Tim's Motorcycle Diaries: Search results for van

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Wednesday 4 December 2019

2020 Moto Wishlist

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.

Racing Kit! A one piece racing suit for the other thing below. Now that I'm with sports bike, perhaps I could take it out to track days. To do that I'd need the proper racing kit. To get the right spec helmet, boots, gloves and racing suit, I'm at about $2200. Fortnine has the bits I'd need.

A long time ago I did a car performance driving school at Shannonville Race Track and really enjoyed it. Taking the Fireblade out on track would be a brilliant way to get to know this athletic machine. Riderschoice.ca has track days. I just need to get the bike sorted and have the kit necessary to do the business.

Starting at about $170.

Of course, if you're doing track days and need to prep a bike for the track, you need to drain coolant and all sorts of other stuff. What you really need is a way to get it there. The new Transit Connect is super fuel efficient for a van and would carry my stuff and people when needed. About $37k.

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...

Monday 8 April 2019

Spring Riding On-Bike Photography

A Sunday in the teens (Celsius) meant that riding was inevitable. The Tiger had been sitting in the garage as it hailed and snowed outside this past week, but once again we get a break in the neverending Canadian winter, so off I go.

In the fall I got a Ricoh Theta V, so this was the first go at on-bike photography with it. Using the mount I made last year, I attached the new camera (same form factor and similar size to the SC I'd used before) and off I went for the first ride over to The Forks of the Credit and Higher Ground.

The ThetaV has better processing power for video than the older model, but the camera is similar spec, so still photos, where I like to work, weren't likely to change. Once nice thing about the V is that it processes way faster, so can do a photo every 4 seconds instead of the old camera's one every eight. Having twice the chance of catching a good corner was no bad thing and resulted in a number of good shots as I rode up and down The Forks, usually behind confused people driving beige minivans as slowly as they possibly could. I waited for a gap on the return ride and got a bit luckier with space, though it was pretty busy on the first sunny Sunday of the year.

Winter run-off everywhere meant a cautious line, but the Tiger on Michelins is always sure footed whether it's on snow runoff or piles of sand left over from winter.

I guess someone missed the switchback - bet it was a fast and furious type...

Stuck behind that tool in a big maroon mini-van again, so I'm waiting for a gap. Nothing more frustrating than riding for an hour to find some curves only to be stuck behind a yobbo in a mini-van.

Quality of photo is similar between the ThetaSC and the ThetaV, but the V takes way more photos quickly, so you're more likely to capture a good moment.

Parked up at Higher Ground in Belfountain. Don't order a specialty coffee if it's busy - the regular brew is good and you get it right away.

As capable as the V is, it suddenly flashed out on me when I went to ride home and wouldn't start. This was a bit of a surprise as all previous Thetas have been astonishingly tough. The Theta V seems to have magically fixed itself today, but now I'm wondering if it's up to the job.

In the meantime they've come out with the Theta Z1, a higher resolution 360 camera with a faster lens and even faster processing performance, including in-camera stitching of images together. It looks very nice, but if my first upgrade won't take photos when I need it to after it's first real weekend of use, I'm second guessing a bigger, more expensive step further.

In another meanwhile, GoPro has the Fusion 360 camera, which is tough and offers similar high resolution imaging. It's a bit of a brick, so the Theta still seems like a more aerodynamic and logical choice for on-bike photography, but not if it doesn't work. More to come. Hopefully this in-and-out Theta V was a one time thing.

Thursday 6 September 2018

Escape

It's that time of year again. Dreams of escape surround me. If I left right now I could get in and out of Tuktoyaktuk on Canada's north shore before the snows arrive (just). I might have to bomb up there in a van just to get out in time, but then it'd be heading south across the Americas for months, chasing the summer.

The west coast as autumn falls would be glorious. As the snows start to fly in Canada, I'd be into Mexico and Central America. An unrushed few weeks working my down through the many border crossings would be much less stressful if I didn't have to be somewhere somewhen. Crossing the Darien Gap from Panama to Columbia is five days on a boat and a chance to take a break from the saddle.

The boat lands in Columbia. Once in South America I'd find somewhere to bed down over the holidays in Colombia or Ecuador before rolling south into the South American summer. Spending Christmas on an empty Andean shoreline facing the never ending Pacific would be glorious.

I'd push south and see Machu Picchu after the holidays and then try and catch at least one stage of the Dakar Rally as it thunders around Peru in January. A Peruvian desert stage would be awesome.

As summer wore on in the southern hemisphere, I'd continue south to Ushuaia on the southern end of Argentina. After going from arctic to antarctic, I'd work my way back up to Buenos Aires and start the process of packing up the bike for a trans-Atlantic crossing to Cape Town.

https://adventuremotorcycletravel.com/listing/darien-gap/
http://wildcardsailing.com/motorcycle-shipping-to-colombia/
https://tkmotorcyclediaries.blogspot.com/2017/04/todd-blubaughs-too-far-gone.html
...for what it feels like to peer over the edge into a never ending ride.

