Riding and bloging

Well, the weather has broken and the temps are rising. I have been doing a good bit of riding, and completely neglecting my yard work… and my blog. I want to say that I’m sorry for not posting in a wile.

A couple of weeks ago I hooked up with Scratch from the FZ1OA and DCSportbikes.com for a ride up into PA for some sausage in Amish country. It was a good ride, and a great route up there. Some very small and tight back roads in disrepair that the two guys on V-Storms where loving, but the rest of us… not so much. I would love to give you the route and report here, but I wanted to talk about something else about the ride.

When I left my house it was 36 degrees… and the FZ1 offers very little in the way of wind protection. The forecast was for it to reach 50, and I was feeling optimistic that we would get to that point early. I opted not to carry my tank or tail bag and to gear up for a nice 50 degree ride… well, it never did reach 50, and I was cold, down to my bones for the entire 340 miles.

It kind of got me to thinking that maybe it was time to upgrade the FZ. Something with a little more touring capability. The FZ1 is great, but on a cold and windy day, it’s not the best bike for a 340 mile ride. I would like to add a heated vest, and grips. I want XM radio and a GPS unit, but the FZ1 is a little weak on the electrical output, and offers no factory installed power outputs.

Another thing is that I hate making any modifications that can’t be undone. Having to ‘adjust’ the mounting tabs on my swingarm in order to install my rear hugger about drove me nuts. No lie, I sat there for almost an hour with a hammer in my hand trying to find another way to adjust the fit of the hugger.

So, I was thinking about a new bike. I quickly narrowed my choices down to three bikes.

First, was the BMW R1200ST
Great bike with long range riding capability. Heater grips and ABS with hard bags for gear, without being too heavy. Seems to offer everything I would like in a bike. But, damn is it ugly! I’m sorry, I just can’t get passed it. I looked at the thing for almost an hour yester at Bob’s BMW and I just couldn’t fall in love with it.

Next, was the Triumph Sprint ST
Great performance and the Triumph name. The triple has always been a great configuration for a motor. It offers hard bags and heated grips and ABS, should fit me nicely. I love the look and sound of Bill’s Sprint, but I haven’t seen a ’06 yet. I’m hoping to check it out this weekend.

Last is the Ducati ST3s
Everything about this bike is top shelf. I feel in lust with it as soon as I laid my eyes on it at Speed’s Cycle! Hard bags, heated grips, ABS… 16,000 dollars! I even began to justify the price in my head… couple of grand for top shelf suspension, a grand for weather protection, a grand for hard bags and it’s not to far out of line with what a ’06 FZ1 would run.

But in the couple of weeks since that ride to PA, the weather has turned warm, and the strong winds out of the North have died down. With the mods I made over the winter, the FZ1 fits me really well. It’s comfortable, and I enjoy it.

I’ll see how my riding goes this year. If I’m doing a lot more 600 mile days (like I hope to) maybe a ST bike will be in the cards, but if I’m spending more time closer to home… the FZ1 is perfect for me.

Winter Mods

It’s been cold… to cold to ride for a wile now. So what does any Computer guy that also happens to be a motorcyclist do when it’s cold out?

That’s right, they go shopping on the Internet!

I started my shopping spree on eBay, buying a Sergeant World Sport Seat. This is a straight drop in replacement for the stock seat. For information see http://www.sargentcycle.com/yamwsfz1.htm

Next, I found a CF front fender on eBay for a good price. This was a fairly easy install, the hardest part being to take my time and remove the reflectors, then free up the break lines before trying to remove the stock fender.

To tell the truth, I’m not very happy with the fender I got. The auction hinted that this was a GYTR made item, the instruction sheet is at least a photo copy of GYTR instructions, but the quality of the part is below what I would expect from GYTR. The seller did not reply to my emails, and I’m not out much money at all so I’m not going to raise a stink over it. Maybe I’m just a push over.

Next I tried to install a Pyramid Carbon Fiber Rear Hugger that I got from http://www.pjsparts.com. PJFZ1 and his wife MotoMinx are both long time posters on the FZ1OA message board. I met them at the rally last year (And even got a hug from Mix!) and they really are great people.

I had a little trouble getting the Hugger to line up over the rear tire. I had to put a shop towel over the tabs on the swing arm and give them few light taps with a hammer! It goes against everything in my sole to bend anything on my bike, but I did it, and the hugger looks great! Thanks to the FZ1OA member Znsia for giving me the suggestion and the confidence that it would be okay to bend the tabs.

Next it was time to replace my handlebars with a set of Rizoma bars from PJ.

One thing I really want to point out here. The stock bars have holes pre-drilled for pins in the switch housing. You will need to either snip these off or drill new holes. I went the easy route and sniped away. On the throttle side, I had a hard time getting to the base of the pin and I kind of just mangled it and smashed it against the handle bar. On the left side switch housing, I had more room to work and made a nice clean cut. Thing is on the left side the switch housing would spin around the bar when I went to test the choke lever! I had to take the thing apart again, and run a bead of silicone around the inside of the housing to give it some grip!

My new bars are mounted and look and feel great. I have only ridden about 3 miles with them, and that was just to get the controls aligned right, but the wider feel and the slightly forward reach fit me very well.

Thanks again to PJ and the entire FZ1 Owners Association! The total mods to my bike are Muzzy Slip-On, Ivan's Jet Kit, Sargent Seat, Gel-Grips, Rizoma Handlebars, Pazzo levers, Ivan's AIS removal, and Fehling Crash Bars. More to come!

My first Video!

I often have a hard time explaining to people that my dad is nuts about motorcycles. I often tell then he has 40 or 50 bikes, and that maybe 15 or so of them run, and can be taken out on a ride.

I was home at Christmas, and I took my brand new camcorder out to the ‘shed’! This does not include footage of the garage, or any of the other out buildings. So there is not shot of his Goldwing, or of the little “All State” that was under the Christmas tree. It also doesn’t show all the dirt bikes and 4-wheelers, because the kids where out riding them!

First I want to say that I’m new to the video making game, this is my first ever attempt!

I need to learn about video editing, file compression and I’m going to need a lot more space then my ISP will give me.

Anyway, here it is….

The 5 min tour of Big Daddy’s Motorcycle shed.