Spice of Life

Variety. What a world we live in that we have the option of hundreds of different makes, models, sizes, shapes, and colors of two-wheeled entertainment! My Dad just bought his first bike: a Yamaha Star-950, and graciously allowed me the opportunity to try it out. Before getting into the meat of this post, allow me to caveat that I am much more of a sport/sport-tourer guy than I am a cruiser guy. But beyond that, I am definitely a motorcycle guy. So onward...

My first impressions of the V-Star 950 were of its excellent ergonomics. The bike was easy to mount, the controls well-placed, and the seat height pleasantly low. The mid-size weight of the bike felt very manageable. My Dad got the touring package, so it included the side bags and windscreen. One minor negative was that the voluminous side bags are not large enough to hold a full face helmet. The windscreen seemed excellent for around-town use; most will probably want something a bit larger for heavy-duty touring.

A turn of the key and press of the ignition was rewarded by a very nice exhaust note. The sound is beefy and low without being obnoxious. I snapped it into first gear and pulled away smoothly. The clutch required very little effort and had a nice wide friction zone. The throttle response was a bit jerky at the slowest (walking) speeds, but quickly became steady at anything above that.

I was a bit hesitant on turns because I had heard that cruisers in general, and the 950 particularly, do not allow for very deep lean angles. But what I found was that the bike actually handles quite well. I made some pretty sharp slow-speed turns without incident. I did not try to get a knee down or anything, but also didn't have a problem scraping the floorboards.

What I ultimately learned was how fun it is to ride something as different from my normal experience as a cruiser. If you are in the market for one, I recommend you take a peek at the 950. It offers a great selection of features at a rather economical price point. And the new engine is fuel-injected.

Now who has a Ducati 1198 that they'd let me try...

Scratch That Itch!

I have read many posts recently from motorcyclists who, due to injury, vacation, work, or other interruption, have to take time off of riding. They frequently lament the fact that riding is a crucial part of their lives -- one that is sorely missed when absent. I wholeheartedly agree! I find that if more than three days go by without riding, I start really missing it. I am a motorcycle addict.

But scratching the riding itch is not the intended subject of today's post. I refer instead to the most horrific condition known to the motorcyclist: the itchy nose. A herd of deer bounding into the road? Bah. Potholes the size of lunar craters? Who cares. The psych ward at Bellevue driving hummers and talking on three cellphones at once? A mere triviality. Going 65 MPH on the freeway and having an itch flare up on ones proboscis? Epic, monumental, tragedy.

I have tried all manner of solutions. The "jam fingers up the chin gap and waggle them around" technique is spotty at best, and impossible if you have a well-sealing helmet. The "throw open the visor, violently poke the itchy spot, and close the visor before angry bees or chunks of road hit you in the eye" approach often leads to temporary loss of eyesight -- and worse, the itch remains. "Letting go of the itch in a zen-like meditative state wherein you accept that suffering is a natural part of life" only seems to anger the itchy gods. And the whole idea of just "pulling over and properly dealing with the situation" is, of course, absurd.

So my helmet's off to those who wear the hard plastic yarmulke! They may be missing the front of their face when they have an unplanned dismount, but their nose will not itch.

Where Angels Tread

Father's Day! My Dad and I met for breakfast at a local eatery and then headed off on our very first excursion on the (in)famous Angeles Crest Highway. The day was absolutely perfect for riding: about 75F and partly cloudy. Our first stop was at the fork that leads to Mount Wilson Observatory -- locally known as "Red Box Road". There were a few other motorcycles with the same pitstop in mind, and we got to talk all things two-wheeled after lightening our load a bit.

Continuing along the Crest for another nine or so miles brings you to Newcomb's Ranch Restaurant and Bar. As can be seen in the picture, Newcomb's is a very popular place with the motorcycle set. We spent fifteen minutes just walking along the front looking at the enormous variety of bikes.

Inside the eatery was to be found cold soda and the Superbike race on big screens! What a terrific way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

The only blemish on an otherwise perfect day was an oncoming 900-pound full dress Harley that apparently thought of the double yellow line as more of a suggestion than rule. Thank goodness for quick reflexes.

Happy Father's Day!

Sunday River Ride

My Dad and I took a leisurely sixty-mile ride up to the East Fork of the San Gabriel River and back today. The weather was overcast and cool, and the traffic was very light for a weekend. In short, perfect riding conditions! We stopped at the campground where the road ends and looked down on the river below for a while. We've gone fly fishing in the river in the past, though only caught planted trout in the 6"-8" range.

