Tag: motorcycle

A momentum driven motorcycle turntable.

We pulled in to the garage yesterday and I wished for this: The Ready Launch™.  Backing the Concours out of a single car garage and around parked vehicles can be onerous, and as we rode right in and the door closed behind us it reminded me of the Bat Cave.  When Batman does it he drives the Batmobile in and it rotates for a quick getaway; I want that.

When you pull in to your garage and brake on The Ready Launch™, it transfers the forward braking momentum of the bike into a mechanical system that produces a slow, rotating motion spinning through 180° before locking again.

With some calibration and gearing it should be no trouble to capture all the momentum of a stopping motorcycle and pour it into the rotating platform.  It would be a zero energy system, reliant on the bike pulling on to it and stopping to produce the energy needed to spin, and it doesn’t need to spin quickly or far.  After a few test stops a rider would know how hard to pull the brakes to produce the energy needed for the 180° turn.

I applied to Motorcycle Diaries Dream Rides 2020 Contest based on the research I’d done around my Granddad’s service in World War 2:

If you have a moment, like and share this post: https://www.facebook.com/MotoDiaries/posts/1676582355842212?__tn__=K-R

If I get enough votes I might actually get to ride through Northern France on a period, 1930s motorcycle and see the many places Bill passed through with his squadron as they were decimated escaping from the Nazi blitzkrieg before Europe fell.

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It’s been one of those days.  I have a 21 year old motorbike but the 10 week old battery in it failed and almost stranded me on my way to an exam.

I’m still not sure how the Concours found a way to start with next to no electricity but I’m mighty glad she’s looking after me.  I ended up making it to work in plenty of time.

The other day the Connie wouldn’t start, plunging me into despair.  Had I wrecked the electrics with my wash last week?  Had I wired something wrong?  It turns out no, I hadn’t.  On the upside, it wouldn’t start in my own driveway, which makes for cheaper towing costs.

Thanks to some quality engineering by Motormaster I was the proud owner of a 10 week old Eliminator battery that had a bad cell.  Want to hear the sound of frustration (and Concours magic?), here it is:

I’m still not sure how the Connie got going again with almost no electricity, but she pulled it off and got me to work.  I had the auto-tech teacher handy in case my bump start failed, so here’s how it went:  I duck walked the Concours to the slight downhill out of the parking lot and got it going down the hill as quickly as I could.  I had it in second gear with the clutch in.  Dumping the clutch I got a couple of big chugs and then the bike stopped.

I’ve had a lot of experience bump starting cars.  I was the proud owner of a series of Chrysler and Ford products in the 1980s, many of which seemed determined not to start.  I’ve bump started everything from Chrysler Lasers to Ford Escorts and Mercury Capris (all manual shift, I’ve never owned an automatic).  If it’s got four wheels, I can probably get it going.

Made in Vietnam this year or made in Japan 21 years ago? I’ll take the 21 year old Japanese bits, thanks.

There is something you need to know about bump starting a bike if you’ve only ever done it in a car.  When you get a car rolling you don’t need a lot of speed because you’ve got so much momentum thanks to the weight of the vehicle.  With the bike you need to get more speed going because you’ve got much less weight.  My first motorbike bump start didn’t because I didn’t recognize the difference in mass.  Get your bike going faster than you do with a car before you drop the clutch.

Of course, no one bump starts anything any more because it would damage the on-board computers, so this is an academic discussion.

After a jump from the auto-shop at school I was rolling again.  I got home, took out the battery and brought it over to my local Canadian Tire where it failed the tester in less than thirty seconds with a bad cell.  Twenty minutes later (there was a lot of paperwork) I walked out with a new replacement.  It’s since been filled and charged.  Hopefully the new battery can keep up with the 21 year old parts around it this time.

What does a new battery do?  Well, the bike starts the moment you touch the starter.  It feels more awake.  I imagine the plugs were putting out some pretty weak spark at idle on a dying battery.  While riding the bike seems to lug less at low rpms and feels sharper.  The lights glow brighter too.

The parts desk at Canadian Tire said they’ve never had an Eliminator fail like this before.  If it’s a one off I’ll shrug and take it as bad luck.  If I’m swapping it out again under warranty then I won’t be buying another one.  There was no real cost because it died in my driveway, but had it died on the far side of Georgian Bay it would have been much more expensive.

