Tag: motorcycle

A conversation with one of my students at lunch today:

Lyndon demonstrating, ‘it’s hard’

“What are you watching?”
“Footage from today’s stage of the Dakar race.”
“What’s that?”
“The hardest race in the world.”
“Why is it so hard?”
“It’s thousands of kilometres of dangerous off road racing with cars, bikes & trucks with little sleep over weeks at a time. Many people who start it don’t finish. People die on it almost every year.”
This very smart grade 9 student was confused. Finally she asked, “Why would anyone do that?”
“Because it’s difficult,” I replied.
She ruminated on that a moment then asked, “why is it so dangerous?”
“Because people race it in cars, trucks, quads and bikes, all at the same time over deserts, mountains and jungles. If you’re on a smaller vehicle it becomes even more dangerous than it already is.”
“Why on earth would anyone do that on a motorcycle?!?”
“Because it’s even more difficult…”

Is attempting the dangerous and difficult with ample chance of failure a bad idea, or the point of it all?  Risk nothing and you lose everything.

If you haven’t been keeping up with the race this year, it’s still all to play for.  If you want the official feed you can find it on the Dakar YouTube channel.  

If you’re into documentary film making using the latest in state of the art video and on the fly editing, Lyndon Posskitt’s Youtube Channel will take you through the race one gruelling stage at a time.  If you’ve got some time, watch Lyndon’s Malle Moto – The Forgotten Dakar Story about last year’s race.  It’ll set you up for this year’s harrowing adventure.

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With hail hitting the windows, here’s another load-up-the-van daydream, this time over the Easter long weekend…


It’s up in the teens Celsius in Cincinnati, and it’s close by, less than eight hours away.  If I’d have gone to work on Thursday with the bike loaded up in the van, I could have been on my way by 3:30pm and feet up in a hotel on the Ohio River before midnight.  The next morning I’d be exploring what looks like a plethora of interesting routes up and down the River on the Kentucky side, all in mid-teens temperatures.


Spoiled for choice:

• The Rabbit Hash Ride
• Big Lick: Ride the Ohio River
• Madison to Louisville: 18 Mile Creek Ride
• Southeastern Indiana Ohio River Ride
• Eastern Indiana Canal Loop

Another angle might be to aim just east of Columbus, Ohio.  There are a large number of motorbike roads out that way on the edge of the Appalachians.  Zanesville, Ohio would be a great launching point to dozens of rides, and it’s less than seven hours away.  Due south of town is the Triple Nickel, along with a pile of other very twisty roads.  Temperatures out in eastern Ohio are similar to those in Cinci.

• Wayne National Forest Run
• Ohio Route 26
• Old US 21

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With the 2017 MotoGP season behind us I’ve been thinking about who I’d vote for rider of the year.  I tend to steer clear of the factory riders because when you have truckloads of people getting you around the track as quickly as humanly possible you should be at the sharp end of the championship.  There are exceptions to that, like Marc Marquez in 2014, when a rider seems to be in a class of one, but this year that didn’t happen.

It was a scrappy season with many leaders in the championship.  What first looked like a runaway by Yamaha’s new rider Maverick Viñales turned into a season long fight between Marquez on an ever improving Honda that only he seemed able to ride and Andrea Dovizioso on a Ducati he has stuck with and helped develop into a race winning weapon.  At various points in the season Yamaha, Honda and Ducati all led the championship.


As exciting as all that was the rider of the year for me was Johann Zarco.  In his first MotoGP race he leapt into the lead and although he didn’t last there very long it made a huge splash.  While the top riders are making big bucks and have dozens of support people, Zarco, a rookie in a small, private team using last year’s bike and making a fraction of the money ended up being the only Yamaha rider fighting for wins by the end of the season.  Marquez’ mum wasn’t begging anyone else to not do to her son what he does to everyone else.


