Father's Day

It's that time of the year when on one day, the third Sunday in June that we are supposed to pay homage to our fathers. On this day, I want to honor fathers in a different way. Instead of just paying homage to just my biological father, I'd like to also give thanks to those men who inspired me to ride.

I will start out with my Dad. Dad was born in 1925 to Italian immigrants and grew up in Westbury Long Island. Dad served in WWII in the Army Air Corps as a tail gunner on a B-17 and after coming home, like a lot of guys looking for excitement after the war, he got into riding motorcycles. Dad's first foray into two wheeled transportation was a Vespa, after which he graduated to a Zundapp 250. After that it was a Triumph Tiger, a 500 cc parallel twin. Dad rode with his cousins Tommy and Lou, who rode a triumph and BSA respectively, if I recall correctly. Dad would regale us about their trips to Laconia and other places, when during one such trip cousin Lou fell asleep while riding his bike. They saw him nodding off and got on either side, revving their engines, trying to get his attention and wake him up. Luckily for Lou, it worked. Because of dad's stories, from an early age, I wanted a motorcycle. This of course was tempered by mom's dislike for two wheeled transportation, but you can probably guess who won.

My first foray into two-wheeled motorbike nirvana was a Rupp Mini Bike. I was in the 8th or 9th grade at the time and I remember Mom bought it at a garage sale for a song. My brother Tony and I painted the frame Chevrolet Hugger Orange (I still love that color), and the gas tank Argent Silver. It had a tired three and a half horsepower Tecumseh flat head engine and under dad's supervision, we honed the cylinder, re-ringed the piston, rebuilt the carburetor and did a valve job. It ran very well after that. Before, it could barely go faster than 15 mph. Afterward, we were clocked at 35mph. It could go faster if the governor rod was held in. Eventually the engine threw a rod through the crankcase, probably from exceeding the governor once too often.

My Dad's cousin Lou was an influence. Lou continued to ride well into middle age. He used to stop by our house on the way home from work sometimes and I would always get excited to see what he was riding at any given time. I remember he had a Norton 850 Commando, black of course, and that was a neat bike to be sure. I also remember he bought a new Honda CX-500. I remember he had windscreen on it and it was a very quiet bike. The one bike I really liked to see was a Harley Davidson XR-1000 cafe racer. It belonged to his son Mark, but he would ride it from time to time. As a kid, I loved Harleys and Triumphs. Between Easy Rider and the custom bike shop down the corner, Custom Cycle, I developed a liking for choppers. I remember this one chopper. It was a triumph with a 500 cc Engine, single carb, what seemed like at least 12 inch extended forks. It was painted a metal flake plum crazy purple. With the drag pipes and the 360 degree firing order, I could recognize that bike's sound anywhere. I remember a MC type rode it, a real gruff chap that frequented a local biker bar. Those were the days.

Another guy that figures into all was a guy named Bill Biesecker. Bill lived down the street and rode a Honda 350/4. Bill rode rain, shine, all the time except in snow. My friends and I would go down the block just to shoot the breeze with Mr. Biesecker or have him diagnose problems with our Minibikes. I remember when my friend Manny bent the rim on his dad's orange Honda CT90. He wasn't supposed to be out riding it and took it up to the high school with his little brother on the back. He went over a metal edge on the track, which bent the rear rim. We took it over to Mr. Biesecker who took the kink out of it. Still, Manny's dad found out and took it out of his hide. Mr Bieseker was great guy and we lost him to cancer before he was 40 years old.

Sometimes an influence is not so much a direct hands on influence as much as an example of what's possible.  One such influence was Dad. Not my dad, but a guy we called Dad. His name is Frank Donelan, who was at the time, 55 years old and a corporate lawyer. Frank raced with a bunch of guys who called themselves DC Racing, which stood for Discount Cycle Racing, supported by a local independent motorcycle shop owned by Lenny Mastro. Dad raced a KZ1000 drag bike in the Pro Street class. It would get well into the 9's at something around 140 mph. Not bad for a middle aged dad. If that wasn't enough, Dad went out and bought a Kawasaki ZX-11D. I remember he took it on the Sagtakos Parkway and did 175 mph with it. For an old guy (55 was old to us guys that weren't even 30 yet), Frank could still kick ass. He was a very talented rider and very smart man whose advice went beyond motorcycles. I often wonder if Frank still rides in retirement. I bet he does.

So, on this third Sunday in June of the year 2011, I want to give thanks to not only my real Dad, who was a guiding influence on me in my life, motorcycle and otherwise, but also to those men who guided me, influenced me and helped me along the way, particularly with motorcycles. Without them, I wouldn't be riding today one way or another and I wish all of them a happy Father's Day and give a hearty thank you to all of them. Have you thanked the motorcycle dads in your life?

Thank you for reading this blog.

I don't know dick

No pictures needed here. I admit it. I do not know dick...about a lot of things, in spite of an alleged education and experience. One thing it seems I don't know dick about it journalism, specifically motojournalism. I would like to know dick, but I don't. I admit it. Coming clean is the only way to get better.

