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Having several bikes seems pretty sweet sometimes, but when it comes time to put new shoes on a couple of the babies, it doesn’t seem as quite so appealing. Tires and their installation is expensive and time consuming. I console myself with the realization that if I only had one bike, I’d be buying just as many tires, because I’d be riding that one all the time.

Motorcycle tire prices are outrageous compared to car tires and most places change extra fees to install them (car tire places typically don”t do that!) No matter

The upcomming AMA Superbike round at Laguna Seca will be covered by www.OnTheThrottle.tv with 18 hours of webcast coverage.  The Gang over at www.OnTheThrottle.tv are developing exapnded coverage of the races for us webheads that are crazy about motorcycle road racing.

Check out the press release below and watch a few if not all the webcast coverage this weekend…
OnTheThrottle.tv (OTT) is proud to announce Live Internet Webcasting this weekend Sep 27th and 28th during the Corona AMA Superbike Finale from Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, presented by Parts Unlimited. Over 18 hours of non-stop coverage will be available right here at HYPERLINK “http://www.RoadracingWorld.com” www.RoadracingWorld.com all day Saturday and Sunday.
Coverage includes:

Live behind the scenes coverage and interviews

I went back to Michigan in July of this year to tie up some family stuff and stayed with my brother for a couple of days.  My mom passed away in January of this year and we went and collected some of her personal belongings and heirlooms.  Some of that stuff was furniture…furniture that needed to be stored in my bro’s garage.

When he opened the garage, a long lost treasure was revealed.  Can you find the motorcycle?
 

Wow did that bring back a lot of memories.  I told my brother that I needed to take a picture of this sad sight.  I also called him an unworthy POS abusive owner (that’s what brothers do). 

This folks is a prestine 1984 Yamaha

It’ll probably be a long time before I do that again.  This year I went to WSBK at Miller and MotoGP at Indy, where both were inaugurals for the venues.  Both were a lot of fun, both were fly-in and fly-outs, and both were relatively cheap for various reasons.

What I have decided is that its hard to spectate the race while you attend in person.  There is no replay as good as in you living room.  There is no wait for the next beverage or bathroom.  There is no metal bench for which to call your very own in the TV room.

Neither were huge time commitments (flying in Friday night & returning Sunday night), but its simply too much to

In the September issue of Roadracing World magazine was a report of this year’s attendance figure from the MotoGP races at Laguna Seca. The number was 131,250. While this sounds impressive, the numbers from the previous 3 years were also reported. The were 2007 - 143,020, 2006 - 145,120 and 2005 - 153,653. It doesn’t take much of a mathematician to see the trend, it’s downward!

While lots of excuses will be paraded out to explain the declining numbers, let me give you my take on it. I was one of the attendees in 2005 (MotoGP’s first year back after a long absence). I had a very nice time! But between the cost of hotels ($400/night for mid-level accommodations), major traffic

I had the good fortune to attend this year’s inaugural MotoGP race at Indianapolis.  I was with three others local to me and we were part of a larger Aprilia gathering sponsored by AF1racing / apriliaforum.com and Aprilia USA.  This is the Cliff’s Notes version:

• Got in late Friday night
• Saturday was hot and humid (weather said 80% rain…it didn’t)
• Watched all of the practice sessions and qualifying for MotoGP.
• Noticed that the factory tents were gear much more towards customs than before…especially Yamaha
• Saturday night was spent with Aprilia guys at an Aprilia gathering.
• Put a lot of faces to forum names and met a lot of great people.
• Sometimes the electronic version of a forum member is better than the actual person…
• Sunday was mild weather, but we knew the
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I am a diehard speed metal head. Not an Iron Maiden, Mötley Crüe, Guns and Roses kind of fan. No, I am at my core a hard core speed metal fan. Nothing is better than putting on some serious miles while listing to some speed metal. Has kept me awake for many an hour as I ripped across a lonely desert at night in the middle of summer to make time and escape the heat.

The Late 90’s and New Decade has not been the best of times for Speed Metal. Speed Metal has migrated off into Industrial and Metal/Goth hybrid music. I have been keeping my grove on listening to System, Manson, NIN, Keep reading >>

With the leader of this Blog going dirt for the foreseeable future, it has me wondering… Why Road Racing and not do something less “organized” like trail riding.

I can see the draw to going dirt bike riding. People have limited time and it is easier to run off for a few hours out in the desert, than to spend a day or weekend out at the track. Who needs to pay $$$ every time you want to go for a ride.

In all honesty, riding off-road trails is much closer to going on a street bike ride. I like to go out and ride and have a good time. But while exploring

I am back to racing and got a lesson on how important suspension setup is.

Over the summer I had my rear spring on my SV650 changed to a higher rate spring. This was to help keep the back end up under the higher corner speeds that I have been achieving. So when I installed the shock, I took the opportunity to set the shock length at 10mm longer than stock.

What a big mistake that was. The bigger mistake was for me to think my slower lap times were due to the effect of heat and not my big change of setup. I spent my whole Saturday practicing thinking the weather and heat was the cause of

This season I have made the switch to using dedicated racing parts on my SV650 race bike. One of the big switches was the switch to VESRAH racing brake pads.

For some background, last season I ran Galfer 1375 HH+ Rated pads. I had though running an HH pad would be enough and for most of the season I did not notice much of an issue. Sometimes I got a slight amount of brake fade, but nothing to cause any alarm. With that I just ran what I was running and did not give it a second though.

Back in March of this year (2008) I got the opportunity to try out VESRAH racing brake pads. The SV650