Category: Tim’s Motorcycle Diaries

Now that I’ve had a chance to run the Concours a bit and got some fresh oil in it I’ve discovered the first mechanical problem.  Oil is running from the oil cooler at the front of the motor.  It looks localized around the oil lines coming out of the oil cooler.  I’m hoping it’s the gaskets highlighted (GASKET 14X19.5X1.4 11009-1461).  They’re only a couple of bucks each and they might even be a standard size that I don’t have to go all the way down to the dealer for.

You can see the wet oil line connectors at the bottom – fortunately that seems to be the leak. There is no trace of oil higher up.

Connie with her skirts off again…

I’ve already taken a run at the design of dual sport helmets, but I’ve since seen a couple of other things that make me wonder why people cling to the MX derived big-bill look.  That giant visor seems intent on injuring you in an off, and I’m not willing to have my head pulled off just to look like an MX racer.

Online you quickly find a lot of conflicting advice about dual sport helmets along with some good insight:  

“All the street comfort in the world won’t please you when you get to a dusty trail, you’re hot, and your lid is a cramped, dust-filled mess and you’re breathing hard and hot into your chin bar.”

Ventilation seems to be at the heart of the big-chin bar in dual sport helmets, but you pay a price in aerodynamics.  The chin-bar I get, but I’m still baffled by the visor.

Arai recently came out with a new version of their street helmet and they go to great pains explaining how a smoother shell is less likely to catch on obstructions if you come off at speed.  Of course, there are a hell of a lot more obstructions if you come off at speed off road, but that doesn’t seem to factor into dual sport helmet thinking.

Sure, visors keep the sun out of your eyes, but a good pair of goggles does a better job, so why risk safety for mediocre sun protection?  You can remove the visor and make your dual sport helmet safe, though you won’t look like a motocross star.

What do massive visors do?  They create a huge projection aimed in the direction you’re going that begs to pull your head off in a crash at anything over walking speeds.

Back in the day when goggles didn’t have the benefit of modern reactive lenses and toughness perhaps a giant bill was all you had to keep the sun out of your eyes, but this was, at best, a partial measure.  It resulted in you experiencing huge swings in brightness from sun in your eyes to shade over and over again.

We’re well into the 21st Century now and lens technology has come a long way.  You hardly need a giant beak to keep the sun from blinding you any more, and a reactive lens offers you the benefit of less eye strain between shadows and blinding sunlight.

I got a free pair of cool looking steam-punk goggles with a helmet this year and was virtually blind in them when trying to ride in the sun, they were a disaster.  A careful shopping trip later I had a pair of goggles that allow me to ride in direct sunlight with zero distortion, no squint and excellent viewing in the shade as well, they even work well at night.  When wearing these goggles a bill is only a dangerous projection, it serves no function.

I was watching the Dakar Rally this year when this happened:

You have to wonder what it felt like when his face bounced off the road and tore that visor half off.  Arai’s logic with their new R75 makes a lot of sense after seeing that, yet everyone on a dual sport or adventure bike wants to look like Charlie & Ewan, and so big billed dual sport helmets keep happening.

I’d love to see a leading helmet company like Arai offer the same kind of minimal projection/safety and aerodynamic benefit they talk about in the R75 in a well ventilated, dual sport ready lid, but form seems to come before function in the image conscious world of adventure motorcycling.

Duckbills everywhere…

I thought I could make it down to Guelph to order my sprockets and chain and back before the rain hit.  The weather radar said there wouldn’t be rain for over an hour.  I left at 2:30 and grabbed some gas in Fergus before heading down Highway 6.  It sprinkled lightly as I went, but it was just enough to take the edge of some truly oppressive humidity.

I got the sprocket and chains sorted out at Two Wheel Motorsport.  The chain drives on motorcycles are one of the first places people play with their geometry.  If you go to look up sprockets and chains for a 2007 Ninja 650r you’re buried alive in neon chains and sprockets designed to look like shuriken.  By messing with the length of chain and number of teeth in the sprocket you can essentially gear up your bike, giving it faster acceleration (though it would also be revving over 5000rpm at highway speeds).  

For my first go-around with motorcycle sprockets and chains I went with quality and longevity.  The steel sprockets I got were Afam sprockets designed and built in Europe, they are very high spec pieces.  I stayed away from anything that’s neon.  If you’re curious, a 2007 Kawasaki Ninja 650r takes a 15 tooth front sprocket and a 46 tooth rear sprocket (that isn’t always obvious as people rush to over gear their bikes so they go 0-60 faster).  I also got an X link chain, which offers a number of advantages over an O link chain, though they are more expensive.  The high quality sprockets (front and back) and a high tensile strength chain cost me about $300 taxes in.  They should be in by the end of the week.

