PegMonkey Bad Monkey!

Why can't I get a job where I ride all day long.. ride.. ride... and ride far.. far away from all the traffic.. all the hassle.. all the problems.

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.

Yeah.. it's been awhile since I've written or reviewed anything for the monkey on my back. I feel like I've been really swamped and pulled in so many directions. I've only ridden like 4 times this summer.

I had a motherboard croak and then a raid array suffer a catastrophic failure.. I have everything backed up, but it's taking time to reassemble everything.

I'm getting excited. I had to take a break from painting and figured I'd let you all know that the SV that Mr. Enigma used to perforate the scenery will soon live again. It'll feel like a completely new beast and I'll have a complete write up of it in the howto section. I wonder if I should be wearing a paint mask..

Motorcyclists stick together, right? RIGHT? Well, I was sure they did. After wasting some time on the web browsing various motorcycle centric web sites I've observed some startling things. I've seen cyclists bitterly arguing amongst themselves over some pretty silly things. Then I though.. "Hey, that never would've been an issue 10 or 15 years ago." For example. Mufflers on bikes seem to be a huge issue. A decade ago, cyclists would have just let each other run whatever pipes they wanted. But now it seems that the anti noise crowd is really pissed at the noise crowd. Also, stunt riders are pissed at cruiser folks, and vice versa. There are other issues too. But the disturbing part of all this seems to be that motorcyclist don't have that cohesive feel we once had. It seems there's division in the ranks, and that's rarely a good thing for the group.

Watch for it. Speed limits used to save fuel.. then they saved lives.. now wait, they're saving fuel again. And here's the clincher, it's now considered unpatriotic to speed. You're just downright un-american if you speed and waste fuel and cause the cost of gas to increase.

Ok.. motorcycling is dangerous.. You learn to ride at your own peril.  If you read this, do what I say, and get hurt.. that's your fault.  I'm only imparting what works for me. 

Now that you know how to work the clutch and are hopefully able to creep around the parking lot at a crawl, it's time to add a little adrenaline to the mix.  We'll cover accelerating, gear changes and braking. 

Ok.. motorcycling is dangerous.. You learn to ride at your own peril.  If you read this, do what I say, and get hurt.. that's your fault.  I'm only imparting what works for me.

So you still want to learn to ride. You've accepted the danger involved and want to give it a shot. You'll need some basic skills. The most important skill is stopping. But, you obviously can't stop till you get moving. So the first order of business is to get you moving. Things like this are best taught by a tutor on the spot, however, reading it here first will let you get the process in your mind and give you something to think about till you actually get in the saddle.

So you want to learn to ride? Do yourself a favor. Don't!!! What!? Yeah, don't learn.  Do yourself a favor and stay away from bikes.  Bikes are dangerous.  You'll fall and get hurt.  You may even get killed.  Those of us that ride and have ridden for a long time, know people that have crashed bad, been maimed or even killed from crashing.  So, ask yourself how bad you want to ride.  Are you prepared to be maimed, crippled for life or even die?  Can you live without?  Is the risk worth it to you?  Many people simply see a bike and see the people riding them and think it would be something cool to do.  Don't be one of them.  Think it through.  Imagine in your head what it would be like to live in a wheel chair, or worse be trapped inside a body that simply doesn't respond.  Imagine what those you leave behind will go through if you die. I use to urge and encourage everyone to ride.  Not any more.  Not only will operator error get you maimed or killed, but debris and other motorists may just as easily do you in. Oh, and you if you can't ride a bicycle.. don't try riding a motorcycle... seriously, ride a bicycle first. Yeah.. you laugh, but you'd be amazed.  Now.. still want to ride?  Read on then.

Life changes you as well as your interests. I have been riding sportbikes since 1988 and I think I am done with that stage of my life.[For now] I have not left motorcycling altogether I am just on a different track now; I bought a 1998 Yamaha WR400F to do some woods riding once again. I seem to remember when sportbikes were rare and the Harley(clones included) were the rage. Harleys and clones are still pleantiful but sportbikes and their trickster riders are becoming overwhelming also. It seems that with the population increase in sportriders comes the attention of the local police that think everyone on a sportbike is doing stupid stuff in crowded areas, even though that is hardly ever the case. Most of us save our stupidity (i.e. fun) for the unpopulated back roads that will only injure us and our bikes if we crash. Oh well. I am going to attempt to ride in the woods again and attempt to miss trees instead of cars. Oh, I forgot to mention my WR has tags, so most of my time in the woods. I will welcome the change of senery an sharpen my reflexes as only a dirt bike can do.