Wednesday 18 July 2018

A Kinder, Gentler Cross Canada Touring Unit

We're about to undertake a cross Canada drive and I'm already missing the thought of riding for a whole month this summer. I've previously thought about Guy Martining up with a van to carry a bike, but that's a pretty industrial approach that wouldn't be very comfortable. I've also thought about carrying a bike on this trip, but again, I was pretty industrial in my thinking.

From a passenger carrying perspective, a minivan would be the logical choice. A Chrysler Pacifica is just what I'm looking for. It's very efficient for what it is (much better mileage than the industrial vans I was considering before). With a nine speed transmission it'd also be quiet and comfortable in addition to getting better than thirty miles per gallon. Unlike our small SUV, it would also be able to carry whatever we wanted to bring and the flip and hide rear seats means leg stretching room in the back.

The reason a minivan would work is because I found a hitch mounted motorcycle carrier, which means I'd be able to carry a bike on the back of it. A trailer is such a pain in the ass and is so hard on gas and transmissions that I'm not interested, but this rack fits right onto the Pacifica's frame mounted trailer hitch and distributes the weight on the back properly. The Pacifica is a strong towing vehicle with a frame mounted trailer hitch option. The rack can only carry five hundred pounds, but I wouldn't need anything like that. KTM's 690 Enduro is a Swiss Army Knife of a bike that only weighs 330lbs before fuel, so it wouldn't stress the rack much at all.

Being so light weight the Enduro makes a capable off road machine, but that light weight also means you can load it on a rack designed for dirt bikes. The Enduro is also a big bike that'd fit me and is more than capable of making time on paved roads. It's a multi-talented choice that fits.

The question is, can the Pacifica actually handle a bike rack with a sub-four hundred pound bike on it? The issue doesn't seem to be the rack itself. I've found single racks and even double racks that can hold up to six hundred pounds along with road bike specific racks, so finding a rack capable of holding the Enduro isn't an issue. The problem comes from tongue weight and how a vehicle can handle that vertical weight (as opposed to the horizontal weight of towing a trailer that rests on its own wheels).

The Pacifica's stock Class III frame mounted hitch is also the kind suggested for a bike rack, and while the Pacifica has a massive 3600lb towing capacity, the tongue weight (the only thing really matters with the bike rack) is rated at 360lbs, which is mighty close to what I need here. Tongue weight is usually calculated as being ok if it's between 9 and 15% of the towing weight, which should put the Pacifica well over 500lbs at the top end, but evidently it isn't.

I might contact a Chrysler dealer and see if this is possible...

Lightweight, multi-talented KTM Enduro on the back of a fuel efficient Chrysler Pacifica? Yes please!

Another lightweight (and less expensive) option would be the Suzuki DRZ400. At only 300lbs before gas and still less than 320lbs with a full tank, the DRZ400 would fit nicely on the back within the existing tongue weight limits.

Chrysler stock hitch: 360lb tongue weight, Class III, 2 inch receiver.
AMC-400 aluminum bike rack: 400lb weight limit (rack weighs 33.5lbs)
Suzuki DRZ400 (300lbs empty gas tank)

Sunday 1 April 2018

Another Lousy Weather Long Weekend Daydream

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:

Cincinnati is so close I could finish up with a short ride Monday morning and be on the road about noon, which would get me back up into the still frozen north by eight in the evening.

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.

Flirting with the West Virginia border means wandering onto the foot hills of the Appalachians. Every road in the area is twisty, even the ones leading to the riding roads. This is even closer than the Cinci plan, and twistier too.

The weather's getting better everywhere else but here. With above zero temperatures still weeks away, I remain reduced to daydreaming about rides out of reach.

Saturday 10 March 2018

9 Days in March: Exploring The Ozarks

Next week is on or about freezing up here in the never ending winter. Friday is looking like it might be a possibility with a current suggestion of seven degrees Celsius. I can handle seven degrees.

In a more perfect world I'd be heading out of work today, jumping in the van and driving south to where things get yellow and orange on the map.

If I was on the road by 3:30pm, I think I could manage the eleven hour drive to St Louis by just past 2am. I'd park up the van and have a sleep and aim for a morning departure from St Louis aiming South West into the Ozarks.

Seven days of following the twisting roads of the Ozarks would make for a brilliant March Break. I'd aim to get back up to the hotel in St. Louis the next Saturday and spend one more night there before making the drive back into the frozen north on the Sunday before we're back at work again. A day of driving, 7 days on the bike, a day driving back.