Once upon a time, back in the days when I had no gray hair, I had no spouse let alone children, I had a dream. You see I had many interests, but topping the list was cars and motorcycles...and guns, but that is another story. In my so called mind, I thought I could do it. I thought I could write about what I loved. At the time I had a freshly minted degree in American Studies. I even graduated with honors. I had the bright idea to apply to New York University's graduate program in journalism. Today it's called the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. I studied both broadcast and magazine journalism. I had great teachers like Jon Katz, Udayan Gupta, Jane Stone, David Dent, John Capouya, Bob Spitz and Mary Quigley. I also ran out of money, but that is another story too. I used to joke that I got a Harvard education for the price of a NYU education, but that sentiment is lost on most. It was and is a very expensive school, but you will be exposed to people and opportunities not found anywhere else.

Back then, the new media didn't really exist. There was newsprint, magazine and broadcast. I did a hybrid as both appealed to me for different reasons. Broadcast is fast paced, exciting and there's nothing like being in a studio with a live broadcast ready to go and the director counts down to show time. On the other hand, traditional print allows for more development of ideas and it appeals to my cerebral side. That said, life happens and through a series of circumstances, my life changed direction and the idea, the dream of writing or producing content for journalism went into the dustbin. One of things I did carry away was computer technology. When producing an issue of Manhattan South, the school magazine, I learned how to do magazine layout on a Macintosh. You see, no one else in the class wanted to do the dirty work. The other editors wanted to edit other students work or write the articles themselves. I ended up volunteering for the job of doing layout, but at the time I didn't realize where it would lead me.

Not long after this, I met my future wife and I decided to change careers. I wasn't doing journalism at the time, and I ended up going into technology, which I have been in for 17 years now. I specifically went into Macintosh technology, supporting pre-press shops and service bureaus in my first IT job. I got married, we had kids, bought a house and life moved on. During a period of underemployment after 9/11, I had gotten a new bike, a Vulcan 800 Classic, and the idea of writing crossed my mind again. At the time, I read several magazines and one of them was Roadbike. The tech editor at the time was Mark Zimmerman. I decided to email him and ask him out to lunch. To my total bewilderment, he accepted, and not only that, he took me out to lunch and although I had to ride up to Danbury, it was worth the trip. Mark is an incredibly funny, articulate and knowledgeable person. He's also gracious and open. I asked him if he could read some of the stuff I had written at NYU and give me his opinion. Like others before, he said I could write, but I need to work at more and develop my voice. Once again, life intervened and I ended up taking a job in Iowa, which move our family 1200 miles away. Over the years I have kept in touch with Mark although we haven't talked shop as it were.

Now, some years later I find myself at a point in life where I feel I need change. May be change isn't the right word, may be truth is the right word. I am tired of IT and even though I can do it, I feel no affinity for it, not anymore. It's like being able to do an autonomic bodily function. At that point, it becomes just that, if you know what I mean. So at the advanced age of 49, I have examined my options. Underlying this though is what I call "the four legs of the stool", and I am not talking autonomic bodily functions either. Consider it like a bar stool. One is engagement. I have to be engaged mentally, emotionally, may be spiritually and sometimes physically. I have to use my faculties to their fullest extent, if possible. Two is voice. Do I have a voice not only in what I will do or how I will do it, but just the act of being able to be heard, to have my opinion valued? Three is the social aspects. If I am with a group, how do I fit in, do I have a place where I am comfortable and am I accepted? Four is, "do I make a difference?" Is what I am doing shedding any new light, offering some value, making a difference in someone's day, in a more meaningful way than just "I fixed X".  Honestly, right now I am 0 for 4. My options are to do nothing, to look for something in my current field and "settle" for a leg or two, or to change careers. Problem is, I don't know dick. I don't know Dick either. I'd like to as he seems like a good chap (someone I met on Linked In who gave me some advice), but where do I start (besides from the beginning)?

Hope is a funny thing. Not funny ha ha, but funny interesting. For me it has ebbed and flowed with the days and weeks like the tide that comes in and out of Monterrey Bay, which is down the block from where I am writing this now. If anyone has pointers, advice, words of encouragement or even deridement at this point, all will be welcome. Like Sisyphus, I need a rock to push against, but unlike Sisyphus, I need to push it over the hill.

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Dealer or No Dealer

Today was no different than another. I started with my ritual of perusing the various motorcycle forums, reading the latest complaints about seats or windscreens, when a particular post about the new BMW K1600GT/GTL, where the original poster asked would we trade our trusty RT steeds for the new bike. Of course not wanting to miss an opportunity to rant, I could not help myself, so below is my answer:

"Doesn't matter whether I ride it or not. Beaucoup money. The budget says, the RT is it, at least for now. On the other hand, whatever I would get next, has to require less maintenance than the RT. Not that it is a lot, but adjusting valves in this day and age and synching the throttles, well, it long in the tooth. All we really should have to do is to change fluids, new tires and brakes with the occasional spark plugs. I'd also like to see the need for a dealer to reset the service indicator go away. "

Of course, the OP, not wanting to miss the snark parade, quipped his own response:

"A book: Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance. Check it out, then maybe you will want to get in touch with your ride."

