Category: Motorcycling

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A KTM in the garage – part 3

I finally found a towing company that could help.   Actually they did more than help, they went a long way out of their way to help.   Remember that I have a trailer behind the truck with a Ducati tied down on it and I won’t leave it on the side of the interstate.   It wouldn’t last 10 minutes.

The towing company, 3 Cs Towing, could get my truck on a flatbed, but that still left the trailer and bike on the side of the road.   One of their employees asked me what size trailer ball my trailer used and I replied 2 inches.   He said that he would bring his own truck to pull the trailer, and the flatbed to get my truck and would get them both to a place where the tire could be repaired.   he was good to his word and we were finally NOT sitting on the side of the interstate.

The tire patching didn’t take long and I had been in touch with Tom by phone.   I texted him the address of the place that was going to repair the tire and he decided to head further west to meet me there.   Just as the wheel was going back onto the truck, he got there.   Since the tire shop’s parking lot was small we went across the road to a strip mall and swapped bikes.

Tom went out of his way too; a couple of hundred miles when it was all said and done.   We both got home safely, and my faith in people is reconfirmed.   I may have been disappointed by some of the   people I contacted, but in the end it worked out just fine.

Now I need to get the spare tire mechanism fixed, or I will probably have to do this again sometime.   Despite all the fun I had this time, I’d rather cut back on the drama a bit next time.

Maybe there won’t be a next time.     I can hope, can’t I?

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A KTM in the garage – part 2

I stayed at my parent’s on Monday night. I hadn’t seen them for a while (since Christmas) and they are 200+ miles closer to our meeting-up-place. I left after wrapping up work for the day and got there around 11pm. We talked for a while and then I headed off to bed as I had a long day on Tuesday. Got up just before the iphone was going to wake me up, had a quick bite for breakfast and filled my coffee mug. It was in the mid-thirties and very foggy, so I needed to get moving as I had 250+ miles to drive.

As I got closer to the Ohio border, the visibility was deteriorating and the temperature was dropping. I started seeing ice on the windshield and the temperature was 27 degrees. Still dark outside, but signs of life from the sun are beginning to appear. The sun warmed things up a bit, enough to eliminate the ice from the windshield but not enough to improve visibility very much.

I passed through Akron and was about 10 miles east of town when I heard a pop and the truck was weaving slightly left to right. Thinking that the trailer had a puncture, I stopped and found that the puncture was the passenger-side rear tire on the truck. Crap. Well, I was ahead of schedule and changing the tire should only take 10 minutes or so. Ha, I wish.

Loosening the lugs, jacking it up, and removing the flat tire was easy. Looking at the spare tire nestled up under the bed, I thought that the hard part was over. Wrong. I could not get that spare tire carrier to lower the spare – would not budge. I decided to think about it for a minute, as if the thought process would loosen the corroded cable/drum mechanism. Well, as you can guess I’m not telekinetic.

So I got on the phone to find a Ford dealer that could help. Trust me when I tell you that the dealers I spoke with were not very interested in helping. Note that I said dealers (plural). Great.

Next was to call Goodyear tire dealerships; I am 10 miles down the road from the world headquarters of Goodyear, after all. Here’s a quote from the first dealer I spoke with “We don’t work on tires.” Really. I asked what those round, black, rubber things were in the showroom and then he said “I didn’t mean that – I meant that we only work on tires HERE. Not on the road.” Really. So as long as I get a flat tire in a Goodyear dealership parking lot I’m covered, but if I get a flat on the road, I’m screwed. I’ll have to remember that when I buy tires again.

Stay tuned…

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A KTM in the garage…

I enjoyed the Ducati, but I’ve decided that I’m not Ben Spies no matter how much I might want to be. The reality is that I just want to enjoy riding motorcycles and racing around a track is not where my interests are. But I do believe that there are adventures to be had and they are all around, mainly down a gravel or dirt road.   The question that seems to begin every adventure is something like “I wonder where that road goes?”

So I’m going to find out where those roads go. Not every one, but the ones that seem to have adventure written all over them.   So, having made that decision, I needed a bike that could take me to the place at the end of the road.   For that, I chose a KTM.   You know, the bikes that a prominently mentioned, ridden by winners, and respected by all competitors in some very famous races.   Baha 1000, ISDE, and the Dakar Rally to name the primary ones.

