BluepoofBikes Motorcycle Adventures

Farkle is mostly complete...for now.

The Beemer is looking a lot less stock these days!

So now, we've got:

• F800GS windscreen 
• SW-Motech skidplate
• SW-Motech engine guards
• Moto-Sport Panniers luggage brackets
• Givi topcase rack 

That's looking more like one of my bikes, wouldn't you say?

I'm heading up to Rick Mayer Cycle tomorrow to have a custom seat made -- I absolutely love his saddles -- and then I think my wallet is done for a while.  Whew.

New gear day!

Yesterday was a great "new gear day" for both hobbies.  My new motorcycling pants arrived from NewEnough, plus Peter and I had a successful East/West Hockey outing.

First up, the bike gear.

First Gear HT Overpants 2.0

I suppose it's not terribly surprising that my older bike gear started falling apart; I've already had to replace my jacket and boots over the past year or so, so now it was time for the pants upgrade.

I stuck with the same make and model as my last pair -- FirstGear HT Overpants -- since I really like the design and fit.  

They're waterproof up to an all-day deluge, fit well over jeans or work pants, and are comfortable for all-day touring.  I really like how the side zipper goes all the way up to the hip on each leg, making the pants very easy to take on and off...plus, while touring, I can just unzip the legs at restaurants or tourist spots and get some air without taking the pants all the way off.

At 5'1" and a muscular 125 lbs, I wear their smallest size, Women's 6.  The legs are a little too long, but not obnoxiously so, and the fit is great.

     

Tourmaster Women's Sentinel Rain Pants

Next up, new rain pants.  I've had my old pair -- Tourmaster Elite -- since 2002, so that's a pretty good run.  The matching jacket that I bought at the time is still in great shape, but the pants ripped the last time I wrestled my boot through.

Since I got the Elite set in '02 (in a men's size XS), Tourmaster has added women's rain gear to their lineup (YAY!!!).  So, this time, I was able to do a fit and sizing upgrade.

The Sentinel pants seem like they're going to work pretty well.  My only complaint is the same one I had with the Elite -- they have a side zipper at the base of the leg so that you can take the rain pants on/off while leaving your boots on, but the gusset isn't really wide enough to get the boot comfortably through without snagging the pants.  This is what eventually ripped my Elite pants, though I suppose I shouldn't really be complaining since it took 7 years of wear before that rip happened.

I bought a size S and they fit well over jeans and the aforementioned HT Overpants.

The pictures below are while wearing all three of those layers:

     

CCM Vector 6 Chest Protector 

And now, the hockey gear.

I didn't really need a new chest protector, but I'm starting to get into enough scrums along the boards that the slightly too-big fit of my original one was bugging me.  The elastic around the waist was stretched out and the whole thing would ride up and hit the bottom of my neck.

I tried on a few pair at East/West and came out with this CCM.  

Surprisingly (to both me and Jason, the shop employee), the Senior (adult) S size fit me pretty well; we were both expecting to delve into the Junior sizes.   This particular line of chest protectors must run small for the sizes, as Peter tried on a Senior L and it fit him (he normally takes a M).

Nike Bauer Vapor XVI Hockey Pants

Ah, my eternal search for hockey pants that fit!  I ripped the crap out of my Reebok 8K pants in Vegas and figured I could spring for a new pair while waiting for the magical "free time" needed to sew up the 8Ks.

I tried on a pair of CCMs that I really liked, but East/West only went down to Senior S in them.  Those were way too big;  if I fit them in the crotch, the waistband was literally in my armpits, and if I tugged them down so the waist/hips fit, I looked like a hiphop groupie with the crotch at my knees.  Tip to hockey gear manufacturers: short people play your damn sport.

Anyway, eventually I tried on the Nike Bauer Vapor XVI pants in a Junior L and I like the fit.  They have slightly less armor than either my Reeboks or the CCMs I tried on, but I think that'll be OK.  We'll see how it goes the first time I get a slapshot to my thigh. ;)  

The Junior L seems to be the right size for me, looking at the little sizing chart that came with them.  Heh, the same chart has "Age Guidelines" and apparently I am the same size as an 11 year old boy.  

I'm not sure why I look psychotic in this first picture.  Hrm.

       

XT225 tires

There's a tire survey currently on XT225.com.  Here's my post.

