Snowulf - Vehicles

Ride Friday: Why motorcycles don't honk (much)

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:00:00 -0800

I've noticed that even on the nice summer days when there are lots of bikes out, you rarely hear them honk. I asked myself, "why is this? Why don't motorcyclists honk much?" I've come up with a few reasons and I thought I'd share.

Stock motorcycle horns suck - Let's be realistic, taking one of those canned air horns that people use at sports games and duct taping it to your bike would be a LOT louder than the motorcycle horn. I'm not really sure why all makers skimp so much on this, but it is basically universally accepted. It isn't like there aren't very loud and powerful horns that are small enough for bikes, on the contrary, there are plenty of aftermarket horns you can buy.
We're generally not stuck - One of the biggest reasons cars honk is because they are stuck behind someone who is going slow or not moving or generally being stupid. It is very rare that a motorcycling is truly stuck. We can get around almost anything and lane split where necessary (and of course only when it is legal to do so).
We're too busy - Someone tried to merge into my lane the other night; I would have honked, but I was simply too busy. Think about it. I've got my right hand grabbing the front breaks, right foot hitting the rear breaks, left hand pulling the clutch in, left foot down shifting and using my body to swerve away. While I could physically have hit my horn during this, I've got too many other things I need to do. By the time I've freed up enough brain power to honk at you, it is too late.
You cagers are idiots - For those that don't know, "cager" (As in stuck in a cage) is one of many terms used to describe those in 4 wheels vehicles. I basically assume that every single one of you is out to kill me because you aren't paying attention. Most of the time I see your stupidity (and attempts to kill me) coming and GTFO before you get there.

This all being said, I do honk from time to time. Though mostly on city streets and intersections rather than the highways. All too many times when making left turns have I watched idiots think they can make that right turn before I'll get there. NO! BAD CAGER. I am faster than you think, wait your damn turn.

Driving Tax vs Gas Tax

nospam@example.com (John) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:00:00 -0800

This post was inspired by: an article from the Washington Post.

Currently we pay a tax on each gallon of gasoline we buy. Part of it is Federal, part State, and possibly even a local part (don't know anywhere like this, but it is a possibility I suppose). As we move toward more fuel efficient vehicles (be they motorcycles, hybrids, or whatnot), the amount of tax money is decreasing. Obviously, the governments dislike this as they need that money to keep the roads up, one of the things that has been suggested is to replace the per gallon tax with a "Per Mile Driven" tax. This would mean that the cost of filling up, be it a hybrid or a truck would be much closer in cost. Sounds good for the gas guzzling truck, but not so much for anyone who bought a more fuel efficient vehicle to save on gas fill ups (and/or pretends to care that they really bought it to make the environment better).

Were something like this to pass it could put a serious dent into hybrid sales and also standard motorcycles (like the Suzuki Boulevard S40). Since Standard bikes are fairly cheap (new and used are generally well under $5k) and get good fuel economy (40-80 mpg depending on the model), they are popular sellers when gas prices start to rise, as they usually pay for themselves in a few months, depending on your commute (not to mention the awesomeness that is a motorcycle). Hybrids on the other hand are less of an impulse buy as they are quite costly. The main reason people suffer this cost though is because they are getting a savings at the pump. Remove that savings and hybrid sales will slump.

When Jon and I discussed this new tax, we kept coming back to the same question: How can you, the government/tax collector, prove how many miles I've driven?

Continue reading "Driving Tax vs Gas Tax"

Ride Friday: The reverse lane split?

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:00:00 -0800

I've never heard of this being done before, and I've certainly never seen it before. Since I lack a better term for it, I've titled it the "reverse lane split". For those that might not know, lane splitting is: riding a motorcycle between lanes in the same direction as traffic. It is also sometimes called lane sharing, whitelining, filtering, or stripe-riding. In short, it is when motorcycles ride the white line on the freeway in slow traffic (and sometimes in not so slow traffic). It is illegal everywhere in the US except for California (thank you Cali for at least one decent law). What happened to me was the... opposite.