I found an inmate on the advrider.com site that was interested in trading his KTM 950 Adventure S for my Ducati, so we put together a deal.   He lives on Long Island and I’m in northern Illinois, so consummating this trade was going to involve a trip for both of us.   OH NO!   Not a road trip!   Those of you that have followed my exploits are familiar with my trip stories, so let me apologize now for those.   This one will be a little different.

We agreed to meet at the Ohio – Pennsylvania border at I-80, and we hit the road.   We did meet up, and complete the swap, but not where we thought.   Stay tuned for the rest of the story…

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New helmet review – Shark Evoline

Shark_Evoline_Helmet_Silver_detailI got a good deal for a new Shark Evoline on ebay, and because the reviews I’ve read don’t seem to jive with my experience, I thought I should pass on my impressions.

For those that don’t know, this helmet’s chinbar rotates completely to the rear of the helmet when open. It also has a slide-down sunshade.

This is the only modular/flip helmet that has DOT/ECE2205 approval in either 3/4 or full-face configuration. DOT doesn’t mean much (nothing to any race organization in the world) but ECE2205 is a valuable certification.

First, weight. it is heavy, at least compared to my Shark RSi, which seems very lightweight. However, while you’re wearing it, the weight doesn’t seem as noticeable as when you’re holding it. Make no mistake, any of the modular/flip helmets will be heavier than a full-face helmet.

Second, fit. My Shark RSi is advertised to fit long-oval head shapes, and it is a very comfortable helmet for me. The HJC AC-15, on the other hand, causes so much pressure on my forehead that it is basically unwearable. I guess that means my head shape is long-oval, which is largely true of the US population. Asian people have a more rounded head shape, which the Shoei helmets fit very well. I found the Evoline to fit tighter on my forehead than the RSi, but not too much. It will fit round-oval head shapes just about perfectly. As to size, the Shark chart is spot-on.

Third, operation. The chinbar can be moved from open to closed fairly easily, but when closing it, after rotating it down, you need to push the chinbar to the back to latch it. You can feel it snap into position. The latches are metal on both sides. For the Jay Leno’s, there is a lot more chin clearance with this chinbar than on my Nolan N-102 or my HJC CL-MAX.

Fourth, noise. It is quiet, as long as you’re behind the wing’s windshield. In the moving air, there is a fair amount of noise. It is pretty much an unaviodable side-effect of the flip mechanism, but if you’re wearing earplugs or earbuds as you should be, the noise will not be an issue. It is quieter than the Nolan when the chinbar is closed, but is much louder than the RSi. Ventilation is not great, and your head will sweat if it’s hot out. The best you will do in that situation is to open the chinbar, the vents are there but don’t allow much air movement.

Extras. The liner can be removed for cleaning, as can the faceshield and the sunscreen. It comes with a nice quality storage bag.

Update 9/15/2009 – After a few rides, I have some updates to the review. First, the faceshield has a raised rib so that you can open it, but is is located at the top center of the shield instead of the more usual lower left side. That takes some getting used to. And because the face shield must be open to rotate the chinbar open or closed, you will be opening it.

Update 9/30/2009 – Well, I now have some considerable experience riding in the rain with this helmet.   With the chinbar rotated back (in 3/4 mode) the face shield doesn’t come down to the level of your chin, it stops about mid-upper-lip. That means that your chin (and in my case beard) will be wet if it’s raining. For me it wasn’t really an issue, but if you’re expecting the same shield length as a 3/4 helmet you will be disappointed. Remember the chin bar takes up a lot of the space that a normal 3/4 face shield takes.

With the chinbar down and the shield closed, the face shield fogged up on me. To be fair, Noah was looking for lumber on Saturday, so the sheer amount of water and vapor in the air made fogging inevitable. By opening the face shield a click you could cut down on the fogging, but with the shield partly open the gasket at the top of the face opening allowed water to run onto the inside of the shield. If you want to ride with the shield closed in rainy weather you’ll need a pinlock anti-fog insert.