The mighty Wolfe Bonham did a Moonbeam run this year as a part of one of his mega well-beyond an Iron Butt long distance rides.  I just popped it into Google maps and it happens to be a perfect first Iron Butt distance from home, and all in the province.


The starting Iron Butt is the Saddlesore 1000, 1000 miles in 24 hours.  They have a metric equivalent Saddlesore 1600 kilometre ride too.  The suggestion is to do a distance that can’t be short cutted for credibility’s sake.  Riding from Elora to Moonbeam and back is always going to be over 1600kms, no matter how you do it.  Another benefit is that by going up on Highway 11 through North Bay and back through Sudbury and on the 400, I won’t be riding the same route twice.

The Tiger has become fragile, so I’m jonesing for a long distance weapon, not that the vibey and exposed Tiger was ideal for that, but it’s what I had.  A few years ago Max and I rented a Kawasaki Concours14 for a ride in the Superstition Mountains near Phoenix, Arizona, and it was a glorious thing.  That Connie was a first gen C14, the newer ones have one of the highest load carrying capacities of a modern bike – so big that they could carry Max and I two-up again.  Another thing about getting back into Connie ownership (I used to own a C10), is that I’d have an excuse to frequent the Concours Owners Group again.

There is a low mileage (31k) 2010 current generation C14 for sale in Toronto with some cosmetic damage and a dodgy windshield.  I can sort out the niggles, and then this thing would eat miles like nothing I’ve had before.  There is a strange lack of Kawasaki Heavy Industries motorbikes on the Iron Butt finisher’s list (Honda has six times more bikes, BMW over eight times more).  I want to represent!  I’ve owned more Kawis than any other brand to this point, so it’d also be coming home to team green.


This particular one is blue instead of tedious grey (Concourses tend to be very conservatively coloured), which appeals, I prefer a colourful bike.  The C14 has a number of optional touring pieces, including a variety of windshields, which is good because the slab on that Concours ain’t comely.

Love the Milano from Guardians of the Galaxy.  The C14 would be getting similar higher visibility trim, especially around those Testarosa strakes!

Fortnine has the National Cycle Vstream windshield for the C14, which would give me a smaller but more functional, better made and swoopier look.  The bike comes with a top box and panniers, so there isn’t too much it’d need, other than sorting out the windshield and doing some touch up.  Seeing a blue bike, I immediately want to liven it up with some orange trim, Milano style.  Other than a full service and a few fixes, this bike is ready to do 100k.


The stock seat is already a comfortable thing, though I’ve enjoyed the Corbin on the Tiger so much I’d consider tapping them again for another custom saddle eventually.  The C14 Concours would be the biggest bike I’ve owned and could do something nothing in the garage can do right now, carry my son and I two-up while operating within the bike’s weight capacity.  It would also be just what I need to make a run to Moonbeam and back in 24 hours as the summer winds up.

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I came across Sturgill Simpson’s Sound & Fury on Netflex last month and I’m hooked!  I’ve been an anime fan since discovering Star Blazers in the early ’80s, and I’m always on the lookout for the good stuff.  That anime fandom was a motivator in moving to Japan for a couple of years at the end of the 20th Century.  While there I did me some kendo and got pretty handy with the old katana, so I have a soft spot for samurai too.

The first time I watched Sound & Fury I was swept away by the cinemtic quality of the thing and quickly became a fan of the musician, though I hadn’t heard of him before.  I especially enjoyed the disonance of a country music singer with a decidedly American sound being mixed with Japanese animation:

If you think the muscle car samurai is a cool opening, when she suddenly turns into a motorcycle wielding samurai with robot support it moves to a whole new level.  Just when you think vengence shall be hers everyone is suddenly line dancing – you won’t get bored watching this unfold.  It’s a visually stunning multimedia extravaganza that really pushes boundaries while offering a great way into a unique musical style that delivers intelligent and nuanced lyrics.  I’m not a particularly musical person, but this visual tour de force was right up my alley and encouraged me to engage with the songs.

One frustrating part of this is that Netflix seems particularly stingy with the art marketing of this project.  After looking for wallpapers online for the laptop, I gave up and made some of my own.  This is purely a work of fandom for this project.  I sincerely hope they come out with another visual album like this, it’s my kind of music.

