There used to be a some really good riding in a town close to here.  It was an abandoned rail road bed.  A local hunting club had the right of way and would allow anybody to use the trail and all the trails that stemmed from the old rail bed.  Everybody got along.  Equestrians, 4WD, hikers, mountain bikers and dirt bikers.  Then something nasty happened.  A group of people who know best how others should live decided that it would best if only hikers and bikers had access to these trails.  So they banded together and lobbied the government and collected momementum from a whole slew of haters and created The "Great" Allegheny Passage. You know, those people who think that everybody should be exactly like them and only enjoy the exact same activities they enjoy.  For your own good of course.  Equestrians are also taboo in a lot of areas on the trail.  Imagine that, one of the oldest forms of non bipedal conveyance.. taboo.  But now it's not just the "Alleghany Passage".  It's the "Great" "Alleghany Passage".  I guess all the haters like it because now they only have to commune with others of their ilk who enjoy the exact same activities they do.  

While you may use a two piece suit on the track, they are generally regarded as street gear.  The Fieldsheer Radar 2 Piece suit is a good example of a leather suit that contains some street oriented features.  Pockets.  It actually has pockets.  It's not as street oriented as a textile suit, but being primarily constructed of leather, it offers more protection.  The suit is also heavily perforated which makes it ideal for hot climates.  In a solid leather suit I'm comfortable down to 40 degrees F.  With the highly perforated Radar suit, my comfort level is 50 degrees F.  On really hot days, it's much nicer than solid leather. 

I only have three minor complaints with the suit.  One, the sizing of the suit is a bit odd.  For this test I weighed in at 220lbs, 6' 1" height, 48" chest, 36" waist and 34" inseam.  I went with the XL size or 46 according to the Fieldsheer sizing chart. According to the chart, 48-50 chest, 33-34 sleave, 40-42 waist and 32.5 inseam.  The waist on this suit is huge.  If I don't wear the jacket, the pants will not stay up.  There is also no way to cinch down the pants to fit my waist.  This is a suit for somebody with a big belly.  The chest on the suit is actually a bit snug, but not uncomfortably so.  The legs and arms a bit snug, but only as snug as they should be.  The rest of the suit fits wonderfully.  My second complaint is the zipper that attaches the jacket to the pants is a slight bit finicky.  It took me about 10 minutes the first time I tried to connect it.  But now that I'm used to it, I can get it connected right away.  Only occasionally do I not hold the zipper at the perfect angle to attache the two.  My third complaint is that the collar has a really large diameter.  It does not come anywhere near my neck.  It doesn't cause any problems, however I've had bugs fly straight into my leathers through the neck opening. 

Aligning motorcycle wheels when adjusting the chain is simpler than it sounds.  All you need is a string that is about three times longer than the wheelbase and two weights to hold the string tight.  In my case I've used two old cam belt bearings from my Impreza.  I have yet to see a swingarm that has accurate chain adjustment marks.  The wheel always ends up being skewed to one side.  The good thing about motorcycles is that even if the rear wheel is not perfectly in line with the front wheel, it'll still be rideable.  The difference having good alignment makes is longer tire life as well as a decreased tendency to exhibit head shake.  You may also notice on some bikes that you feel more comfortable making left turns than right turns or vice versa, and can't quit firgure out why.  It could be rear wheel alignment.  Left and right turns will "feel" different if the rear wheel is tracking off to one side. 

First, get the motorcycle to stand up as straight as it can.  Put spacers under the kickstand, or put it up on the center stand, or track stands.  Now, tie your weights to the end of the string.  Next, take your string and fold it in half to find the center point.  Tape it to the rear tire at a height that will allow it to clear everything under the motorcyle.. exhaust, saddle bags.. etc. when pulled directly forward towards the front tire.

I got a new WR450 so I decided to convert my still strong running DRZ400 into a supermoto machine. 

The FIM has released a provisional calendar for the 2010 racing season.

 

The Yamaha WRs of recent years have come fairly well corked up from the factory.  I rode the machine around for a few weeks during break in while it was corked up.  It's rideable in that configuration, however it feels like an air cooled XR250 with a really light flywheel.  And it feels like it only revs to 6 grand.  I couldn't wait to get it uncorked.  I wish Yamaha would see fit to release multi state versions so we wouldn't have to uncork them.  Plugging up the exhaust, limiting throttle travel and restricting airbox flow as well as including some kind of smog pump are measures Yamaha has taken to make this bike green sticker legal.  

Alrighty then.. let's release the hounds.

http://www.buell.com/ Harley, who recently bought MV Agusta has released a press release stating it will discontinue production of the Buell product line and will s

I know this isn't a motorcycle related video.  But I really like this engine.  I feel the engineering that has gone into it is quite impressive.  And the W16 configuration is very unique in that it uses a common head for the two 15 degree v configurations.  In it's finished quad turbo format it produces 1001 HP from 8 liters.  Schweeng.

This could come in quite handy.  It's a real time system for monitoring speed traps worldwide.   You may submit speed or camera traps that you find as well as be notified when you are in the vicinity of other reported traps.  All is fair in the world of traffic related revenue generation. http://www.trapster.com/

Harley Davidson income is down 58 percent over last quarter.  They're doing some massive cutbacks in an effort to save the company.
UPDATE 2-Harley profit tumbles; plans closures, layoffs | Industries | Consumer Goods & Retail | Reuters

After a couple of years of being too busy to do much with the bikes I'm finally getting into some good projects and doing some more riding.  Kirby took up a lot of my time.  A lot of my time that I was happy to give my best friend.  Yeah, I know, I'm just a big softie.  My first project was to convert a DRZ400K into a SuperMoto machine.  And, it's just about finished.  I have a few minor tweaks to do, but it's now rideable.  So why bother converting a DRZ/K when Suzuki already makes a DRZ/SM?  Because the cams, carb and base gasket are better on the DRZ/K.  Plus.. the K is quite a bit lighter.  And.. I just happened to have one laying around just asking to be modded.  I'll be writing up some how to articles shortly.  For now, here's a pic of the almost finished machine.

And I miss him a lot.  He died January 4th 2008.  I'm writing some stuff here http://dpotts.com/kirby   Maybe one day I'll do something more with this website.. maybe not.  I somehow don't have the desire for it right now. 

It appears that the SV650 I rebuilt is a rare maching indeed.  2wheeljunkie apparently no longer exists.  So this fairing http://pegmonkey.com/gallery/howto/sv650_crash/DSC_0030.JPG.html is one rare unit now.  Unless somebody knows what happened to 2wheeljunies that is and can show me who makes their fairings.  I hate to see a good product hit the dust.. now I feel like being more careful with the SV.  I don't like to have nostalgia dictate my riding style.. sigh.

Ok.. somebody please tell me Yamaha has a bigger supermoto on the way.  http://www.yamaha-motor.com/sport/products/modelhome/596/0/home.aspx

A 250 supermoto is nice and all.. but for serious riders.. this just ain't gonna cut it.  Hopefully, they're saving the 450 supermoto for a not too distant future release and they're just wetting our appetites with the 250.

I've been busy most of the summer tending to my sick puppy Kirby. He can't use his back legs, but he's too nice of a dog to put down and doesn't seem to be in any pain. It takes a lot of time watching him and I seem to forgo other activities such as cycling to tend to him. You can read a bit about his progress at dpotts.com. It doesn't look like Kirby is getting any better and in fact is slowly getting worse. I'll just keep making him as comfortable as i can until it seems he's had enough.