Dæmons

Thanks to Biker Betty for letting me in on this one.  I have to say, this is one of the more cute personality tests I've seen.  I'll have to make sure my wife looks it over to make sure this particular Dæmon fits me.

Not much has been going on otherwise.  The weather here has been pretty crappy and Selene has be sulking under the veranda.  She is a little mad at me for being a bit too careless when covering her up the other night.  A part of the cover melted onto her pipes and now I have a rather large clean up job ahead of me.  Oops.

Guys and bikes

I have some observations about how guys react around motorcycles. You can file these under stereotypes if you want, they are just silly little things that make me smile. They are also the things I encounter most when I start talking to a guy about my bike.

1. "Nice bike!" Usually follows after, "Is that your bike?" Well, I'm standing by it and I'm dressed in leather, you do the math.

2. "What year is it?" As if that matters. I get this so much that I'm thinking of having it painted on the tank.

3. "How fast is it?" Um, it can do the speed limit.

4. "I used to have a bike, but the wife made me get rid of it." Um, what now? You'll have to pardon me, but no one could ever make me give up my bike. Oh, and my wife? She told me to buy a new one. ;) You may need to rethink your situation.

5. "I'm thinking about getting a bike." I hear this one a lot. Around here you'll sometimes hear, "or maybe an ATV..." added after. Always good for an internal chuckle. Months go by and they are still thinking about buying one or the other.

Oddly enough, I have never gotten the horrible crash story where someone's friend's relative lost "X" number of limbs and swears they will never again look a bike, let alone ride one.

Honestly, I prefer it when no one bothers me. I'm riding, I'm relaxing, I'm trying to get away from everyone else. For the most part, I am left alone and that's just fine by me. You think it could be the outfit?

Divided attention

There are some days that I think I shouldn't be on bike. Days where it seems like I'm not paying attention enough and that my mind seems to be wandering too much. But they have all been minor things and it really didn't bother me too much.

That changed on my last ride home from work on April 16th.

The whole ride home my mind is constantly wandering from one thought to another. Cars passing me on our multi lane main street are actually taking me by surprise because I'm not paying attention to my mirrors. My mask and goggles weren't seated correctly and wind kept making my eyes water.

I could handle that stuff. It was only a short ride and I knew it wouldn't be long before I would be home. There was one last thing though and it really bothered me. Actually, it's still bothering me now.

I was approaching an intersection and I was preparing to turn right. The light was green and I didn't have to worry about oncoming traffic. I took the turn and did so many things wrong that I'm surprised I made it home that night.

First, I looked down, saw dirt in the turn and proceeding to drive through it.

Second, I powered through the turn which caused my rear wheel to slip on the dirt that I had been watching.

Third (and this is the one that really gets me), I put my foot down. I PUT MY FOOT DOWN! The bike wasn't going down and my foot hitting the road actually made the bike even more unstable. All I could hear after that was my foot loudly slapping the road. Aside from falling asleep and blowing through an intersection years ago on my Kawasaki, it's probably one of the dumbest things I've done.

You'll have to forgive me, I tend to dwell a lot and I still haven't forgiven myself for slapping that road. It all boils down to inattention and not having a clear enough head to be riding.

So how about you? Got anything motorcycle related that you beat yourself up for? Or are you a little more forgiving of yourself then I am?

New shoes

Well, I'm a little late with this, but as you know...I've been forgetting to catch up on a lot of things. :)

So here she is in all her glory sporting her brand new Metzelers.

Ain't she sexy?

Prolonged Jafrum helmet review

While browsing my own archives I realized that I'm behind on a few things. One in particular was a review of the Jafrum helmets that were purchased last year. I was supposed to give a full and final review after a month of use...oops.

So here it is, the final review of our Jafrum shortie helmets.

The ones purchased were the 100 series DOT Beanie. I wanted a short style helmet and didn't really want to shell out a ton of money for another helmet when we already had brand new Icon Alliance SS helmets. The two Jafrum helmets cost less then one Icon helmet and that included shipping and duty.

I was very hesitant about buying helmets online due to the fact that you can't be sure they are going to fit properly. After measuring our heads twice and considering our Icon helmets were extra large (I find full face helmets are always bigger), we figured that a large would be fine for both of us. The website has a sizing page that was quite helpful in figuring out the size we needed. Upon receiving the helmets and trying them on, though, I realized we could have gone a size smaller. Joey's helmet is rather loose and so is mine. The only plus for me is that I always wear a do-rag or cap underneath it so it stays rather snug.

The helmet comes with a visor that attaches to the front via three screws. I removed mine and Joey kept hers on. It's easily removable and you can get a face shield that attaches to the same spot. The face shield is a separate purchase though and comes in clear, smoke or mirror tint.