In the meantime, if you’re a fan of the anime, these might satisfy the wallpaper itch for your digital device:

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The only thing cooler than hunting with velociraptors on a motorbike is hunting with velociraptors on motorbikes!

I don’t know how Triumph manages it, but they got a Scrambler into most of the scenes that involve chasing dinosaurs in the new Jurassic World flick. We just got back from it today and it’s a good time, especially if you’ve seen the original.

You see Chris Pratt fiddling with the bullet proof fuel injected Scrambler in an early scene, then he breaks it out for the big hunt half way through the film.  The kids in the film point out, “your boyfriend is pretty bad ass!” – well of course he is, he’s riding a classically styled form before function bike!

My hair never looked that good, even when I had some.

So just in case David Beckham riding into the unknown (except for the people who live there – they know about it) on a Triumph Scrambler wasn’t enough, you’ve now got hunting dinosaurs WITH DINOSAURS!

The former might have pegged the hipster meter, but the later turns it up to eleven!



Needless to say, the interwebs couldn’t resist, and it didn’t take long to get a parody out of it:

I didn’t realize I was sitting on a movie star at the Toronto Bike Show this year!

The Triumph Scrambler seems to have this magical ability to look like a capable off road bike while weighing over five hundred pounds (handy perhaps if you’re riding with dinosaurs).

I’m still looking for my basic dual purpose machine, but I can’t say that Triumph’s cunning placements don’t have be jonesing for a Scrambler, at least until I’ve had to pick it up out of the dirt a couple of times and discovered that the retro look is also very breakable, then I’d be begging for the two hundred (!) pound lighter and more robust Suzuki I’ve been longing for, though it wouldn’t be nearly so nostalgic and hipster chic.  

I’ve always gone for function over appearance in my motorbiking, but Chris Pratt on a Scrambler isn’t making it easy.

With the carbs sorted and the oil changed, the Fireblade sounds like the machine it is (ie: fantastic!).  On the to-do list now is chasing down some wiring issues and shaking down the rest of the bike because a monkey was working on it before and I don’t trust his choices.


In working in and around the Fireblade, it’s the little differences that add up to a bike 50+ kilos lighter than the Tiger and over 100 (!) kilos lighter than the Concours (while making 33% more horsepower than either).  At 195kg, the Fireblade is even 10 kilos lighter than my first bike, a svelte 2007 Ninja 650r.







The ‘Blade makes lightness pretty much everywhere.  I’m particularly fond of the speedholes all over it.

When it isn’t holey, it’s reduced material wherever possible.  Even the rim spokes are thinned out:

Where Honda had to use material, it’s the lightest they could manage…

Compared to the Kawasaki Heavy Industries bikes I’ve owned, this CBR900rr is a built for purpose thing that feels more like working on an aeroplane than it does a motorbike.

… and it sure is pretty.

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After another fraught week remote working in a pandemic working twice as hard to do half as much, I was at it again all Saturday morning before finally springing free for the afternoon, but I had a lot to do and I was already off-kilter from a two hour meeting.  I walked into my happy place (the garage) after once again spending too much time trying to work with people badly through screens (one of the joys of a pandemic is WAY too much screen-time) and went about reassembling the Tiger, which was causing anxiety by occasionally not holding an idle and stalling.  

The Tiger rebuild began poorly.  I couldn’t find one of the two retaining bolts for the spark plug top I’d taken off the week before.  In the days between taking it apart and waiting for Amazon to get its finger out and deliver new spark plugs, the bike must have been jostled in my too-small garage and the bolts rolled off the head where I’d evidently left them.  I know better than that.  If I remove fasteners I usually put them in a container in groups or loosely reattach them to where they came from so they’ll be there when I come back.

While that was going on I got Lloyd’s message from Mostly Ironheads saying that I could bring the Fireblade in for a safety, so I cleaned up and got it over there for that.  He has some fantastic projects going on, I’ve got to see if he’ll let me do another round of photos – that shop is half working garage, half motorcycle museum.  (He did let me do another round, they’re here).