•    Type of riding you do (on/off road mix)

60%/40% (on/off road)

• Tire size

Front: 90/90-21
Rear: 120/80-18

• Tire make/model

Metzeler Sahara 3

• Price w/date

Total would be $241.90 (plus tax, S&H) if ordered 12/3/08

• Where purchased (include link if available)

Southwest Moto Tires

• How many miles you've used the tires

~800 miles

• Indicate front and/or rear

Both

• Wet, dry, mud performance as applicable

Dry pavement: Excellent. 
Wet pavement: Very good.
Dry dirt: Excellent.
Mud: Very good. 
Rocks: Very good.

• Your comments, recommendations, observations and review.

These are my favorite tires for my kind of riding on the XT225. If I did 100% off roading, I would want something knobbier, like the Kenda Trakmaster, but the Saharas are perfect for dualsporting.  

• Any other information you deem helpful

Ironing reflective tape onto gear

It's been driving me nuts for a while that my FirstGear HT overpants, while awesome, didn't have any reflective bits on the backs of the legs.

Fortunately, a trip to Joann Fabrics made everything better.

Clicky clicky for the write-up

Topical analgesic -- in a stick!

OK, OK, I know, I know -- I don't post forever and then I do and it's about topical pain cream. But hey, baby steps.

I stopped by the hippie grocery store by work on a whim today and found this:

Merry Hempsters Hot Hemp Muscle Rub

Why do I care?

Because for YEARS, I've been using Tiger Balm, BioFreeze, etc, which I love...but I hate getting my hands all stinky and goopy and menthol-y. Maybe I'm, like, lightyears behind what the kidz do these days, but I'd never seen a topical analgesic in stick form before.

So I bought it and put it in my tankbag. I look forward to many wonderful gas station applications of happy neck AND happy hands. Hooray!

Sierra Designs Sirius 2 tent review

Since I posted this yesterday on ADV, I figured I'd post it here, too.

Here's my review of my Sierra Designs Sirius 2 tent.

From Sierra Design's website:

• Trail Weight: 4 lbs 2 oz
• Fastpack Weight: n/a
• Packed Weight: 4 lbs 10 oz
• Packed Size: 23" x 6"
• Number of Doors: 2
• Interior Area: 31 sq. ft.
• Vestibule Area: 4 + 4 sq. ft.
• Peak Height: 39"
• Floor Material: 70D Nylon Taffeta, 1800mm
• Body Material: 70D Nylon Rip Stop
• Fly Material: 70D Nylon Taffeta, 1500mm
• Number of Poles: 2
• Poles: DAC Press Fit, 9.0mm

• MSRP: $159 (USD)
  

Here are some photos of my tent:

As you can see, the tent perfectly holds my Aerostich High-Tech cot -- though a taller rider might find that their bag rubs up against the tent walls in the night. I'm only 5'1" and the very bottom of my bag is often damp from condensation when I use the cot (even with the vestibules staked out).

The vestibules are great for my boots and riding gear (I keep my helmet and tankbag inside the tent -- I don't like a wet or buggy helmet in the morning!).

It has a LOT of ventilation for summer camping, which is my preferred time to camp anyway. I don't have a photo of the tent with the fly off but I'll take one the next time I camp.

I also attached a Sierra Designs portable attic (manufacturer pic here) and leave it in the tent at all times. I put my Brunton Glorb LED lantern in the attic at night and can always see the tent from the outside (and can easily maneuver around or read in bed via the light).

The Sirius 2 is really easy to set up due to the clip system of the poles (no sleeves). It takes me about 5 minutes to set up, including lining up the footprint and clicking together the poles.

I pack the footprint and poles/stakes separately from the rest of the tent; the tent itself (including the fly and attic) fit in a Medium sized Granite Gear compressible stuff sack.

The coldest weather I've camped in with this tent so far had an overnight low of 35F. The warmest so far has been an overnight low of 47F.

This tent came highly recommended from Becca, moto-camper extraordinaire, and I have to agree with her assessment. Two thumbs up!

Reflective Tape

On our trip to and from Eureka, Dan told me that the reflective strip on my jacket was totally hidden behind my Givi bag and that I was close to invisible from the back. That's not good!!

Fortunately, I had ordered some reflective tape sheets from CycleGadgets.com.

The bike before adding tape:

I added a 8" x 5" rectangle to the back of each saddlebag. With the extra little strip left on the 8" x 11" sheet, I added some reflection to the back of the Givi bag, too:

As you can see here, without light, the reflective tape is plain black. Stylish in the daytime, productive at night!

