We loaded up our wee mini-van and spent 48 hours out in the woods near Bobcaygeon. Into the back I packed some helmets and the tiny Yamaha. The cottage we were at is an ideal base for off-roading. It's at the end of a long gravel fire road deep in the woods, and it's surrounded by off road snowmobile trails. You couldn't ask for a better place to practice the art of riding off road on two wheels. I really need to get my mits on an off road bike so I can go on those trails with my boy on his bike. While I was lamenting my lack of a dual sport I went out on one of the ATVs and rode some trails with an eye for how a bike might make its way through three foot deep puddles and up rocky washed out trails. The ATV is like a tank, bashing its way through with brute force and massive wheels. You've got no chance of falling off and you pretty much knock your way through on a hugely over-square, balanced machine. A bike would be like a scalpel after using a butcher's cleaver. The inherent lack of balance on a bike means pounding through those massive puddles would be a tricky proposition. I can't wait to try it. Since I started riding I've realized how many different ways there are to learn motorcycle dynamics, and off-roading will push those boundaries far more cheaply than track racing might. I'm hoping to nail down an off road focused dual sport and some kit in the next couple of weeks and then I intend to spend a lot of time up on the trails around the cottage, falling off a lot and learning things I'd never get to learn on the road.
A lovely little Yamaha came up in Orangeville for sale. I'm hoping it's still available. It's a light weight, air cooled XT350, the grandchild of the venerable XT500. It'd also look good with with my son's PW80. Just two guys out on their Yamahas. Here's hoping it's still waiting for me.
My most comfortable helmet is the cheapest one I've bought. That Hawk open faced helmet from Leatherup.ca is a simple device with barely any padding in it, yet I can wear it for hours without any pressure points. It's a flip down, open faced lid with a built in sun visor, but it solidified for me my preferred helmet type - the open faced, modern helmet. You can get out of the wind with the full face visor, or just use the sun visor and enjoy an unencumbered view of the road. With the open faced thing in mind, here are my latest helmet dreams, but they ain't cheap (or easy to find in some cases):
I've still got a huge crush on these French helmets that you can't get here. I'm going to have to take a trip to the south of France just to pick one up. The orange Desmo on the left has an A7 Corsair vibe to it that I dig. It still looks like the perfect helmet: an open faced helmet that can transform into a fully safetied full face helmet when needed without having to carry around bits and pieces with you. Price? No idea, you can't buy them in North America and the former distributor hasn't been forthcoming with where to get the last ones in-country. These guys have it for €469 ($649CA), but then there will be shipping and customs fees. I'd be the only one I see on the road though.
Schuberth just came out with a new version of their open faced helmet. Once again, these aren't everywhere, but they are a heck of a lot easier to find than the Roof. Compared to the French jeux de vivre in the Roof, you get some pretty German meh when it comes to style, though I bet its engineered to within an inch of its life. Price? $680 from a trusted source, canadasmotorcycle.ca
Wired did an article on these many moons ago. Also a modular helmet, but rather than the Roof's elegant hinge, you end up with a handful of bits when you want to go open face. It still has a neo-tech look to it that I like, though their webpage is a bit of a pig (my laptop is in overdrive trying to make sense of it). Price? Good question, NEXX Canada doesn't appear to offer the X40 for sale. You can find them for sale in the UK for £249.99 ($484CA), but you also facing those shipping and customs costs.
An open faced helmet that comes with all the bits and pieces to make a closed lid if you so wish. It also lets you live your Clint Eastwood Firefox dream. The Soyouz is also made by a much better known and distributed manufacturer than some of the dodgier off-shore helmets I seem drawn to. Price? $299 in Canadian dollars with free shipping and no customs surprises from motorcyclesuperstore, a trusted source who go over the top to make sure you're happy with your order. If they go on sale, I might not be able to help myself.
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.