Back in the garage I was now frazzled with things going on in multiple places and the Tiger rebuild frozen by a lost bolt.  I found a replacement, but doing things half-assed means doing them for way longer than you need to.  It makes me feel like I’m my own make-work project.  I was angry at myself and swearing as I put it back together.  I took it out for a ride in the clearing afternoon weather (it had been threatening rain all morning), but the intermittent stall still happened, even after all the pain in the ass parts ordering waiting during a social distancing slow down.

I put the Tiger up on its stand and figured I’d take a run at it again the next day.  Then Lloyd called saying the ‘Blade was all good except tires – so now I have to try and find some tires, in a pandemic (I did, Revco is fantastic).  I brought the Honda home got into a ridiculously complicated plan for suspending it so I could remove both wheels at once.  The end product looked more like a roof mounting for a sex swing when I finally gave up on it and locked up the garage for the night.

***

The next day I spent the morning brain storming ideas for a work project and then finally got to the garage mid-afternoon.  My mind-set was completely different this time.  Instead of being weighed down by worries from a meeting, I was buoyant from just having thought my way out of them.  In a good mood and with the importance of keeping my shit organized clearly at front of mind, I went about fabricating chocks for the front wheel of the Honda and attached them to Jeff’s motorcycle stand.

They worked a treat and before I knew it the CBR was suspended and the wheels were off.  The brakes were pretty grotty, so taking it all apart, even if the pads and rotors do all meet MoT safety standards, wasn’t a bad thing.  The music was playing, it was a cool, sunny afternoon and I was getting shit done.

As I disassembled the Fireblade, I was Sharpy marking parts, taking photos and batching fasteners together so I can find everything when I reassemble.  I’ve been mechanicking for too long not to do this, but a callous disregard for shop etiquette gave me the result I knew I deserved the day before, but not this time.  The jigs we create make the jobs we do possible, and vice versa.

What had taken me twice as long to do badly the day before, took me a fraction of the time to do better the next day.  Instead of spiralling into anger and frustration, I was in the zone.  Problems still occurred, of course.  This is mechanics where I’m dealing with immutable reality, I have to bend because reality won’t, but rather than succumb to those problems I was agile and adaptive.  I can hear the sound of one hand clapping when I’m in the zone like that.  It feels effortless and completely engaging.

The Honda was sorted so quickly I turned to the Tiger and began the astonishingly fussy job of taking the fuel tank off (again).  What was tedious the day before became a matter of minutes the next day.  With the tank and air-box off (again), I looked over the idle control valve under the air-box and discovered one of the tubes going into the back of it was loose.  I cleaned up all the connecting and ensured they were tight and put some gasket compound on the rubber gasket to help it seal where it was squashed.

The whole thing went back together again equally quickly and the bike started and ran, so I shut it all down and cleaned up (some more good shop etiquette I’d been ignoring).

I’d gotten two days of work done in one, but it didn’t feel like it.  Disappearing into the garage is one of my favourite things to do, but doing it when you’re frazzled and fraught can mean you’re bringing a lot of negative energy in with you.  That negativity can make you ignore best practices you’d otherwise follow and might result in simple jobs becoming much more frustrating than they need to be.

Just like when you’re riding, you need to find your inner zen when wrenching.  Not only will it make you a better mechanic, but it’ll also make the work itself a joy.


Followup:  

A couple of days later I was working through week six of the Science of Well Being course I’ve been taking and it went over the state of flow and how it induces a sense of happiness.  There is a lot of research into flow states, especially in terms of peak performance in sports, but any complex task, from painting to mechanics, will offer that moment when you’re balancing your skills with your situation in a way that’s so engaging you forget yourself.  That’s actually what you’re doing in a state of flow, you’re so immersed in what you’re doing that you don’t have any mental acuity left to self realize.

Sony’s mission statement:  what a place to work that would be!

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Sun’s going down…

Last fall I took my last ride of  2017 on a strangely warm November day over to Higher Ground at the Forks of the Credit.  The sun fell out of the sky on my way home before 5pm – winter was coming.


The next day temperatures plunged and by the weekend we were looking at minus double digits and the snow was flying.


Yesterday was my first time back there since the end of November.  The sun baked my back on the way over and then we sat out front sipping coffees and soaking up the rays.


A quick blast up and down The Forks made me realize how rusty I am with being in the right gear to make the most of a corner.  I’ll be working on that in the next few weeks.


The trip home with the sun still high in the sky promises more long summer riding days to come.

The corkscrew on The Forks.

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