Something wicked this way comes!

After wandering around looking at new bikes in the showroom for a few minutes I jumped back on the Ninja and headed back north.  As I turned on to Elora Road the sky got menacing, then it turned positively apocalyptic.

I’ve ridden through rain a fair bit, especially last summer when I was commuting on the bike.  This one looked turbulent though.  I stopped to zip everything up and take that picture and then I drove into a wall of water.

One of the nice parts of being on a bike is how connected you are to the world.  As I rode toward the darkness I knew this was going to be more than a sprinkle.  The clouds were scalloped and black/green and the temperature dropped ten degrees as I rode under them.  Then the smell of ozone filled my helmet.  I could see across the valley ahead that cars had their headlights on and the wipers were going furiously, behind them the standing wall of rain advanced steadily.

Hosed but home.

As the first big drops hit me I hunkered down on the tank behind the windscreen.  The wind picked up and I had to lean into it to hold my line, and then I rode into the water wall.  I like riding in the rain.  The bike is surprisingly well planted and if you want your visor to clear just turn your head and watch the rain roll sideways across it.  Of course, I like it better when I’m in rain gear, which I wasn’t this time.  In about 10 seconds at 80kms/hr in torrential rain I was soaked to the bone, but I was only 10 minutes from home so I could get wet.  Cars were pulling over, the end was nigh.  Trees were bent sideways and it was night-time dark.  I made it the 10 minutes up the highway and turned on to back streets.  I was in my driveway a minute later.

After getting the bike inside and towelling it off I peeled off soaked clothes.  It was the first time I wasn’t hot and sweaty all day.  I love riding in the rain.

When I bike starts to slide at the back it pushes the front wheel in the direction you want to go (unlike a car that pivots on the front wheels and requires you to counter steer into a slide).

The worst thing you can do on a bike is attempt to force a counter steer into the handlebars.  When you do this you’re creating huge torsional pressure between the front and back of the bike.  The bike resolves this by snapping back violently, launching the rider over the high side of the bike leaned into a corner.

Code keeps drilling in the point that the bike wants to self correct.  If you’re loose, relaxed and gentle with the controls the bike will bring itself back into alignment, even if the back wheel is sliding.

Even backing off the throttle suddenly on a rear wheel slide can cause a high side (you suddenly dump all the bike’s weight onto the front wheel causing it to snap back).  It might seem counter-intuitive, but in a slide maintaining throttle and letting the bike sort itself out will resolve most slides.  It’s a rider’s involuntary reaction due to fear and a lack of understanding of how motorcycle dynamics work that result in most corner related crashes.

I’ve been making a point of practicing throttle control in corners, using lower approach speeds but rolling the throttle on with a light hand as early as possible to balance the weight of the bike 60/40 over the back wheel.  I’m amazed at how settled in a corner the Ninja is now.

Motorcycle dynamics are a completely different beast from car dynamics.

I’m finding myself suddenly reading Practical Sportsbikes because the winter subscription I get to Performance Bike Magazine has migrated over as PB ends a three decade run and merges with their more practical (and I’m assuming more popular) child publication.  


I’m enjoying Practical Sportsbikes (they offered me a couple of back issues during the transition), though I miss some of the best bits from Performance Bikes like the Rutter comparison tests and the general focus on riding.  There is a rawness to Performance Bikes that sometimes reduces itself to the juvenile, but you can’t deny their love of riding.  If the new combined publication can keep Performance Bike’s active, athletic and obsessive focus on riding then I think I’ll enjoy the new combination.

I’ve tried Practical Sportsbikes a few times but find it gets a bit lost in nostalgia driven mechanical minutia.  I’ve never been much of one for nostalgia, it’s never as good as you remember.  Mechanics and practicality are all well and good too, but for me, for now at least, it’s the visceral act of riding that should take centre stage.  If practicality was the primary motivation, I wouldn’t ride a motorbike in the first place.

Here’s hoping…

PB has always tapped racers and performance focused riders to shine a light on the act of riding, something they obviously love obsessively.  If the new magazine can combine that love with the mechanical sympathy needed to enable it, then I might be in for a whole year subscription instead of just using PB to get me through the neverending Canadian winter.


