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Well, this was the longest I have ever gone in not riding a new (to me) bike. It arrived this past Tuesday, and I just got my first little ride in to warm her up for an oil change. My bike came with the following:

Staintunes & AF1 H-pipe
Tuneboy w/ custom map
Mille airbox boot
Heli’s
Pyramid DB screen
Throttlemeister
and the assorted forum fixes: upgraded reg, rectifier, and chrome plated quick-disconnect fuel fitting.

My thoughts so far:

This exhaust system is equally as loud as my Arrow full system (solo-pipe) without the baffles. It is much too loud for my intended purpose of morning commutes. That said, with the baffles in, its just acceptable. Don’t get me wrong…I love the music that the Rotax makes, but its

From the December 2005 ABATE newsletter:
“Greetings from God’s Country!

ABATE (American Bikers Aimed Towards Education) of Georgia, Inc. is working “Full Steam Ahead” to educate the “cagers” (car, truck, SUV, etc.) drivers to “SEE” bikes and quit killing us. But, if they do kill one of us we will press just as hard to get the killers locked up and their licenses revoked.

Today we want to look at a problem that we all have greater control over. Almost 1 out of every 10 motorcycle fatalities are single vehicle accidents.

In other words, the biker runs into a stationary object such as a tree, bridge, parked vehicle, etc. As much as we hate to say it, our fallen brother was probably the

Just a cut and paste job here from Yamaha Racing:
Gerno Di Lesmo, Italy
9/1/2006

Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. announces the start of a new partnership with JT International (JTI), a subsidiary of Japan Tobacco Inc., whose brand CAMEL will become the new title sponsor of Yamaha’s Factory MotoGP Team for 2006.
The Yamaha Factory MotoGP Team, consisting of reigning-World Champion Valentino Rossi and his team-mate Colin Edwards, will be known as the “Camel Yamaha Team” in 2006.

Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing Lin Jarvis commented “Yamaha is very excited to enter into this new partnership with JTI. JTI has been involved in motorsport at the highest level for many years and has been an active sponsor at the top level in the

It seems to be inevitable that Rossi will go to F1 Racing in 2007.  First f all, his contract will be up with his Yamaha ride.  Second, he spent another three days at the end of November ‘05 with the Ferrari fellas doing some testing at Ferrari’s Fiorano test track.  He then went to Mugello:
First stop was Ferrari’s Fiorano test track, where his times over 40 laps improved to about 58 seconds (Michael Schumacher’s record there is 55.9s). That’s beginning to be competitive. He later joined the Ferrari tests at the Mugello circuit. The three-day exercise has added to speculation Rossi is seriously in the frame to replace Schumacher - who turns 36 next year - when he retires,

I have been kicking around the idea for a little while of picking up a pocket bike.  This is purely for the entertainment fact and I would likely go on the cheap with a Chinese version - thy can be to your door for under $250 these days!  There is no sound reason for this want, just that I don’t have one.  Anyway, in my online perusings, I cam across these guys called Bad Brothers Racing.  In their ‘About Us’ section, they state:

 
The official Bad Brothers concept began in 2003, when discussing some parts that should exist with a friend and mentor, Keith. Immediately the Bad Brothers brand was born out of the laughing reference that the two use

Based on a inspecting gothicbeaST’s suit personally and after reading his review, I decided to pick up a Fieldsheer 1-pc. Highland Suit.  Since I wanted to start commuting to and from work on my motorcycle routinely, I realized that I did not have the proper gear - oversuit & boots.  I originally went for the jackass factor and bought a bright green 2-pc. German Police suit off of ebay.  If fir the purpose, but the reality was the fit was a little snug, and it was a PITA to get the pants off quickly.  Bottom line is that I re-sold them.

After the decision was made to get the Highland suit, I shopped it to death with the online outlets.  Best

As my idea that I wanted to try commuting routinely on my motorcycle for the year 2006 developed, I realized that need to get some better riding gear for commuting.  It may surprise some, but its pretty cold here in the Phoenix desert in the winter mornings.  Once again, I got 37F this morning on my way in to work.  Part of the needed gear was to get some touring boots. 

I already have a set of ‘roadrace’ style boots - Sidi Vertebra from a couple years ago.  They are great for their purpose of sport bikes and have survived two crashes rather well.  What they are not is practical for every day riding.  They squeak and creek with every step and are

Ferries are part of everyday life for many motorcyclists in Washington state. Motorcyclists enjoy reduced fares and priority boarding on most ferry runs. Recently the Washington State Ferries has proposed a rate increase of 14% for motorcycles. At the same time they are proposing a 6% increase in the fares for cars and trucks.

The substantial fare boost for motorcycle riders was long overdue, Washington State Ferries spokeswoman Susan Harris-Huether said. Motorcycles have for years been considered one-fifth the size of a typical car or truck. WSF would now like to update that estimate to one-fourth.

“Motorcycles have grown in size over the years, and so has the number of them,” Harris-Huether said. “They’re not tucked into the nooks and crannies anymore.”

Sure

My New Year’s Resolution was to try to force myself to commute on the bike as much as possible.  There are a couple of reasons for this: 1. I’m a cheap ass, and gas is expensive at my SUV’s 19mpg! 2. I want to see if I am a weekend warrior or really enjoy riding.  My thought is that if I really enjoy riding, this would be an excellent way to unwind on the commute home from work.

I am trying to employ the ATGATT philosophy as part of this New Years Resolution.  ATGATT = All The Gear All The Time.  I usually wear a jacket, helmet and gloves, but since crashing is a numbers game, the increased mileage means (to me)

I received an email from a reader regarding this story where this past Friday, the 13th, a DJ at a popular SF radio station (Live 105) enumerated as one of his pet peeves the fact that motorcyclists split lanes on the highway. He further stated that he would “love to see people open their car door while a bike was splitting”. He also said he wanted to see them “crash hard”.

The backlash from the Bay Area biker community was swift and hard. In addition to many phone calls to the station many also staged an immediate protest outside of the radio station. He has since apologized to death, called himself a douche bag, offered to take and pay for the