A nice ride back down the hill and we stopped for a soda at Williams Camp. Everyone -- from the rangers to the hikers to the store clerks -- were very friendly and welcoming. We waved at many other bikers as we passed.

I recommend the road as an alternative to the ubiquitous (and fast-paced) Angeles Crest.

That's The Ticket!

The family went out to dinner last night at a local Italian restaurant, and seated one table away was a motor officer with the California Highway Patrol. I decided to take advantage of this situation and ask for an expert's summary of the laws involving lane splitting. The officer was delighted to help and spent ten minutes educating me on the law:

Lane splitting in California is defined as riding between two lanes of traffic. The first infraction is obvious: riding between the right-most lane and the shoulder. The shoulder is not a lane of traffic, so is illegal to ride on or split.

The second infraction is not so obvious to most: the car pool (ride share) lane is separated from the main freeway by two solid yellow lines. This means that it is considered separate from the other lanes -- it is a different road entirely. Because it is only one lane, there is no other lane to split with. It is illegal to ride between the car pool lane and the left-most regular freeway lane.

I hope this saves you a ticket, and leave you with this:

Q: Why don't ride share lanes go under mountains?

A: Car-pool Tunnel Syndrome.

On Any Sunday

Last Sunday was a spectacular day for riding! It was about 70F and the sky was blue with fluffy white clouds. My Dad and I started the day with a two hour ride up Azusa to the East Fork of the San Gabriel River. For those who aren't familiar, this is a winding mountain road that offers miles and miles of beautiful views and fun curves. There was a huge highway patrol presence there -- catching many squids who felt that the road was their own personal racetrack.

Returning home, my wife jumped on the back of my FJR and we sped off to a friend's birthday party. My Dad stayed home with the kids, and it was nice having the opportunity to socialize with other adults.

We left the party a bit early in order to ride to our local Ducati dealer who was having a BBQ party of its own to celebrate the Japan leg of the MotoGP tour. There is no finer way to enjoy the MotoGP than to do it surrounded by Ducatis. We were delighted to see Yamaha take first and second place, though we wish that Rossi would have won.

All in all, a terrific motorcycle-centric Sunday!

Mantras

All The Gear All The Time (ATGATT)

The grand-daddy of all mantras: wear all the protective gear at all times. Even if it is 105F and you are just going a mile to the store. It is pretty much agreed that leather offers the best overall protection but nothing beats textile for versatility and features. I have covered some of my gear in previous posts, and will be filling in the missing bits soon.

Every day is an adventure!

This is a personal mantra of mine and is a reminder that some days just aren't going to go the way I expect. My attitude on those days is the most important factor in determining how well I make it through. Every single day offers the possibility to learn something new, meet a new friend, try new food, look at old haunts with new eyes, or just acknowledge the grandeur of the world around you.

Outside-inside-outside

The single best overall line to take through corners is to start from the outside edge of your lane, pass through the apex of the turn near the inside edge of your lane, and end up on near the outside edge again. This path maximizes visibility -- both yours of oncoming traffic and corner conditions, and theirs in seeing you. Coupling this with smooth braking before the turn, and a gradual roll on of throttle through the turn, and you are on your way to corner mastery.

The bike goes where you look.

I cannot count the number of times I have fixated on a pothole or crack in the road ahead, and ridden right into it. It takes conscious effort to note a hazard and then fixate my gaze at a distant point that takes me past it safely. This is also the reason the MSF classes tell you to rotate your head as far as it will go when making tight turns. If you fixate on the middle of the curve, you will run into it. Looking at your exit point will help you complete the turn.

Tight on the bottom, loose on top.

This was actually the first piece of advice after ATGATT that really improved my riding. It means simply to use the lower half of your body to grab the motorcycle, and keep the upper half of your body relaxed. I used to ride the exact opposite way and quickly wore out my arms as they bore my weight. If your arms are rigid, every single bump will jar your whole body. I have almost been thrown off the bike hitting a large unexpected pothole with stiff arms. Now I try to support my weight with my legs and abdominal muscles and ride much more smoothly. This is another one for the application of conscious effort. Periodically during my rides I try to take a moment to wiggle my fingers, check on the stiffness of my arms and shoulders, and grab firmly but gently with my lower half.

