Okay, so this posting isn't motorcycle related. My bike is in the shop, getting some much needed maintenance that I've been putting off since the Arkansas trip. The downside of a bike with 94,000 miles on it is that the money you saved by buying used is doled out in repairs, the death-of-a-thousand cuts thing. And my mechanic has the civilian version of my bike, with only 19,000 miles on it, which he is restoring (that's kind of his gig). But no, for now I'm sticking with Pepper, and she's going to get everything she needs to be road worthy.
So this week, my friend Diane and I flew up to Grand Marais MN - a beautiful little town on Lake Superior. I flew the Gobosh, and the weather was beautiful, except for strong gusty winds. I usually try to avoid those, and the timing of the trip north went OK, but the trip back, well, strong gusty winds which were across the runway made for exciting take offs and landings. I was thinking of working my way up to handling that kind of wind by going with an instructor on a windy day, but it turns out it was me and a first time passenger. What does a passenger think when the pilot says "fuck!" in the middle of a takeoff? Diane handled it pretty well, but I'm sure I had her a little worried. Anyway, it was fun and we made it OK.
So it's like motorcycle riding, in a way. You need to put yourself into situations where you learn to react. I spend a lot of time planning flights to avoid weather I'm not comfortable with, but the only way to get better is to try it and survive. And with gusty winds, you set up for takeoff, and then when the wind changes and the plane swerves or dips you react - hopefully the right way. Like what you do when a deer jumps on the road in front of the bike, or a cage driver cuts in front of you. You need to train your reactions, and hope that training works the first few times, and then you have good instincts.
Anyway, I'll put up some pictures later - Grand Marais is beautiful, and Diane took some pics of the flight.
VBecky
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
The Porcupine of Damocles
Okay, so I'm not on the motorcycle, and not in the airplane. We're hiking along the Anvil trail in the Schoodic portion of Acadia National Park. The kids are ahead, and my son notices, perched right over the trail, a porcupine. He stops my daughter from going under, then takes these videos. At the end, notice that we take another path.
As you can see at the end, we went another way....
Sunday, August 1, 2010
My Bike #3, Yamaha Virago, xv750, review
This is my beloved 1995 Yamaha Virago xv750. My first "real" bike and the one I put the most miles on. (first one in line).I bought it used with about 20,000 miles on it, and I have close to 40,000 miles on it now, and I've never been able to part with it.
I've ridden 400 miles in a day on this bike. It's been to Sturgis - this picture is taken in the Black Hills in Spearfish Canyon. It's been to the Keewenaw Peninsula in Michigan and back.
This bike is considered a cruiser. It has the ubiquitous V-twin air cooled engine, and cruiser type styling. But the frame is very similar to the Yamaha Vmax - which is a high performance bike, and as a result, this bike corners really well. It's not super spunky - the 750 cc V-twin is good away from a stop light, but passing takes patience and good timing. Top speed for me was about 100 mph - I was there during a prolonged pass - and I don't think it had much left. I got about 45 - 50 mpg, and with the 3.5 gallon tank I could make about 160 miles before needing to refill. I bought it because I hoped it would take my partner and me to Sturgis. We went, but she drove a car. Just as well, it was a long, grueling trip. (I'll probably post about that down the road).
Anyways,
I became a biker on this bike. I rode it enough that I could turn it on a dime in the parking lot, do a 180 on a country lane, and do the "keep up or go home" rides with the club. I learned to corner fast, wasn't afraid to scrape the foot pegs on a tight turn, and I trusted this bike completely. It never left me standing, though it tried hard once.
The color was referred to in the Yamaha manual as "cute green". The guy I bought it from called it "dinner mint green". It's distinctive and looks nice even after 14 years on the road.
The high points of this bike:
Simple and durable - I put 20,000 miles on this bike and it never left me standing, and I could do all the routine maintenance myself. I even did my own valve adjustment. The gas tank fed by gravity into the carburetors, and so even when the stator went belly up on a ride, the engine was fed with gas and I could make it home.
