daboo

Really?!

Those incidents will happen. I have a 94 yr old FIL. He's banged up the front of the stove, the dishwasher and some doorways with his. I'd highly recommend NOT getting one. And not for the damage to furniture and the house. In my FIL's case, he needs exercise. Complains his muscles are weak and can barely make it to the car with a walker. But he sits in the motorized wheel chair all the time, and the only exercise he gets is with his hand moving the joystick. As hard as it is on your Mum, I think she'll live longer if she can move herself. Chris

Believe it or not, I rode in much colder temperatures before getting electric heated gear. My coldest commute without heated gear was two days at 16F. I wore a lot of layers, and blocked out any place where cold air could get in. A neck gaiter would give me another 15 degrees of comfortable riding. It covered the gap between the helmet and collar, and when pulled up over the nose, it left only the eyes to get the frigid air. I did a couple things you might take advantage of. First, I keep my riding gear inside in colder weather. That way it starts at room temperature and my body heat is not being used to bring it up to comfortable temperatures from 35F. Look at the riding gear you have. Notice how it has pores or open spaces between the Cordura or other material. Now note how that mimics a wool shirt that traps warm air and keeps you warmer than other materials. So when the temps dip and you want to ride, put on your rain gear over your riding gear. Your riding gear is already warm. The rain gear will keep that warmth trapped and allow that riding gear to be another layer of warmth and not just something to keep your skin intact. My two days at 16F came after over a week of cold dry air. The moisture we normally have around here was pushed out by frigid air from the Fraser River Valley in British Columbia. There was no moisture on the road at all. The other thing to consider in riding in cold weather, is why you are riding. I would never suggest anyone ride for "fun" on a backroads in freezing or below weather. My riding in cold weather is almost always for commuting. I ride the same roads every day, all year long. In warmer times, I'm noting where moisture collects and stays after a rain. Not just in the hours after a rain, but some places like under the Seattle Convention Center on I-5 had a specific place that always had water dripping on it for days after a rain. So guess which place would be slick on those 20F commutes? That spot. It wasn't like I'd be rounding a corner and getting surprised by something I hadn't seen in months. When you plan for it, riding in cold weather is perfectly enjoyable. I rode to a Bible study about 20 miles away last night. The temp was a pleasant 35F on the way home. I wasn't cold at all. Heated gear is soooo sweet! When you get the right gear, you find you can have as much fun as when the temps are in the 60s or higher. BTW, if you ride with heated gear, you still need to bring some backup non-electric gear. All you need is one broken wire, and you are in pain. Severe pain. I had a wire break to my left hand glove once. The temperature was 25F and I had to get home. It took all I had to endure long enough to get home inside. Chris

You're going into a roundabout...not a high-speed turn on a racetrack. Your bike doesn't need any help to get around the "turn". So just sit on the bike like you're making a turn in a parking lot. It's not much different in speed or the amount of a turn. In fact...you shouldn't be leaning at all. Leaning works fine...if you have enough speed. Which you shouldn't have in a situation where the person ahead of you could stop immediately without warning and without any logical reason to stop. Be ready with your rear brake and refrain from using the front. If your front wheel is turned any and you have to grab it hard...you'll go over before you know what happened. Once you're moving at more than 5 mph...then stick with the front brake. That's the secret to any turn. Where you look, is where you'll go. Whether at 5 mph in a roundabout, or 100 mph on a track. As for "setup for the lean ahead of time" in normal riding...don't. That's great on a track. If you're riding at 95% on back country roads and needing to "shift my body and butt"...then you have nothing extra to go to if you find you're coming into a turn too hot. Around my neck of the woods, it'll get you killed. The back roads are blind corners. You don't know if a muddy washout occurred where you can't see, or if someone broke down just around the turn. Or someone stopping to take a picture. Or a cow standing in the middle of the road. You can still have a blast without resorting to techniques that are great in a race...but not on public roads. Chris

I was thinking in terms of road related stuff, but the medical info is good. I ran over one of those white arrows on the road the other day as I approached a turn. They are tape, so they are thick as well as being slick. The rear wheel jumped over an inch or so. Nothing scary, just a reminder that it is December, not June. Chris

