Blog
Gearing Up for the Winter
180 & 60 in Suches, GA
This is the third winter of riding for me, but it still shocks me the number of riders that park their bikes as soon as temperatures dip below 50 degrees. Anyways, last week was a bit of a wash for my commuting, not because of the weather, but because of the schedule of my kids.
While I may choose to ride regardless of the weather, I am not going to force them to do so. So, in the interests of shuffling the kids, I spent 4 out of 5 days last week in the car. That just means that by the time the weekend hit, I needed a ride. Unfortunately even that was limited to taking the bike over to the shop to leave it for a couple of days of service that I just don't have the time to do this month.
You see, I've been overwhelmed with stuff the past month. By 'stuff' I am talking about a lot of things, and it's probably about time I shared.
Those of you that know me personally probably already know this, but I am a serial entrepreneur. At any given time, I will have three or four projects going professionally, and a couple of more around the house. I don't watch television outside of my Falcons games and the occasional movie. This personality defect means that sometimes I hit stretches where I'll go weeks at a time with no 'free' time. The last month has been one of them.
First and foremost, I am a geek. Most of my projects are geeky in nature, for example, my current projects are all of a technical nature that have strange interdependencies.
By day I write software for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Trustees. In the evenings, I split time between my pet projects, Two Wheel Junction being one of them. The one that has been consuming the free time for the last month is the one that powers this, Two Wheel Junction and my personal software business (Druware Software Designs), PostgreSQL for Mac. That project needed attention, and is slowly becoming the tail that wags the dog. So time management is an issue. I am trying a new system though. Hopefully, it will allow me to better manage my time.
That is really my goal for this winter. Working out a way to better manage my time to accomplish the things I want to accomplish.
What is interesting is that as I started this, I found that it applied to my riding as well. You see, most of my riding has been to satisfy short term whims, but there are larger goals that I want to tackle in my riding. These things take planning and time, neither of which have been things I've applied to the riding. When I sat down to build a list of tasks I want to accomplish, I found those had to be included because they feel high in my list of 'things I want to do'. So here I sit with a fresh list of to do's that include some good rides that require planning.
They also require gear, some that I do not already own, so I am not looking to have to plan and shop for some things. You are going to be joining me in that adventure, because as I try to find the best gear, I'll be posting up about it.
Welcome Fall...
Fall is such a neat season for me. Watching nature change her wardrobe from summer greens to reds, yellows and browns with so many colors in between. As a rider, it is also a season that presents new challenges. Leaves on the road, an exploding deer population, and other seasonal hazards are all things that have to be watched for. Traditionally here in Atlanta, fall is also a very dry period of the year. Unfortunately, we are so desperate for rain, that we cannot really afford too much dry. So it was that this morning, when I rolled out of bed to get ready for work, I find myself in the odd position of being all too happy to drive the car as the pitter patter of the rain on the house could be heard.
So here I sit at work, happy to drive, which for me is a very unusual thing.
Uneventful
Green and Gold
Red and Gold
After a couple of years on a scooter, it seems strange, but uneventful is a good thing. Two weeks of rides with nothing in the way of 'events' is a very good two weeks. No close calls, no knucklehead driver situations. Unfortunately, two weeks is as far as I got without any knuckleheads. Saturday evening, I had to deal with a knucklehead, of the 70mph right side passing variety. You know the ones, when your 55mph in a 45 isn't fast enough and they whip past you (illegally) on the right. Unfortunately, I was looking to get into the lane he decided to pass me in. Fortunately, I saw him coming and didn't get into trouble, but it is just the kind of situation that scares me, because these drivers present such an enormous risk to riders, both new and old. A little fatigue, or a mild distraction and even an experienced riders could miss the hints that you have a knucklehead incoming.
Add to that the case situation in Atlanta (I won't go into details, just think Mad Max the Movie and you aren't far from the reality of gas in Atlanta right now), and you have an increasing volatile situation between efficient scooters and fuel sucking SUV's.
I wish I had a way to communicate how much risk is involved in that sort of behavior to the driver.
Oh well, nothing I can do there but keep my eyes peeled and help other riders learn to watch for the risk.
