More tools

Went shopping for tools over the weekend. At this rate by the time Spring rolls around I will have almost everything that I need. Harbor Freight is becoming one of my favorite stores.

This is what ended up going home with:



magnetic pickup tool & telescopic inspection mirror

I really needed to get one of those magnetic pick up tools and an inspection mirror. Two weeks ago while taking off the seat off my 954RR in order to hook it up to the trickle charger, I accidentally lost one of the washers. It conveniently fell in to the black plastic tray that holds the battery. I hope to fish it out with these implements. I know this will not be the last time I loose a small part inside my bike.



battery charger


I have finally purchased my own battery charger, after using my friend's charger like at least 4 times, I needed to get my own.

And here are some other miscellaneous things that I will soon need.



snap ring pliers



breaker bar



hex socket set



torque wrench



oil filter wrench



adaptor set

Our long way around

My friend Rick, Jay and Rick’s wife Diane, and I had a couple of get togethers lately discussing the possibility of a world tour on motorcycles. Of course this wouldn’t happen for another few years, but if it is to happen, a trip like this has to be planned way in advanced.

Last weekend we spend a few hours looking over Striking Viking’s trip pictures and reading parts of his ride report on advrider.com. Making mental notes of what is really needed for a world tour. This weekend we watched the Long Way Around DVD, we’re definitely not riding though Mongolia.

A trip of these proportions just boggles my mind. I can’t even fathom how long the planning process will be. I’m such a perfectionist. Every year I do a long trip, long meaning about 7-9 days. To research roads and designations and map out everything takes me about 2 months. This world tour we want to take will probably last a year. A year on the road? There is no way we can map out 365 individual days of riding. So basically, I think we have to pick some destinations, some roads and then just wing it.

I envision this trip very much like the trips I do in the US, good twisty roads, interesting places to see and out of this world breathtaking scenery, just all on other continents. We’re not planning to ride though the Congo on some primitive roads. I’m sure there will be some dirt roads on our route but the the plan is to seek out paved roads. I want to sport-tour the word not adventure tour.

So far this is what we have decided. All 4 riders should ride the same bike so that we can carry minimal spare parts and anyone can use them for their bikes. Since 3 out of 4 people are on the shorter side, that doesn’t really give us too many options for bikes.

Since three of us ride Ducatis, the crazy woman in me things that a Ducati Multistada 620 would be a way cool bike to take around the world, it even does all right on dirt roads. And it sure would be different. Yea, but that can happen only if someone else is paying for the bike and maintenance. Unfortunately, just because it’s a dual-sport, that doesn’t make it a great choice for a trip of this proportion. Riding around the world on Ducati does have a nice ring to it though. The logical choice is a BMW F650GS. It’s light enough, low enough, it can even be lowered some more. It can go dirt if needed. It’s a BMW ‘nuff said.

Now we just have to figure out where to start this trip. I think it would be most economical to fly to Europe, buy some bikes there and start the trip from there. I bought a nice world atlas, so I can thinking of the places we might want to go. The great thing about this group, is that between the four of us, we have a lot of languages covered: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Italian, French, some German, two south Indian languages: Tamil and Telegu and soon Jay is going to learn Chinese for work.



The planning has begun



Jay’s rough route of 60,021 miles around the world

Got a check from Ducati

So what do I find in the mail today?

A check from Ducati for $200 :)

My ST3 came with road assistance, Ducati reimburses up to $200 for towing. I was a bit worried too, I had the bike towed at the beginning of September but shortly after I misplaced my receipts. I finally found them and faxed them over to Ducati just a month ago.

The total towing cost was actually $269, my dealership MCC of Villa Park, gave me $69 in in-store credit, since obviously they overlooked the problem with the bike to begin with. So I got all my money back.

Here is the link to the towing story if you missed it.