I'd love to meet up...with you, or anyone else. I've taken a couple people through the North Cascades Highway and showed them things they would've missed without a "tour guide". My thoughts on my being satisfied with a plebian bike like mine are simply that I have low standards. "D And I'm cheap. I totally understand about the wife. When I had a Honda NT700V, I stopped in for grins at the local dealer and test rode the FJ-09 and F800GT. About two weeks later I was with my wife on vacation in California and asked my wife, "If I get to looking into the BMW and decide I like it, do you mind if I buy it?" I still remember her exact words. "Yes, I mind. But I know you're gonna buy it anyway." Oo-wow! Green light!!! It hasn't worked again... Chris

A lot of people also buy their dream bike at the end of their riding career. Or they buy it on a whim, looking for a new toy. Then they realize that they really didn't ride it like they planned to do and want to move on. Their loss - your gain. I'd look at this forum and see what mods people do to their bikes, then keep that in mind when you find one you can test ride. Years ago, I was interested in the Honda NC700X and the forum for that bike said the seat was like a 2x4. It was one of the main things people swapped out to make the bike more liveable for them. Sure enough, when I test rode one, it took me only a few minutes to realize that seat was only good enough for about 30 minutes max. Some people also have run into some hard times financially and need to get some extra cash. Chris

I'm an oddity around here. What I share is a love for riding bikes in this size bracket, and taking them on trips across the USA. To set the record straight, I tested the FJ-09...and couldn't stand it. The couple inches of seat height were uncomfortable, but doable. But what made me decide in the first 10 minutes that I didn't want one, was the throttle and clutch. The effect to me was the throttle was snatchy and I was still commuting in rush hour traffic where everyone is in a "rush", but no one is getting anywhere. Stop-n-go was the rule of the game and there were a lot of times I knew I'd be slipping the clutch at a pace that was just barely moving for a long time. Could I do it? Yes. I can adapt to anything. But I wasn't happy with it. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I also test rode a BMW F800GT that afternoon. It fit me like a glove for both size...and throttle response. 80,000 miles later, I'm still happy. I chuckle when I read of the owners on this forum making all the modifications to their suspensions and the ECU. My lowly BMW has only a modification for the rear preload and I can adjust the rear suspension from Comfort, to Normal and then to Sport. That's it. The front suspension is what it is. And yet it works. For me. In fact, the entire bike works for me. I like the simplistic electronic aids I get like ABS and traction control. They aren't obtrusive, yet they work. I've ridden both the BMW R1200 RT and RS models with the Dynamic suspension...and they rode like buckboards. And neither did any better in the twisties than I feel like I'm doing on my rudimentary F800GT. It's like the bike bridges the gap of the beginning implementation of electronic aids and the old manual controls. So when I read about quick shifters and slipper clutches...yawn. Things like fully adjustable suspensions...scare me. I'd probably screw up the settings and have to find a way to put them back where the factory had them. And with my luck, I'd have to pay someone to do it. The year before lockdowns, I had the opportunity to ride with some Canadians who thought Washington state was just a speed bump to get through as fast as they could. Their Kawasakis were putting out about 160 hp at the rear wheel and they rode incredibly fast. But the only time I had any issues at all was when hitting a large bump in a turn that unloaded the suspension totally and I was going way faster than a sane person would be riding. (It was on a closed course with professional drivers. ) But otherwise, that rudimentary suspension does as well as I could hope. I'd love to have it soak up the potholes, but even my cars can't do that. I rode a new BMW R1200GS over some speed bumps...and it didn't do much better than my bike did. So when I look at the new bikes...I don't see anything that could entice me to lay out $12K for. Are they better? Yes. Definitely. Are they $12K better? Definitely not. But that's just me. I can afford to buy whatever I want. I'm just happy with what I have. And if the new bike makes you feel better...great! Chris