Here's another shot of the bags without direct light. You can still see that there's tape on them, of course, but the effect really is nice and black.

I'm loving the tape. I still have one more 8" x 11" sheet (for $17, you get two sheets), so I have to think of other ways to light up my Givi for commuting. I think I'll also put some on the back of my helmet.

Update to the PLB post: SPOT messenger

As a follow up to the blog entry on Personal Locator Beacons, I wanted to mention that we got a SPOT satellite messenger.

We bought ours at our local REI after seeing that the price there was comparable to other online stores.

So far, we're pretty happy with it. We successfully tracked ourselves to the hockey rink and back on Saturday, and to my hockey game yesterday.

The device sent email to me and Peter when we hit the "OK" button, and would upload tracks to the findmespot.com website every 20 minutes after we turned on continual tracking.

Here's one of the emails it sent, while we were at a Quiznos near the ice rink:

"[email protected]" to me, peter
Hi! This is Carolyn, checking in with my SPOT device. Click on the link to see where I am!
Unit Number: 0-xxxxxxx
Latitude: 37.4785
Longitude: -122.1861
Nearest Town from unit Location: Florence St, Redwood City, CA, US
Distance to the nearest town: 0 km(s)
Time in GMT the message was sent: 02/24/2008 03:00:10
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=37.4785,-122.1861&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

The granularity is awesome; looking at Google maps via the link in the email, we could see which exact parking spot our truck was in.

The only thing I have questions about is the feature by which other people can log in and see my tracks. I can't see a way to do that via the website without giving people my account log-in information, which clearly isn't happening. I have an email out to customer service and will update this blog post when I get a response.

Update from customer care:

"Hi Carolyn,
Right now the only way for your family & friends to track you down is by having access to your account, but soon by the end of March we will have a different password to be given to family & friends.
Thank you for your patience,
SPOT USA Customer Service"

So there we go. I'll let you guys know when this functionality is available!

Update 4/24:
Guest access is now available, yay! You can now manage guest access for the different messenger profiles and create a URL to give to others. The URL can be set public or password-protected. Looking good!

The boots are dead; long live the boots!

Yesterday I bought my second pair of Daytona Ladystar GTX boots.

Here was my first pair:

By my calculations (by which I mean looking back at old blog entries), these boots lasted from July 2002 until January 2008, with over 75,000 miles on them.

The only reason I gave up on them was that there was the teensiest of holes in a cracked leather part near my toe. 99% of the time it was fine, but during the flooding we've been having here this past week, my foot would be wet when I got to work.

So, I treated myself to these:

Same exact boots, but a brand new pair. Purr. The first thing I noticed on the ride home from Helimot is how much the tread must have worn down on the old pair. It was like getting an extra little bit of rise for free! ;)

Helmut and crew kept my old pair at the shop to show off to customers. If you're going to spend $400 on boots, people want to know how the boots are going to hold up; with 6 years of active wear, that's only $65/year for the best boots I've ever come across. Well worth every penny.

Risk/reward analysis of PLBs

A recent thread on Sport-Touring.net described a member's accident while on a solo ride in remote Colorado.

After separating from his bike and tumbling down a small hillside, the forum member remained unseen with a severely broken leg for five hours. Finally, two German tourists saw some accident detritus and stopped to look over the hillside and the rider was transported to a hospital. He was finally seen by a doctor eight and a half hours after the accident.

The accident report got me thinking once again about Personal Locator Beacons (PLB).

The "Pros" of PLBs are pretty obvious:

• Could save my life in the most dramatic case
  
• Could greatly speed up search and rescue in the case of any solo accident in a remote area
  
• Works in areas where cell phones don't (rural Colorado, for example)
  

However, there are also some cons to PLBs, which is where the risk/reward analysis comes in.

• Must be manually activated, thus rendering it useless if I were unconscious
• They're pretty big -- the smallest one is 10oz and is 5.85 x 2.21 x 1.4 inches
• Would need to be carried on me (in a jacket), since it's likely I would be separated from the bike. This is a significant risk given the dimensions above -- I'm MUCH more likely to break a rib from landing on the PLB in a minor accident than I am to have a severe enough accident to use the PLB in the first place.

So that's my brain dump on PLBs for the day. Anyone have any thoughts or experience with them?