I usually look to BIKE Magazine for my joy of riding buzz.  This new publication might be able to give them a run for their money by offering a wider range of performance focused riding while still scratching that mechanical itch.


Here’s hoping they find a way to balance the two into a monthly ode to the visceral art of motorcycle riding and graft of mechanical sympathy that enables it.

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I’ve been told that one of the best parts of owning a Concours is the Concours Owners Group.  I just signed up for a year’s membership and I’m already overwhelmed by all the information in the forum.

Looking at the calendar, there is a local meeting tomorrow only a 45 minute ride away.  For a group that covers a huge geographical area, they offer a chance to meet face to face  around the corner; very cool.

Between COG and the huge aftermarket available, it looks like the Concours is the canvas I’ve been looking for.

1997 Honda CBR900RR parts, but I’m buying too many online when I’d rather buy them locally.  For someone who would rather support local business, I’m frustrated at the lack of competent parts people.  Canadian Tire needs to do better.


Fram oil filters:

The oil filter for the CBR is a fairly common filter – but the big Canadian Tire in Guelph didn’t have one… or anything else I needed.  It’s things like this that force me online to purchase when I’d rather just purchase locally.


Strangely, the Walmart across the street, the only place I can find the Mobil 1 oil Triumph calls on for the Tiger, had an oil filter for the Honda.  Not a great weekend for Canadian Tire.  You can’t really brag on having 200,000 parts if your sales rep can’t find any of them.



Winter flushing oil:
This is what I’m going to put in the Honda over the winter as it gets sorted.  In the spring I’ll do a flush and go with Mobil 1 synthetic.


The only place I can find the Mobil 1 is at Walmart – it’s the only time I usually go there.  Since I’m already there for the Tiger, I’ll go for 7 litres and do the Tiger and CBR with the same super-oil.  Running the Mobil 1 in the Tiger has stopped any oil burning in it.  It’s good stuff.


K&N Filters for CBR900:
https://www.knfilters.ca/honda/cbr900rr/900/1997
The HA-9092-A air filter is a strange thing – I thought the filter element would pop out of the plastic, but it’s a single (expensive) manufactured piece.  Finding these is tricky.  You can find cheap, paper filters for about $40 a go, but I found the K&N on Amazon for $120CAD, so that’s going in and getting cleaned regularly.  That should pay for itself within three changes.


I’m not in a place where I’m going to put the front end back together again and pop in the replacement LED when it comes in this week.  With the replacement carb from NCK Salvage in hand, I’m going to try and rebuild as much of the Honda as I can over the long weekend (it’s Thanksgiving Weekend in Canada).


The Strange World of Dash Bulbs:


12v 1.7W wedge dash light is the warning light bulb needed for a ’97 Honda CBR900RR.  These are hard to find – Canadian Tire was no help and the girl at the parts desk in Guelph couldn’t remember the numbers for parts, so I gave up on trying to find them.  I want to buy locally, but with that kind of floor help, it just isn’t happening.

I found LED replacement lights that should last better and use less electricity in the process on Amazon.


This light search led to a crash course in bulb sizing.  The dash lights on the CBR900RR are T-5 Wedge 12v 1.7W bulbs.  T5 means it has a 5mm base.  In this case they’re 1.7cms long on that 5mm base.  The LED should be cooler, use less electricity and be brighter.

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Having never had on-bike storage before, or a bike designed to cover big distances, I’m thinking about what I could leave in the bottom of the panniers to keep us on the road. 

Here’s the short list so far:

A bike specific multi-tool, this BikeMaster metric device covers a lot of bases in terms of general usefulness.

$16.18 from canadasmotorcycle.ca
300g

Puncture Repair Kit.  Many moons ago I used to do this at Canadian Tire, so plugging a tire is nothing new, and if I’ve got the bits I need on the road I’ll be able to get us going again in short order.

$~20 from Canadian Tire
200g

Yukon Steel Multitool.  I use a generic one at work all the time.  They work well and I don’t need a fancy brand to somehow validate my handiness.

$30 from Canadian Tire
325g



I’m also going to grab a lightweight nylon tarp.  You can get tough, camping ready ones that only weigh about 500 grams and fold up into the size of an envelope.  Along with a little roll of duct tape, small hand pump, some nylon string and a mini wd40 can, I’d have a very light and small collection of handy bits and pieces that would keep us moving if we ran into a problem.