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Rabu, 29 Juni 2011

Looking At The Bright Side Of A Suddenly Dead Battery On A Hot Summer Day In The Desert

I had been worried about not having anything to post today, but my ever-faithful Triumph, as always, provided.

The heat has arrived in Phoenix. It's the time of year when I can count on sweating more or less from the moment I leave the house until just before it's time for bed. Such is life in the desert. I can deal with it.

Of course, the temperature extremes in the desert are very hard on auto and motorcycle batteries. If your battery lasts more than a year here, it's one quality battery. That's why our car has a Die-Hard in it. I'm sure there's a compelling reason why I haven't put a Die-Hard in the Triumph, but I can't think of what it is. Anyway, I've got some other battery the dealer put in there right now.

And it died again. I just got the new one in March.

I discovered the dead battery thusly: After fifteen miles of desert freeway, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up coffee filters and tortillas (why else?). Every one and their cousin had also stopped at the Quick n' Dirty at the same time. I shouldered my way through the hordes of lifeless heat zombies, got my two items, checked out, and put my gear back on.

When I thumbed the starter, it coughed weakly and asked me not to do that again. Of course, I did try again, much to the starter's irritation.

The only reasonable thing to do was to raise my arms to the sky and yell "Today? Here? Seriously?" The other parking lot denizens took this as an their cue to look elsewhere and move away slowly.

Luckily, I remembered there are two things in my favor in these situations. One, my motorcycle has a clutch. Two, a Lucky in motion has a lot of inertia on his own. Added to a rolling motorcycle, well, don't try and stop me. My only concern about push starting the bike was whether or not the thing would run with a dead battery. Some bikes don't. A modern Vespa, for example.

I got the motorcycle rolling across the parking lot, shifted into first gear, popped the clutch, and rode along home. The instrument cluster was not behaving right, of course. The displays kept going blank on me at low RPMs, but the important thing was that it kept running until I got home.

So now I just have to wait for the bike to cool off enough so I can stand over it long enough to pull the battery. Easy as really, really hot pie.

And here I was worried I wouldn't have anything to write about. See? It's not all bad.

Senin, 27 Juni 2011

Have You Seen This Crazy Crash?

So, two riders crash (they both hop up right away), their bikes get tangled and start spinning in circles. I'm probably a terrible person for this, but watching the rider in black freaking out and trying to catch his bike makes me laugh uncontrollably. He's just so annoyed.

Rabu, 22 Juni 2011

Buell is Back At It

Personally, I knew Buell would be back. You probably did too. Face it, a guy who can do what he did with HD weighing him down isn't going to be stopped by a little thing like the loss of a supplier and dealer chain.

Erik Buell Racing has unveiled the 1190RS, and if I had roughly $40,000, I'd totally buy one. But I don't, so I'm just going to wait until they're mass-producing again.

Here is Motorcyclist magazine's write-up about it.

Yum.

One question for modern sportbike designers, though: What's the deal with the fiddly license plate holders stuck on the back of seemingly all the new bikes. Is that really the most attractive option you can come up with?

Senin, 20 Juni 2011

It's Ride To Work Day Already?

I had no idea that today was Ride to Work Day until just now. I thought it was on July 15th for some reason. So... if you didn't ride to work today, you need to drive yourself on home, hop on your bike and ride it back to work.

DO IT. I'll be checking up on you.

I think this marks the 2nd time I've actually ridden to work on the official day. It may be the third, I'm not certain. Usually something comes up such as sickness, vehicular trouble, or vacations.

I didn't notice any more bikes on the road than usual, but perhaps I'll see more this afternoon. Have you noticed an unusually high number of riders in your area?

Jumat, 17 Juni 2011

Basic Biker Etiquette

So there you are, you've got a pretty bike, your gear is on and you are ready to go! Unfortunately, no one ever bothered to tell you how to comport yourself while riding. Here's what you need to know.

If you can safely stop to check on a motorcyclist who pulled off the road, do so. Even if you can't quite handle "righty-tighty, lefty-loosey," you might be able to lend a cell phone, tools, water, gum, or just a bit of moral support. Of course, only stop if you can do so safely. If you have to immediately cut across three lanes of traffic and come to a screeching stop, you'll be excused for not stopping.

Do not pass another motorcyclist in the same lane unless he/she indicates that you should. Seriously, passing in the same lane is just a jerk-ass move. If the rider you're passing didn't notice you, he/she is going to be startled when you fly by three feet away from him. It's not just rude, it's unsafe - how can you be sure the other rider wasn't planning to shift to the other side of the lane? Unless you get waved past (I do this all the time if I'm holding someone up and traffic is tight), don't pass in the same lane.

One exception to that rule - in the twisties, if the other rider is hugging the right side of the road and going slowly, you'll be excused for passing in the same lane if you do so as safely as you can.

Wave when you can, and return greetings at stoplights. What? Are you such a bad-ass that you can't even say good morning in return? Don't just stare like you're too tough for such things. Life is rough enough, make it a little smoother by acknowledging a fellow traveller in a small way. Sure, sometimes you just can't wave because you didn't see the other person in time, or it's not safe to do so, or your hands are full of clutch and throttle. It's OK. Just do it when you can.

Your thoughts?

Rabu, 15 Juni 2011