Easy to maneuver - In a parking lot or on a twisty road, this bike was very well behaved. I took the MSF experienced rider class, and aced it on this bike. Even though I had to be creative with the throttle to keep up, I could hang in with the top club riders because it cornered so well. The brakes were effective, and not that easy to lock up, so "panic" stops were safe. My feet were almost under the body, which makes a bike feel good in corners to me.
The issues I had with it:
Electrical - as happened on my other Virago, a major electrical component failed before 50,000 miles. This one it was the Stator, and I made it home only because the gas was fed by gravity. I like gravity feed - if gravity fails you got a whole lot of other problems! The stator hasn't been fixed yet - I spent all last winter and this summer deciding if I had enough gumption to take apart the oil wetted parts of the bike (transmission, crankcase, etc.) It also melted the stock headlight plug, which was hard to replace.
Overheating - While the V-twin is offset, with the rear cylinder out of line with the front cylinder for cooling, this bike did overheat on me a couple of times. Symptoms were a clicking from the cylinder heads (probably valves), and the shifter stopped working for the low gears. I eventually fixed this by using Amsoil 20W50 synthetic motor oil, which seemed to hang in there even when the engine got really hot.
Starting on the sidestand - two things happened with this bike when it was started on the sidestand. First one is that the "low oil" light came on - the sender was on the other side of the bike from the sidestand. Second, after I had it for a couple of years, one of the carburetor floats would get stuck, and gas would dribble continuously into the carburetor and into the air filter. After riding with the throttle open for a while this would correct itself, but it was annoying. I just took to not starting it until I was on it.
It's a pretty basic bike, and I rode it "naked" for a while, but eventually I got a small windscreen for it and that made a huge difference in comfort. I loaded it up with saddle bags and a tank bag, and could take long trips with it. This is the bike that gave me the name "Virago Becky" and I think I'll always be called that in the club.
I went on to more comfortable bikes, but I just can't let this one go yet. A good backup bike and nice for riding around town.
Update - it's 2010 and I still have this bike. I got Dr. Al to replace the stator, and now the electrical system is working well. A note on the windshield - I couldn't find the mounting brackets that fit this bike, so I had to modify some. Not too hard to do, and very worthwhile. I used this bike to lead one of my club rides recently, and it performed well. It's just not as "tight" as my BMW - part of that is the suspension and part of it is the looser throttle response of the bike versus the fuel injection of the BMW.
Update - it's 2010 and I still have this bike. I got Dr. Al to replace the stator, and now the electrical system is working well. A note on the windshield - I couldn't find the mounting brackets that fit this bike, so I had to modify some. Not too hard to do, and very worthwhile. I used this bike to lead one of my club rides recently, and it performed well. It's just not as "tight" as my BMW - part of that is the suspension and part of it is the looser throttle response of the bike versus the fuel injection of the BMW.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Bike Review: 2000 BMW R1100RT-P
Okay, this is my current bike, and I didn't buy it new. I've ridden a season and a half, and put 14,000 miles on it. I got it used from Moon Motorsports in Monticello, MN, and they got it from someone who got it from the California Highway Patrol. I went to this bike from my 1988 Yamaha Venture XVZ1300D. I just returned from a 10 day solo trip to Arkansas and back, riding in the Ozarks, and I guess I feel I have enough experience with this bike to have some opinions.
When I bought this bike, it had 80,700 miles on it. It was my first BMW, and first fuel injected bike.
Test Ride: The first thing I noticed test riding this bike, is that it handled really well. The suspension was tight, cornering was easy, I could pull a 180 on a country road without practice. It didn't have the raw acceleration of the Venture, but it was plenty adequate. It was comfortable to sit on. I had new bike fever. I bought it!
Anyway, now that I have 14,000 miles on it, here are some things I've noticed.
Performance:
This bike corners better than any of the other 4 bikes I've owned. Of course, that includes 3 cruisers and a full dress tourer, and the RTP is essentially a sport tourer. But the suspension is special, with almost no dive on braking, solid feeling in the corners, and not much effort required to initiate a turn. It leans more than the Venture for the same radius turn, but it takes less push on the handlebar to get it to come around.