I was riding in the left lane behind someone who was not going as fast as I wanted to go. After a brief stretch a new lane was added on the left, and I immediately moved over into this lane to pass the slower vehicle. Right after I did this, I notice an Audi right on my tail. I'll be honest, I don't know where he came from. I'm observant and normally catch these people coming up on me, but all I can assume is that he was moving very fast previously. I was riding on the extreme left of this left lane, almost on top of the yellow lane when I noticed the Audi moving to the right side of the lane. I don't know why, but I knew exactly what he was going to do and knew that the best course of action was to stay where I was. He stomped it, and did it.

The Audi lane split me.

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Co-Op Ride Friday: The LONG Mt Hamilton Loop

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0800

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General Area: From Livermore, out Mines Rd, along Route 130 and into San Jose
Difficulty: For the most part, easy. A few specific portions aren't so much hard as extremely tiring.
Ride Length: 4+ hours
Special Note: Make sure to fill up in Livermore if you've got a small gas tank. It is 70 miles between Livermore and San Jose, and you DON'T want to run out of gas on these back roads.
Route Points: Point A - In-N-Out & fuel. Point B - Lick Obervatory, Mt Hamilton. Point C - Sweet glorious freeway. Point D - Dinner (Ume Sushi)
Continue reading "Co-Op Ride Friday: The LONG Mt Hamilton Loop"

Ride Friday or How it can take 6 hours to get to the Bay

nospam@example.com (John) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0800

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Last Friday (November 13), I decided to ride the bike down to Jon. My original plan was to ride down Saturday morning, but Jon kept pushing me to go for Friday night. Though others argued against it, I decided to cut out of work a little early, run home, pack, and head out.
It was just barely above freezing when I left. As I noted previously, I was wearing my Tourmaster jacket and pants with all liners. I was also wearing my winter gloves. At one point, I pulled out my balaclava, towel, hoodie, and pocket chemical warmers.

I was still cold.

Continue reading "Ride Friday or How it can take 6 hours to get to the Bay"

Ride Friday: The Mount Diablo Loop

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0800

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My BMW on a country road, taken near Point E

General Area: Around Mt Diablo
Difficulty: Not hard
Ride Length: 2-2.5 hours
Scenery: Nice variety of views from Mt Diablo, to inside the tree canopy, to fall colors.
Special Notes: Point D to Point E is a one lane road.

The route described: Point A/G to B is uneventful city riding. Point B to C is part of the route from "

Sitting in the hills, pulled over in one of the few turn out slots of the one lane road between Point D & E

Point D to Point E is the "really fun part"; it is all one lane road. The first half isn't the best maintained piece of road, but it is fairly wide. The best part about it is that most of the turns aren't hair pin, and have good sight lines, unlike the one lane death trap of "Ride Friday: Calaveras Reservoir". Point E to F was a little diversion I took to stop by Tri-Valley BMW. Point F to G, the first half until you get to Blackhawk is also a very enjoyable back road ride, after that it is all city riding. I could have completed my circuit faster by getting on the freeway, but I figured "Why rush the day?", which also is why my pathing was fairly circuitous.

The rolling green hills of the East Bay.

Grass fields, rolling hills, and Mt Diablo in the distance.

Comments: A little while back, I was futzing about on Google Maps looking for somewhere in the area to go that might be an interesting ride, and I stumbled upon Morgan Territory Road. It happens to spur off of Marsh Creek Road which I covered in "Ride Friday: Antioch to Clayton", the first "Ride Friday" (oddly enough it turned out to be not such a half-assed idea after all). After looking over the map a bit more, I mentally plotted a route that would take me all the way around Mt Diablo, but more importantly, I would not set tire on Freeway the entire time.

Riding West for the Winter

nospam@example.com (John) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0800

Winter is upon us.
Well, us that live in the Northern Hemisphere. For those of us in higher elevations and higher latitudes that means snow is coming soon.
Snow is not so fun on a motorcycle (don't even think about chaining up).

