gloves.

I passed my MSF class!

2010-06-23T20:43:00.001-04:00

So I'm off to ride. Well, tomorrow, after I register my bike and get my endorsement.

Expect more stuff here, soon, with pictures!

Can someone explain this to me?

2010-06-04T21:58:00.000-04:00

I was coming home from work yesterday on Capital Circle, otherwise known as the Tallahassee Speedway, and saw a guy on a bike. He caught up to me, not really speeding, but going a little faster than me and I see he's on a cruiser....a big one. Not a harley, I think it was a Star.

What I can't understand is what he's wearing. No helmet, flip flops, baggy shoters, t-shirt. Nothing really too strange there for our location, it is HOT. 95 degrees, at least 95% humidity. No arguments about what he was wearing, I believe in ATGATT (most every time, I mean it!) so that is not anything unusual to see.

What still puzzles me is that in addition to his outfit, he was also wearing a black leather vest...... Now, I guess I could understand that if he had a patch or something, maybe, but that vest was spotless, no patch anywhere.

Strange.

Wow, I guess this is the second coolest thing ever. EVER.

2010-05-24T11:23:00.001-04:00

Video - Descente de cote en BuggyRollin

This is the coolest thing ever. Ever. EVER.

2010-05-21T10:09:00.001-04:00

24 Hours of Lemons!

About the spring cleaning...

2010-04-16T08:49:00.000-04:00

My friend and I finally had some time so we did some maintenance on the Bandit. Well, he did it and I watched and learned. Anyway, the tank came off with no problems but we found that the back fairings have a small tab that is bolted onto the frame under the tank. Who ever took the tank off before us didn't think enough to take the bolts off, so he just snapped the fairings at the tabs....not a good sign for mechanical competance. is it? I started to get a little worried, I was hoping whoever did that hadn't gone too far into the engine.

We checked the plugs, NGK, and they were fine. We took a look at the air filter, and I was happy to see the K&N Sticker on the outside of the box. This means I get 10 extra horsepower, right?

We moved on and got the carbs off without any trouble. They had never been touched, apparently. We inspected them and the number one carb has a huge speck of sand in it. The second carb had a little gunk and we got that out, as well. Three and four carbs were clean.

So we got everything back together and I took it for a ride. It seemed to run a little better, a little smoother and maybe a little better acceleration. But honestly, it might have just been the psychological 'We worked on the bike so it must run better'.

Either way, it's nice to find out that the $200 bike is in good shape.

Loud pipes DO save lives....

2010-04-11T22:42:00.001-04:00

Odds and Ends, spring cleaning, little bit of this and that...

2010-04-07T11:22:00.000-04:00

We just got back from a trip to Atlanta, where we stayed at the Marriot Marquis in downtown Atlanta. This hotel was huge, 42 stories tall. We stayed on the 32nd level. Tallahassee has one tall building, the Capitol, and it's only 22 floors high. Riding up and down the glass walled elevator was cool, Ryan loved it.

Anyway, except for the height of the hotel, it was about the same as any other, except it seemed they lived a bit on their name. No free internet, the TV was not good, they overbooked enough that we didn't get part of our package and had to park off site instead of valet parking. But, they took care of it and did refund that so it was fine.

We were in Atlanta for Shelby's Volleyball tournament and that was cool but Ryan and I had lots of time to spend. We took a trip to the Aquarium and it was pretty nice. It was also part of the hotel package so that was even better.

What was strange was that even though we were over 300 feet in the air, many times at night, we could hear motorcycles racing by on the street. We didn't hear any other sounds, really, but sport bikes winding out a bit seemed to carry right up to our room.

I'm glad to be home but my poor Bandit is now yellow. Pollen has covered our carport and my bike needs bath!

I'm cleaning up the site too, adding a few links, etc. So take a look, might be one or two you may not have seen before.

Did anyone lose a cat?

2010-03-12T13:41:00.001-05:00

http://tallahassee.craigslist.org/zip/1640802897.html

18 and 20 year old Hondas uncrated!

2010-03-12T13:17:00.000-05:00

You know how cagers always say 'I never saw him!'?

2010-03-04T12:56:00.000-05:00

That's what you always hear on the motorcycle forums, riders almost always blaming an accident on car drivers. And while many many car drivers have no business driving while eating, talking on a cell phone or even worse, TEXTING, sometimes you truly can not see someone on a bike.

Before you form the lynch mob, bear with me. I have personal experience on this.

Several months ago, I was coming home from work in my Mazda van. As I turned onto the four lane street, a guy on a Honda Elite turned right on the street and settled in behind me. I always notice scooters and motorcycles, cause, well, I just do. So does my three year old, she wants a Ninja!

Anyway, we are going down a nice wide four lane street, in a straight line. This street is probably three miles long.

