Watch This Guy Riding On Top of a Mountain

This is pretty nuts.  Watching it doesn't make me half as nervous, though, as watching this video about climbing an antenna tower...

A Bit of Eye Candy

No idea what all the cups are about.

It's always fun to see what's lurking around the periphery at car shows.  In my always humble opinion, the "big deal" cars are usually the least interesting.  I'm sure your brand-new Lamborghini is a wonder, but I'm more interested in the details of the Locost hiding off in an unvisited corner of the show. 

Anyway, Lady Luck and I were at a car show this weekend and nearly tripped over this cafe racer.  This bike makes me want to misbehave in traffic.  Didn't see the owner around, unfortunately, so we weren't able to talk shop.

Triumph Gently Introduced To The Ground

Here's a rough way to start the day: realizing far too late that the kickstand is not up, and trying desperately to keep the bike from falling over all the way.

I tried to catch the bike in time, which I'm paying for now that the adrenaline has worn off.  Instead of keeping the bike upright, however, I fell hard into the side of a truck parked next to me.  At least my efforts slowed the Triumph's descent a bit.

Lifting the bike proved to be a problem, as there wasn't enough room between the Triumph and the neighboring truck to squat down and lift the bike the proper way.  Luckily for me, a guy was walking by and I was able to convince him he wanted to help me pick my bike up off the ground.

It looks like there wasn't any damage to the bike, or the truck I fell on.  I keep discovering new little pains as the morning progresses, but I hope a bit of soreness and embarrassment will be the worst of it.

No pics of the bike on the ground because, hey, the Triumph doesn't need that kind of humiliation.  Also, my first thought was, "get the bike back up," not, "take a photo."   I'm sure you can dig it.

A Thought About Running Late, As A Motorcycle Commuter

Well before being labeled a Viking (a label I am totally OK with, by the way), I was just a guy who knew he liked motorcycles.  A lot.  If I were to list all the motorcycle-related things I read and watched and purchased prior to actually getting a motorcycle, you might think I had a bit of an obsession.

I know that no one would make that mistake now, of course,

Way back in those long-gone days, I read an article about motorcycle commuting that said one should not ride if sick, angry, depressed, etc. etc.  And I suppose that's pretty good advice, assuming that you've got a car to get around with.

I don't.  I've got my choice of motorcycle or scooter.* 

According to that article, one of the many, many conditions for not riding is, "if you are running late."  The reasoning being that you'll be all distracted and panicky and will end up ground into hamburger underneath an 18-wheeler and then your family will be all sad and your important projects at work won't get finished.

Well, this morning I was running late.  My choice was Vespa or Triumph.  I considered the 15 minutes I'd save by riding the Triumph vs. the safety of a sedate scooter ride.  A wiser biker than me once said that when he had to make a decision about riding, he'd ask himself, what would Beowulf do?

And I figured Beowulf wouldn't be much for tooling along surface streets when he could be blazing a fiery trail down the HOV lane.

So I took the Triumph.  Arrived early.





*OK, I can carpool with Lady Luck, but it's a hassle for her to navigate through downtown Phoenix and I'd really rather ride on most days.  I could also take public transportation, which I've done a few times and again, I'd rather ride.

Smell Like a Bad Ass

Embarassing disclosure: I used to wear this cologne back in high school. I totally felt like a bad ass. I was justified in feeling that way, though, since I was a bad ass.

Also, for what it's worth, the ladies loved it. It was actually a pretty decent scent.

How Cold Is It Where You're Riding?

I got an email from Noam Sayin', sometimes commenter, always scholar and gentleman, mentioning that he's been enjoying some unseasonably warm weather (40 degrees F in Minnesota??) and has made the most of it by breaking out the bikes for a little winter mayhem. 

40 degrees is about as cold as it gets here, though we have had a couple days below freezing.  I know some of you guys ride in much colder weather.

So, if you're still riding right now... what kind of temperatures are you dealing with?

Fantastic Motorcycle Photos



Been there.

I stumbled across a blog chock full of fantastic biker-y photos and just had to throw out a link.  The image to the left is but a sample of the wonders and surprises that await you.

So, get yourself on over to The World Is Flat and check it out.

(Photo swiped from http://aproposfoto.blogspot.com/. I presume Michael Schmidt holds the copyright.)