Of course, I could not let it go, so here it is:

"I've read it twice. I know how to work on bikes and cars. I've rebuilt engines, transmissions and differentials (I've even did an upper end job on a small block Chevy in Fargo in February, outside as we were stuck). I just don't care to do it if I don't have to, certainly not on an everyday vehicle. Technology has gotten to the point where what I ask for is very possible. For a BMW, you'd think it'd be de rigueur."

Now that Fargo reference is a story I am trying to sell to a bike or car/truck mag, but so far no bites. :( That said, the topic did stir some thought processes, which based on part of my original posting and the genesis for it, which is, why do so many BMW riders seem resigned, eager, accepting, or even promoting that in order to have a proper rider experience on a BMW, it must be serviced by the Dealer. In fact, if it is not, a rider runs the risk of such horrors as BMW not standing behind a warranty claim at worst, or the bike not being right at best (hearken to a movie named "A New Leaf" with Walter Mathau. "Carbon on the valves" is a memorable line.).

Since buying my RT, I have noticed that there seems to be something different about owning a BMW. No, not the quality of the ride etc, but the group of people that associate themselves with the brand. Understand, prior to the Beemer, I have owned nothing but Kawasaki motorcycles. Owning a bike from Team Green was a self-reliant proposition for me. You do all the proper maintenance and the bike goes forever. No magic incantations, superstitions, or long held beliefs that anyone would look at with a sideways glance.

I will tell you what I mean. God forbid you use anything but a BMW oil filter on a Hexhead. May be a Mann filter, but you'll need special dispensation from the Teutonic motor gods. Bosch you say, perish the thought. Do not even mention team orange. Excommunication will ensue. Do not even talk about oil, especial gear oil and final drives. Oh, final drives you say? Do not even go there either. Seems to be bad history there. From here let us move on to fuel. I am against ethanol in gas as much as the next gear head, but god forbid if you have to use gas with ethanol in it. It will turn your prized aryan rocket into a pile of feckless cycle parts in no time. Of course there are facts to back all this up.

Before you think my snark is toxic, let me say I am having fun with this, and there is more than a grain of anal truth to this. Anal is a good word for it too. At first I thought it is because of the high entry price for these bikes, but I never read this kind of repartee from owners of Harley Davidsons. It must be some sort of transference. The natural anal tendencies of the German race rub off on the owners of BMW bikes.  Sounds like a theory. At this point, that is all it is, a theory. There probably is a grain of truth, but it lies more in the type of people that would buy a BMW. Left brained types, metaphysical types need not apply. Use the same mindset at a Harley dealer and the salesman will look at you like you have three foreheads. Trust me, I speak from experience. At The Motor Company, either you believe or you do not. This brings me back around to my original question or thought really: Should a motorcycle be created, designed, marketed and otherwise sold that is necessary for the dealer to bless in order to have even a proper motorcycling experience, let alone functional efficacy?

I have to tell you, I have a confession to make. I do have a little bit of an axe to grind. No, it is not my experience in dealing with dealers as a customer, but rather dealing with such types of establishments as a mechanic (I have also worked in computer repair with similar experiences, more later). I can admit it, I have worked for at least one thief. One of the thieves in question owned a gas station in Massapequa New York on Merrick Road, whose fuel supply was British owned. Anyway, here goes a few good ones. Mrs. G's car wouldn't start in the Waldbaum's parking lot. Our boss tows the car back to the shop. If I recall, it was a late 70's Buick Apollo. Turns out it was a loose wire on the neutral safety switch. Our boss had us take the starter out, repaint it and put it back in. $120 + tow. Same car had a rear transmission seal leak. Instead of replacing the seal and topping off the fluid level, our boss said she needed a new transmission. We sent to the car out to a transmission shop we had a deal with. $200 our cost, $700 for the customer. All for what was really needed was a $5 seal and a quart of Dextron. I can go on and it gets worse. Funny thing was, when his degenerate son came in with a car problem, we had to be like NASA engineers, rebuilding everything to spec like his son was going to the International Space Station. I had a better place he could visit. Even a several years ago, I worked as a computer hardware tech in a local shop. When we first opened, our boss said that every computer that comes in has a hardware problem. This time I stood my ground and said no. Integrity means something to me. I will also tell you that I turned the previously gas station owner into the state for what he was doing (he was running bogus emissions inspections for used car dealers), when I left his employ. I also told Mrs. G how she was getting screwed. Payback is a bitch.