Fitment was an issue. After a few hours in the saddle on Thursday, I was developing a hotspot in the center of my forehead due to pressure from the helmet. By rotating the helmet forward I was able to relieve it somewhat, but I never got rid of it completely. Today I pulled the liner out to see what I might be able to do to relieve some of the pressure and found a surprise. Glued to the styrofoam liner directly above the eye opening was a piece of hard black foam about 2 x 4 inches. I pulled this piece off the styrofoam and reinstalled the liner. The helmet fits perfectly now, no pressure on the forehead at all. Crap. All I needed to do was to pull the inner liner out and I could have “fixed” my helmet’s fit at any time. Oh, well, at least now it fits perfectly.

The sunshield works well and is most useful for late evening/early morning sun. If it came down a bit further that would be nice, but it’s still better than changing classes or putting on sunglasses.

The only item I will look for is a pinlock system and pins for the face shield. Now that it fits properly, the only real fault is fogging and that’s fixable. This helmet is a keeper for me.

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Maiden voyage for the trailer

Well, the hitch and chains are in place and secured.   The wiring is OK, held in place by some electrical tape while I figure out the best way to route the wires and locate the plugs.   I decided that a trip to the grocery store was as good a reason as any to take the plunge.   So, after checking the running lights, turn signals, and brake lights, off I went.

Interestingly, it was unremarkable which I suppose is the best possible outcome.   I had placed the spare tire up in front to give the trailer some tongue weight, having read some horror stories about improperly loaded trailers causing accidents.   The trailer tracked perfectly, and I made some sharp turns through town to see how it would handle them and to see how much additional space I needed to keep the trailer wheels off the curbs.   Not a lot, but being aware that the trailer is there undoubtedly caused me to allow a little more space during turns, just to be sure.

I was easily able to get all the groceries in the trailer, and probably used a third of the available space.   The chains were rubbing on the pavement, so when I got home I removed a link from each one.   They might still be a little long, so I will check clearances during sharp turns and might remove another link from each side.   I don’t want to go too far and have to buy new lengths of chain.

I still need to route the wires and tie them in place to locate the plugs in a good location.   Once this is done, the trailer is ready for a trip.

What a surprise, there’s a trip beginning next Monday.

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Wrapping up the trailer bits

The kind that you pull behind the Goldwing, not the kind you live in.   C’mon, keep up. 🙂   The previous owner put in a swivel for the tongue, which is a good thing, but the additional length made the safety chains too short.   I measured the existing chains and added 8 inches to arrive at the length I thought would work.   Off to the hardware store to get some chain and connecting links to simplify the hookup.   Removed the swivel and the old chains, put the new ones in place and made sure the length was correct and reassembled everything.

The remaining task is to route the wiring and socket for the trailer lights.   You don’t want an excessive length of wire, but there needs to be enough so that the wiring allows the full range of without stretching.

Once this is done, ready for the maiden voyage.

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Helmet issues part 2

shark_rsiWell, I went south for the long Memorial Day weekend to meet some friends at my place in southern Indiana and to ride the curves in Indiana and Kentucky.   And on this trip, I wore the HJC FS-15 helmet I had purchased in March.   About 2-3 hours into the trip, I had a sore spot in the middle of my forehead that was uncomfortable and becoming very painful.   Clearly the helmet wasn’t fitting properly.     By slightly loosening the chin strap and shifting the position of the helmet, I made it to the cabin.   I pulled the liner out of the way and began to perform surgery on the foam to try and get a better fit.   Suffice it to say that I was unsuccessful.   The next three days varied from uncomfortable to downright painful and I will probably not wear that helmet again.   It hurt that badly.   I did some more research into helmet shapes and found that there are two basic shapes – round and long oval.   Not exterior shapes, but interior shapes.   Most Asian people fit into the round shape and most Americans fit the long oval shape better.   I also found out that HJC primarily make round-shaped helmets and clearly I need a long oval shape for the helmet to be comfortable for me.