As with all advice -- take everything with a grain of salt and a pound of personal experience. The best advice of all is simply to remain open minded and continuously look to improve your riding skill. And wear the gear!

Split Personality

I am not the guy splitting lanes at 80 MPH. But I am definitely willing to take advantage of my single-track profile when traffic slows to a stop. And that is exactly what happened yesterday as I left my office to head home.

Bumper-to-bumper stop and go traffic for miles made for a rather onerous commute. I was delighted to be able to split lanes and just make progress. I also learned two important things: I can only split lanes for about a mile or two at a time before I have to pull into lane and rest. Splitting lanes is a rather stressful activity; cars cutting over without warning, the gap widening and narrowing without notice. So I take regular rest breaks.

The second thing I learned is that diesel fuel is quite possibly the slipperiest substance known to man. Forget teflon and graphite! Put a boot down in a greasy stream of diesel and you are suddenly the guest contestant in a game of keep-the-shiny-side-up.

The cause of my afternoon adventure eventually slid into view: a semi truck in an unnatural position. It was bad enough that emergency crews had sprayed the entire area with white foam. I gingerly navigated the last of the frothy obstacles and smoothly accelerated into the wide open road beyond.

I happily stayed in lane for the rest of my ride home.

Protection x Infinity

One of my larger purchases arrived today: a Rev'It Infinity one piece touring suit. The suit is absolutely spectacular, lighter than a 'stitch, and loaded with the latest in space-age fabric technology.

The Infinity has four torso vents, two on the chest and two on the back. It does not have vents on the legs or arms. The zippers are TiZip storm-proof zippers.

I am 5' 11.5", 185 lbs., and have a 36" waist. The XL fits me perfectly. My local store was able to order one so I could try it on before purchasing. Unfortunately, the one they ordered was the all-black suit. Besides not wanting to roast in the California sun, I wanted much higher visibility. So I plunked down my coin (well, $1200 anyway), and they ordered the light grey suit for me. In my opinion, it is very stylish. My wife's reaction upon seeing it for the first time was: "Why don't they make these for women???" Good question. Anyone at Rev-It want to answer?

Here's another pic of me on my bike:

It takes about twice as long to put on the Infinity than just putting on my Cayenne Pro riding jacket, but considering it is offering the same level of protection for my legs too, I am not disappointed.

Is the Infinity expensive? Hell yeah. Is it worth it? A much harder question to answer; I hope to never find out.

All In

... borrowing a phrase from America's favorite inactivity, I am "all in" with my FJR. I have committed 100% to it as my primary mode of transportation. For the first time in ten years of riding, the motorcycle is not a second vehicle -- it is the only vehicle. This has caused a significant shift in my own riding psychology.

Poker players take great risks when they go all in. But the potential rewards are equally great. So it is with motorcycling. Every time I put on the gear, shift into first, and roll back on the throttle, I am making a calculated risk against the pot of sheer exuberance that it returns. But also like those gamblers, the risk is not one made lightly or in ignorance. The player scrutinizes his opponents reading the potentially hidden potholes, oil slicks, and oncoming cars in their visage. He takes in the knowns -- the flop, turn, and river of corner radius, velocity, braking, lean angle, and weather conditions. All of these factors are carefully weighed; the potential returns are computed. And then the player commits.

Every decision on every ride is a balance of risk versus reward. And sometimes folding is the better part of valor. Deciding to wait out a rainstorm instead of riding through it. Choosing to pull over and rest instead of pushing on. Holding back in the lane at 65 instead of splitting lanes to gain that small advantage. Only a significant accumulation of seat time can grant that insight. You have to pay to play.

"I'm all in."

One Hand Steering Fu

I love to read, and collect books in a rather compulsive manner; especially those related to my passions. Motorcycling is no exception to this. I plan on posting details of my complete motorcycling library at some point, but for now I wanted to share an absolutely excellent piece of advice I recently read.

In the book Total Control: High Performance Street Riding Techniques, Lee Parks says: "It is my ardent belief that when cornering, you should use only your inside arm to steer. This includes pushing and pulling when appropriate. I recommend this because it's extremely difficult for both arms to put reverse inputs into opposite ends of the bars in precise unison while simultaneously allowing enough 'give' in the steering for gyroscopic precession to do its thing."

I began testing this on my own a few days ago. What I have found is that by consciously focusing on using the inside arm and relaxing the outside arm, I was able to steer much quicker and tighter than usual. I realized that I had unconsciously been working against myself -- applying opposing pressure with my outside arm as some sort of steadying force. In truth, I was having my arms fight against each other, making steering harder than it needed to be.