I went by a couple rules when working on other people's stuff: One, do not charge for work that was not done. This means that If I replace just the brake pads, I will only charge for the brake pads. The guy I worked for above would write War and Peace on the invoice of what he wanted people to believe he did so they would not mind him ass raping them. Two, do not do work that is not necessary. This can be as innocuous as the upsell, which is trying to sell a service when someone comes in for a particular problem to something more insidious as finding more wrong than actually is. In this case the work is done, but unnecessary. Case in point: You go to the dealer for a warranty issue with the power steering pump. The service manager tries to sell you a power steering fluid flush. Let me tell you it's rubbish. If the power steering pump is being replaced under warranty, then so should the fluid if it has to be replaced. If it doesn't have to be replaced, as the manufacturer may not require it, then why do it? It's a way of drumming up money. Sometimes things are done just out of incompetence. I have a friend whose F-150 had a miss. Went to the dealer he bought it from and the service manager said it needed fuel injectors. $2500. He went to another dealer. Turns out it just needed a coil pack, covered under warranty. Most people don't know any better.

Back to BMW and other bikes. While dealers do have or should have experienced mechanics or now as they are called "Technicians", they do charge $80 or more dollars per hour (most of which said technician never sees) and tend to take the eyes out of your head on parts. For instance, one fellow recently paid $100 for 4 quarts of oil and an oil filter at a BMW dealer. Holy dog shit batman, that is insane. If you are adept at service, where is the money better off, in your pocket or the dealers? I am guessing the former. While the cheapest thing on a BMW motorcycle is the rider, I have come to think it is justified. Without getting into the Magnuson Moss Act, As long as the repair schedule is followed with materials that meet the specifications, then it's all good. Just keep good records and receipts. While I think some of the maintenance procedures for the beemer are excessive for a modern bike (valve adjustments every 6k miles, throttle sync to name two), they are spelled out. In some ways, I cannot help feeling that the service requirements coupled with the beemer culture have been created to suit a rather limited dealer network. There have been times too when I wonder if I made a mistake in buying a BMW. I do not like to be dependent on anyone, let alone a potential shyster. It just rubs me the wrong way and I know that not every dealer will have my ethic. The only thing that seems to help is riding the bike. When I ride the RT, it seems all the petty worries about warranties and service go away. Does this mean I will be taking the RT to the dealer for service? No, not if I can help it. I still plan to do my own service, BMW sycophants be damned. If it comes down to "he said she said" dealer bully tactics if something breaks, then it is No Deal. At that time, the RT will find a new owner and I will go back to team green. There is nice red Vaquero that caught my eye. You never know.

Thank you for reading this blog.

The Wind Cries Mary

Living in the mid-west poses some different challenges in riding a motorcycle than it does when I lived on the east coast. One of those of those challenges is wind. It is a lot windier out here than on Long Island, especially in the spring. In fact it can get so bad as to push me into another lane. It has happened a couple times since I bought my R1200RT last November. It never was a problem with my last bike, which was a Kawasaki Nomad 1600. The obvious differences are weight, profile, and riding position.

The RT is 250 pounds lighter than the Nomad. That is a lot for a motorcycle. The Nomad is also lower and the rider sits in the bike more than on it with the RT. The riding position of the RT is more like a UJM or that the rider sits straight up. Lastly, I have a topcase on the RT and I believe that contributes to stability as well. The bike seems more stable without the topcase on it. Still, none of these facts would seem like that big of a deal to me. I have owned motorcycles that were as light or lighter than the RT and I did not have the problem of getting pushed into another lane, but those bikes were owned when I lived back east and memories tend to be kind. It's the one bugaboo I have about the RT.

One way I try to ameliorate strong cross winds is to go faster. This sounds counter intuitive at first, but if you have experience with ballistics, it makes perfect sense. With bullets, the higher the velocity, the less it is affected by wind downrange. One misguided chap on the BMW Sport Touring Forum said I should sit straight up. Ummmm....Yeah. Ok. I am a freaking sail as it is. I could be used as a mainsail on the USS Constitution.  No, that won't work. Other than speed, I think the only other way is to ride without the topcase or even the panniers. Or be about 8 inches shorter and 8 inches narrower.

Lest you think I jest about the tira vento, I have had instances when the wind is head on, the bike dips quite a bit and slows down when I shift. The wind likes to change direction between morning and afternoon commutes. I used to get headwinds both ways on one commute. Anyway, there is no use complaining about nature. It is what it is. I can deal with rain, I can deal with wind, and I can deal with cold. What I cannot deal with is lightning, but that is another story for another time.

Thank you for reading this blog.

Update: Boots and Gloves Arrive

Got the boots last week as well as the gloves. Both turned out well. The Sidi boots fit fine and are top notch. The only thing I will advise is that where such tall boots takes an adjustment period. I have to make sure I angle my foot down enough when shifting or I will not engage the shifter properly. The boots are plenty comfortable for walking around and I imagine will get better with time. after wearing them while riding, anything else feels naked, like when not wearing a helmet when you are used to wearing one.

The Icon gloves are fine too, slightly snug for 2xl gloves, but they offer my dexterity than my Tourmaster Cold-Tex gloves. I also like the knuckle armor and the visor wipe.

So, now that I have my stuff in and I have used them for a few rides, I have to say I am happy to have new stuff and it's a vast improvement. The First Gear Scout Jacket is a fine jacket and takes a little getting used to as it has some armor and is more snug than I am used to, but I did remove the liner as the weather is starting to warm up and I do not need it. The fit is better without as well. So that is it, until next time. Oh yeah, thank you to BMW MOA for the Superstakes.