That’s another reason why I like Zarco, he’s an odd duck.  He doesn’t play the whining in the media game many of the top riders do, he just gets on with the job without the retinues, fancy sunglasses and stylists.  He’s known for spending his time in the pits with his crew and sleeping in the truck.  At each race he sorted out the bike and then got into the mix.  While riders like Marquez (with a long history of crashing and general nonsense) whined about Zarco’s ‘aggressive riding style’, Zarco just shrugged and did the business, on a year old bike, for a fraction of the money, with a fraction of the support.  That’s why he’s my rider of 2017.  I look forward to him giving the big money riders some more grief in 2018.  Hopefully they won’t whine about it quite so much, but I wouldn’t count on it.

I went looking for some TechTrois / Zarco kit, but it’s sadly lacking.  There is a photo of Johann at full lean on the Tech3 bike – I’ve pulled the colours out of it so it could go on any coloured shirt as an outline.  Between that and his logo, you’d have a nice bit of custom shirtery that celebrates the warrior monk of MotoGP.  


Here’s the link to it on Zazzle.  Below is the image and the graphic I pulled out of it if you want to DIY up something.

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If you’re ever in the southern end of the London suburbs, Box Hill is a local meeting place for motorcyclists.  On the sunny, August, Sunday morning I was there it was already busy at 9am and had thousands pass by over the day.  If you get a chance to go see it you’ll get a good sense of just how diverse and how different UK motorcycling culture is from North American cruiser biased riding culture.  It’s little wonder that there are multiple British riders in MotoGP, but North Americans are thin on the ground.

From 50cc classics to 2300cc modern monster bikes, Box Hill had it all on a Sunday morning.  It’s a strange thing seeing British imagery substituted for the Stars and Stripes when you’re used to seeing Americana everywhere.

Inside Ryka’s, the restaurant/coffee shop in the parking lot at Box Hill, there is a lot of British motorcycling memorabilia.

My cousin Jeff (who has done hundreds of thousands of miles on two wheels) looking over his dream machine.

On the back of one old timer’s jacket – what you’d expect to find in the UK.

Lots of customization on hand.  UK riders seem particularly drawn to farkling their bikes.

A local dealer on hand to show of the latest Hondas.

A hand stitched webby seat on a very customized machine.

Just in case you felt your Triumph wasn’t British enough.

There were more Indians than Harleys in the lot.

Well marked territory.

The lot was already over half full when we got there and just got busier and busier by the time we left just past 10am.

Lots of Triumph on display.

After weeks only glimpsing motorcycles on the road, this was a good fill up.  I only wish I’d had the Tiger there – it would have been the only 955i Tiger in the lot.

Tim’s happy bike face.

They ride everything, but if there is a single type of bike that typifies the British biker, it’s still the sports bike, at least on Box Hill.

A small contingent of what would be the dominant form of riding in North America proudly showing of patches with such wisdom as ‘loud pipes save lives’.

An hour of wandering around was nice, but when you show up in shorts and get out of a car you’re only half there.  I never missed the Tiger more than that morning at Box Hill.

What do you do after you’ve gone up to Box Hill, had breakfast at Ryka’s and chatted with other riders?  You open it up going down the hill like this guy did.

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a 260km amble around theNiagara Escarpment.

I cranked out some miles on the Tiger this weekend.  On Saturday it was a 160km round trip down to Ancaster for a conference, on Sunday I left with a buddy from work along with his wife and son on a big 260km loop out to the Niagara Escarpment and back.

Jeff was two up on his new-to-him Goldwing and he son was on his dad’s Super Ténéré.  We left Fergus following the Grand River and immediately came upon two cruisers burbling down the road next to each other.  Any questions I had about passing etiquette on other bikers were quickly put aside when Jeff dropped a gear and blew by the two of them without a second glance.   They (politely) went into single file so that we could catch the fleeing Goldwing without crossing a solid line.

Chasing the Noisy River into Creemore is always a nice ride.

Elora to Creemore happened in a snap and the Tiger was becoming more and more familiar with each mile traveled.  Chasing the Noisy River into Creemore was well timed on empty roads and the Tiger and I had no trouble keeping up with the more experienced riders around me.