On a totally different subject, I'm going to head off in a different direction for the rest of the post :-). Though I have little talent, I love art, in particular, digital art is something that really appeals to me. Generally speaking, there is a bias against digital art, but for me, it is just another medium like water colors on canvas. This is especially relevant since I spend all day in front of my computer, I really like having a collection of digital art rotating as my wallpaper. This way I always have something pretty to look at when I am working. Over the years, I've found a couple of artists that I enjoy more than others, artists whose work I follow regularly.
One of those is a guy named Ryan Bliss. Ryan's website, Digital Blasphemy, has long been a staple in much of the digital art community, and he is one of the few trying to make a living at it. In the last couple of years, his art has really matured, and his most recent release is probably my favorite piece of art. About 3 weeks ago, he released the first image above, called Green and Gold. At the time I found it to be a nice piece of work, but it didn't grab me. However, last week, he did a re-colored version called Red and Gold, and it absolutely grabbed my attention. The blend of color and the tones speak so of the season, it just works. It works so well that I wanted to share. This morning, he released a version that he rendered for three screens, and I am finding myself wishing I could easily get the image broken down into the three images and transfered to a 3 part canvas wall hanging. Too bad the cost makes it prohibitive.
Guess I'll have to just stick to enjoying the art on my computer, or maybe my wife will pick this up for my birthday :-).
Tires...
One of the biggest hassles for me about my scooter(s) is tires. While I can easily do most of the maintenance on the scooter, changing a tire really isn't one of them. So in order to get my tires changed I have to take it in. That's where I get frustrated. Right now, the shop I work with doesn't have the equipment to do the job on site. They have to take the wheel to the sister shop to get the tires done. That means leaving the bike. I hate leaving the bike, because I hate being without it.
*grumble*
Yeah, school is back in session, so I get to ride pretty much every day, and I don't want to give up the bike for even a couple of days. Sad. I need a life :-).
Oh well, on that note, I was considering going with the Pirelli's this go around, but it appears that the price is almost double for the Pirelli versus the Michelin. Since I've seen no compelling evidence that the Pirelli is really that much better a tire, I think I will go with the Michelin again. That is a 12,000 mile commitment since I seem to wear out 2 rear's for each front. I guess we will see.
Anyways, tonight, I think I am going to go visit a different riding community here in town. This one is not purely scooter oriented, but a mix of sport, cruiser and maxi-scooters. It will be interesting to meet this group. I've kinda hung around the periphery with this group in the past. I know who a few of the people are, but not well enough to know much more than names and rides. It should be interesting.
Be safe, and I hope everyone came through Ike alright. Those pictures are pretty scary.
Community
Community is a big part of the scooter world, and that is a good thing. When I first started riding a couple of years ago, I really didn't "get it". It took a while to understand how valuable hooking up with the local scooter community can be. These are other people sharing both the experience and the risks. When there is a problem, they are the ones there to help, be it getting a broken bike picked up from out on the road to bringing a gallon of gas for those occasions when we forget to fill up.
It works at both the worldwide and local levels, and the values of those communities cannot be readily quantified. This is part of the driving force behind what I want to accomplish with Two Wheel Junction, because the shared knowledge of a community is far more than the knowledge of an individual.
For me, I find that there are several levels of communities that are important for me. First there are the online venues like Modern Vespa, but then there is the Scooter / Rider blogging community. Folks that have never met face to face, yet share so much of their lives with us. And of course there is the local communities.
The problem is that finding communities is tough. It took me a year to find the time to get out to the local weekly event, simply because it is an hour away from the house.
As Yoda would say though, "Worth the effort it is".
By getting out and putting faces with the names, i've found a group of people who share both the respect and fear of this adventure that even my non-riding but supportive wife cannot share. Though I'm not a huge fan of large group riding, there are people in the group to ride with.
The downside is that like so many groups, there can be an exclusive nature to these groups, and while the local scooter group here is pretty good about not discriminating between modern, vintage or maxi there are always groups that do. Because I have chosen to ride a maxi-scooter, I've found that in terms of the community the bike I've chosen crosses so many lines that I can participate in almost any riding community without too many issues. It often seems that the perspective of doing this has changed how I view the communities are large though.
The insular mindset needs to change. We all ride, and we all need some common resources. That is where I want to go, and it is why I'm trying to build TWJ into something more. I want to build a community where what you ride isn't nearly as important than that you ride.
What I did on my Labor Day Holiday
Mondays Ride Map
Well that was a long weekend :-). We really didn't plan anything for the weekend, just the usual bits. Saturday I worked over at the shop (Scooter Superstore of America in Norcross). However, after work, I had to go to see my daughter's first game as a cheerleader. The problem, the game is on the other end of the world. Welcome to Atlanta. It is 68 miles from the shop to the game, from Norcross to the far side of Kennesaw. It doesn't help that home is in between the two, about 10 miles north, and that the games starts at 7:30PM.
Weather was good, but the ride really showed how bad the face shield on my trusty SyMax has gotten over the last 2 years, I got there just in time for kickoff. But whew, that was a tough ride, in traffic, on some of the very worst roads in terms of poor driving and a lot of threat analysis dealing with alot of incoming roads and traffic. Personally, I find in-town driving with many lights and intersections to be less stressful than 45-55mph roads with many ingress/egress points, but few lights, and a left turn lane in the middle. Too many points of threat to monitor easily.
Fortunately, other than the usual boneheads on cell phones, it was an uneventful ride over. The ride home, at 11:30PM however, was in the dark, and was not 'uneventful'. It was a wonderful ride with about 3 minutes of stark terror involved. You see, around here, deer present almost as big a threat as cars. On the way home, experience saved my bacon. Coming across, I was using a route that takes me across one of my favorite roads, but experience with that road and the area had me doing 45 instead of the normal 55+ and scanning for deer, well off the road. Even with that, I only sighted the adult female as she was road bound about 20 yards to the right and 40 yards in front. A liberal application of brake brings me to a complete stop about 3-4 feet from where she passed, but that's not the scary part. As I come to a rest and catch my breath, another 2 females pass directly in front of me before a buck, easily 10 points, probably 12+ rather casually appears out of the darkness, to stop and look at me like I am a threat. It was an intimidating moment, fortunately, he decided that I presented no threat and wandered off. Good thing I was close to home.
Sunday, I did not even touch the bike. We ran some errands, I installed an invisible fence for the dog, worked a bit on the retaining wall I'm doing in the yard, bought a new helmet (HJC SyMax II, I'll do a full review on TWJ in the coming weeks as soon as the new Site is live) and took the kids out to dinner.
Monday however, it was a day to ride. 268 miles, 3 mountains, breakfast and lunch both on the road, perfect weather with mid 80's at low altitudes, and mid 70's at high. The day provided an opportunity to start shooting pictures for my next project, a photo journal that will be going on TWJ of the major stops for the Motorcycle community around the southeast (and wider if I can swing it). Bear in mind, I am not Steve Williams, I make up for my lack of skill with quantity, and the hope that I'll get lucky with a few :-).
This day, we stopped at two of the more popular locales. The first, is the hiker's station at the top of Blood Mountain on GA-129. With a nice mix of bicycles, cruisers, tourers and sportbikes added to the cars and hikers, the traffic through the stop is impressive and mixed. From there, we ran across GA-180, Wolf Pen Gap Rd (one of the best roads in GA in my opinion) to stop at one of two big MC stops on the same corner: Dale's, and TWO (Two Wheels Only). We hit Dale's, I will get more pictures of TWO at a later date. From there, it's over to Ellijay for Lunch and across Fort Mountain on GA-52, before heading south and towards home with a final run across Burnt Mountain between Ellijay and Jasper.
So, yeah, the weekend was just a touch shy of 500 miles of scooter riding wrapped around some yardwork and honey-dos, it was a good long weekend. Too bad I had to come back to work today :-).
Back to Scooter Related Topics: Sym CityCom
First let me apologize for the detour yesterday, it happens sometimes.
Ok, that's all done with, let's talk about scooters. Like many scooter owners I frequently get questions about what other people should buy. Well, yesterday Nathaniel Salzman put together one of the best wall of text blog posts a person could ask for regarding the currently available options in the US. The order of the content is a little reversed for my tastes, but he pretty much nails the modern scooters. Even if you have been riding a while, it is a good read for information about the current products.
Nathaniel actually mentions one of the bikes that I'm the most curious about in all of the announced 2009 lineups. The Sym CityCom 300i really looks like one of the best compromises between form and function to be available on the US roads. With a 268cc engine and a 2.6 gallon fuel tank, I am expecting a real world top speed just shy of 80mph (they claim 79.5, I'd say that 75-78 is probably GPS accurate and sustainable). Considering the weight, and engine size, 65+ mpg seems quite realistic (the reported 94 mpg, not so much).
Besides technical specs though, what really makes the CityCom interesting is design and market in the US. Two design elements really set the CityCom off. The first is the factory windscreen is tall and has enough of a lip, that it should equal most of the aftermarket windscreens in terms of keeping wind off the rider, along with the plastic guards to keep wind and flying objects away from the hands really set this up as an excellent commuter/light-tourer. But then you add the underseat storage that they have engineered and things get quite interesting. While that storage is clearly not deep enough for a full face helmet, that's is also clearly not the intent. The dimensions of the storage really look to be geared towards a small laptop bag, books, or a small briefcase.
Together with the larger wheels and the power plant capable of pushing the bike at highway speeds, it seems that Sym is really going after the suburban commuter and student commuter with the CityCom. It is a demographic that is poorly served by the popular 150cc scooters, and many of the 250's come just a little short in speed or native storage.
I am looking forward to getting a chance to touch and ride one up close, as the potential market for the CityCom is excellent, and coming on the heels of the success and reputation the RD250 and HD200 are garnering, it appears that Sym is well on the way to establishing themselves well in the pecking order of scooter brands in the US.
Waxing Political
This week and next are all about politics here in the US. Generally, I detest politics, so I rarely will go there. Unfortunately, this years race is really starting to hit a hot button with me. Like most people in the US, the economy is a worry, the war in Iraq (and Afghanistan) is an issue, but one that is unlikely to win or lose the election. The economy is ultimately going to be the issue central to this election, as it should be.
The problem is that our economic problems are deeply rooted in several other issues yet it appears that the politicians are unwilling to talk about the fundamental problems, just the impossible solutions. These fundamentals are things we have to deal with, not the fluff.
I think what rubs me wrong is that fact that so much of the issue is that we can't say what needs to be said without committing career suicide for the politicians. We cannot continue the vicious cycle of raising wages to cover the cost of living. Every time you raise wages, you raise to cost of goods or force jobs offshore. Yet, that is the political solution, raise wages, adjust taxes. Interestingly, this also relates to the 'energy crisis'. You see, the US has forgotten how to live frugally. We have come to use our gas guzzling automobiles as a part of our self image. Those of us that have chosen to ride scooters, often for entirely different reasons, have found out how much that self image issue is. We hear the ridicule all the time. It is just another aspect of the bigger is better culture that is so prevalent.
You see, that is one of the fundamental issues that needs to change. Bigger is not always better, and making a choice to downsize is really a good thing. This doesn't just mean cars, it reflects many things. The real solutions start at the personal level, not the political level. The tools running for president do not really give a rat's ass about anything but your vote and your tax dollars, the solutions to our problems start and end in our own lives.
So vote for whomever strikes your fancy (I'm voting McCain. Judging all republicans by GWB would be foolish and Obama is charismatic, but at this point hasn't given me any solid reasons to embrace his platforms), but if you really want to fix things in this country, start at home, tighten your belt and stop thinking super size. Sadly, the readership here should already have this firmly in mind, but sheesh it feels good to vent sometimes :-).
More Scooter talk tomorrow...
Sold! and other tidbits
First, the Kymco People is sold. After a couple of weeks on Craigslist, it went to a nice lady and her sister. I really hope that they enjoy it as much as I did. So what did I replace it with? well, that's short answer with a long story; nothing.
After a couple of long conversations with my wife and some friends, I've put the proceeds from the People into the bank to join the proceeds from the ads here and any extra money I come up with so that sometime this winter I can replace the People with something interesting.
After long thoughts, I've decided to add a Vectrix electric scooter to replace the People. I know I said I was going vintage, but the more I thought about it, well, I just concluded that if I want to set an example to my kids and neighbors, I need to really go the other way. Considering the price of the Vectrix, I have a good ways to go before I have the money to buy one, but I'll work on that through the winter and see where I am in the spring. With $2500 in the bank and a $9000 price tag, I've got some saving to do, but I really do like the idea of the Vectrix for running to and from work. I am also researching a small solar charger to have at the office to charge it while I'm in the office.
Anyways, I am taking a little bit of the money from the proceeds to replace some gear. First, my HJC SyMax has been my favorite helmet of the 3 I've been through in the last 2+ years, but it is really starting to show the wear and tear of every day usage. It doesn't help that it's color was matched to the People, and the BV500 has a much more purple tint to it. So I am planning to move to the SyMax 2. I had planned to wait for the Nolan N-103, and I'm sure it's coming soon with the deep discounting going on with the N-102, but that doesn't help me now. So, I'm going to pick up an HJC this weekend from a local dealer. Yes, I could get it MUCH cheaper on line, but then my local dealer doesn't stay in business.
I am also looking to replace my gloves. This is proving to be a challenge though. Back before I rode to Florida this summer, I had replaced my 2 year old Icon Pursuit gloves with Corazzo's comfortable Urbano Glove. Unfortunately, the pair I got are apparently defective, in that the kevlar seems pulled apart in several places, and the palm and wrist portion on one of the gloves came apart in less than 60 days. Fortunately, in typical Corazzo fashion, they and my dealer are replacing the gloves and sending them back to Corazzo for review. Despite the quality issue with my particular pair, I cannot think of many companies with a reputation for working to get it right as Corazzo so I have excellent confidence that they will take care of the issue. Confidence enough that I am also ordering one of the Corazzo Underhoodie shirts for this winter.
Lastly, on a more somber note, a fellow maxi rider, Kevin Kemble of L'ville, KY had about as nasty a get-off as imaginable a week ago. He's just an average guy, a house painter with a passion for scooters. He and his wife have been key elements in growing a health scooter group in the L'ville area. Needless to say, this accident has touched a lot of people in that area of the country. Send him some prayers, he'll need them as his injuries are awful (leg, hip, back and more). Monetary contributions will help him as well, but his wife is helping to keep everyone in the loop about his situation as is Bill, administrator for one of the larger Maxi scooter forums in the US.
Thinking about lane sharing / lane splitting
This is a subject of more than ample debate among motorcyclist around the world. I don't know that I have strong opinion about the subject, as I don't know that I would personally feel comfortable doing it on a regular basis. Of course, I don't actually spend much time on roads where it is relevant, but the few times I have found myself in a situation where it would be appropriate, I have to admit that I would like the privilege.
I think what bothers me about the whole thing is that as a rule, drivers don't get it, though they do it all the time. I've lost count of the number of times I'll be first at a red light and have a car squeeze past me on the right to turn right on red. Under Georgia law, this is failure to yield and they are clearly in the wrong, but is commonly practiced and largely not enforced. Meanwhile, if I were to 'filter' forward past them for the same reasons, the same drivers get angry and antagonistic.
The same holds true of lane sharing or 'whitelining' in traffic. It makes sense, and as a rider, the safety of moving forward, not sitting in a position where it is like inviting a rear end accident. I am convinced that if most drivers could, they would. Look at the number of them ducking and weaving in traffic as it is.
In the environment today, lane sharing is explicitly illegal in Georgia there is no grey area like there is in California.
Yet, when contacting my state reps about the issue, I'm told that they are listening to ABATE on these issues. So I take a look at ABATE. The concern is helmet laws, they want them removed from the books or altered to make them not required, when it comes to lane sharing, they have no interest.
So while I would love to see change, it is clear that there is not enough interest yet.
Perhaps that is not a bad thing, but it would seem that as bad as Georgia traffic is, there would be pressure to find ways to ease the congestion which is now worse than even Los Angeles.