The entire time we were riding/driving down the street, I COULD NOT SEE THE HONDA. I was looking in my rear view mirror and when we were stopped at the red light, by turning around in my seat. It really shocked me when I could not see him while we were stopped. I thought he had turned off, but when the traffic moved, I caught a glimpse of him. He was in my blind spot the entire time, happily unaware that the guy in the huge van right in front of him could not see him.

So, take a second and imagine if I had not seen him turning onto the street right behind me.

That happened several months ago and was a real eye opener to me, both as a car driver and a motorcycle rider.

I had already figured out that riding close behind a car was a dumb move, but sometimes you have to. That ride home really made me aware of how big car blind spots can be.

The absolute best (motorcycle/road trip) writing I have ever read....

2010-02-26T22:48:00.000-05:00

I'm actually debating whether to remove the (motorcycle/road trip) part of the headline, this is good stuff. This (and three other ride reports) are posted on Adventure Rider . I'm sure everyone has been to that site but if you haven't, go. Now. Awesome ride reports of people going everywhere, with amazing photos to boot.

Anyway, a bit of an introduction to what I consider the best writing I have ever run across. This is the bike:

The bike on the left is Cack. The bike was originally a Honda Pacific Coast. Look closely...see the luggage rack on the back of Cack? Look closer. Can you tell what it was, originally? Yup, it is the handle and pull rope from a push lawn mower.

If that doesn't pique your interest, let me give you the background on the story this picture is from. First, the picture of Cack and the dual sport is from Alaska. The owner of Cack, Vermin, took a trip from California to Alaska and left the bike in the backyard of a fellow ADV reader. Then he flew home to return to work.

Vermins rationale was that when you have a vacation, and especially when you take a ride as your vacation, half the time of the vacation is spent riding back to work, which makes a heck of a long commute, doesn't it? So, he thought, if you ride for six days and on the seventh day fly back home, you have doubled your vacation.

So, Vermin returned home where he found he had been let go. So, with no job, it made the chances of getting his bike back (he lives in Detroit) somewhere between slim to none.

But, some ADV Rider's decided that was a crappy way to end the Cack Chronicles and started to fantasize about going and getting Cack and riding it back to Vermin, so he could take another trip and write about it.

Somewhere along the way, someone said 'I'll do it! But only to XXXXX'. Of course, that means someone else had to speak up and prove how awesome they were and volunteer for a spot and soon, what was probably just internet optimism actually came into form and ended up with a 61 page ride report, which is actually about 11 pages without all the filler posts by readers.

Anyway, if you have a few minutes to spare (really, that's all it will take, honestly) go read the first story in the Cack Chronicals.

At first, I enjoyed the report, then started to wonder if Vermin was slightly off his rocker but slowly found myself agreeing with his outlook on life...which is a little worrisome :)

Well, go read the first in the series Detroit to San Diego, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Negligence

Trust me, it is good stuff.

Well, so long, two stroke scoot!

2010-02-19T14:20:00.000-05:00

I cleaned it up, took care of a top end bogging annoyance and put it on Craigslist. Within 15 minutes of the ad going live, I had two calls. One of the callers ran by todayt, took it for a quick test ride, pulled up with 'that grin' on his face and handed me the money! Cool!

And here's my newest ride, a 49cc two stroke scooter!

2010-02-06T17:39:00.000-05:00

It needs a good cleaning but it runs pretty darn well for $120!! And the two stroke smell instantly takes me back to when I was a little kid and my older brothers had dirt bikes. And that sound....

It's faster than I thought it would be and taking 90 degree turns at top speed, around 30 mph or so is nothing but ear to ear grinning fun.

Makes you wish you could find a 250 or 500 two stroke street legal.

Here's my Bandit...

2010-02-04T15:31:00.000-05:00

Not too bad for $300 :)

Check out this GPS!

2010-01-24T09:50:00.000-05:00

Stolen from this thread on ADV Rider.

I love my Bandit!

2010-01-23T23:09:00.000-05:00

I love it in .4 mile increments although sometimes they multiply into .8 mile or even 1.2 mile increments. Yeah, sad to say but my neighboorhood is a .4 mile circle.

But until I get licensed, that's it. It's not nearly enough but it is enough to improve my outlook for the day. Today I was sorely tempted to take a right out of my neighborhood and head out on Thomasville Road and see exactly what this bike will do.

What it would most likely do is get me in a whoile lot of legal trouble, with no tag, no license and no business being on the road.

First off: This is not me but....

2010-01-02T22:29:00.001-05:00

my question is this: Am I slowly going over to the dark side? :)

Actually, this is what I want my bike to look like:

2009-12-22T20:47:00.000-05:00

And, what do you know? That is what my bike looks like now. I just got a 1998 Suzuki Bandit 600 in a trade for the Nighthawk! More to come, but I'm going to go ride around the neighborhood for a bit!