Thus, as I did last year, I am planning to migrate my bike West for the Winter. This means that shortly Jon shall have 2 bikes at his disposal, though I doubt he will ride mine much, if at all, since he just got his own bike.
What this really means is that I might actually get to ride my bike this winter and who knows, we might actually do a Ride Friday post where both of us are riding. I have yet to actually see his bike in person, so theoretically, there is a chance he just photoshopped all the pictures of it. I'll let you know what I find out.

Anyway, the trip is likely to take place this weekend, weather permitting (Thursday apparently has a chance for snow...). Because of the season, I will be taking 80 to the bay, rather than the more scenic (and way less bumpy) route. This way, in the unlikely event of weather, I'll have somewhere to chill for a bit (no pun intended).

Of course, I will be wearing my heaviest motorcycle jacket and pants, which zip together in the back. If it starts to precipitate my gloves have a zippered pocket that pulls out a rain slicker for them, so they at least will be okay. I'll probably pack a windbreaker to put over my legs as those stay soaked for a good long while when they get wet. It should go without saying that I will of course have my towel with me.

Of course, the way the weather has been acting lately, it'll probably be 90 degrees out when I head to Jon's place, but personally, that would be fine by me.

Ride Friday: Lane Splitting - Can't we all just get along?

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0800

I live in California, and as such lane splitting (or lane sharing, white lining or filtering) is completely legal. Okay, to be exact, it isn't illegal. Good enough for me. I generally don't lane split except when traffic is going very slow (below 30mph). I am not the lane splitter you hate; you know the people, the crotch rocket riders going through completely stopped traffic at 60mph. No, I play nicely, I only go approximately 10mph over the speed of traffic (as recommended) and if traffic gets above 30-40mph, I filter back into a lane and ride with the traffic. Why does this matter? Because some of you car drivers have a shit poor reaction to those of us on two wheeled vehicles.

Let me make it simple for you car people. You want me to lane split. Why? Because every vehicle on the road in front of you means that much more delay in every acceleration (everyone has to wait for the person in front of them to move enough) and every vehicle in front of you means that much more road taken up by buffer between vehicles. If I'm lane splitting, I'm neither slowing you down, nor taking up the road you need. In other words, my lane splitting gets you to where ever you are going, just a little bit faster.

Continue reading "Ride Friday: Lane Splitting - Can't we all just get along?"

Ride Friday: Returns with a Moto Purchase!

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:00:00 -0700

For those of you that don't read my twitter (and I don't blame you), this past weekend, I bought a motorcycle. The longer version of the story is that I spent the previous week (last week of September) shopping for Motorcycles and doing research. I already knew what I wanted, a 2009 BMW R1200RT. Of course I also knew I couldn't afford that, so I stuck to more realistic options, AKA used motorcycles of the same line. That meant I was shopping for R1150RT's or R1100RT's. To me, the R-RT series from about '99 on looks very nice, the harder lines of the '09 remind me of an F-22 Raptor (Yes, the 200 million dollar stealth fighter) and therefore is god damn sexy, but alas. Anyways, after seeing enough RTPs (that's P, as in Police), I thought having one would be cool. Of course I didn't limit my search to RTPs, but they seemed to be a little cheaper on average, which was very appealing to me. One of the biggest parts of this hunt was staying in a budget zone I could afford, and it was extremely hard to ignore those slightly nicer, slightly newer bikes that were "just a few grand more". I knew if I went over a certain amount, scope creep would take me right back up to that $22,000 R1200RT.

While I'd spent some time on ebay sizing up prices, and doing some small time bidding, I thought staying local might be a better idea. So at the beginning of October I started into Craigslist. I'll be totally honest, while I'd been on Craigslist, and investigated a few items here and there, I'd never really thought it was too serious of a deal. Well, I got serious about it and started calling people and checking out bikes. On Sunday, I found a nice 2000 BMW R1100RTP with very low miles and in very nice condition. After looking everything over, checking the maintenance record, taking a test ride... I took the plunge. I made an agreement with the seller, In which I gave him fair deposit and he'd take the bike off the market until payment in full is made.