Steve, you're right. The marketing folks will be trying to convince owners of any bike how superior the new model is. That's how they make their mortgage payments. My point is that even the original FJ-09 was the bike every reviewer compared the others too. It was the best of that kind of model. Sure, the new Tracer GT came out and made some improvements. And the new Tracer 9 GT has even more improvements. But was the original FJ-09 so horrible? Not at all. So the Kelley Blue Book Trade-In value for a 2016 FJ-09 is $5200. That's probably realistic, but may even be a bit low. When I sold my 2011 Honda NT700V, the KBB value was something like $6900...and no one inquired about it at all. I finally sold it months later at the end of the summer for $5300, a lot lower price. The new 2021/22 Tracer 9 GT starts at $15,000. There will be other costs associated with getting it out the door. Would I be off by saying it'll cost at least $17,000 to make it yours? Or more? Now what does the new bike give you? Better suspension in stock form. But if you upgraded the suspension on your FJ-09, you paid a thousand or more, and hopefully, it'll go around a corner in decent form. Will you be upgrading the suspension on the new bike? I hope not. Otherwise, that is additional cost. There are definitely improvements to the newer bike...but it'll cost you an additional $10-12,000 to get there. Now are those improvements worth $10-12K? Only you can decide...but I'll keep what I have and not get all worked up on the hype that the marketing folks are trying to whip up. Chris

I get a grin when I see the flurry of excitement over a new model coming out on forums. It's like "Oh wow! I gotta have that!" Garz looks at things like I do, I think. He bought a 2019 model. It was the best most fantastic bike and the standard by with all other bikes in this class are measured by. No bike is perfect. But this was close to perfection. Now a new model has come out, and the marketing folks want us to believe the old model is not worth having any more. Hah. I look at what the new bike has and what improvements they are...and then how many thousands of $$$$ it'll cost to get that small minimal amount of improvement. And then I get back on my bike with a smile on my face as I ride away. Chris

I'm sure your Niken will do fine with "motorcycle" oil. Does your Audi have an automatic transmission? If you've ever looked at automatic transmission oil, it looks different. It smells different. It even pours different. It's a totally different animal to any kind of engine oil. And it is totally unlike anything you'd put in your Niken's transmission, even if the transmission oil were separate from the Niken's engine. It's a different animal entirely. There's a lot more to oil than just viscosity. For those of you who get highly concerned about what to put in your motorcycle, let me ask this question. How many miles do you plan to put on it before selling it? 10,000? 20,000? 100,000? If you're on the low end of the mileage spectrum, about the only thing you could do to damage the engine and gearbox would be to get an oil that will make the clutch slip. I don't think any of us can point to an engine failure of any kind where the oil was a factor. It's the marketing folk's job to make us feel we need something special. Otherwise, they couldn't justify getting paid. I'm more on the high end of that mileage range. At 80,000 miles already, I will be knocking on the door of 100,000 miles this time next year. My bike doesn't use oil. Is that because I use great oil? Or is it because the manufacturers make great engines? In the meantime, I'll keep using Shell Rotella T6. It tastes good. Chris

I'm like a few of you as well. I'm looking out to the future on what I need and stocking up now. I bought a second set of wheels last summer so I could have a set of "touring" tires with lots of tread left over, and a set of "local" tires that I'll run down a lot closer to the TWI. Oil isn't an issue so far. Filters, were purchased a while back in enough of a quantity that should get me by. Electric gear is sweet. The only "issue" is to have a backup for if something goes wrong. There's very little insulation in them. I was heading back from the gym one morning. Temp was down to 25F and my left glove quit working. It was incredibly painful to get home. Wires will break. Chris

Like others, I use Rotella T6, 5W-40. It's not exactly per the spec viscosity, but after a minute or so, it's warmed up and no longer a thin 5 weight oil. At 80,000 miles on this bike with no oil usage between changes, it seems to be okay. I look at the manufacturer's description of the reason for the oil to be a "motorcycle" oil, and to me it is just a bunch of marketing hype to get me to pay a lot more for a "motorcycle" oil, than engine oil. My Subaru's turbocharged engine gets hot...probably just as hot as my motorcycle engine does. And I can't believe the lubrication requirements on the turbocharged engine are any less than those on my motorcycle's engine are. One thing I've noticed over the years, is we motorcyclists tend to baby our motorcycles. Got to check those valves right at the maintenance interval. Got to have the perfect oil in it. Etc. But our cars? Valves? Who checks those? Just get in the car and start it up. Oil? Whatever Jiffy Lube wants to put in it, is great. And the cars commonly run 200K or more if we keep them long enough. Chris