Getting Used To A Slower Pace

For about a month, I rode the Vespa in to work instead of the Triumph.  The Vespa, since it has a 250cc motor, is technically freeway legal, but I take surface roads instead.  80 miles per hour on a scooter, even a big scooter like the GTS, is a bit too thrilling for me.  Especially because that's the upper limit of it's speed, and traffic here generally moves slightly faster than that.

Rather than be a sitting duck on the freeway, I buzz along the city streets to work, and just enjoy the extra torque of the big motor (as compared to a 150cc scooter) on quieter roads.  Slow is fun, especially when there are interesting things to see along the way.

The Triumph, however, let me know it was getting a bit lonely and jealous of the Vespa, so I decided I'd resume riding the freeways on the Speed Four and let the Vespa chill in the garage for a bit.

Apparently, my traffic and speed tolerance went way, way down over the last month.  I read a journal of a bicycle tourer recently, who said that riding in a car, experiencing the speed and peril of fast traffic, after several months on a bicycle was absolutely terrifying.  My experience was similar. 

It was hard to keep my speed up, because it just seemed too dang fast.  I had to keep a close eye on the speedometer to keep from holding up traffic.  And other drivers are maniacs, swerving from lane to lane and invading my personal bubble too often.  The ride home was the same.

This morning's ride in wasn't as bad, but still a bit too thrilling.  Makes me think I might start riding the back way on the Triumph, at least while it's cool outside.  A bit of tranquility while riding is a good thing.

Or, maybe I'll keep riding the freeway and get my nerve back.

How Wrenching On Your Own Bike Makes You More Awesome



That's one sexy rotor

This was going to be a post about how to change the stator on a Triumph Speed Four.  Then I remembered that there are about five other Speed Fours on the road, so it wouldn't be especially useful for very many people.  Also, as repairs go, it's pretty darned simple.  The most challenging issue is finding the cause of the problem.  The rest is spinning a wrench, which you can probably find a video about on YouTube if you need a little extra help on the Righty-Tighty, Lefty-Loosey concept.

Cost savings aside - which were substantial in this case, a few hundred dollars at least - there is a great deal of value in pulling your bike apart, fixing the problem and then putting it all back together the right way.

For one thing, it takes a good deal of courage just to start the job if you don't already have experience working on mechanical things.  I pulled a lawn mower engine apart and put it back together back in high school and I still get nervous before tackling a new repair.  And the idea of checking the valve clearances on this bike makes me break into a cold sweat.

Next up, it forces you to be persistent.  Especially when the bike is your main mode of transportation.  Nothing ever goes smoothly, there's always a challenge of some sort.  For example, rare is the repair that doesn't require removing other critical parts - hoses, the gas tank, a carburetor, etc. - in order to get to the broken one.  After the troubleshooting, removing those bits is usually the most difficult part of the job.  And then you've got to get them all back into place.  A lack of persistence means a non-running bike (case in point, the VX800 languishing in my garage...).

Taking a closer look at the issue of parts you have to remove in order to get to the part you're interested: working on a motorcycle forces you to be careful and methodical.  It's best to learn this lesson before you find yourself staring at a Ziploc bag containing a couple different springs, several bolts in varied sizes and a note that says "carb and fuel pump."  You'll have a chance to learn this lesson again when you drop one of those bolts into some inaccessible part of the bike and spend an hour trying to fish it out with a flashlight and a wire clothes hanger. 

Along the way, you'll get plenty of opportunities to practice your troubleshooting skills.  Motorcycles are reasonably simple machines, but they're still made up of several systems that have to work together correctly in order to deliver the necessary air, fuel and spark the motor needs in order to run.  Every system added increases the complexity a bit, and modern bikes have quite a few systems. 

Which leads into the final point.  To the uninitiated, a motorcycle may as well be a kitchen appliance, just like cars.  It's a hunk of metal that does a particular thing.  When it stops doing its particular thing, call a repair shop.  For those of us in the know, a motorcycle is far more than an appliance, and deserves personal care and respect.  Working on your own bike lets you get to know each system, and see how they work together.  Ultimately, you end up with a much better understanding of how your bike works, which is a very good thing.

Especially when you finally run into something you can't/don't want to do and the mechanic tries to tell you the problem is that you're low on blinker fluid.

As in every situation, knowledge is power, and doing your own wrenching will increase your level of knowledge in a hurry.  When you use the skills you developed (while trying to get your own infernal machine on the road again) to solve a problem for someone else, they will be impressed.  Beers and high fives will be forthcoming, and you'll be glad for the bloody knuckles and frustration you endured trying to get that confounded oil filter loose.