Lexus has this ad about being in the perfect moment:
Other than the narrative (I find that I'm lost in moments like this, not narrating them in my head), I like the idea. I was editing footage from riding last week and had trouble finding a frame where I didn't have a perfect moment look on my face:
Even pausing during the high speed sections of that video shows a series of very content micro-expressions. You might find a perfect moment once in every blue moon in your Lexus, but I find them almost constantly when out on the bike. I'm starting to get the idea behind the 'you never see a bike in a therapist's parking lot' saying.
The real question is: what is it about riding a motorcycle that causes this kind of continuous immersion in the perfect moment? (redundant perhaps, every moment is perfect isn't it?)
When I ride well I find myself immersed in what I'm doing I lose myself in it. It's only when conscious thought arises that my corners aren't carved perfectly and my gears are wrong. Some of this has to do with the fact that I'm still relatively new to motorbiking and very conscious of improving my process, but the majority has to do with the immersive nature of riding a motorcycle.
I even look happy parking the bike at work!
Being in the wind means you are enveloped by the world you're passing through. Your senses are alive to sounds, smells and the panorama around you. You aren't seeing the world through a letterbox wind shield and smelling recirculated A/C. The sensual nature of riding, the wind tugging at your clothes, the sun on your back, goes a long way to making you the ride rather than you doing a ride. If the sensual side of it isn't enough (and it's often overwhelming, ask any biker who has felt the temperature drop and smelt the ozone as they've ridden into a thunderstorm), there is always the mechanical intimacy of riding a motorcycle to make you forget concious thought and become one with the moment. Unlike the hand on the wheel, one foot on the gas approach to driving, the motorcyclist is changing gears with their left toe, rear braking with their right, operating the clutch and indicators (and sometimes horn, lights and choke) with their left hand and twisting the throttle and applying the front brakes with the right. On top of that they are using both arms to counter-steer into corners and their whole bodies to manage those turns. Motorcycling is a viable and complex form of exercise for both the mind and body. So what we have here is a mode of transport that is physically taxing, mentally demanding and sensual. On top of all that, if you do it badly it can very quickly become fatal. You very quickly want to be able to fall into the zone when riding. Peak performance and awareness it fosters isn't nice to have but a necessity when operating a motorbike. Fortunately, getting to that state is fantastically rewarding. There are a lot of ways to get there but seat time seems to be the magic ingredient. In a cruel twist, this morning I got the bike out for the short commute to work. The rain had stopped and the smell of water soaked plants filled the humid air, but my up-until-now bullet proof old Concours wouldn't start, it had a dead battery! Maybe I left the ignition on? Maybe some water got into things? Maybe something broke? Suddenly that string of contented moments I was looking forward to became a morose push back into the garage after changing out of my gear. My commute turned from fifteen minutes of bliss to the tedium of driving. The bike is a wonderful form of therapy, except for when it doesn't work.
Two Wheel always had a Bartertown/Beyond the Thunderdome/ post-apocalyptic kind of feel to it, but it's all gone now!
My son Max and I went for one of those perfect rides today. We headed down to Guelph in sunny, room temperature air with no wind. It was glorious. After a few stops and lunch we headed back north and swung into Two Wheel Motorsport's new digs. The building looks impressive from the outside but the insides are something else! Two Wheel used to have a kind of organic, bigger than where it was situated/post apocalyptic vibe to it, the new place is enormous, modern and shows off their stock like a bike show.
With walls of glass and an open concept, if you've never been to Two Wheel before, it's worth a trip north of Guelph on 6 - you can't miss riding past this motorcycle Mecca now.
Shock & Awe when you walk in the front door of the new building!
Not only can you actually sit on the bikes now (they used to be piled on top of each other so you couldn't get a leg over), but there is so much space the stock on hand feels more like a bike show than a dealer!
They even had examples of modern art on display!
I could happily walk in to Two Wheel Motorsport and drop fifty grand. My local dealer has gone pro. I can't wait to see how they evolve into their new space. The only downside was having to dual sport my way across the unpaved parking lot on a Concours with a passenger. Hopefully the drive will be paved soon and then this place will become a beacon for bikers all over the area. It's worth a ride over to see what they've done.