Experiment for yourself and see if One Hand Steering Fu can help your technique.

Date Night!

My wife and I were granted a date night sans children yesterday thanks to my Dad. She decided that we should take the FJR, so we donned our protective gear and sped off into the night. There is something magical about a motorcycle as choice of date night vehicle: you can't take kids; it isn't even an option.

Parking at the restaurant (despite it being St. Patrick's Day) was a breeze. I had emptied the side bags so we were both able to store our helmets and gloves on the bike. Like most things with motorcycles, planning ahead is everything. It was a rather warm evening -- ~80F -- and we were glad to be given a larger booth so our jackets would have a place to sit too. I wore my Rev'It Cayenne Pro, and she wore her Vanson Cobra III.

After dinner we decided to hit a local bookstore. Again parking was trivial, but the jackets became a hinderance. We didn't feel comfortable leaving them on the bike, they were too cumbersome to carry, and wearing them in the heated store became stifling in very short order. As I am sure that this issue will only increase in frequency as we approach Summer, I would like to figure out a better solution.

Our final stop of the evening was at a local game store. We both like to play games, and are fortunate to have a local store that reserves half of its floorspace for open gaming tables. It was very relaxing to sit in the store, socialize with the other customers, and play.

The ride home was markedly different from the earlier departure. When we left I rode fairly aggressively -- urging the bike away and into the night. The return trip was relaxed and calm. Motorcycles make terrific date night transport.

Taking Delivery

I took delivery of my FJR on Wednesday. I was hoping that I would be able to witness the complete assembly of the bike, but as it turned out it was assembled at the warehouse. I was able to take pics of the dealer prep.

My first impression was right as they pulled the bike off the truck: it is not black! The bike is actually a metallic charcoal color that is absolutely spectacular.



They wheeled the bike into the shop for dealer prep. They basically check the entire bike, fill it with fluids, make any adjustments, and attach all the extra bits. The dealer was terrific to work with (Pasadena Yamaha).





The side bags come in a separate box, and include a 3rd lock cylinder matched to the rest in the event that I get a top case later on. A set of soft bags are also included that fit inside the hard bags. A set of clear stickers gets attached to the parts of the bike that might get scratched due to the bags. The dealer spent about thirty minutes making sure that the stickers were perfectly placed. I love that kind of attention to detail.



I had them adjust the bars to their farthest back position. There are four possible positions. It is important to note that you have to loosen both sides before you can move them -- they are attached underneath by a common bracket.



I had them install a set of frame sliders. I've been told that just dropping the bike at a standstill could result in $2K in damages, so these seem like cheap insurance to me. Fortunately you don't have to cut into the fairing to install them -- they just bolt on.



And here is my FJR's first ride. I was both delighted to see it speed off, and also jealous that it was the mechanic and not me doing it. But my turn came soon after.



My next post will cover my first impressions on actually riding the beast!

It's FJR Day!

Today is the day! My FJR will be traveling from the warehouse to the dealer and I will get a call (hopefully soon) to come on down. My digital camera is ready, my riding gear is in the trunk of my car, and I am as excited as an eight-year-old on Christmas morning.

I admit to some trepidation. Until you twist the throttle for the first time, you really have no idea just how powerful the bike will be. It's like lighting the fuse on an explosive you cannot see, and hoping that you are standing far enough away.

My sense of excitement has vastly overtaken my fear. Today is the day that I officially begin my grand experiment: trading a perfectly good automobile for the motorcycle equivalent of a cruise missile. No more wimping out because a few drops of rain are falling from the sky. No more filtered climate control. But I gain the pure, concentrated joy that only being out in it all can bring.

Introduction

Welcome to FJR Life -- a personal blog about living with a sport-touring motorcycle as the primary method of transportation. I take delivery of a brand new 2009 Yamaha FJR-1300AE tomorrow that will replace my Mazda RX-8 for all daily commuting and regular travel. Southern California is handy in that it offers a 12-month riding season. The downside is that all of this sunshine attracts a lot of people: traffic congestion is a fact of life.

In the coming posts, I will be covering such topics as why I chose the FJR, motorcycle gear, experiences commuting in LA, travel, pros/cons of giving up my car, family impact, and more.

So fasten your gear, secure your helmet, and join me as I begin the adventure.

RwP