What did you do to your FJ-tracer-gt today?

[peteinpa]

I used to live near Wendell, MN in the late 70s and that late 70s John Deere 340 was what a friend had that we rode on.

[keithu]

On 3/7/2021 at 7:25 AM, kilo3 said:

SW of the cities in suburbia hell, the tradeoff I made to afford a family. Originally from Walker area. 

When I was a kid we had a cabin on Leech Lake in Sucker Bay. The neighbor who lived there year-round was a lawyer in Walker. In summer and winter he commuted across the lake, but in the shoulder seasons it was a long, long drive around the lake for him. 

[NCSoxFan]

On 3/6/2021 at 11:13 PM, roadwarrior said:

Where abouts in MN are you?

I live outside of Duluth and was out snowmobiling today on a vintage run ❄️

 

Just looking at those sleds makes my back sore!  Looks like a fun day though.

[roy826]

Finally got everything together to Mount my Rottweiler Arrow CRG mirrors onto the stock hand guards. I used nylon spacers to bring the Rottweiler mounts flush with inside of hand guard. 1” long stainless M6 bolts to take up the extra depth verses how they use short screws on the much thinner Ktm hand guards. Pretty happy with them. Already knew they were a high quality mirror with a set mounted to the barkbusters on my Tenere 700. No more unclear right mirror snd no more mirror movement. 
 

Looks really nice with my puig short racing wind screen I’ll use for summer. Not to shabby with the stock wind screen. 
 

[bowlin01]

@roy826 those mirrors look great, please report back on how they work out (any vibrations/ field of vision issues etc)

Many Thanks

Steve

[roy826]

1 minute ago, bowlin01 said:

@roy826 those mirrors look great, please report back on how they work out (any vibrations/ field of vision issues etc)

Many Thanks

Steve

I’ve had a set on my Tenere 700 for 6 months now no issues to report. They work great. They’ll even take a hit without breaking off. Due to the inward Angie on the tracer hand guard it’s a tight calculated fit. Measure 100 times to mark the holes drill once. They were much easier to Mount to the tenere 700 metal barkbusters that have no inward slope to them. I hated the stock tracer mirrors simply because my right one would not stay still and I couldn’t see out of it at speed for the blur. Those oem mirrors sucked at even holding a helmet, almost had my helmet fall off one early on. 
 

These mirrors are super popular on the Ktm streetbikes which suffer from turbulence created by their stock mirrors. So everyone switches to the lower profile CRG Arrows on Rottweiler mounts. The Rottweiler mounts are cheap the mirrors are not. Lol

[draco_1967]

7 minutes ago, roy826 said:

I’ve had a set on my Tenere 700 for 6 months now no issues to report. They work great. They’ll even take a hit without breaking off. Due to the inward Angie on the tracer hand guard it’s a tight calculated fit. Measure 100 times to mark the holes drill once. They were much easier to Mount to the tenere 700 metal barkbusters that have no inward slope to them. I hated the stock tracer mirrors simply because my right one would not stay still and I couldn’t see out of it at speed for the blur. Those oem mirrors sucked at even holding a helmet, almost had my helmet fall off one early on. 
 

These mirrors are super popular on the Ktm streetbikes which suffer from turbulence created by their stock mirrors. So everyone switches to the lower profile CRG Arrows on Rottweiler mounts. The Rottweiler mounts are cheap the mirrors are not. Lol

Yes, those look good. I love mine! The stock mirror always coming loose drove me bonkers. I also noticed reduced turbulence on the Tracer with these mirrors.

[2and3cylinders]

Went for that test ride to check out my new footpegs levers and Hit-Air vest.

 I hope I never need To actually test out the vest Though I bought extra cartridges so we made have a cherry popping party to see if I still resemble the pillsbury doughboy

 Beautiful day 66ﾟ little windy but the snow isn't making colder much

[betoney]

4 hours ago, 2and3cylinders said:

Went for that test ride to check out my new footpegs levers and Hit-Air vest.

 I hope I never need To actually test out the vest Though I bought extra cartridges so we made have a cherry popping party to see if I still resemble the pillsbury doughboy

Bret, I am interested in your thoughts -pro or con- with the vest.  I am in the market for one and have been eyeing the Hit-Air brand.

Thanks, Brian

[Rick123]

Finished installation of auxiliary lights and took her for a ride.

Edited March 10, 2021 by Rick123

[PhotoAl]

I've seen a few of them and similar vests go off on track.  Couple of years ago got a sequence of photos of a young person high siding.  Could see the lanyard as it disconnected and the vest inflated before they hit the ground!  Was pretty cool to see.  I have looked at the different vests and jackets.  I lean towards the vests like the Helite as they are easy to pack and have ready to go again.  They also support the head and neck if I remember correctly.  I do a lot of long solo rides and it would be nice just in case I do a bonehead move and yank the lanyard and set it off not to loose the protection for the rest of the trip.  However the jackets with the electronics are possibly faster and don't have a lanyard to connect/forget about.  LOL I can see myself on a cold rainy day connecting a lanyard and heated gear :-)  I have encountered a few cold rainy days during summer trips!

Edited March 10, 2021 by PhotoAl

[Yamajank]

Fjray was nice enough to swing by and help me bleed my brakes then we went out to ride some of his favorite Michigan roads. 

[Wintersdark]

10 hours ago, PhotoAl said:

I've seen a few of them and similar vests go off on track.  Couple of years ago got a sequence of photos of a young person high siding.  Could see the lanyard as it disconnected and the vest inflated before they hit the ground!  Was pretty cool to see.  I have looked at the different vests and jackets.  I lean towards the vests like the Helite as they are easy to pack and have ready to go again.  They also support the head and neck if I remember correctly.  I do a lot of long solo rides and it would be nice just in case I do a bonehead move and yank the lanyard and set it off not to loose the protection for the rest of the trip.  However the jackets with the electronics are possibly faster and don't have a lanyard to connect/forget about.  LOL I can see myself on a cold rainy day connecting a lanyard and heated gear 🙂  I have encountered a few cold rainy days during summer trips!

I definitely see the value for solo trips in particular.  I'm already wearing so much I'm really reluctant to add *another* layer, but my tolerance for personal injury is way lower when I'm alone.  It's one thing when people can go get help, another when you might be stuck in a ditch and unable to get out, out of eyesight of passerbys. 

[2and3cylinders]

You'd have to yank the rip cord very hard to get it to activate, something very difficult to do just dismounting.   They specifically discuss that in videos. The Hit-Air model I got deploys about as fast as the A* and Dainese, and faster than the Helite Turtle 2.

Mine protects the back, lower ribs, chest and supports the head very well.  It also repacks relatively easily.  

I really forgot I was wearing it yesterday. No impingement on movement. With a heavy, fully armored jacket like my Aerostitch Transit 2 or similar, the added weight and bulk wasn't noticeable. 

Riding solo or not, the point is if it prevents or minimizes injury it would pay for itself the first time.

My body is not as flexible and damage resistant as it used to be, nor does it heal as well, quickly or completely. 

It's cost is also less than an ER visit deductible. 

I chose the Hit-Air model I did for several good reasons after extensive due diligence.  It also was delivered in 2 days

[Wintersdark]

36 minutes ago, 2and3cylinders said:

You'd have to yank the rip cord very hard to get it to activate, something very difficult to do just dismounting.   They specifically discuss that in videos. The Hit-Air model I got deploys about as fast as the A* and Dainese, and faster than the Helite Turtle 2.

Mine protects the back, lower ribs, chest and supports the head very well.  It also repacks relatively easily.  

I really forgot I was wearing it yesterday. No impingement on movement. With a heavy, fully armored jacket like my Aerostitch Transit 2 or similar, the added weight and bulk wasn't noticeable. 

Riding solo or not, the point is if it prevents or minimizes injury it would pay for itself the first time.

My body is not as flexible and damage resistant as it used to be, nor does it heal as well, quickly or completely. 

It's cost is also less than an ER visit deductible. 

I chose the Hit-Air model I did for several good reasons after extensive due diligence.  It also was delivered in 2 days

Yeah, fortnine's video about these covered the "accidental activation" thing too - said they require really substantial force to activate.  I'm kind of curious about that, though, with regards to what happens when you just walk away.  It stays attached to the bike and you just get embarrassingly jerked back(still less embarrassing than having the vest suddenly inflate as you walk away) is what I'd assume, but?  Even so, just needing CO2 cannisters, it's not really a big deal.  They're super cheap.   I definitely think the manual CO2 style is 100% the right way to go with these.

As to weight/bulk, my point is more that it's yet another layer to put on.  I realize that my experience is probably more unique, but I ride every single day, often multiple times a day, and often with just very short trips.  I get the "most accidents happen near home" and all that, but it's a huge pain in the ass to get massively geared up to take a trip to the local grocery store.  I'd sincerely rather take the risk of injury and I've been in multiple major accidents over my riding life, so I can make that decision from experience.  This is *not* a criticism of the device: I think it's fantastic, an excellent safety device.  Arguably #2 after a helmet.  I just already struggle with the amount of gear I'm wearing.  It's kind of insane, particularly as a really big dude.  

But I'm Canadian.  A trip to the ER has no cost for me   Obviously having say a broken spine would indeed have a serious cost, I do wear CE2 back protectors on any trip.  I definitely hear the slower healing and loss of damage resistance in general, though - I found even back in my mid-thirties it was shocking how much shittier it was getting hurt, let alone now staring down 50.  

Anyways, I'm definitely not arguing against them.  More just that I wish they weren't so ridiculously expensive ($750-900cdn, depending on make/model of the manual sorts).  That's two of my heated, modular, ECE rated helmets right there.  If I had to choose today between, say, 4 broken ribs and losing $750, I'd take the ribs.

I'd absolutely be springing for one if I was doing lots of long solo trips (reasoning above), but it's - for me anyways - a huge expense.  And if I had one, I'd definitely wear it 90% of the time.  I really hope they get more popular, more entrants come onto the market, and they come down in cost.  If this was 200, 300$?  I'd be all over that.