Motorcycle nearly ready

SCCutler said:
Jay:

Around here (Dallas), the only motorcycle riders who gather as a group and cause trouble and danger, are the crotch-rocket guys who gather and ride around on the freeways at really, really high speed. They do it weaving in and out, and sometimes, have buddies in cages who create a rolling roadblock so they can play on "their" roads. It is staggeringly dangerous.

I like this one - closing Central Expressway (one of the busiest roads in Dallas):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6tPBKTDxNo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfhSLqMd4J8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eNVIlb4e7o&feature=related

Here is long vid, showing them arriving and setting up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqNm_UaNOAU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OOJruTdBtg

No better way to remember a departed friend, than abusing and defacing public roads, and causing danger for every other user of the highway.
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Was this sanctioned or did they literally just randomly shut down the Interstate? I would be hard, hard pressed if in my truck to not simply start knocking over bikes and drive on...and I ride sportbikes and sport tourers! That was arse-hattery at its finest right there.
 
Doggtyred said:
As for the other post, with regards to aggressive riding.. I do ride aggressive. I ride line everyone is trying to kill me. I stay out of blind spots. I tend to move faster or slower than existing traffic, never the same speed, so I'm a moving target relative to the cagers.

And I own the lane. But always have an out. ALWAYS.
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Doggtyred said:
Later models are supposed to be better. I've only got 11000 miles on my 2010 ultra classic. Unfortunately I haven't got many friends who have high mileage hogs. They tend to be hangar queens. Gorgeous ones, but queens.

On the flipside. I have seen a 5 year old wing with 180,000 miles on it.

Keep it lubed up and should be fine.
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I have a few friends who have put 100K+ miles on Harleys. I put 30K miles on my last Touring bike 2006 Harley Road Glide, 80K miles on my last Sport Touring bike Harley Powered Buell S2T.
Before that was a 85 BMW K100RS 40K when I bought it sold it to my brother, way over 100K miles on it when he sold it.

Current bike I just bought in June had 107K on the clock the day I picked it up 110k now. 1998 K1200RS BMW. Not worried about the mileage on this bike at all.
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Doggtyred said:
L
As for the other post, with regards to aggressive riding.. I do ride aggressive. I ride line everyone is trying to kill me. I stay out of blind spots. I tend to move faster or slower than existing traffic, never the same speed, so I'm a moving target relative to the cagers.

And I own the lane. But always have an out. ALWAYS.
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I agree you have to use all your lane, to see and be seen. Riding assuming nobody can see you and they all will pull in front of or on top of you.
 
tdager said:
Was this sanctioned or did they literally just randomly shut down the Interstate? I would be hard, hard pressed if in my truck to not simply start knocking over bikes and drive on...and I ride sportbikes and sport tourers! That was arse-hattery at its finest right there.
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No, not sanctioned. It was in "honor" of another brain-dead moron who, while riding his crotch-rocket at century-plus speeds, managed to kill himself by riding into the back of a pickup truck. That happened about a mile from my home, on the Dallas North Tollway.

If you look at the vids, you can occasionally see their cohorts blocking the road behind them. This ia very busy section of the highway. Located here:

http://g.co/maps/xt3p

Edit: Note curves in road leading up to location - sub-grade, limited sightlines, creates extreme hazard for all trapped behind and traffic approaching.

These guys are ass-pimples.
 
steingar said:
The rest of us call those guys squids. My favorite Youtube movies shows them crashing. Because of tools like that, the average life expectancy of a liter sport bike is measured in weeks.
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The only problem with this is that most of them don't die. We used to live a few miles from a long-term care center that specialized in head injuries, and the place was full of these kids.

Guess who gets to pay for that "life"time care?
 
Jay Honeck said:
The only problem with this is that most of them don't die. We used to live a few miles from a long-term care center that specialized in head injuries, and the place was full of these kids.

