Category: Tim’s Motorcycle Diaries

I think three bikes would comfortably fit in the garage with room to work.  I’m hoping I can find an insurance deal that lets me run more than one bike without insurance doubling each time.  

If I were to go with three, these would be my poor man/middle class man/rich man choices:

Three of a kind: the low budget option

Keep the current ’07 Kawasaki Ninja 650r. I’ve already cleaned it up and it’s got tons of life left in it.  It’s the obvious choice for a sport/track day bike.  I’ve still got a lot to learn from it as far as sport riding goes.

This ’86 Kawasaki Concours caught my eye last summer.  It’s up for sale again on Kijiji.  For only two and a half grand I’d have a capable touring bike that would comfortably carry two up over long distances.  It has a lot of miles on it, but it looks like it has been meticulously maintained. If I could swing it, I’d get it.





I just stumbled across this ’02 KLR650 on Kijiji.  The price isn’t listed, but with any luck I could pick it up for about what the Concours above cost.  It’s fuggly, but if it would be a simple matter to strip it and repaint it.

I should be able to pick up both bikes for under five grand.  They all happen to be Kawasakis, three of a kind.

Total cost:  ~$5000

Shopping for favourites: the reasonable budget choices

~$10767

The touring option would get three wheel funky at this level.  I’d go for a Royal Enfield Classic 500 with a sidecar.  As a way to share riding with my son, it’s a fun way to putter around.  We’d have to get some vintage style helmets with googles.  ~$12000

The dual sport choice would be a new Kawasaki KLR650, specifically this very KLR.
~$8700

Total: ~$31500 (taxes included)
       or $20733 if I keep the Ninja

Big spender: the cost no-option choices

I keep hearing about how utterly awesome the Triumph Street Triple is, so if money weren’t an option this would be my naked/sport choice, the top-of-the-line R version.
~$13800
If nothing else the Triumph Configurator is fun to play with.



The Explorer below is an excellent two up bike, so it could do the job, but if cost is no problem I’d consider a Soviet style Ural sidecar outfit.  The Ural Gear-Up is an on-demand 2-wheel drive no-nonsense rig with classic military styling.  It could also handle off road duties when needed.
~$16553

For the dual sport option I’d be looking to Triumph again.  Either the Triumph Tiger 800XC or the big Triumph Tiger Explorer XC.  Since the big bike actually gets the same mileage as the little one, I think I’d go with the distance machine.  It’s big, but I’d train off road and ease into using it that way.  I’m a big guy, I’ll manage it.
~$22000

Total $52353 (taxes included)

You gotta love motorbikes, even the rich-man option that gets you three distinct imports costs less than a Volvo SUV.

2003: Faster, a good introduction to MotoGP

Faster (2003)  is a fast paced documentary with fantastic inside access to MotoGP.  With long-form interviews with all the major names in the sport in the early 2000s, it offers you an accessible look at the sport.

I’ve been a Formula One fan since the early 1990s when I saw a rookie Michael Schumacher astonish in an inferior car.  His race in the rain in Spain with only one gear cemented me as a fan.  While I’ve always enjoyed the technology in F1 it’s the driving that really gets my attention.  I’d much rather watch a Senna or a Villeneuve than a Prost or pretty much any of the modern crop of scientists at the wheel.  I long for rain in a race not for accidents, but to see who can actually drive.

Faster showed me a sport where the human being is still the main element in creating speed.  At one point one of the many interviewees said, “in MotoGP the rider is 80% of the equation and the bike is 20%, in Formula 1 it’s the other way round.”

After watching the last couple of seasons of Formula 1 I’m tempted to agree.  Engineers practically drive the cars from the pits.  Given the top car any one of the drivers would win with it.  I’m no fan of Alonso, but he is a once in a generation talent, like Schumacher, or Senna, and he seldom lands anywhere on the grid except where his engineers place him.  I’d love to see F1 with no live telemetry or radio contact, no driver aids and more open engineering options, but it’ll never happen.  The F1 circus is on its way to Nascar – just a staged media event.

That 80/20 split is of much more interest to me as someone interested in how human beings and machines can combine into something magical.  I really have no interest in seeing how quickly robots can travel around a track, it’s the human expression through machinery that fascinates me.  It’s as apparent in comparing MotoGP to F1 as it is in driving a car or riding a bike on the road.

Maybe that’s the magic of this that I haven’t been able to articulate: motorcycling is complicated, challenging and offers you, the operator, a much more expressive means of interacting with your machine.

After getting the basic gear and riding as soon as snow was off the road, I’m now wondering how the summer will go. I’ve been wearing jeans when I ride in to work, but they aren’t particularly comfortable, though they are cooler than the bike pants I got on sale.  Those pants, other than a zip up the side, are solid with no venting.  They’re great on a frosty April morning and they are nice and wind proof, but the thought of putting them on in a thirty-five degree summer day is daunting.  I didn’t even need the liner in them when it was 5°C, I can’t imagine when anyone would need that liner (riding in a snow storm?).

Now that I’m getting a sense of what sort of kit I’m in need off (I tend to be warm by nature, so cooler is always better) cooler gear is what I’m looking for.

I get the sense that the super touring pants (the kind you see on TV) offer a kind of cooling that my cheaper ones can only dream of.  I wish I could get my hands on a pair of the super pants and see just how good they are, but they are expensive and no local retailer in Southern Ontario seems to have any on shelves.  My only option to buy is online, sight unseen, and that makes me uneasy when you’re buying a pair of pants for upwards of three hundred dollars.

My ideal pants would have armor where you need it and lots of ventilation up and down the legs and in the seat.  They would also be a light colour so they reflect heat as well.  The Olympia pants (below) seem like a solid choice, but again, I’m only able to go off the description online, and that’s a lot of money to sink into a best guess.