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.
The story told in a photo is told as much by the viewer as it is by the photographer, and it's non-linear.
Since I was solo on the circumnavigation of Georgian Bay I brought along some gear to capture the moment. I prefer photography. I think a good photo is an entire world you can get lost in, and unlike video it isn't forcing you to follow along frame by frame. In a photo you're free to wander with your eyes in a non-linear way.
Having said all that, I brought along some video gear to try out on this trip. I'd love a GoPro, but since they cost almost as much as my bike did, I got a cheap Chinese knock-off instead (and a cheap knockoff it is!) The Foscam AC1080 takes fantastic video (full 1080p) and decent photos (up to 12 megapixels), and at only about $140 taxes in, it's less than 1/3 the price of a GoPro. Where it falls apart is in the fit and finish. In a week of what I'd describe as gentle use for an 'action camera' the buttons never lined up right with the unit inside the waterproof case (I ended up having to remove the camera to start and stop it), the case itself was so rickety it would just blow over in the wind (the GoPro has a ratchet in the stand that locks in position, the Foscam is just a plastic screw), and the case itself snapped at the base after only a few uses. It also gets uncomfortably hot when it recharges. I have some concerns about the physical capabilities of this 'action' camera.
The Foscam takes nice stills too, when it takes them.
The other shaky part of the Foscam is its operation. You can start it up and it'll stop again for no apparent reason (though this might have to do with convoluted options buried in menus). You might think the GoPro lacking in options, but it has very streamlined operation and always gets what you're filming (which is vital in action video), and it does it without an LCD or menu options buried three deep. The Foscam also saves in a .mov file format which Sony Vegas seems determined not to render properly. If you can get past all that frustration you can get some very nice video out of the Foscam:
... and you can find you've got nothing because it shut off just when you were about to do a one time thing:
A quick video of the boarding of the Chicheemaun ferry in Tobermory - why did I take it from the Olympus Camera around my neck? Because the Foscam shut off for no apparent reason just as we were about to board. But hey, when it works it makes nice pictures.
The go-to camera was my trusty Olympus Pen. This is the best camera I've ever owned - a micro SLR with swappable lenses and full manual control. It also takes video in a pinch. This camera punches well above its weight. If I were to pony up for something better, it would be an Olympus OM-D that takes the same size lenses, and then go on a lens hunt for some macro and telephoto madness.
Also on this trip I brought along a Samsung S5, which takes nice pics and decent video. Smartphone cameras have gotten so good that I don't think about point and shoot cameras any more, they are redundant. My only regret is not picking up the bonkers Nokia Lumia 1020 with it's massive camera built in, but then Telus didn't have it. I'm not really through with the Foscam yet. Once I've got it worked out, hopefully I can still use it to get some quality video off the bike. The other day we were out for a ride so I decided to focus on getting some audio instead. Yes, riding a bike really is as fun as this sounds. I'm going to look into making some finer audio recordings to catch the sound of riding, it's a different angle on motorbike media. Over the summer I plan to look into more advanced 3d modelling and micro-photography as well as maybe some drone work. I'm looking forward to pushing the limits with motorbike media creation.
While I was lamenting my lack of a dual sport I went out on one of the ATVs and rode some trails with an eye for how a bike might make its way through three foot deep puddles and up rocky washed out trails. The ATV is like a tank, bashing its way through with brute force and massive wheels. You've got no chance of falling off and you pretty much knock your way through on a hugely over-square, balanced machine. A bike would be like a scalpel after using a butcher's cleaver.
The inherent lack of balance on a bike means pounding through those massive puddles would be a tricky proposition. I can't wait to try it. Since I started riding I've realized how many different ways there are to learn motorcycle dynamics, and off-roading will push those boundaries far more cheaply than track racing might.