Project: Electrify [part 2]

My friend Rick, Jay and I got together on this cold Sunday to make our tank bags electric with the powerlet components. In addition to this project, I also needed to modify my trickle charger, so I could charge the battery on the ST3 directly by plugging in to the BMW outlet, since you have to take a side panel off the bike to get to the battery.

Electric Tank Bag



Step one is to figure out where you want to place the electric plug on your tank bag, then you mark the area.



Make four holes in the fabric for the screw placements.
Soldering iron works really well for burning through nylon.



Cut a hole for the tank connector. Instead of trying to snip a circular hole with scissors, you can use a razor knife and cut a "X" then use the soldering iron to seal the nylon, so it won't fray. It also eliminates the need to add weather stripping, because the "X" cut seals around the connector acting like weather stripping.



Make cable longer so it can reach the BMW plug on the Duc





Stripping the wires



Purchased some more wire and used "butt splicers" to connect the pieces of wire, much easier than using a soldering iron. Cover joined pieces of wire with electric tape.



Tank bag connector "closed"



Tank bag connector "open"



Connector plugged in



Inside



Inside the bag SAE-PL Cigar Y Cable



Widder lectric vest plugged in



IPod cigarette lighter adaptor plugged in



Bendable Splitter Jack Adaptor with IPod cigarette lighter adaptor plugged in and my cell phone cigarette lighter adaptor charger

Battery Float Charger
modified with Powerlet Basic Plug

Float charger

Take plug apart, remove clamps and strip wires



Assemble



Check the polarity of the work with a meter when modifying any electrical components.

Project: Electrify [part 1]

A few days ago I ordered some parts from two different places and yesterday they all came in. So next week project electrify starts.


From DerbyCycles.com:

Powerlet Tank Bag Powermate Kit







Powerlet SAE-PL Cigar Y Cable



Powerlet Basic Plug



From Cell-Phones1.com:

Bendable Splitter Jack Adaptor

30 degrees and snow?

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday at about the same time I was taking pictures on my bike. Today, there is a white substance accumulating on my car’s windshield.

Yep, Winter is back.



Of course they salted the roads, so no riding until it rains again.

55 degrees in January

Everyone that knows me, knows that I don’t commute to work. On occasion I might ride the bike to work but that’s only when I need to do something with the bike before or after work, or the ride to work day thing. People at work have never even seen the Ducati, and I bought it last September.

But this morning I geared up and took off on the ST3 to work. It was so warm already, I didn’t even have to turn on my electric vest, the sun was shining brightly.

At some point I had to remind myself where I was going since it was very tempting to just keep riding north until hitting the Wisconsin border and spending the day exploring the many twisty roads. Maybe that’s why I don’t ride to work, its too tempting to play hooky. But I did have to go to work today, a meeting at 2:30 and a project deadline kept me in line. No way could I get out of working today.



No I didn’t ride to work in heels. But I did bring my purse for the first time ever on the bike. I could never fit it in the tank bag before, but it fits nicely in the hard side cases.

People at work think that I’m as nutty as a fruit cake already. They think it’s nuts to ride a motorcycle at all. So I expect crazy comments and I usually get them. But can you believe that today I got the “isn’t it too cold to ride” comment? I mean, it’s going to be 55 degrees today, it was at least 45 this morning when I left home. I just kept answering “I ride in 30 degree weather, this feels like summer to me.

But think about the people that work in my building, 200 of them and only 2 people ride, me and this guy in accounting who has two metric cruisers. I was the only one to ride to work today, he sometimes rides to work during the summer.

So of course since no one has seen Ducati, at some point mid-morning, after everyone had plenty of coffee, I lead a group of excited guys out to the parking lot for a show and tell. And if they were nice, I’d let them sit on the bike. Two of the guys that I work with passed their MSF class last summer but neither has pulled the trigger and bought a bike yet. Something about responsibilities, wives, girlfriends, kids, blah, blah, blah, you know those excuses. For people that have an M class license but no bike, this kind of a thing is pure torture, I’m sure. But sometimes that’s what they need to make their minds up and get that bike that they really want.