Guess who gets to pay for that "life"time care?
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That depends. Most of these idiots do their stunts at low speeds, where they're more likely to do damage to their bikes (especially the fairings!) than to themselves. The ones that do stunts on the freeways mostly seem to wear helmets, at least up this way. Might be different down there. Where you see the real vegetables in waiting is the kids all riding all kinds of bikes sans gear or helmets.

Ain't all kids either. There are members of this board who boast about riding sans gear, despite all my proselytizing. They have good heads on their shoulders, I hope nothing happens to them.

Jay, you should be wearing gear too, even in the Texas heat. Old guys like you and me don't heal up like we used to. My uncle took a low speed spill in some scree and was never right again.
 
steingar said:
... The ones that do stunts on the freeways mostly seem to wear helmets...
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Yep. You gotta wear a helmet.

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=&sid=334873
A bare-bottomed motorcyclist pleaded guilty Wednesday to indecent exposure and negligent driving charges stemming from highway stunts that ended in a companion's death.
...
Prosecutors said Edwards and another biker popped wheelies and stood on the seats of their motorcycles as they sped down U.S. 340 south of Frederick at more than 70 mph on Sept. 12 wearing helmets, shirts and shoes but no pants or underwear. The stunts ended when the other rider, Shaun P. Matlock, 21, crashed into a tow truck parked on the roadside....​

-harry
 
SCCutler said:
No, not sanctioned. It was in "honor" of another brain-dead moron who, while riding his crotch-rocket at century-plus speeds, managed to kill himself by riding into the back of a pickup truck. That happened about a mile from my home, on the Dallas North Tollway.

If you look at the vids, you can occasionally see their cohorts blocking the road behind them. This ia very busy section of the highway. Located here:

http://g.co/maps/xt3p

Edit: Note curves in road leading up to location - sub-grade, limited sightlines, creates extreme hazard for all trapped behind and traffic approaching.

These guys are ass-pimples.
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I know the cops investigated this, did they catch and prosecute anyone and do you know what type of fines, jail, pee slaps, etc. they got?
 
steingar said:
Jay, you should be wearing gear too, even in the Texas heat. Old guys like you and me don't heal up like we used to. My uncle took a low speed spill in some scree and was never right again.
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You're preaching to the choir, my friend. I don't go anywhere without my "Joe Rocket" nylon-mesh-with-body-armor jacket, boots, and a full-faced helmet. When it gets cool here (you know -- below 80), I wear gloves, too.

Went down once, 30 years ago. The only part of me that wasn't protected by leather was turned to hamburger. Leather is a no-go down here, but the mesh and body armor jackets do the job.
 
Jay Honeck said:
You're preaching to the choir, my friend. I don't go anywhere without my "Joe Rocket" nylon-mesh-with-body-armor jacket, boots, and a full-faced helmet. When it gets cool here (you know -- below 80), I wear gloves, too.

Went down once, 30 years ago. The only part of me that wasn't protected by leather was turned to hamburger. Leather is a no-go down here, but the mesh and body armor jackets do the job.
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Same here. Joe Rocket with liner, armor and all the vents so it's great in cold or hot weather. Here in Maryland, gloves are required to be legal so I have both summer and winter gloves. Full face helmet is a given for me and mine's an Arai Vectra that I've installed the Scalarider bluetooth into.

I low sided my street trail bike on the street when I was a young man wearing nothing but a tee shirt, shorts, and tennis shoes. Scrubbing the asphalt out of the road rash I had from my ankle to my shoulder with hydrogen peroxide was not an experience I wish to repeat and still remember vividly here in my 50's. I'll wear jeans and a tee shirt with my Joe Rocket all vented open and that's about as naked as I get on a bike. That armor is good stuff.
 
ScottM said:
I know the cops investigated this, did they catch and prosecute anyone and do you know what type of fines, jail, pee slaps, etc. they got?
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Wouldja believe - I don't know?

I'll find out, though.
 
The motorcycle improvements continue...

