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Last weekend we had 2 very experienced and knowledgeable riders fatally injured. No one knows exactly what happened but they were riding very fast and close. The first rider may have over corrected for a rear wheel slide which sent him into a guard rail at a high mph the other rider probably had target fixation. The second rider died instantly and the first rider a few minutes later. Both were very skilled riders, riding at 9/10th to 10/10th. This tragic incident inspired me to write and post the following to our forum.

Please understand things like this just come out. Although the inspiriation for this did come from the recent tragedy, mostly it is the interaction that goes on inside

Alright…its newenough.com. My recollection is that these guys started life moving used leathers and other types of riding gear. That is not the case any more. And given the things I have read over the years, I woud keep the same identity too. I normally don’t do this because it can lead to pissing contests, but I wanted to share my experience this afternoon.

First of all, they have a very informative website that goes beyond the norm for the products they sell. In addition to the manufacturer’s descriptions that are verbatim on all sites, there are two extra and vital pieces of information: “Sizing Information” & “Paul’s Comments” (Paul is the owner).

Let the games begin. I have posted the inevitable on the Aprilia Forum tonight. I am parting out my beloved Aprilia Mille RSVR. That bike has served me very well since mid-2002. Because of it, I am a new man. I now understand the beauty of twins and a bike that has character. I also understand that getting through the mountains fast is not about horsepower, but handling and torque.

The down side to this ending is that it must be scattered all over the country. This is necessary because the Aprilia brand depreciates to the liking that only Buell owners would understand. Since I am fortunate ennough to have had the

Ugh. I was going to perform routine maintenance and make a few changes to the mighty Caponord this afternoon. An oil change, a gearing change, and new rubber was all in the plan. That went to hell pretty fast. The reason for my mishaps plagues many motorcycle owners: “while I’m at it, I might as well do this and this too…”. The extra job was to give my Caponord a “cannisterectomy” to aid in the next oil change.

There is an charcoal vapor collector cannister mounted to the right bottom side of the engine that interferes slightly with the oil change process. The whole system can be removed in a couple of hours fairly easily.

This past winter I decided to start commuting a little bit on the bike last winter (somwhere around February ‘05). Needless to say I was ill-prepared. The first ride was quite cold. So I ordered a wind breaker to stop the wind from passing into my clothing and winter gloves. That helped a little, but my hands were still cold and I didn’t really like the feel of winter gloves because it killed the dexterity in my fingers. Next step was BMW brush-gaurds (this is for my Caponord). That worked well, but my hands were still cold by the end of my commute. Enter the Dual Star Heated Grips.

I went this route

While many excellent technologies have made their way onto modern motorcycles like fuel-injection, fully adjustable suspension, liquid cooling; some of the most simple, effective and useful technologies seem to be continually overlooked by the manufacturers. And it’s starting to piss me off!

I’ve purchased a new bike almost every year for the last 10 years. As soon as I buy a new bike; invariably, I have to start adjusting things and buying things just to make the bike “rideable” and in some case serious engineering and fabrication just to get what I consider reasonable functionality. While I appreciate the many features and technological advances on the latest crop of two-wheelers, some incredibly useful and simple items have remained AWOL.

Maybe I’m getting touchy about my age; I’ll be 41 in January. For whatever reason this headline caught my eye:

Flood of over-40 bikers prompts renewed focus on safety rules

Hmmm.

… people 40 and older have become the largest single group of motorcycle owners in America, and they’re also riding bikes with larger engines.

OK.

But as they hit the road in record numbers, riders 40 and older also have been getting killed more often than their younger counterparts. That’s spurred state governments to re-examine their motorcycle regulations.

Uh-oh.

Now, on-going rider training is an excellent idea and I encourage all riders to take the Basic Rider Course before buying a motorcycle and the Experienced Rider Course every two to three years to stay sharp. However,

This weekend I went for a little ride on my ST1300 and met up with a guy on an ST forum that also has a 1982 V45 Saber. The V45 Saber was a motorcycle that I had had in the past and have fond memories of. Getting off my ST1300 and swinging a leg over the Saber reminded me how much smaller bikes have gotten these days.

See my ST1300 has its seat in the highest position. In addition, Corbin built my seat 1” taller than a stock seat. All is good in the world for me as I am comfortable and still get my legs down on the ground. But the V45 Saber was defiantly

Heh - since I’m an Aprilia guy, we’ll call it a Ductard. ‘Tard or not, this thing looks sweet. The down side is that it appears that this machine will not be in the US bike shows, only those in Europe. Check it out:

Ducati Concept Supermotard - Left side…note the bling brake setup

Ducati Concept Supermotard - Right side…nice single-sided swingarm

Very cool looking bike.

I have never ridden a supermotard. A riding buddy of mine back in Michigan had a VOR. He had a ball with it…he even took it to Deal’s Gap. Talk about a wheelie monster. He was tough to keep with in the tight stuff, but the minute the road

Lots of interest info about engine air filters. Too much to post here and the pics are embedded in the report.

Conclusions
First of all, many thanks to Arlen Spicer and Ken at Testand for organizing and facilitating the test. Arlen is a professional Firefighter who also operates a small tree service on the side. The tree service is the reason he owns a diesel truck. This study was the result of nearly a year of work by Arlen to get accurate independent data on air filters for the GM Duramax Diesel. Arlen originally set out to build his own Filter Test Stand so that he could perform accurate, repeatable and independent measurements on the various filters available for the Duramax.