Bob, a coworker of mine, sat on it and couldn’t believe how light the ST3 was, I know he wants one, well at this point he just wants a bike, any bike. I think this summer he will get something, I’m pointing him in the way of the sport-tourers, since he doesn’t like cruisers that much.



Time to get out there and have a long lunch and ride :)\

I got home from work at 7PM, didn’t need to fire up any electric heating implements on the bike, it was still in the low 50's. As a matter of a fact, it was so nice when I got home, I put the ST3 in the garage and took the 954RR for a spin. I finally got home at 8:15PM, still didn’t require running any headed gear or grips…awesome…. Tomorrow they are calling for snow. That’s Chicago for you.

MC Gear: Olympia

I saw an ad for Olympia in the latest Road Runner magazine, looking really good. I’m actually surprised. For the longest time I though that Olympia made the cheapest gear out there and not good looking either.

I had to go to their website to check things out olympiamotosports.com The ladies gear is looking really good, if you like textiles. I actually like this Airglide jacket and pant set.



Olympia Airglide woman’s jacket and pants in grey (this would match the Ducati very nicely)



Olympia Airglide jacket and pant liner

I would consider getting it. This is something that I’ve been looking for a while and never did find. It's stylish, not black in color (all woman's gear tends to be black), all the features I want and a price I like. But what is the Olympia quality like? In the past my theory on motorcycle gear was “you get what you pay for”. How would this stuff measure up to the Marsee and Vanson that I wear that costs hundreds more?

I also like this protective but yet casual jacket and pant set for women called Mustang. Not very practical for me since I don’t commute to work on my bike, I rather have the above Airglide set for touring, but seriously, you could wear this jacket and pants to work and not look like you pulled up on a bike. Although it looks a bit like one of them outfits you could wear on an African safari.







Olympia Mustang jacket and pants for women in khaki

My experience with Olympia is from years ago. In 1999 when I bought my first new bike, when I knew nothing about MC gear and needed motorcycle gloves. I bought a pair of Olympia gloves at the same dealership that I bought the bike. They were really cheap, like $30. They were simple short leather gloves for women, no armor what so ever.

Two years later I bought my Vanson jacket and pants and wanted a gauntlet style riding glove. I remember having a tough time finding anything in my size, so I went back to the same dealership and got another pair of Olympia gloves. These were nicely padded but still no amour. They cost about $60. I only wore them for about a year. I kept looking around for better gloves and I ended up replacing them with a pair of Spidi gloves. I never went back to Olympia brand, never though about it until now.

Exercise for clutch hand

Now that it’s winter and I’m not able to ride regularly, my clutch hand hurts after a few hours of riding (like it did yesterday and still today). This is not a problem during the riding season, since I ride often enough to keep the muscles in my hand that work the clutch strong. I have small and weak hands, I’m sure this is not a problem for many motorcycle riders. And the hydraulic clutch on the Ducati is also much tougher to pull in than the one on the 954RR, so now more then ever I have to keep those muscles working all year long.

When I do get that rare opportunity to ride my bike during Winter, I don’t want my hand to get sore before I’m ready to go home. Years ago I bought this hand grip contraption, just using it every other day makes a big difference. The only problem I have is remembering to do it.



This is the one I have, it’s a cheap model with foam padding.







These Harbinger models look fancy compared to mine and also cost 3 times more.

First ride of the year

I got up today and instead of seeing clouds outside I saw brilliant sunshine. At 10:00AM it was already 37 degrees outside. It was killing me that I needed help to get my bikes down to ride (for full explanation see blog entry for 1.7.06).

I wanted to ride!

