It was a tough week with an empty garage, but the Connie passed safety and it's now licensed and ready to put on some miles, I just have to wait for the snow to stop. The ride back from shop was -8°C (minus thirteen with the windchill, minus a million when you're riding in it). With any luck we can get some above zero temperatures soon and I can finally take the big 'un for a long ride.
It was gratifying to have a pro look over the bike and judge it well put together. Considering all the work I've done on it, it feels like a real validation.
Since I'm with-bike again, I took another run at 3d modelling it...
Saturday 28 March 2015
Wednesday 25 March 2015
Micromorts & Motorcycling
I'm watching Morgan Freeman's Through The Wormhole again. This particular show is all about whether or not luck exists. In the episode they introduce the concept of micromorts - a unit of measurement based on chance, in this case a one in a million chance of instant death. Using statistics, the micromort allows you to assess the risk involved in various activities based on your chances of a fatality.
Needless to say, motorcycling is up there. Compared to other forms of transport shown, you earn more micromorts motorcycling than just about anything else. Of course, you have to remember that being alive costs you micromorts each day (and more each day you get older). Sedentary activity? Smoking? Drinking? They all get you.
A twenty a day smoker generates the same micromorts as a motorcyclist who rides 100 miles. Every 28 months you live with a smoker earns you the same micromorts as that 100 miles on a motorbike. Next time a smoker is telling you how dangerous motorcycling is, you can hit 'em with some micromortization (and maybe point out that your motorcycling doesn't kill everyone around you quicker either).
When you get into extreme sports the micromort count skyrockets. Ever felt the urge to climb Everest? That'll cost you about 40,000 micromorts, or 266,666 miles on a motorbike. Of course you'd spend a couple of weeks climbing a mountain or years on two wheels racking up a quarter of a million miles. Funny how one thing is considered brave and noble and the other reckless. Of course, riding a bike also uses less fossil fuel to move people around, while climbing Everest creates an environmental disaster.
One of the hardest things to wrap your head around with micromorts is how they change over time. As a baby you're small and weak and much closer to death. Through your middle years you're stable and as far from death as you'll ever statistically get, but as an older person you face death more and more each year. Considering that, you have to wonder why more older people don't get into biking. Just waking up the in morning in your sixties nets you more micromorts than a hundred miles on a bike. If you're facing that long good night anyway, do not keep trying to turn away from the inevitable hoping to go gently.
The point of us being here isn't to be here for as long as possible. Motorcycling, more than anything else, will remind you of that every moment you're in the saddle. There are some things than cannot be reached without risk, and they are usually the best things. If I'm going to rack up micromorts anyway, I'd rather be doing it on a motorbike.
Some micromort links:
understanding micromorts
A lesson in risk taking
Extreme sports, risk and micromorts
Understanding Uncertainty: Survival
Do not go gentle into that good night
Dylan Thomas, 1914 - 1953
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Micromorts: assessing risk by statistical comparison You've got to wonder what 'driving is safer' means from an environmental perspective. |
A twenty a day smoker generates the same micromorts as a motorcyclist who rides 100 miles. Every 28 months you live with a smoker earns you the same micromorts as that 100 miles on a motorbike. Next time a smoker is telling you how dangerous motorcycling is, you can hit 'em with some micromortization (and maybe point out that your motorcycling doesn't kill everyone around you quicker either).
When you get into extreme sports the micromort count skyrockets. Ever felt the urge to climb Everest? That'll cost you about 40,000 micromorts, or 266,666 miles on a motorbike. Of course you'd spend a couple of weeks climbing a mountain or years on two wheels racking up a quarter of a million miles. Funny how one thing is considered brave and noble and the other reckless. Of course, riding a bike also uses less fossil fuel to move people around, while climbing Everest creates an environmental disaster.
One of the hardest things to wrap your head around with micromorts is how they change over time. As a baby you're small and weak and much closer to death. Through your middle years you're stable and as far from death as you'll ever statistically get, but as an older person you face death more and more each year. Considering that, you have to wonder why more older people don't get into biking. Just waking up the in morning in your sixties nets you more micromorts than a hundred miles on a bike. If you're facing that long good night anyway, do not keep trying to turn away from the inevitable hoping to go gently.
The point of us being here isn't to be here for as long as possible. Motorcycling, more than anything else, will remind you of that every moment you're in the saddle. There are some things than cannot be reached without risk, and they are usually the best things. If I'm going to rack up micromorts anyway, I'd rather be doing it on a motorbike.
Some micromort links:
understanding micromorts
A lesson in risk taking
Extreme sports, risk and micromorts
Understanding Uncertainty: Survival
Do not go gentle into that good night
Dylan Thomas, 1914 - 1953
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Monday 23 March 2015
Mostly Ironhead 3d Harley Davidson Models
I was back at Mostly Ironheads this afternoon to drop off some paperwork and took a few 3d models. I didn't have a chance to set pieces up in the middle of some open space, so these are a bit spotty, but they give an idea of what kind of detail you could get with a more careful modelling.
Mostly Ironheads Website
Mostly Ironheads on Facebook
Saturday 21 March 2015
Mostly Ironheads
The Connie is off getting safetied, and the Ninja has found a new home. I'm bikeless! |
I'd contacted the owner, Lloyd, over the phone during the week about getting the Concours safetied. He doesn't usually work with 'metric bikes', but he was willing to look after me. Mostly Ironheads is a full service shop that, in addition to offering everything you need to maintain your bike, also offers you some genuine historical motorcycling perspective. While chatting with Lloyd he showed me a 1934 Harley Flathead engine that he was in the process of rebuilding. In the front of the shop you'll also find a collection of customized Harleys from various decades. I'm going to bring the 3d-scanner when I return for the Connie next week and get some models of this classic American iron.
It's convenient to wander around department store styled dealerships and bike shops, but it isn't all that interesting beyond what you're shopping for. Places like Mostly Ironheads run at a different speed. The proprietors are always happy to spend some time chatting with you and the chances of seeing something genuine and learning something about motorbiking are much higher.
If you're travelling through Elora, Ontario on two wheels (and many people do to have lunch by the river in the summer), be sure to pop down behind Dar's Country Market to Mostly Ironheads and have a look at a hidden piece of Ontario motorcycle culture.
Mostly Ironheads Website
Mostly Ironheads on Facebook
3d models of some historical Harleys
Monday 16 March 2015
Tragic Emptiness, New Possibilities
...and then there was one. |
I was asking $3900, but figured it would need some work done to safety, so I had a $500 cushion in there. It went for $3200 as is, no extra cost on my part. I'm happy with that, I bought it for $3500 safetied two years ago and put four thousand miles on it.
I've spent the last couple of days putting time into the Concours, getting it ready for launch...
I need to put some miles on this bike so I can begin believing that I can trust it. I took it around the block today to warm up the final drive before changing out the fluid - that's the last fluid change on the bike, everything is new and synthetic now.
I'm still wandering around online looking at a very different second bike. The KLX250 is on my short list now after seeing that one with a big bore kit. We did our bike course on Yamaha 250s and I loved how light and flickable they were. Having a small enduro would be the night and day difference I'd be looking for in having two bikes, not to mention it'd be very cheap to run. If I had five grand laying about, I'd chuck it at a new one.
I suspect the Concours will need more TLC than the Ninja did, but if it turns out to be pretty bullet proof, a second bike with character could be this interesting '70s Yamaha. I'd be able to get my scrambler vibe on with that!
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