Thank for reading my blog.

I'm Winning and Why I Look Like Steve Zissou in a Wet Suit

No, I do not have tiger blood, Adonis DNA, nor am I jacked up on cocaine or some other drug, but I did win one of the second prizes in the BMW MOA Superstakes. 18 people won the second prize, which is a $1000 gift card to Bike Bandit. I have never won anything in my life and it was a complete surprise. Of course there were 6 first prizes (6 motorcycle tours in Europe) and 2 grand prizes (2 R1200GSAs), but I guess I should be happy none the less.

But as everything in life, nothing is perfect. I found it odd that Bike Bandit really does not have a big selection of stuff for BMW. I did peruse the fiche in search of factory accessories, but it was fairly limited. On the other hand, I did need new gear. Unlike the anorexic Sheen, I am not a small person. At 6'5 I once weighed slightly north of 400lbs. I wore a 64 Tall leather jacket. 80 lbs later, that jacket is like a double-breasted suit, although my jacket size is still in the 54-56 range and I need tall as my torso is longer than average and my sleeve length is 38-39. Unfortunately there was not much there in selection for someone my size. I did find a First Gear Scout Jacket in 4XLT. It really is a nice jacket, as I got it just yesterday, but I have one question: Who the hell sizes these damn things?! According to First Gear's sizing charts, the jacket should be a 58-60. Believe me, it's not even close. My guess it's more like 52-54. Putting it on and wearing it reminded me of wearing a wet suit.The arms were snug too. I am not working out right now and I could flex my bicep through the jacket (If I was, I doubt I would get my arms in the jacket, as my forearms can get to be 15-15.5" and biceps 19-19.5"). It really is a well made jacket and very nice (it should be for $550), but they need to use American sizing, not some far east calculation.

The more upsetting thing is the lack of communication or responsiveness on the part of Bike Bandit and even First Gear. I contacted both by email with questions about sizing, returns and I have been ignored so far. Talk about the lack of customer service. It isn't their fault I am big or that I own a BMW. Ok, they have what they have. But for the money being spent and the cost of their products respectively, I would expect a lot more. It surely would have been more fruitful had the gift cards been for Beemer Bone Yard or A&S BMW. I am sure my RT would have found goodies at either place. I hope I fair better with the Icon gloves and Sidi boots I ordered which should be here Tuesday.

Now that I have probably given the impression that I have sour grapes, I want to say I do not. It's always nice if not incredible to win something, but it's also nice to have things work out if you know what I mean. Somewhere lost with today's society is customer service. This doesn't mean that companies offering service should take abuse or unreasonable behavior from customers, but every effort should be made that the customer walks away with a positive impression such that they would come back and they would recommend the business to friends. There is an old saying, good news travels fast, bad news travels faster. At the very least a customers inquiry is an opportunity to foment good will and good feelings. It never ceases to amaze me when such opportunities are lost.

What does this mean? One, be careful what you ask for, you may get it. Always know what you want before the opportunity presents itself that way there is no doubt, regret or indecision. It also means if you deal with people in a customer service capacity, it behooves you to make sure you do your due diligence. I am for one, tired of hearing the old saw, "I don't have enough time" or "I am too busy". These are the same folks that never have enough time to do it right, but always enough time to do it two or three times. What are your experiences with customer service folks? I'd like to hear your stories.

Thank you for reading this blog.

Speed Sucks

One of the frustrations of riding the R1200RT is adhering to the posted speed limits. It's bad enough that local constabularies have become the de facto doughnut tax collectors, but the RT makes it that much more difficult to avoid paying that tax. Before all the authoritarian but holes scream forth about young married couples and their kids, let me clarify a few things. One, Iowa is so bad with cops ticketing people for tax collection that the state graces two speeding tickets a year if they are under 10 mph over the speed limit. That means they don't count towards taking your license away. This is because no one would have a license after a couple years. It's that bad.

Two, on many roads speed limits are kept low to increase revenue. Roads can be certified for speed limit and in some cases, local municipalities won't do it because they will lose revenue. So, if you get a speech about safety, bullocks. As someone once said, follow the money. I see roads in Iowa that are semi-divided with 2-3 lanes on each side and the speed limit is 35-40 mph.  Anyway, back to my problem. The problem is, the RT is geared tall and built for the Autobahn. Hit 5th gear and I have to use cruise control to keep the speed down on the interstate. Same with local roads with other gears. I like to use the higher gears to keep the revs down and the gas mileage up, but still, the bike wants to do 80+ when the open road arrives, moreover, I think 110 all day is doable. I never had this issue with the Nomad. The Nomad topped out around 105, so the bike was in it's element between 65-80. It didn't want to or have to go faster. For some reason the silver Teutonic missile has other ideas. I swear, I can hear the bike (in a German accent): Don't be a girlie man, twist the f@#king throttle you weakling! 