By looking for long-oval shaped helmets, I foound that Shark makes a very high quality helmet in the model RSi.   They make other helmets in round and round-oval shapes too, but I was pretty sure that I needed an RSi model.   I measured and began looking at various retailers to see what was available.   I found an RSi on closeout at motorcyclecloseoouts.com for more than $200 off the original retail price and I ordered it.   It arrived in just a few days and as aoon as I put it one I knew this was the right shape for me.   It fit perfectly, no pressure points at all, anywhere.   Since I work from home, I left it on for a while and it was still very comfortable.   The quality is excellent and the visor removal/replacement is very simple.   It is also a very lightweight helmet, and no comparison with the modular helmets in this regard.   At last – a comfortable helmet that didn’t break the bank.

The downside – sliding my glasses on after donning the helmet is proving to be a challenge.   I can sometimes do it, but usually not the first time.   I need to find a way to cut a “glasses groove” in the upper part of the cheekpad to help out.   I don’t know how to do that just yet, but I’ll figure it out.   I can live with that issue for now, because the other issues I had are completely solved.

Light weight, the protection of a full-face helmet, and proper fit.   3 out of 4 is pretty good and I’ll fix the glasses thing soon enough.   Then, I’ll be 4 out of 4.

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Helmet issues

Well, I’ve decided to switch to a full-face helmet.   The modular (flip-up) helmets are convenient, but I’m not convinced that the convenience outweighs the safety factor of a full-face helmet.   The other issue is a weighty one – the weights of modular helmets are climbing and that doesn’t make sense to me.   Materials for constructing helmets are lighter and stronger this year than last, and yet the weights continue to climb – high enough that I won’t buy another one until the weight comes down.   I had planned to look at HJC helmets at the bike show in Chicago, but didn’t find any to try on.   So, I used the backup plan of a tape measure and a web browser.   I ordered an FS-15 helmet in the size their fitment chart indicated, and it arrived fairly quickly.   It fit OK, not great, but since I can’t go for a ride now (it’s still February in the midwest) an actual ride report will have to wait.

The quality of the helmet was very good.   The paint and graphics are very well done, and the helmet liner is comfortable.   it is fairy easy to slip my glasses on after donning the helmet.   The only issue with the helmet is not actually an issue with this helmet, it is an issue with any full-face helmet.   Convenience.   With the modular helmet, I could flip it up when stopped at a light in town, or to take a drink from the butler cup while riding the Goldwing.   I guess the tradeoff for convenience is lighter weight and better protection.   So for now, I will forgo convenience – but I hope the manufacturers figure out a way to make the modular helmets lighter and more importantly, to submit modular-style helmets to the testing labs to demonstrate their ability to protect the wearer.

Protecting the wearer is really what their all about, right?

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Painting the Ducati

It’s time. The Duc needs to be painted and I’ve decided on the color. It’s going to be Ducati green, solid, no metalflake. I had some custom retro decals made by Erik at Twisted Vinyl Graphics. There will be a large horizontal decal on either side of the tank, and a smaller vertical one on the seat cowl. The decals look great and I’d have Erik make decals again if I need them for another project.

I’m going to have Black Magic Customs paint the flyscreen, tank, and seat cowl. Mr. Wizard will do his usual magic work and the result will look great. This will really make a difference in the way the Duc looks.

I’m thinking that I will put gold pinstripes on the wheels. I put red pinstripes on the VTX and it looked good so I will try pinstripes on the Duc. The gold pinstripes will match the gold-anodized forks and should tie together nicely. Pictures to follow.

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Luggage on the Ducati

I finally bought a tankbag for the Duc. The model is “Engage-XL” and I got it from twistedthrottle.com along with the tank ring. This is a quick-detach tankbag that comes with a rain cover and a shoulder strap.

The tank ring mounts to the ring surrounding the flip-up gas cap. It looks like a horseshoe with the opening towards the back of the bike. The bag itself has a mating horseshoe that fits over the tank ring and clips on with a spring-loaded latch. The underside of the bag slopes down towards the back and is a reasonably good match for the Duc’s tank shape. It takes all of 5 seconds to attach or detach the bag.

After seeing how well this fits, I am kicking myself for not buying it sooner. Now, I can take a spare pair of gloves, a disk lock, my phone, a rain jacket, and a camera with me without having to stuff all of that in my jacket pockets. There’s still a fair amount of room, even with these items in the bag – the specs say 14 liters of space.

This will definitely make dayrides on the Duc much more enjoyable.