We stopped for lunch in Creemore and then helped a Harley rider try and jump start his dead, brand new bike (his typical Sunday ride, but I like my dependable, thirteen year old Triumph).  He eventually found a local who offered to jump start the bike from a truck.  After working up a sweat pushing a Harley up and down Main Street for a several minutes in our modern, textile body armor (while being watched by groups of leather clad bikers who I’m sure felt great kinship with the old fella whose bike wouldn’t start, but not so much that they wanted to help), we headed south toward River Road.

In addition to being a windy road in a place that doesn’t have many, River Road also has the benefit of taking longer than five minutes to complete.

The River Road was a twisty delight.  Riding a bike is a fine thing, but the moment I’m off the crown of the tire I feel like I’m earning bonus points.  At my first training course towards the end of day two they set up cones and we were allowed to weave through them at speed and then ride a decreasing radius circle.  I stopped at one point and said to the instructor, “I could do this all day!”  The lean of a bike is nothing short of fighter-pilot magical (even Top Gear digs it).

River Road was a rollercoaster ride until we once again arrived on the tailpipe of a cruiser.  On any straight this guy would gun it, making a pass impractical (200km/hr passes, while possible, aren’t wise on twisty country roads).  We spent the last bit taking the corners at floor board friendly speeds.

The action cam was clipped to a front fairing for the twisty bits.

In Shelbourne there was a big, new sign advertising the Veteran’s Highway pointing south, so rather than go over to the overcrowded Highway 10 I thought we should try it.  The moment we were past the last factory two hundred yards down the road the “Veteran’s Highway” turned to dirt.  The Tiger seemed frisky and excited to be on the loose stuff, feeling very sure footed for such a big bike.  Behind me the Super10 was also rolicking in the gravel, but the two-up Goldwing?  When we stopped Jeff referred to it as an adventure two-up mobility scooter.  We turned left toward the highway at the first paved intersection.

The wave on River Road

Back at Highway 10 I once again suggested we push onto unknown roads in northern Mono Hills.  This road also quickly turned to gravel, but this time loose, twitchy gravel.  I’m bad at picking roads.  We ended up turning around and heading back to 10 before burning south and enjoying some time in Mono Hills and Hockley Valley.

We wrapped up the ride with a quick blast down the Forks of the Credit, which had the road closed into Belfountain, before heading back to Elora in lengthening shadows.

I got home sun and wind burned and wonderfully exhausted.  Can’t wait to do it again!

Dropping into Hockley Valley.

That ‘Lucifer Orange’ paint just pops!

Working the corners of the Forks

Jeff making a three point turn on a Goldwing 2-up look easy.

Forks of the Credit: the road into Belfountain was closed, so a bevy of sports bikes were parked on the road.

The artful exhaust pipes on the Tiger.

Stopping for a break in Hockley Valley before heading down to the Forks of the Credit

I’ve been re-watching Jo Sinnott’s Wild Camping.  That Roof Helmet she wears looks fantastic.  It’s a French designed, multiple function helmet with a fighter pilot vibe.  The Desmo Flash in Orange and black gets itself on my want list.


ROOF Desmo Flash from Canada’s Motorcycle:  $550


I’ve heard a lot about Aerostich.  It started when I read Melissa Holbrook Pierson‘s The Man Who Would Stop At Nothing.  For serious long distance riders, the Aerostich is pretty much the only choice.  Armoured, weatherproof and virtually bullet proof, it’d be nice to have the last word in motorbiking overalls, but they don’t come cheap.

Aerostich Roadcrafter Classic:  $1014 

I’m hanging in for a fix on the oil cooler on my new-to-me, found-in-a-field Kawasaki Concours, but what I’d really like is a new one.  They aren’t cheap, I’m looking at about $500 with shipping and customs costs – which is only a couple of hundred less than I bought the bike for.  I could pick one up from ebay used for about sixty bucks delivered, but it might not be much better than the one I have.

$500 new – not going to happen. Han would never by a new part for the ‘Falcon.  I’m going to aim for the $70 delivered used bit and see how it goes.