As for raw acceleration, well, the Venture would beat it, with the 1300cc liquid cooled VMax engine. In spite of the extra 100 lbs the Venture weighed. But the RTP has plenty of oomph for anything I do - I can get from 40-100 mph in the time it takes to pass a line of 4 cars. So that's all I really ask.
The anti-lock brakes probably work - I've never locked a wheel. I like that the hand brake is front and rear linked, and the foot brake is rear wheel only - that gives me the option of using the rear brake in turns if I come in a little hot.
The engine runs a little rough, especially below 4000 rpm. I think it's the fuel injection - hunting for it's set point continually. It will stall at idle when I start it after it's been sitting but is still warm - I need to let it idle with a little throttle. It was a little disconcerting at first, but I got used to it. The fuel injection is nice in that it is less maintenance, and it works even with the bike lying on its side (Don't ask how I know this).
Gas mileage for me is 40 to 45 mpg. With the 6.5 gallon tank, that's at least 250 miles per tank. I've never run out of gas, and never tried to get more than 250 miles out of a tank. 250 miles and I'm ready for a break, anyway.
Comfort, Convenience, and Features:
Ok, the turn signals. Left thumb for left, right thumb for right, that's different, but makes sense. Right thumb up to cancel, that's an unnatural movement for me, and just seems wrong. No flasher on this bike - I think I lost it when I lost all the police lights, but I can make an artificial flasher by holding both left and right signals down at the same time.
Clutch and brake levers are reasonable. Throttle cable is a little touchy compared to the other bikes I've owned. I use the Throttlemeister for long trips and occasionally to make the throttle a little less sensitive. It's not a big deal, just different.
The shifting - this bike is a clunky shifter. It wants to be quick shifted, and has a tendency to clash gears if you shift slowly when the bike isn't accelerating rapidly. I've heard this is due to BMW using standard gears instead of helical gears. It's a little embarassing if you're trying to be ultra smooth with a passneger and the gears grind when you shift. And if I'm not real assertive when I shift, it will sometimes hang out in neutral. This is something I do find annoying about this bike.
Saddle is comfortable. I've been told the passenger seat is comfy, but it vibrates a lot, especially at higher RPM. BTW, some people really like this... :)
Cases - I have two side cases, and the BMW system attaches solidly to the bike and is pretty logical. My only gripe is that if you have the case open, take the key out, and then try and close it, it's really easy to bend the lock tab, which is a major inconvenience, and must be fixed / bent back to shape before the case is usable again. My top case is a Givi, which has more room and a nice backrest for the passenger.
You can load up this bike pretty well. Here it is loaded up with enough stuff for a 10 day trip:
When I bought this bike, it had 80,700 miles on it. It was my first BMW, and first fuel injected bike.
Test Ride: The first thing I noticed test riding this bike, is that it handled really well. The suspension was tight, cornering was easy, I could pull a 180 on a country road without practice. It didn't have the raw acceleration of the Venture, but it was plenty adequate. It was comfortable to sit on. I had new bike fever. I bought it!
Anyway, now that I have 14,000 miles on it, here are some things I've noticed.
Performance:
This bike corners better than any of the other 4 bikes I've owned. Of course, that includes 3 cruisers and a full dress tourer, and the RTP is essentially a sport tourer. But the suspension is special, with almost no dive on braking, solid feeling in the corners, and not much effort required to initiate a turn. It leans more than the Venture for the same radius turn, but it takes less push on the handlebar to get it to come around.
As for raw acceleration, well, the Venture would beat it, with the 1300cc liquid cooled VMax engine. In spite of the extra 100 lbs the Venture weighed. But the RTP has plenty of oomph for anything I do - I can get from 40-100 mph in the time it takes to pass a line of 4 cars. So that's all I really ask.
The anti-lock brakes probably work - I've never locked a wheel. I like that the hand brake is front and rear linked, and the foot brake is rear wheel only - that gives me the option of using the rear brake in turns if I come in a little hot.
The engine runs a little rough, especially below 4000 rpm. I think it's the fuel injection - hunting for it's set point continually. It will stall at idle when I start it after it's been sitting but is still warm - I need to let it idle with a little throttle. It was a little disconcerting at first, but I got used to it. The fuel injection is nice in that it is less maintenance, and it works even with the bike lying on its side (Don't ask how I know this).