That is where I am now, as of writing (Sunday the 4th - yes, I know I'm writing well in advance; it's because I know once I get the bike... I'll slack off again; plus it makes John happy). The plan is that when I get a cashier's check (this is one of the downsides to doing most of my banking through a bank that has no branches, I've got to transfer money out to get things like cashier's checks), the owner will ride the bike down to me, we'll sign some paperwork, and everyone will be happy. The (soon to be) previous owner has been a very nice guy, and very informative. I know a fair amount about BMW bikes from my research, but none from owning one.

I'm hoping that by Wednesday or Thursday (the 7/8th) I will have the bike in my possession (Editor's Note: This is indeed the case.). The first thing I'm gonna do is ride it around, then bring it to the local BMW shop to get checked out (can never be too careful). After that, it's all joy. I'm sure I'll have another post or two worth of material to follow this post up with... and probably a fair amount of motorcycle posts in the future.
Which brings us back to the title of this article, Ride Friday. It is likely to be back, hopefully at least once a month you will be treated (for certain values of "treated") to my or John's ramblings on motorcycles. Enjoy (or cringe in terror, either way)!

Carfax doesn't 'do' Motorcycles

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:00:00 -0700

"Carfax - Vehicle History Reports", "The most trusted provider of vehicle history information", "one-stop source for vehicle history information ... CARFAX has the most comprehensive vehicle history database".

You know what all these fragments have in common? The word vehicle (Noun) "A conveyance; a device for carrying or transporting substances, objects or individuals". What Carfax doesn't tell you, and I didn't know, is that Carfax doesn't do motorcycles. I found this somewhat surprising because motorcycle (noun) "An open-seated motor-powered vehicle with two wheels". Key point, a motorcycle is a vehicle. Now, I'm willing to accept that Carfax doesn't do motorcycles, I just wish they would make it clearer.

My story is fairly simple: I was looking online to buy a motorcycle.
I figured the smart thing to do would be to get an unlimited Carfax subscription for a month and check out the VINs. I tried out my newly acquired service on several of the bikes I was watching on ebay. Much to my puzzlement, many of them came back saying "Invalid VIN". I know a few could have been typo'd, or maybe even fraudulent auctions, but half or more did not work and at some point I said to myself "This is more than just a glitch". So I emailed Carfax. The next business day they told me the following:

The CARFAX Database contains over 7 billion records from over 20,000 data sources concerning cars and light trucks manufactured for the North American market since 1981. We're unable to produce reports on other vehicles at this time.

On rare occasion, we will have random records in our database for non-covered vehicles. This is only due to the fact that some of our data sources provide these records electronically and our systems will display these records because they have a valid 17-digit Vehicle Identification Number.

So there you have it, they don't do motorcycles, they only do cars & light trucks. Fine, but I still wish they would have made it clearer. So I requested a full refund. It took trading a few more emails to get them over than "canned response" crap, and they processed my refund. Took all of about 2 hours from when I received the quoted email above, to when I got the "we're processing your refund" email. So I'm happy, if I ever go to buy a used car, I'll sign up again. Until then, no more Carfax for motorcycles.

The Ultimate "End of the World" Vehicle

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:00:00 -0700

Recently John and I got onto the topic of "End of the World" vehicles (Editor's note: For certain values of "recently"). Would a big RV work? It has lots of space, though it has poor gas mileage and isn't very maneuverable. What about a big pickup truck? Lots of cargo space, better gas millage, can store more fuel, but still not very maneuverable. Motorcycle? Ultra good gas millage, but very limited on the cargo space and the extra fuel you can take along (this is what Milla Jovovich used in Resident Evil: Apocalypse). Really this is a philosophical question, not one that can be answered right or wrong. For me, as much as I'd love to have a motorcycle for the end of the world, the fuel & storage space of a pickup far outweigh the maneuverability & fuel mileage concerns.