The colour we went with was flat black, but it doesn't look like the helmet was actually painted. If I had to hazard a guess, I would say it was covered with a plastic/vinyl type of material. That works for me as I have found the helmet is very difficult to scratch. As a matter of fact, the only flaws on the helmet right now are some paint marks picked up from the occasional meeting with a wall.

The padding on the interior of the helmet is sufficient for its purpose. There are no hard spots or uncomfortable areas that take against the old noggin. There is even a nice pad that covers the crown of the head.

I was worried about the sturdiness of the straps. They felt cheap and it didn't look like they could take a lot of stress. The inside of the strap is felt lined, but the exterior portion seems to be made of a vinyl type of material. Contrary to what I thought, it has held out rather well. If anything, the straps have become more pliable and comfortable. Believe me, I don't treat the helmet like a baby. I want this one to have a used look and it has more then easily dealt with my punishment.

The only real complaint I have is about the buckle. It came with the seat-belt type strap closure and it's kind of finicky. Once it's closed, there are no problems and it won't easily let go, but the real problem is getting it to click into place. Sometimes it can take a bit of effort to get it to snap in. You can double or triple that effort if you are wearing gloves. The release button is really small and next to impossible to handle with gloves on, let alone bare hands. I've had my issues with it, but Joey is always having problems getting it to snap closed. On the plus side they do have the D ring loops as well, but the only way to use them properly would be to cut off the seat-belt closure. Otherwise the seat-belt portion flaps around in the wind.

We purchased these helmets last August in hopes of being able to wear them when we took our trip to Niagara Falls. We wore the Icons for the trip up and back, but used the Jafrum helmets for any rides around the Niagara Falls area. For the trip, the Jafrum helmets were bungee netted to the top of our luggage and were submitted to heat, cold and one very wet evening. They survived it all without a problem and mine has become my regular helmet. The other night, I took out my Icon to go for a short ride and realized that it was still covered in all the bugs that we had picked up from our trip back from Niagara Falls. I chuckled to myself as I realized that the cheapy little helmet had become my favourite to wear.

I like the open air feel of the beanie/shortie and it's as close to no helmet as I'm going to get in Canada. As for the Jafrum brand, it gets a thumbs up from me. The build quality is good, it's comfortable for long periods and it's quite affordable. Would I buy from them again? Definitely.

What is it

There are days that I have to wonder what the draw is to me. Days that I wake up, look out the window and a sudden debate starts up inside me. One side of me says "ride!", the other says "that car would be really warm."

That was this morning in a nutshell.

I booted up my computer and started up my internet browser. One of my home pages happens to be the local weather. -3C (26F) and a quick look out the window shows a layer of frost on everything. Add to that the fact that we are supposed to get another snow storm overnight (I work until 9pm) and you've got a perfect recipe for an internal debate.

I could see that it was getting sunny and it's supposed to hit 8C (46F) today. Not that I would be able to enjoy the warmth with me having to work 12 hours, but at least I knew there was some hope for the day.

So I putter around the house, slowly getting ready for work, while my mind goes into a steady debate over the pros and cons: it might be icy, but it's fun, it's going to be cold, but it's fun... On and on it goes.

I don't want to give you the impression that I'm crazy...well, at least not certifiably crazy. The whole time I'm thinking this, I already know what side will win, I already know what form of transportation I will be taking. There is only one resounding thought that blankets it all: if I have a chance to ride, I'll ride.

Summer is too short, life is too short. Do what you enjoy, do what you love to do. Experience everything you can. When I left this morning, I could feel myself getting colder, but it didn't matter. It was something I could easily deal with and it would soon pass. The fact that I could ride was all that mattered. It didn't matter that I was going to work because this would make my work day all the more bearable, knowing that Selene is in the parking garage waiting for the ride home.

So I guess that's it. That's the draw. That's why I will ride every time I get a chance. That's why I'm glued to weather reports. That's why I'll get miffed every time it snows. That's why the internal debate will only go in one direction...

Let's ride.

Finally

I've been holding off blogging about my new order just in case things ended up with me being disappointed. As of today, I can gladly say that I'm far from disappointed. As much as I would love this to be a review of the installation, it's going to have to be a review of the shipping. The weather out there is crappy and I don't have the tools nor the time

Today I received my order from Tsukayu.

As you can see, it was well packaged. The box itself took a few knocks and was actually broke open in a couple of spots, but it was wrapped in plastic so nothing actually went through the box.

The items were wrapped in a double layer of foam wrap as well as being encased and separated with styrofoam sheets.

I'm always nervous about unwrapping things like this. I hate seeing things so nicely wrapped only to discover that it still didn't protect it. We all know what the mail is like. No matter how many stickers you put on there announcing that it's fragile, there is always someone who just doesn't care.

Much to my delight, there wasn't a mark on them.

They were covered in dust and bits of foam, but that was nothing a good polishing rag couldn't take care of. I am thoroughly impressed with the finish of these saddle bags. They have a mirror finish with no imperfections at all. I'll have to coat them with a few layers of wax to make sure they are well protected.