I like the monochromatic Star Wars Storm Trooper look, but the jacket adds a nice splash of colour…

I was in Toronto recently and stopped by Cycle World in Scarborough.  They actually had the Alpinestars S-MX 1 boots in white there, so I tried them on.  Nice, light weight, low cut boots that breathe well, but for some reason they are $40 more if I drive over to Scarborough to pick them up, so I didn’t.  At least I’ve tried them on and have a tactile idea of how they feel.  I’d have been happy to pick them up right then, if they weren’t so price inflated.

I’m still happy with the Joe Rocket jacket I got.  It fits well, has a removable liner (which I’ve had out for a month now).  With the liner in and a sweater on, I’m toasty and windproof.  With the liner out and the vents open, I need only get moving to cool off.

The Zox helmet I got is working well, though the wind noise is something I’ll address in my next helmet.  In the meantime, I’m loving the swing up face, the drop down sunscreen and the inside of the helmet is very comfortable.  For the money, I don’t think I could have gotten a better lid.

Having the right kit on does a couple of things for me.  It puts me in the mindset to ride, and makes me feel like I’m ready for it.  Windproof clothing is worth its weight in gold when you’re up at speed.  If you’ve never tried it, you’ll be amazed at what you’ve been missing.  Being comfortable while riding is an important part of having your head on straight and avoiding problems.  So many people tend to ignore the gear you need to ride well, which is a shame, because with the right stuff, you’re likely to get out and do it much more often.

My next purchase?  Then I hope I’m ready to ride in the heat… from CANADA’s MOTORCYCLE

I’m day dreaming about another exotic ride:  Iceland!

On the left is Isafjordur!

Below is what it’s all about, vikings, mountains, ocean, wilderness!

How about a two week motorbike drive around Iceland, much of it off road on mountainous trails around fjords and past volcanoes?  Hot springs, aurora borealis, and some of the most remote, beautiful riding you can imagine.

Iceland has a ring road, but the smaller coastal roads offer an even more remote riding opportunity.  2300kms in 15 days.  Time to stop, take diversions and find the road less travelled.

Iceland!  2300kms around the island!

A bit of research uncovered Viking Biking in Reykjavik.  So we fly in to Keflavik International Airport and cab it to Reykjavik.  There at Viking Biking we get outfitted in true Long Way Round fashion on BMWs and hit the fjords.

Viking Biking suggests a 7 day circumnavigation, but I think I’d go for 15 days on a BMW F800GS, though going whole hog on Charlie and Ewan’s R1200GS would be a blast too.

Fjord roads!

Most parts of this trip look beyond epic, but with whole sections that trace fjords around rugged coast, this would be some truly unforgettable riding.  That’s without considering the stops at hot springs, volcanoes and the stunning wildlife in these remote locations.

Budget & Planning

17 day trip (one day coming in, one day coming out, 15 days on the road)
Depart:  August 20, arrive Aug 21

• 1 day in Reykjavik, check in at Viking Biking, prepare for early departure on the 22nd
• Aug 22 early to Sept 5th (15 days) return bikes Sept 5th afternoon
• Sept 5-6th morning: R&R in Reykjavik and fly home

Return: Sept 6th

Bike Rental for 15 days: $2400

Airfare Toronto to Reykjavik: $1000 return

Hotels: $150/night for 16 nights, $2400

Sundry: $1400

TOTAL:  ~ $6900 solo (cheaper per person if travelling in a group with shared accommodation)

I think I’d have to do at least a bit of this dressed for Game of Thrones!

Originally published on Tim’s Motorcycle Diaries in May of 2014:  http://tkmotorcyclediaries.blogspot.com/2014/05/motorcycle-social-media.html

The online motorcycle community is a beautiful thing.  I’ve been following a number of people on Tumblr and Pinterest as well as other social media platforms.  I’m a visual thinker, and being able to find images of bikes on these platforms really feeds my motorcycle aesthetic.  If you’re into motorcycle design and aesthetics, these are good places to find ideas:

Pinterest:  a online graphic pin-up tool designed to share images.  Nice because it focuses on the visual, also nice because it is predominantly female, so you get a different vibe out of it when it comes to motorbikes (less pin-up, more motorcycle as art).

Tumblr: a bit more rough and tumble but offers an immersive graphics format and a staggeringly wide range of images including some very specific sub cultures of biking.  If you’re into cafe racers, Tumblr doesn’t disappoint.

Want something really specific, like motorcycle anime?  Ok!  Tumblr is also heavy on the animated GIF, so you get a lot of motion in your visual soup.

Facebook:  Of course, you can find lots of motorcycle related material on Facebook too, I like it specifically for following motorcycle celebrities:

Think Nick Sanders is cool?  You can follow him across Asia live on Facebook (he’s doing it right now).  


Are you a fan of Austin Vince?  He’s well connected on Facebook where you can keep up with his latest work.

Think Guy Martin is the man?  His racing management team keeps you up with what he’s doing on big blue.

You can find all sorts of local companies on there too.  If I’m going to get advertised to on Facebook I’d rather it be by local companies that I’m actually likely to shop at.

Facebook is also a good place to find motorcycle media updates.  Why We Ride is a lovely film, but they didn’t stop there.  The Facebook site is a great place to find the latest in riding inspiration.

It might sound odd, but traditional media still plays a big role in connecting me to online media.  Bike Magazine connected me to Greasy Hands Preachers and Rider connected me to my favorite motorcycle author.  Between traditional and new media, we’re living in a motorcycle media renaissance, I hope you’re partaking.  It feeds all interests from the most general to the most mind-bogglingly specific.