The EarthRoamer XV-LT

It is all moot in the end though, because I've found the ultimate in "End of the World" Vehicles. Allow me to introduce the EarthRoamer XV-LT. It is a "compact, energy efficient, solar powered home, built on a Ford F-550 truck chassis". It runs on diesel, so you can burn a number of different things it its engine and get away with it. It has solar panels on the roof and plenty of space for you, a few friends, and your survival gear. Most importantly it has an option for a "Rainbow 36A Air Filtration System Provides ISO 9001 compliant protection against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) contamination for up to six people." Yea, it is essentially a portable HAZMAT shelter.

They've also got bunches of fun "End of the World" friendly options, like increasing the fuel tank to 90 gallons, stainless steel coffeemaker (wouldn't want to leave civilization behind when it is destroyed), Air ride suspension, military internal beadlock aluminum wheels, 8.5kw mobile power generator, satellite internet (because the internet might survive the end of the world), and a iPod ready entertainment system w/ Garmin GPS. Of course it will cost you a pretty penny, and don't even think about trying to finance this and stiff the guys when the world ends, I'm sure they'll have an entire fleet of these to come after you with. If you must know, the cost for just the basics (Truck, Camper & Air filter) starts at around $220,000 USD.

The real question: Will it withstand Zombies?

Reno Air Races 2009

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:00:00 -0700

Welcome to Reno Stead Airport.

Last weekend was the Reno Air Races, which I attended. I wrote up a bit with a bunch of photos for Wikinews. I must admit, it was a lot of work getting all the pictures together and getting the story written. Last year, when I went I took a (personal) record setting 1,500+ pictures in one day. This year I took 3,472 pictures over the course of the weekend (Over 1800 on Sunday alone), setting myself a new all time record. Unfortunately the D300s is much better quality and pictures take up more space. So the pictures for this weekend take up 41.8 gigabytes of space. Which is fairly significant since my previous 5 years of pictures only took up about 80 GB total.

Generally, one does not want an A-10 Warthog with it's 30mm cannon pointed directly at them.

As for the weekend itself, it was a ton of fun. Saturday was cloudy for the morning which was pleasant because Sunday was a roast. Spend 8-10 hours outside, in the sun of the high desert and you bake, very, very quickly. Thankfully for me, I am predisposed to not getting sunburn. So while I'm very red for this week after the races, and a bit tender in some spots, I'm good to go. I call it a "sun singe" because that's about that it was, a singeing. Now I could have worn sunblock, but where is the fun in that?

Blue Angels kick ass!

Both Saturday and Sunday were full of races. The big race being the Unlimited class gold race; that takes place last on Sunday. Strega won this year, again. It was a good race until Voodoo had to pull out. I knew it was going to be either Voodoo or Strega, and anyone that thought different was smoking something funny (I'm not a die hard, nor was I there for the races earlier int he week). Besides the races, there were some demo flights, but from what I hear, it's gone down hill in the last few years. It was still awesome for me because I got to see the Blue Angels again, for the first time in 10-15 years.

I really do suggest you check out the Wikinews article on the races, as I put 48 pictures into it and I think they are some of the best. Maybe if I have the energy I'll make a post with some of them here later... we'll see. (Editor's Note: Just like when your mom says "maybe", that means it ain't happening.)

Ride Friday: Test ride BMW R1200RT

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:00:00 -0700

I've been researching and looking at touring bikes for a while now. Ever since I've had to return John's bike, I've been keeping my eye out for used bikes and doing more digging from time to time. After my first long ride, which I've talked about previously, I knew what I wanted from a touring bike. I wanted a touring bike that wasn't a luxury bike (like the Honda Gold Wing or the BMW K1200LT - even though its a nice bike), but at the same time, I wanted to avoid the sport touring bikes that were a bit heavy on the sport. Oh, and before you ask, no I didn't want a cruiser.
This is all just personal preference.
The main problem is that while I can spend weeks researching, it doesn't mean anything if the bike is too tall for me, or I don't find it comfortable. The topic of height is really what narrowed down my selections. The only motorcycles I had been on previously were cruisers (which are known for being low) and since I'm height impaired (translation: short) I wasn't sure I could even ride any of the touring bikes (all of which tend to be a bit on the higher side). So off I went.