I went in to the garage again and looked at the ST3. Yea, there was no way that I could sit on the bike and rock it off the center stand. It was leaning too much to the right and I’m not comfortable supporting the weight with my right foot. And it was facing the wall, the wall was so close to the front tire. What if I couldn’t stop the bike from rolling forward and it hits the wall and I fall down with it. What if I turn the handle bars and the bike falls to the right. I’ve never taken the ST3 off the center stand so I had no experience with this. Was getting the bike down worth drop it?

To be honest, the way it was leaning to the right, on my uneven garage floor, I was afraid of even sitting on it. I stood to the left of the machine and pretended what it would be like to push it off the center stand. I can’t do it. The reach to the brake is too far and the bike is already leaning to the right, if it starts falling I can’t save it. I walked around to the right side of the bike. Maybe, I can support the weight with my leg from this side, all I have to do is push it on the already extended kick stand. This can’t be that hard?

I opened the garage door, it was actually warmer outside than it was in the garage. It was beautiful out side. That's it. I was going to do it. But the 954 was too close to the ST3, I needed to move it. But even before that I wanted to start the ST3, I wouldn’t want to go though all the this work and have the bike not start.

I turned the key and pushed the start button, the bike roared to life as if I just rode it yesterday. Now I have to move the 954 out of the way. The Pitbull stands have wheels so I just pushed it across the garage floor and got it out of the way. I moved over to the ST3 and stood there to the right of it for a long, long time holding the handle bars imagining how this was going to play out. I couldn’t stand here any longer, I was either going to do this or not.

I pushed the bike forward and nothing happened. How hard do you have to push it? Oh yea, it’s facing uphill too. This time I really leaned in to it and I head the center stand retract, the bike didn’t really roll forward too much, I applied the front brake and all the sudden there was a lot of weight in my hands. I had to push the bike on to the kick stand although I couldn’t see it from here, I started to move the weight of the bike to the other side and finally the bike stopped, it was sitting on the kick stand. I think this uphill and leaning to the right actually worked out for me, the bike didn’t have to go very far over to the left for the kickstand to find the floor.

But what about the 954? Even though it had the trickle charger connected to it the whole time, I wasn’t sure it would start, after all the battery wasn’t very strong anymore. I disconnected the trickle charger and started it up. It started on the first try, strong. Wow! I should ride it. I took the front Pitbull stand from underneath front wheel but how was I going to do the back? I couldn’t hold the bike and remove the rear Pitbull stand at the same time. My neighbor was outside working on his car. I could hold the bike, I just needed for him to pull the Pitbull stand out very carefully, that can’t be too hard. I asked him for a hand and in less than a minute my 954RR was standing upright on the garage floor, I lowered it to the kickstand.

Both bikes running, both bikes were ready to ride. By 11:30AM I was riding the ST3 away form the suburbs. I was just planning to ride about 50 miles on this bike and come back and ride about 50 miles on the 954RR, top both bikes off with fresh gas and get to work.







ST3 in Burlington, IL

I went exploring some new roads and before I knew it, it was getting late already and I was still 50 miles away from home. I pointed the bike toward home but the damage was already done. I arrived at the house 110 miles later, I was out there way too long and I still had to ride the other bike and go to work to finish my project. I grabbed something to eat really quick, put the ST3 in the garage, pulled the 954RR out and took off again, this time I would stay around the suburbs, since the sun was getting ready to set soon and the temperatures were going to drop quick.



This is where the Blackhawks practice in the suburbs





Pretty sunset near Bensenville, IL

While today’s temperatures were 43-45 degrees in the suburbs, it was only 38-40 degrees where I was riding. I got back to the house, I only managed to put 40 miles on the 954. Now the sun had already set. It was warmer riding the 954RR in the suburbs after it got dark, than riding the ST3 in the corn fields during the day.

At 6PM I dragged my ass to work, hopefully I can get done by 11PM. Well, I don’t regret it, even though I have to work late on a Sunday night now, I had a really nice ride today and the ST3 and 954 were running great. Not too shabby for the first ride of the year, on the first week of January.