Gas mileage for me is 40 to 45 mpg. With the 6.5 gallon tank, that's at least 250 miles per tank. I've never run out of gas, and never tried to get more than 250 miles out of a tank. 250 miles and I'm ready for a break, anyway.
Comfort, Convenience, and Features:
Ok, the turn signals. Left thumb for left, right thumb for right, that's different, but makes sense. Right thumb up to cancel, that's an unnatural movement for me, and just seems wrong. No flasher on this bike - I think I lost it when I lost all the police lights, but I can make an artificial flasher by holding both left and right signals down at the same time.
Clutch and brake levers are reasonable. Throttle cable is a little touchy compared to the other bikes I've owned. I use the Throttlemeister for long trips and occasionally to make the throttle a little less sensitive. It's not a big deal, just different.
The shifting - this bike is a clunky shifter. It wants to be quick shifted, and has a tendency to clash gears if you shift slowly when the bike isn't accelerating rapidly. I've heard this is due to BMW using standard gears instead of helical gears. It's a little embarassing if you're trying to be ultra smooth with a passneger and the gears grind when you shift. And if I'm not real assertive when I shift, it will sometimes hang out in neutral. This is something I do find annoying about this bike.
Saddle is comfortable. I've been told the passenger seat is comfy, but it vibrates a lot, especially at higher RPM. BTW, some people really like this... :)
Cases - I have two side cases, and the BMW system attaches solidly to the bike and is pretty logical. My only gripe is that if you have the case open, take the key out, and then try and close it, it's really easy to bend the lock tab, which is a major inconvenience, and must be fixed / bent back to shape before the case is usable again. My top case is a Givi, which has more room and a nice backrest for the passenger.
You can load up this bike pretty well. Here it is loaded up with enough stuff for a 10 day trip:
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Tale of Two Lakes Ride
This ride went really well. I liked the route - I was a litle worried no one would show up because it was far north from the 694 / 494 beltway, but we had 15 folks. Even though it was a rookie ride, we had no real rookies. We were light on officers for blocking, but "drafted" Joel, and Don and Len were busy.
I made one wrong turn in the middle of a tricky section. It was right after a deer jumped out in front of me, so I'm claiming he distracted me.
Ending point at was at the Little Bar in White Bear Lake. The West Bank Motorcycle Club got there just before we did, and the bar thought they were us. Eventually they got it straightened out, and we got our tables. Just a nice night for a ride, a good group of folks, and I'm really happy the route worked out well.
I made one wrong turn in the middle of a tricky section. It was right after a deer jumped out in front of me, so I'm claiming he distracted me.
Ending point at was at the Little Bar in White Bear Lake. The West Bank Motorcycle Club got there just before we did, and the bar thought they were us. Eventually they got it straightened out, and we got our tables. Just a nice night for a ride, a good group of folks, and I'm really happy the route worked out well.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Leading a TCMC ride Wednesday evening 7/21/10
This is the ride I'm leading - kind of gives you a feel for what it's like to design and lead rides for our club, at least rookie rides. Check out Twin Cities Motorcycle Club if this kind of thing interests you.
The ride is called "A Tale of Two Lakes"
To paraphrase Charles Dickens, "It was the best of rides, it was the worst of rides. It was sunny, and it was raining...."
The ride is called "A Tale of Two Lakes"
To paraphrase Charles Dickens, "It was the best of rides, it was the worst of rides. It was sunny, and it was raining...."
Monday, July 12, 2010
Arkansas trip day 10 - dodging the rain.
Hey the whole day involved finding a route around the rain, and I was pretty much successful.
Here's the circuitous route.
I did have to spend 45 minutes waiting out the rain 10 miles from home under a gas station overhang, but I got there before it started raining, so I'm thinking that's still OK.
Here's the circuitous route.
I did have to spend 45 minutes waiting out the rain 10 miles from home under a gas station overhang, but I got there before it started raining, so I'm thinking that's still OK.
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