The biggest problem and therefore roadblock to higher speed limits in the US is driver training. Driving as more of a right than gun ownership and you'd think it was an amendment in the constitution. If you look at the land of the Autobahn, they have fairly rigorous requirements for riding a motorcycle. From what I understand, a rider has to take 6 hours of theory and a minimum of 12 hours of practicum, 5 hours on the road, 4 hours on the Autobahn and 3 hours of night riding. These are minimums and the cost of the school is €1500-2000. In many European countries, licenses are tiered. You may get a motorcycle license, but it is limited to an engine size until you have enough time on it to graduate to the next size. I believe they do this in Britain, where everyone has to start out on a 125 or 250. Pity the poor bike of that size with me on it.

As libertarian as I am, I would be ok with stricter licensing requirements if we had higher speed limits. I would pay for the training and obviously go through it myself as well. I think we could benefit from it as well, but the biggest objection is the compulsory nature of it. In the state I currently reside, Iowa, there is no helmet law. In as much as it may seem that driving seems to be a constitutional right, try making riders wear helmets here. You'd have a mutiny on your hands. May be the best solution is to have it as an option. Want to ride fast? Go through the extensive training and get a special tag for your license plate and endorsement on your license. People as such could ride the higher speeds in such lanes allotted for that purpose. That said, while we are on the subject of lanes, I will say that commercial trucks should be limited to not being allowed in the left lane. They aren't in NY, they shouldn't everywhere. It clogs up the roads and makes it more dangerous.

So, am I closer to solving my speed issue on my new bike? Not really. What it comes down to is a conscious effort to rein myself in within the rules that everyone else abides by. Will I work to change rules? Sure, but until then, I will try to keep the RT on the simmer burner and keep myself from paying the doughnut tax.

Bar Risers

I added risers to my RT last week. They were one of my birthday presents. I ordered them from eBay, and as you can see, they are reasonably priced. Installation took all of 10 minutes and I used a torque wrench as well. Bolts were torqued to 14 ft/lbs as directed by the cognoscenti. My only complaint was that there were no directions or specs of any kind shipped with the riders. The risers are knock off of Moto-techniques and a little cheaper to boot.

My first ride with them was Friday, the 11th. What a difference! The ride felt more like a UJM than a sport tourer. Think of a R1200GSA. It seemed easy to ride and handle as I sit straight up or nearly so now. I would also say that with the risers I put less weight on my hands and wrists, which leads to a more neutral feel and less numbness as I am not gripping as tightly. For some reason as more weight is on my wrists and hands, my grip tightens more.

All in all, it was a good upgrade. The disappointment came with the Calsci windscreen I ordered. I ordered an XL windscreen from them and it came with a slight crack in one of the holes for the mounting screw and it looked like it had marks as if it had been on a bike. I sent it back and hope to get a replacement soon. The owner of Calsi said:

"Since we have our trade policy, some of our windshields have been mounted and ridden for a couple miles. We don't throw them away.

Mark"

I will take him at his word and hope for the best. I've received very good reports from those that use Calsci windscreens and from my research, there does not seem to be incidents of the struts breaking with a Calsci windscreen installed like there is with Cee Baileys.  Some will say that Cee Baileys is made of polycarbonate as opposed to acrylic, but I have not read of any problems because of this. I also like the fact that Calsci seems to use science in their designs as opposed to aesthetics. I could be wrong, but everyone I have read that owns one says the efficacy against turbulence with a Calsci is second to none.

That said, the weather is getting better and I plan on riding more, trying to get some mileage on the bike. Right now I am at 798 miles total, 348 for the year. Yesterday reached 63 degrees and the bike really liked the temps. It just ran flawlessly for the most part. One thing I did notice was that my average mileage has dived to 38.5mpg. I had been getting 40.5-42.5 previously. I did hear some pinging once on the last ride, in which I had a full tank. My take is crappy Iowa corn whore fuel. I did put premium in the tank, but I bet premium sits in the gas station tanks here a lot longer than the other grades. It also has ethanol, which sucks. Trying to find a top tier gas station in Iowa is almost as hard as finding one without ethanol in fuel. All I can say is, stay away from Kum and Go or Casey's if you need good fuel. We have one Phillips 66 in my area. How I wish for Sunoco Ultra 94.

Until next time, keep the rubber side down and the shiny side up. I'll let you know how the windscreen turned out.

Thank you for reading this blog.

Dad's Garage

Working on cars and motorcycles is nothing new for me as I have been working on vehicles of mass transportation for over 35 years. I got my start in dis-assembly, assembly and troubleshooting of vehicles big and small in a garage in the backyard of my parent's house. This house on 2349 Lafayette Street was built in 1913, a two bedroom Dutch colonial, which means it was a two story home with gambrel roofs and if anyone had a car back then it probably was a Ford Model T. Dad's Garage was a two car garage, but in the sense of fitting two Model T type of cars, which is to say, it was smaller than a two car garage of today. The floor was concrete that even as a child was not in great shape, showing cracks and larger fractures. The building certainly was not insulated and in fact, it did not have dry wall either. It had two swing style doors that my father later converted into a wall with a window on one side and a tracked overhead garage door on the other. He also put a side door in and ran 220 volt service to the garage. Heat came from a Round Oak No. 18 wood stove.

