Gremlin Shock Troops Have Invaded My Motorcycle

Good God, I've been beset by an entire legion of gremlins with something of a scorched Earth policy.

Recently a headlight burned out. I've been a little lax in replacing it because, well, I'm easily distracted.

So last week I had this funny issue where the bike would start for a couple seconds then die. After freaking out with a troubleshooting guide telling me I would be spending a lot of money very shortly, I discovered the battery was just low. Charged it up, problem solved.

Except, of course, that the battery has been getting weaker with every start. I was going to tackle that happy little issue this weekend, but I was... distracted... until Sunday morning.

When I got out to the garage to see what was ailing my beloved Triumph, I found it had puked an astonishing quantity of oil all over my garage.

Also, it's leaking coolant from one of those vile hose clamps. Man, I hate hose clamps.

Anyway, the bike was so oily I had to spend a fair amount of time this evening just wiping the accumulated nastiness off the bike. Hopefully tomorrow there will be a clean trail of oil letting me know where the trouble lies.

I've been trying to convince Lady Luck that this is a sign that I should get a Ducati, but so far she isn't buying it.

Woke Up With The Chills, Probably Won't Ride Today

I freaking hate colds. That is all.

Why Even Get Out of Bed? To Ride Motorcycles

Reposting from Irondad's site. As he said, the fact that it's an ad for a bank doesn't make it any less powerful.

Ride Stealthy

So, the new Zero S motorcycle is now quieter and comes with a quick recharge option - a little over two hours for a full charge.

I like the idea of zipping silently along empty roads in the middle of nowhere.

Unfortuately, with a 58 mile range, I won't be able to get to those empty roads before needing to stop and charge for two hours. Maybe if I lived somewhere else.

I'm sure the range and top speed will improve as technology advances. Until then, I'll give these guys a thumbs up, and keep riding my Triumph.



(Go ahead, crank the volume)

Was There An Unusually High Number Of Idiots On The Road Today?

I was witness to a whole lot of stupid incidents in traffic today, including some joker in a big white pick-'em-up blasting through a red light at forty, nearly creaming a smaller truck, and another joker who tried her best, despite numerous horn blasts from more attentive drivers, to run over a little girl on her bicycle crossing the street with the light, in a crosswalk.

And that's only two of the dumb things I saw.

Was this traffic idiocy universal today, or was it confined to my travel area?

Why Lane Splitting and "Filtering" Should Be Legal

So, if you're the kind of person that finds footage of motorcycle crashes disturbing... don't watch this.

The good news is our man is apparently OK, although I'd wager he was in shock when he walked off to the side of the road. The bad news is his Suzuki is smashed all to hell.

This is why it should be perfectly legal for a motorcyclist to zip to the front at stoplights, and to split lanes in slow traffic. Just sayin'.

Cool Blog About a Man and his Ford Model A

OK, so it has nothing to do with motorcycles. It does, however, have to do with a car made back when motoring was an actual experience, instead of a state of risky suspended animation.

Anyhow, this fellow is documenting his experiences and expenses driving a Ford Model A for a year as his main source of transportation. And that's pretty damn cool, in my opinion.

So, check out 365 Days of A. I think you'll dig it.

Too Cold For My Gear

There is an old Scandinavian saying I'm fond of. It goes, "There is no bad weather, just bad clothing." If anyone knows about less-than-ideal weather, it's the Scandinavians, so I take that proverb fairly seriously.

Anyway, it turns out that I have bad clothing. We've had some unusually cold weather here in the heart of flavor country. It's been well below freezing for the last couple of mornings.

If I actually owned thermal clothing, I'd be riding. But I don't, so I've been mooching rides to work from Lady Luck in her conveniently heated automobile.

I think this is the universe telling me to shut up about embracing discomfort.

At any rate, the clothes and gear I own just aren't warm enough to ride in this kind of weather. I've done it before, it sucks, and it's not worth the risk when all I'm doing is going to work.

Now if I were going somewhere awesome...

Choosing the Path of Least Resistance - A Street Survival Tactic

This is really a simple concept: cagers can't collide with you if they aren't anywhere close to you. So, as much as you can, ride where the traffic isn't.

But you might want a little more detail.

I think that cagers and bikers will agree traffic sucks. It's slow, there are impatient drivers everywhere, and it gets dangerous quick. Driving a car at any time, as you know, sucks. A little traffic might make it suck a little more, but you've still got that baseline level of suck even in light traffic.

Riding a motorcycle, on the other hand, is always awesome. However, bad traffic has a definite, negative impact on the quality of the ride. So although it's always better than a car, some rides are certainly less enjoyable than others.

Which is where the logic of my route selection comes in. In a car, along with millions of other drivers, I almost always choose the shortest, most direct, or simply fastest route.

On the bike, I choose the route with the least traffic on it, even if riding that route takes more time than the direct route. I enjoy riding, so a little more time on the bike is hardly a bad thing. And staying out of traffic increases my enjoyment of the ride, while decreasing my chances of getting creamed by an inattentive asshat watching a movie in his or her SUV.

There is a route I can take home from work, for example, that cuts five to ten minutes off of my ride. The downside is that the on ramp takes me straight into a nasty snarl of traffic that, frankly, stresses me out. I've witnessed several accidents and had too many close calls to feel comfortable riding there. So I take the slower way, with fewer cars on it, and have more fun.

To summarize all this: when choosing your route, choose the path of least resistance. If you are able, just stay away from traffic. Allow a little more time, if you need to. It's worth it.

Documentary About Touring on a 125cc Motorcycle

So this guy decided it would be a great idea to tour around the U.K. on a 125cc bike, and made a brief documentary about it.

I think it's pretty swell, and I suspect you'll enjoy it as well.

Part One:


Part Two: