Maybe I’ll find time to write this weekend. The new job is currently consuming all my cycles and poor Moon Shine is sitting in the garage with just enough tread left on the front tire to get her to Tony’s place for a new one.
Busy
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Monthly Archives: February 2012
Happy Anniversary to My True Love
Robin, Baby, this one’s for you!
…and I believe you’ll remember this little poem I wrote eleven years ago (I can’t believe we’re at 13 years already! Time flies when you’re having fun!)
Yamaha VMax Mechanical Star of Ghost Rider Sequel
Some Yamaha V-Max riders are currently cringing, others are cheering at the new two-wheeled star of “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance”.
The first Ghost Rider vehicle was some overdone sculpture based on some unknown brand of v-twin chopper. It was laughable to think an old school 50′s technology V-Twin could go more than a hundred miles per hour, with a six foot flaming skeleton wrapped in 75 lbs of logging chain and a fork length of seven feet. It made little sense that it could even keep up with the ghost horse ridden by the retiring Ghost Rider.
But Hollywood has come to its senses and the reality crowd has won. Now you have a very plausible Yamaha V-Max literally burning up the road. Truly, it’s much more believable that a V-Max could fly on the highway at 300 mph fully involved with non-consuming flame and cross thousands of miles without refueling just like the magic 30 shot revolvers of classic 80s cop movies.
Thanks for keeping it real, Hollywood!
Despite our tongue-in-cheek attitude, we are looking forward to this movie, and truly grateful for the departure from the constant barrage of choppers and American made V-Twins. If you want great performance, Cage and Yamaha can certainly deliver it better than Cage and whatever that other silvery plastic thing with the unworkable chain forks was.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, we’ll just enjoy our big triple and imagine that the inside of the engine looks like the outside of Ghost Rider’s bike while we await the premiere.
Free Motorcycle Weather App for Android
There are folks who have no choice. They have one mode of transport and it is a motorcycle. They either ride in the rain or they stay put.
For those of us who have a choice, and who would prefer not to ride when the weather is at risk for deterioration, there’s the handy free Motorcycle Weather app for Android based smart phones.
For the last few years I’ve made it a habit to check the weather via my smartphone when I wake up each morning. If there’s more than a 30 per cent chance of rain, and/or wind gusts of more than 25 miles per hour, I drive the cage to work and leave my beloved Moon Shine in the garage.
It only takes a minute to read through the forecast, but when you’re running late a minute is frustrating. Last week I found a handy app that cuts that time down to about 3 seconds.
Motorcycle Weather allows you to preset your weather preferences (thresholds for comfortable riding, I call them) and checks the forecast for you. When you tap the Motorcycle Weather icon the app checks the forecast and if any of the predicted weather stats are not within your preferences it displays a large car icon, letting you know you should drive the car to work that day.
Conversely, if the weather is going to be within what you will tolerate, it displays a motorcycle icon.
No thinking, no mistaking tomorrow’s forecast for today’s, no misreading the temperature. It simply tells you to ride or not to ride with a single tap of its icon.
Foolproof, for people like me who never went to meteorology class.
And in case you want to see just how hardcore a rider I am, here are my preference settings:
Minimum low temp: 30 degrees – I know that’s below freezing, but in my region of Texas it’s got to be below freezing for a couple of days before anything really sticks other than on bridges.
Max high temp: 100 degrees (who am I kidding? I’d ride naked with 30 spf sunscreen above that)
Max chance of rain: 25%
Max wind: 40 MPH (My triumph Rocket III doesn’t blow all over the road like those tiny Harley baggers)
Links to the Right Part Two
Buckle up! Well, helmet up, anyway. Motorcycles fdon’t typically have seat belts. We’re continuing our ride around the web with part II of my 4Fraziers link descriptions.
Dr. Frazier may or may not be a distant relative…I haven’t had time to research it yet, but I located his site through the time-honored tradition of Googling my own name to see who has been recently swiping my articles.
Dr. Greg Frazier has not swiped any of my articles, because he doesn’t need to. He has a wealth of original stories and the real world experience of global treking to back it up. I believe he is currently getting ready to circumnavigate the globe for the third sixth time on a motorcycle.
UPDATE – Other links involving Dr. Frazier (thanks for dropping by and leaving the comments, Dr. Frazier):
http://www.ultimategloberide.com
http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/
http://www.motorcycleadventurer.com/
My home motorcycle dealer.
EuroSport Cycle is a family owned and operated European motorcycle dealership and repair center in Fort Worth, Texas. They have a great family of customers and friends.
Their current web site was designed by yours truly and the majority of the articles there are written by me.
So what the heck is a grizzled old biker who use to earn his living with his fists doing frequenting the “Girlie Motorcycle Blog“?
Definitely NOT trying to get in touch with my feminine side. Rachael Galore is all about motorcycles. Okay, she tosses in a little romance about her fiance, Kenny, once in awhile. She loves to find odd things that accidentally or intentionally look like hearts in her travels. BUT she is 99% all about the joy of riding and exploring on motorcycles.
Owner of a Triumph Speed Triple and a Triumph Tiger, this chick posts some great short stories, articles, and photos of her moto-adventures. Her fiance and daughter are motorcycle nuts as well, so it’s a total family affair.
Whenever I need a break from perusing incident tickets and change records, or after I’ve just come from a two hour capacity planning meeting, I can always count on something at this site to take my mind out on the open road while my body is stuck at my desk.
Fellow bikers and he-men, don’t let the pink WordPress theme put you off, it’s a great site and the mother-lode of motorcycle vacation adventure reading.
Keep the camera clicking and the keyboard clacking, Fuzzy!
Okay, folks, while you check those out I’m gonna take a break. I’ll be back soon with Links to the Right Part III.