I lost my 590 because I didn't snap it in fully. That's after owning it for several years and about 60,000 miles of riding. It only took that one time. When I got my Zumo XT, I decided that wasn't going to happen again. So I added a tether to it. If the connection you asked about ever does fail, it isn't going to drop more than a couple inches. Chris

I asked him before we both left, why Greybull? I stayed a night there in the seediest motel ever a few years ago. There was nothing I could think of to make me want to stay there. But...he had it picked out as a place to stay for a few days. He'd better get busy and update this thread, or it'll all be about pictures and hot lonely places in Wyoming. Chris

I agree. Pics or it didn't happen. We were going to meet up in Greybull, WY, but he didn't show. Chris

The smoke hit us up north of Seattle last night. It's better this morning. I made my reservations yesterday for a rally at Baker City over the Labor Day weekend. Last summer, I was coming back from that rally when we hit high winds and dense smoke. I had no idea the fires had started till I got home. Chris

Great pictures and story! Thank you. The comment about the smoke was helpful. I'm headed over to the Baker City area in a couple weeks and one of my concerns was the smoke. The pirates said that? I guess they only go from their house to the nearest biker bar and back. Range isn't an issue with that style of riding. Chris

I use Moldex 33db foam earplugs. I find that while I can't hear what people are saying to me with my helmet on unless they speak up, I can hear everything around me...just at a lower volume. I don't ride without earplugs. I'm so used to the sound, that when I don't have them in, it sounds like something is wrong with the bike. Chris

I use one of these. Targus DEFCON 1 Ultra, Retractable Cable Alarm Lock for Laptops and Other Electronics, with Serialized Combination Lock Code, 0.9 x 5.2 x 2.4 Inches, Black It'll keep the honest person honest. The cable retracts so you only have the body of the lock/alarm to store. Also has a 95db alarm. I run it through my helmet D-ring and the sleeve of my jacket, and through a support for my panniers. I leave the lock on top of my gear in plain sight so the blinking red light is visible. The light is towards the bottom of the picture, surrounded by those words, "Activate Motion Sensor". It's a great deterrent. Chris

I'll add my 2¢ worth here. I'm a big advocate of the three light triangle. I ride with a friend who doesn't have them, and when I look in my mirror at the front of his bike, he really doesn't stand out. If your running lights are close to the headlight, the effect is to just have one light till you're so close it doesn't matter. I just returned home from South Dakota. PhotoAl's path and mine crossed...just not at the same time and place. Lots of BMW riders returning from their MOA rally. Many of them had two aux lights mounted on the forks. I could see them from a half mile or more away. FWIW, I hate modulating headlights. They fall in the same category as loud pipes. I feel like the way my suspension makes the front end move up and down, that I'm getting a similar effect without the modulation. And the SMIDSY maneuver is worth keeping in mind. I normally will stay in the left tire track on two lane roads, but when I see a semi or RV approaching, I know there's a good chance they have cars waiting to pass. The best thing in my mind to do, is to move to the right tire track so the cars can see me without having to pull out completely, and even to move a bit back and forth in the lane. If you ride at night or in the rain, I suggest adding some thin reflective tape to your bike. It's one of the first things I do. In the day light, it looks like pin-striping. In low light conditions, it really stands out to make your bike visible to other drivers. Lastly, I'll put in a plug for hi-vis riding gear. I won't buy gear that isn't hi-vis. I asked a BMW rider who parked next to me why he put on a hi-vis vest one day. He hadn't been wearing one before, and his gear was all black. He said he watched a black Labrador Retriever get hit on the freeway the other night, over and over and over. No one could see the dog till it was too late. He thought how that could've been him, all dressed in black. Something in the above must work, because I never have people pull out in front of me...and I ride all year long, except if it is snowing.