The details really make these worth it. The new latch style they are using really looks nice. it used to be a barrel style that was set into the case itself. The new chrome latch helps keep the lid closed tightly and really looks nice against the black.

One of the big selling points for me was the felt lining. In comparison, the National Cycle saddle bags cost twice as much and don't come with any kind of lining. The rubber seal looks pretty sturdy and will definitely get tested out with the weather around the Maritimes.

The prop seems sturdy and holds the cover up quite nicely. It locks solid and doesn't flex either. As of right now I have to release the prop lock myself. I'm guessing that's just because it's new and a little stiff. It doesn't bother me either way as long as it keeps the cover up.

The only thing that really bothers me is the plastic hinge on the rear. It's black, so it doesn't show up that much, but I would rather it be chrome. I'm afraid that this type of plastic may not weather well and could quickly become discoloured. I may replace them with chrome hinges myself, but I have other things that are a higher priority than that.

The mounting hardware was wrapped in bubble wrap and foam wrap which in turn was surrounded by a styrofoam box which was, again, wrapped in foam wrap. Each of them was placed inside a saddle bag. I have to hand it to the packers, short of being dropped from a plane, nothing was going to happen to the mounts.

The mounting hardware is quite different then what I'm used to seeing. Apparently they are designed to keep the cases as close to the bike as possible. The metal is quite thick and sturdy, but I have to wonder if they are strong enough to support the cases. In my searches for information on the internet I never encountered one complaint about this type of mount, so I'm guessing I won't have any issues. Besides, you aren't supposed to overload your saddlebags for safety reasons.

Last, but certainly not least, is the bag-O-parts. In here are all the little things you need to make sure the cases stay on the bike. A very good thing indeed. As you can see, there are keys in there. The locks on the latches are very real and will only open with those keys. I figured they would be the "pretend" locks that you can get, where almost any key will open them. I have one of those locks on my Kawasaki's gas cap. I could use my house key to open it. I'm not quite sure if you can tell, but they supply three keys for the cases. That is very handy for a forgetful person such as myself. One key will stay home, one will be with me and one will be with Joey. As you can tell, I've had experience with "misplacing" keys.

All in all, I am not disappointed with choosing Tsukayu. Total cost for the cases came to $643.31CAD ($539.00USD) and it took approximately 25 days (from order date to delivery date) for me to receive them. I know that seems to be a long time, but you have to keep in mind they came from Hong Kong.

In comparison; the National Cycle Cruiserliner Saddlebags are $649.99USD and you have to buy the mounting hardware separately for $229.95USD. Not including duty (which can be high and you can't get away without it paying now) that's $879.94USD ($1001.37CAD)...yikes. And that's without felt lining and an actual chromed latch.

I know the Cruiserliner Saddlebags would be easier to install and I know that National Cycle is a great name, but I just can't justify that much for a set of hard saddlebags. And no, I wasn't about to buy soft ones. Soft bags just aren't my style and some of them are just as expensive as the Tsukayu ones I now have.

I also have to compliment the staff. Mavis and Yoko (the two I dealt with) were more then willing to answer any questions and were very prompt with all replies. Tsukayu was probably the friendliest and most helpful online dealer I've every had the pleasure of communicating with.

Now the bad news. I'm not going to have time to mount them anytime soon. I'm back into my weekend rotations at work and it will be a month before I have actual weekends again. It has to be done on the weekend due to the fact that my Dad has all the cool tools and this is definitely not a one man job. So, the next installment of this review will come at a later date and will be more detailed with just as many pictures...if not more. For the time being I'll just watch the snow melt...or accumulate...*sigh*

Guess what we did...

yesterday...

Guess what we didn't do today...

So much for spring...

It's been a while

But it's been a busy while.  We are done with the Neon and we were able to get a lease on a 2007 Pontiac G5.  It's a wonderful car that will suit our purposes perfectly.  After four years, we can get rid of it and get something new.  You can't go wrong with that.  Here is a shot of the new mechanical addition to our family.

With that done, it was time for me to finish cleaning up Selene and get her home.  That got seriously hampered when the storage company decided to lock me out of the building.  That was on Friday which meant that I wouldn't have access to my bike for the entire weekend.  Add that to the fact that I had to have the bike out of there by Saturday and you could say that I was slightly miffed.  We got that cleared up on Monday, but I still never got to finish my clean up.  Now I get to freeze my butt off cleaning the last few parts of Selene.

In between all that, we managed to get out to the Blue Knights Motorcycle Show.  It wasn't a large show, but there were a number of nice bikes there and I did get a few good pictures.  Check out the slide show at the bottom of the post for all of them.

To top it all off, I finally get the bike home with hopes to be able to ride it to work tomorrow and this happens...

Ah well, at least we have a new car.  :)