My first ventures in the garage were to take wood scraps and make things out of them or pillage bins of various nuts, bolts and washers in my trying to create something from whatever I'd find laying around. Dad was into woodwork, something that I myself never got into, like the game of golf (my Dad was a greens keeper), time spent in frustration. My artisanal pursuits were or should I say became oriented in the mechanical direction instead. Uncle Cam (Cam is the shortened version of the Italian nickname for Carmine, Camminuccio) was an auto mechanic for an Oldsmobile dealer, Mack Markowitz Oldsmobile and to whose expertise I am indebted to this day. My seemingly eponymous uncle would come over when dad had a problem with his car (we tended to own Oldsmobile) and Uncle Cam would fix it in the yard (like when the Vista Cruiser overheated and Uncle Cam replaced a head in the back yard). This lead to my own experiments with cars.

I remember being something like 9 or 10 years old and after seeing some hot rods on TV or may be in print I must have concluded that obviously, the stock air cleaner assembly was insufficient to do the job. I fashioned an air filter from a old can of wax or compound for my dad's 1967 Vista Cruiser, which had a 330 2bbl engine. I drilled holes in it and cut a hole for the carburetor with tin snips. I loved how it sounded, but it did not impress dad and it did not stay on the car long. Not long after, I found some spare hoses from our pool's filter pump and had ideas of making a ram air setup like I saw on a 1969 442 W-30. Lets just say that hose was a little undersized for the 425 in our 1965 Delta 88. Man that thing howled trying to feed air to that engine! I had the right ideas as in how to get more and colder air into the engine, I just did not have the engineering expertise to make a truly well thought out and finished product. It was not long after that though that my dad would have me help him change the oil and other aspects of maintenance on the family cars.

My first two-wheeled motorbike was a Rupp Mini Bike. I was in 8th or 9th grade and I remember Mom bought it at a garage sale for a song and brought it home one Saturday. My brother Tony and I painted the frame Chevrolet Hugger Orange, and the gas tank Argent Silver. It had a tired three and a half horsepower Tecumseh flat head engine and under dad's supervision, we honed the cylinder, re-ringed the piston, rebuilt the carburetor and did a valve job. It ran very well after that. Before, it could barely go faster than 15 mph. Afterward, we were clocked at 35mph. It could go faster if the governor rod was held in. Eventually the engine threw a rod through the crankcase, probably from exceeding the governor once too often.

My first car was a forest green 1969 Volkswagen Fastback. We bought it from a neighbor, Mrs. Piner, and it was the first foreign car in our family. Mom drove it for a couple years until I got my license and then I inherited it. We did paint it in Dad's garage, using an oil-less craftsman one and a half horsepower compressor, no tank. It came out ok. My brother took it to 95mph and not long after the engine needed an overhaul. The car did have over 90K miles on it, so I do not know what he was thinking. You have to realize this engine had 66 horsepower stock, which is less than most motorcycles I have owned. A local mechanic named Freddy Schenck worked on VWs out of his house. If I recall he had a three or four bay garage in his back yard and knew the VW better than most people and certainly better than I did. He rebuilt the engine for us and did some of the work on the car until I learned how to properly maintain a VW. Changing the oil was not a big deal, but the car had idiosyncrasies. It had electronic fuel injection, which was space age for the year that car was built. Even when I had the car in the late 70's, it was way ahead of American cars. It had front disc brakes too, automatic transmission and radial tires, although the tires were smaller than the rear tire on my R1200RT. One of the problems was the fuel lines. They were of the cloth and rubber variety and would leak after awhile. I replaced quite a bit of fuel line on the injectors and the fuel pump. Often.

Since then I had spent many hours in Dad's garage on many different projects: Rebuilding a 350 and a 400 cubic inch Chevrolet engines, rebuilding and upgrading a KZ1000 engine to 1260CCs and rebuilding various automatic transmissions of the Hydramatic variety. Did I mention carburetors? I used to be an expert in rebuilding and modifying Rochester Quadrajets. I would work on Holleys too, but believe it or not, I liked the Qjets better. I also liked to go out there and do homework sometimes, especially in the winter. I would fire up the Round Oak, put a pot of coffee on the stove and do my college chemistry homework. All of this is what I did and does not take into consideration what my brother and father did in that garage as well.

Many years have passed since I lived at 2349 Lafayette Street and after Dad passed away in 2008, we sold the house and now someone else lives there. It was sad to drive by the house and know it was not my home anymore; not a place I could go to visit pops, work on my car or just relax. The new owners will never the know what mechanical plots were dreamed up, what bench or other types of racing took place there or the challenges as well. In fact, I fear that some day I may drive by when visiting back east, that the house will be gone, as people are tearing down the old small homes and putting up McMansions. Sometimes memories outlive reality.