Continue reading "Ride Friday: Test ride BMW R1200RT"

Ride Friday: Bay to Tahoe

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Fri, 29 May 2009 10:00:00 -0700

A few weeks back I needed to return John's motorcycle to him (which I had been borrowing for the winter). The easiest way to do this was for me to ride it up to him and then he'd give me a ride (in a shiny Subaru) back down. As this was my first long distance ride (much more so than just puttering around the bay), it would prove to be a good experience. Overall the ride went very well and I learned a few important things. Including that I need to pay better attention to/for the CHP when on a motorcycle - oh well. Here's the short run down of what I've learned and decided I needed (since I want to buy a touring bike):

Comfortable seat - Obviously you want a comfortable seat, but I realized how really important it is for the longer rides. The seat on John's cruiser seems to work for him, but not me. So be it.
Windshield - Preferably adjustable. John had a bolt on windshield that was ok, certainly better than nothing, but I could never seem to get it to stay how I wanted.
Bigger gas tank - Possibly the most frustrating thing about riding John's cruiser was the fact that it is limited to about 100 miles per tank (based on my riding style). Since I didn't want to get caught in the mountains without gas, I filled up more often than that. Even still, the 200 miles (+/-) from the Bay to Tahoe required 2 fuel stops.
Proper sound system - I've got a Nolan Ncom helmet which has the option to put in a headset that can be connected to things like iPods, but as I don't own a motorcycle or ride that much, I hadn't actually bought the headset. Instead I've been using my iPod and earbuds "normally". This works fine for an hour here or there but for a 4 hour ride, it killed my ears.
Cruise Control - As noted above, the CHP tagged me (Not even 20 minutes out of the gate ::sigh::). I found myself riding faster than I wanted to after that, simply because I had a tendency to creep the throttle. If I was going to be doing a lot of riding I'd want an electronic cruise control ("cheap" preventative for speeding tickets).

There are, of course, other things I could think of that would be nice to have. Though I think the above ones are the most important, and what sticks out in my mind the most. I am shopping for bikes, but it may take a while before I buy one (unless we get bonuses at work or something). Right now I'm lusting after a few nice touring bikes like the BMW R1200RT. My major problem is that I'm shorter, so there aren't that many touring bikes I can actually ride (without looking like a little kid trying to steal his big brother's huffy bike).

Ride Friday: Calaveras Reservoir

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Fri, 08 May 2009 10:00:00 -0700

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General Area: Past the Calaveras Reservoir - Sunol to Milpitas
Difficulty: Advanced Riders
Ride Length: 15 Miles (Up to 1 Hour)
Scenery: Up on a hill side overlooking the Reservoir or strolling through some farm lands.
Special Notes: I don't recommend this ride to anyone just starting riding (or just getting back to riding). I'm by no means an expert on the motorcycle and I know that I wouldn't want to do this ride again with out several thousand more miles under my belt. On top of that this ride is extremely dangerous. Most of it is hair pin turns, 10 mph speed limit, single lane wide (With both directions of traffic) and dirty (rock/etc covered) roads.
Comments: I had taken this drive (via automobile) once before, and apparently forgotten how unfriendly the road was. The view is really fantastic, but I was busy trying to keep myself alive on the motorcycle. I scraped the pegs at least once on the cruiser and I was riding EXTREMELY conservatively, so I think the ride might be better suited to sport bikes. Additionally I did nearly end up as the hood ornament for a car, at no fault of anyone in particular. We were both approaching (at a reasonable speed) a blind corner on a road that is just slightly more than a single lane wide - bad luck on the timing. So in summary.... if you want a very challenging ride, go for it, but don't even think about it in inclement weather (unless your significant other is the beneficiary of a rather large life insurance policy).