With the carbs sorted I’m chasing down anything else that could have caused the fuel leak into the engine on the Fireblade.  Yesterday I had the petcock out of the gas tank again and tested it over a catch basin.  Fuel flows fine when it’s on, but it continues to drip when it’s supposed to be closed, so a new petcock is in order.  Fortunately they seem to be a regularly replaced maintenance item because you can buy them on Amazon for not much money.

The neutral light wasn’t working, so I got some LED replacements – they’re super bright.  The wiring to the neutral sensor was stripped down by the drive sprocket, so I cleaned it up, reattached it and taped it up.  Voila, working neutral light again.


There were also a set of wires coming out of the drive sprocket housing that look like they go to a speed sensor which were resting on the exhaust pipe and had melted.  These too got sorted and re-wrapped.  I’m also going to fasten that loom so that it can’t touch the exhaust again.


There are still lots of little details to sort, but the Honda is coming together nicely.  I’ll aim to have it safetied in the spring and then run it for a few months and see if having a second bike in the garage is worth hanging on to, or it might just be sold on to fund the next project.  In the meantime, I’m looking forward to running my first true sport bike.

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Next season is a long, cold winter away, but I’m already daydreaming about what might be…




TomTom Rider 550 Moto-GPS:  I’ve always made do with my phone, but Google Maps is kinda crap when it comes to navigating on a bike.  Whenever you reach a way point it wants input, which isn’t easy when you’re flying through the air at 60mph with gloves on.  The TomTom not only is glove friendly, but the software is moto-specific, so no pointless inputs.  It even has a twisty-roads function!  $370CAN

A New Roof: I’m partial to Roof Helmets. To date I’ve owned a first generation Desmo and a Boxxer. The Boxxer is a simple thing and I miss the plush, quieter and more substantial Desmo I had before. Roof has actually come out with a new Desmo, the RO32, and I’m partial to the new flat dark blue lid they’ve just done. Roofs are hard to find in North America, but Chromeburner has the new lid on for about $500CAN.

Van’s got a tow hitch, so trailer, obviously…  $1600 at Canadian tire for this one.  Maybe trailers don’t matter, but I’d like to colour match this one to the van.  With that and a fitted cover, it could take one or two bikes to wherever the snow ends in the winter and trackdays in the summer.

BIKE WISHLIST:

A next level off-roader.  I’ve done a few rounds of off-road training and dig the experience.  I’d like to race enduro and need something dependable and big enough to carry me.  There was a Suzuki DR650 I looked at in the summer for a very reasonable $4000.  It was five years old but basically brand new due to some back luck by its owner.  I wish I could go back in time, get that bike, sort it out for enduro racing and then do it!

Track-day bike:  I’ve already got this one underway with the Fireblade project.  Sorting out the CBR900rr in the garage and then making it track-day ready would be brilliant.  The real block to entry is the cost of racing kit and the ability to transport the bike to the track.  I think I’m some finishing up and detail work away from putting the Honda back on the road in the spring.

Top Speed Machine:  I’ve always been partial to the Suzuki Hayabusa, and it would let me do a bucket list thing (200mph on a motorcycle) with only a few modifications.  To stretch the bucket list wish, I’d take it out to speed week in Bonneville and do 200mph on the salt.  If I wanted a leg up on this, someone has a modified turbo Hayabusa in Windsor.

A 2-up Touring specialist:  The Tiger will do 2-up work, but it isn’t ideal for it.  A bike that’s a 2-up specialist would be the ideal tool for the job.  Out of all the big cruiser/touring bikes out there, I think the Goldwing is the best.  I’ve ridden a friend’s.  It’s surprisingly athletic, even with 2 people on it.  Touring bikes don’t come cheap – the ‘Wing is a $30k thing.

Anime Dream Machine:  The Kawasaki Z1000 has long been a favourite and its Sugomi designed look is pure anime awesomeness.  I’ve got to admit that the Fireblade project sitting in my garage scratches many of the same itches though.  There’s an orange Z1000 in Quebec going for about $10k.  I think the Fireblade might have scratched this itch…

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