Today I live in a subdivision in central Iowa with an attached 2 car garage that while bigger than Dad's garage, I find woefully small as it is always filled with stuff. It was only last year I finally bought an air compressor and some air tools to augment my old tool set I have had for almost 30 years. I like my bench better though, as it is longer, wider and taller than Dad's (I am 6'5, so a tall bench is a godsend). With 5 kids ages 5 through 15, it's time I have my own version of Dad's garage and pass something on to my kids in terms of memories and skills. The garage may go away, but the lessons learned there will always be with me. I hope it is the same for my children.

Of Any Given Age

As the old saw goes, if there is any constant, it is change. So it goes with another year gone by and it becomes self-evident that I have more years behind me than in front of me. So what has changed?

That realization reports a transition from the ignorance of youth, where like an heir to a seemingly endless fortune spends wildly, to the place of knowing, possibly wisdom, where the account is more singularly defined and whose limits are not only have become clearer, but known.

Reflecting on the age I have lived so far, and we all live in an age, a common age for people born at a particular time and those experiences mark a greater transition of society as well as with ourselves, I see that things have changed quite a bit. Not as much for me as for my paternal grandfather, who was born before the advent of the automobile yet lived to see men go to the moon, even if he didn't believe it. In my age, I was born before the age of the Internet, personal computer, cell phone, iPods, GPS, satellite radio/TV, cable TV and widespread use of the microwave oven.

In spite of all the advancements, it seems that while it has freed us to do more, we seem to think less. Some might posit that we are now free to think about more important things instead of using our mental capacities for controlling processes that are now self-evident. I have to wonder. A lot of the technology today has lead a lot of people to be believers in FM or F@#$ing Magic. It is the black box, the mystery that somehow performs a task and somehow we are better off not knowing how it happens. From my perspective, this may dull critical thought.

Take automobiles and motorcycles. They still use the internal combustion engine, but ask a kid today how it works and you are as likely to get a blank stare as a plausible explanation. I bet though the kid will know how to buy a computer programmer to get more horsepower out of it even if he or she isn't sure exactly why or how it works. Astounding. Suck, squish, bang, blow, the 4 cycles of a 4 stroke motor. Fuel, compression and spark must exist for such a device to work. Today, add a fourth: The computer. In a new vehicle, it manages almost everything. Even in it's simplest form, the computer controls the amount of fuel that get burned by an engine. It does this by measuring multiple variables in the engine and combustion process such as oxygen content in exhaust gases, coolant temperatures, atmospheric pressure, internal vacuum pressures in the intake manifold, measuring the mass of air taken in by the engine by measuring the change in resistance in a wire by shunting current through the wire as air passes over it, RPM, and throttle position, to name a few. Given all these inputs, matrices in memory are consulted by a computer and for the given parameters, the fuel injectors are pulsed at a specific frequency as to create the proper fuel/air mixture. This is constantly being adjusted by the computer to match any operating conditions. In other words, it's FM to most people.

When I was a kid, I learned how a carburetor worked (Venturi Principle), spark (induction coil), and the effects of timing, both static and cam have on compression. These principles hold true today in a sense, but the black box makes in unimportant even to the Friday night drag race impresario. If there is a problem with the car, just use you cell phone to call the mechanic. Oops, I mean automotive technician. With the advent of electric power vehicles, it's only going to get worse, be less fun and less challenging.

On the other hand, they were the bad old days too. Cars did not stop well, steer well, got poor fuel mileage and if you wanted to have a lot of power, you needed to do a lot of modifications to the engine or use a bigger one. Cars also did not stay in proper state of tune for as long as they do now and engines certainly did not last as long on average either. You had to know how stuff worked, even to the uninitiated, as a matter of functionality and I am sure it was an improvement from the previous generation of automobiles.

In spite of the advances in engineering and FM, I have to say there are times I miss the bad old days at times when I am troubleshooting one of my cars or trying to modify something on them or my motorcycle. A lot of the technology today requires special equipment and doesn't tolerate tampering so much. Take my BMW motorcycle. You have to buy a special computer tool just to reset the service reminder that blinks on the computer display on the dash. Either that or take it to the dealer. Talk about discouraging the shade tree mechanic. I mean motorcycle technician. The entry fee for that is a cool $299 for your own computer scanner. It's really just a interface adapter that has the proprietary connector on one side and USB on the other. The software is what does the work. Forget about getting the tool BMW uses, it's not for sale. BMW stands for Bring Money Wilhelm. All I can say is the cheapest thing on a BMW motorcycle is the rider.

So where does this this bring us? Back to the beginning I guess. Change is constant and we are defined by not only our age, but the age in which we live. As this year draws to a close I realize how fast time has flown, how little I have accomplished and how little time I really have left. Steve Jobs said "I want to put a ding in the universe." I used to feel that way and sometimes I still do. Sometimes though, I would rather just kick back with a highball glass of 18 year old Macallan, an Arturo Fuente Churchill Natural and just be content that everything is going to be alright, no matter what. Is that silly?

Thank you for reading this blog.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. My Motorrad is a blog that follows my trials, tribulations, travels and joys in owning a BMW motorcycle, specifically, a 2009 R1200RT. I purchased the motorcycle this past November, coming from a number of Kawasaki platforms. Hopefully this will be a fun trip!


Thank you for reading this blog.