Another is 10 Hot Weather Riding Myths - BUSTED Chris

When I was planning for my post-retirement ride, I tried to read everything I could about riding in hot weather. Like bowlin01, I live in a very temperate climate. In this case, the Pacific Northwet, instead of England. But the climate is about the same. When the temperature hits 80F, I'm dying. What will I do for riding in temps in the 90s and 100+F...that are normal for where I'd be riding? One article that was extremely helpful is from David Hough, When You're Hot, You're HOT! At 93F, your thyroid can no longer keep up with the heat. Sweat evaporates before you get any cooling effect. Skin exposed to the air feels like you have a hair dryer blowing on the high setting on your body. You can't reach for the air-conditioning button, so you have to plan ahead. The first time I crossed South Dakota, I pulled into a rest stop. I had several hours to go yet, and the temps were blistering. I was offered the only shade by a couple who were also riding. He had a Goldwing, she had a Victory Vision. She said they had cooling vests, but those only lasted 30 minutes. Hmm... My cooling vest was still working. All of us had mesh gear. The difference? I had a Hit-Air airbag vest on. The vest blocked air going into the chest area...where the cooling vest was. It let in some...but not all of it. I was still getting a cooling effect, and they lost theirs almost immediately. Lesson learned. When I went south to Utah, I brought several pairs of gloves. When it got hot, I turned to mesh gloves. After a couple days of that heat, my hands were getting extremely painful. I'd long passed what hand lotion could take care of. I was actually at the point of using Chapstick on the painful areas when I went to a pair of leather gloves. They were silver in colour and had pin holes in them to help them breathe. Within the day, my hands recovered. I wore those for the rest of the trip. They had air flowing through them...but not too much. There's a lesson here. Get air flow above 93F...but limit it. Restrict the airflow enough that you sweat...so you can cool down. Last September, I rode down into Eastern Oregon and spent hours at 110F and more. It was doable, but only because I'd planned ahead. I had my cooling vest. I was also wearing a Cycle Gear long sleeved base layer. The sleeves kept the hot air from directly contacting the skin. That's important. When I was heading to South Dakota that first time, I pulled into a small town diner for lunch. A large family came in and took a table in the center of the room. Before my bill came, I went out to the bike and got my cooling vest. I pulled it out of the gallon sized zip-loc bag where it had been soaking in water. As I was putting it on and it dripped water onto the carpet, a teenaged girl looked at me with this look of total unbelief. "He must be crazy!", I'm sure she was thinking. I was only thinking of how I was putting on my air-conditioning and how great that would be when I went outside. Chris

I ride in Olympia XMoto pants. Since I bought them, I've quit wearing "summer" mesh pants and "winter" pants. I use these all year long. What makes the XMoto pants unique is: They are a true "overpant". Try finding an overpant nowadays. Most pants are made to be worn with just your underwear underneath. With an overpant, you can take them off in the parking lot or at work and walk away from the bike. The area over the thigh, unzips and tucks into the front of the lower leg. It gives you a "mesh" pant for the summer, and a full pant for the winter. The wind/waterproof liner is removable. Why is that important? Because as the temperatures go up in dry weather, you can remove the liner and get better air flow before opening the thigh panels for even more air. In the winter, zip up those thigh panels and slip the wind/rain liner on under the outer pants...and I've ridden down into some very cold weather just fine. Plus, your boots won't snag on the liner when you're putting the pants on...and that saves the stitching. Pants that have the liner built in, will eventually leak in the crotch because of this. Unfortunately, it is hard to find the XMoto pants anymore. HWK makes some similar to this...and far less expensive. But they don't have the full length leg zipper to be a true overpant. Chris

I went to NEWSTOC with the ST-Owners group last weekend. The rally is held in Seven Bays, WA at Todd and Kari's place. Wenatchee River just outside Leavenworth. Steamboat Rock on Banks Lake Leaving for breakfast on Saturday morning. I'm in the middle of the pack. Lake Roosevelt The motley crew. We had 22 riders show up at Todd and Kari's. The "garage" is actually a hanger. It works perfect to bring all the bikes in for the night. Some of the group exchanging tall tales of things they've done, or wish they had done. There's a free ferry system to cross Lake Roosevelt at various points. Lunch stop overlooking Grand Coulee Dam. Chief Joseph's burial site. Riding home on Sunday next to Lake Lenore. Those cliff faces remind me of some giant warriors overlooking the river. Soap Lake Dry Falls If you're ever in the area, this is a place worth stopping to look at. "Climate Change" is real. During the last Ice Age, Lake Missoula formed. At one point point, the waters broke through the ice dam and came down through this area. The falls were five times the width of Niagara Falls, and the water pouring over was 10 times the current amount of water in all the rivers of the world combined today. The Columbia River Did you notice how wonderful the sky looked in the pictures above? Now this is what was on the west side of Snoqualmie Pass.