I've been wanting to get risers for the handlebars on the Concours. They're a bit too sporty for a thousand mile ride so it seemed logical to do it before this trip.

The risers themselves, were pretty easy to install and brought the handlebars up over 2 inches and back towards me some more. It now comfortable like a touring bike, looks just as good, and handles great.

I also really wanted satellite radio for this ride. I have a little Sirius receiver that's intended for a car. The audio output on it isn't loud enough for a motorcycle so a few years ago I bought a little booster that is powered by two AA batteries.

One of the really nice things about the new risers - is the fact that the risers have a ram-mount ball and a powerlet socket built in. This made me really want to try and figure out a good way to utilize those for the satellite radio without spending much money.

Here is a pic of the risers installed and the ram-mount and powerlet socket:
IMG_1310.jpg


So I got to work -- the plan was to build a mount for the receiver and the audio booster that could attach to that ram-mount ball. Here is a pic of the scrap aluminum I used:
IMG_1295.jpg


After I drilled a few holes..and did some shaping with a file and sand paper:
IMG_1296.jpg


After a lot more sanding:
IMG_1297.jpg


I ripped apart the cigarette lighter adapter that came with the satellite radio receiver. It had a little converter to go from 12 volts to 5.5 volts. I took that out and put it inside a plastic box which I attached to the aluminum:
IMG_1299.jpg


The other issue I had was that the booster for the audio is powered by two AA batteries. It seemed kind of silly to leave it that way, I'd hate to have to keep changing out the batteries. It made more sense to run it off the bikes power.

The issue with running it off the bikes power was that it's designed for roughly 3 volts - which I don't have available. I ended up using the 5.5 volts from the converter above and three diodes in series to drop the voltage to roughly the right value (thanks Lance Fisher).

Finished product:
IMG_1306.jpg


IMG_1307.jpg


On bike:
IMG_1312.jpg


I went for a test ride tonight and it works *very* well. It is exactly what I wanted - a setup that is easy to remove and practical. But..I put way too many hours into it.....

I also added a sheepskin buttpad to the seat. I probably won't leave it on there except on trips - it just really helps get rid of hot spots:
IMG_1308.jpg
 
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Sheepskin rocks for long rides. Between that, and my custom Corbin seat, I put many tens of thousands of happy miles on my Goldwing...

That's a sweet satellite set-up, there!
 
Do you guys have any experience with inflatable seat cushions. I'm seeing a bunch of them on bikes around the Beemer dealer. The sheepskin looks pretty plush and nice job on the sat radio. Very tidy and professional.
 
Had to install another *(#&%#$* Pilot Road 2 in the rear. A piece of steel ripped a hole in my fairly new rear that was too big to be repaired by plug.

TPMS alterted me to the situation, by the way.
 
Good on you Jessie, that looks like a lot of work. I actually farmed off the riser installation on the 954 to a mechanic, as there was a new throttle cable to install, and I had no idea how to sync the throttle bodies (never before worked on a bike with fuel injection).
 
Wow, that looks really cool! I have an old XM2Go unit that used to bring along (stuck in the tank bag). Spouse uses the XM puck (mariner weather package and a Garmin 476), but I go tired of lugging it around. Decided to cancel the subscription on the XM2Go and added a radio sub to the puck. Unlimited data plan on the 'droid phone, and one less thing to carry around. It'd be nice to fab a plate like you did to hold the phone, but I have to find something that will keep the phone out of the elements. Zumo doesn't have a problem with rain...but the phone would die.
 
next step is to enclose the cockpit so you can drive further with less fatigue. then you might as well add two more wheels for extra stability.
 
tonycondon said:
next step is to enclose the cockpit so you can drive further with less fatigue. then you might as well add two more wheels for extra stability.
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...air conditioning would be nice...
 
tonycondon said:
next step is to enclose the cockpit so you can drive further with less fatigue. then you might as well add two more wheels for extra stability.
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Kinda like putting an engine on a thing with wings... :)
 
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