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Posts from the ‘On Two Wheels’ Category

23
Aug

The Essay Where I Attempt To Mini-review Every Motorcycle That I Have Ever Ridden And Discuss My Ambivalence About Harley Davidson

2010 Ducati Monster 696 ABS

2010 Ducati 696 ABS ridden by Paul Danger Kile and Dr. Kay Ann Kile MD

  • $9,995 MSRP is expensive compared to it’s closest big-four competitor’s models. That said, this is my favorite bike ever, and much less expensive than many dissimilar models.
  • It is incredible easy to turn. It makes me think “this bike is telepathic, and goes where I think it should.” Are you bad at u-turns? Maybe it’s not all your fault? This bike helps.
  • The seat is comfortable for a 5’9″ 220 lb. man. It reminds me of a Gold Wing in the way that my body interfaces with the machine.
  • I never feel like I am putting weight on my wrists, and I never feel like I am doing pull-ups (between 0 and 85 MPH).
  • The levers are adjustable, and my hands do not tire when using them.
  • The bike is very short for a sporty bike, but possibly too-tall for some people that are five-foot-tall and shorter.
  • The forks are not adjustable in any way, although they work for my 220 lbs. on the road: the track is probably going to be a different story.
  • The shock is adjustable for pre-load only.
  • It was initially difficult to use the sidestand while on the bike (due to its short length), but I can use the back of my boot to get it down.
  • The battery is extremely difficult to access. Make sure that you install trickle charger wiring the first time that you do access it.
  • The passenger footpeg holders look too large (they are functionally-fine, this is an artistic-design comment), but my 8 year old is occasionally a passenger, so they will stay.
  • It is sometimes difficult to read the speedometer in bright sunlight.
  • The bike needs (and now has) frame sliders.
  • The bike needs luggage.
  • I wish that more of the metal were the same color (except for the trellis frame, that _should_ be painted). Ducati lets many metals be their natural, non corroded, color. Apparently this is so that the magnesium parts on the more-expensive models stand out. In other words: it’s a tradition.
  • The inside of the hubs rust (they are hollow). The rear brake’s return spring rusts.
  • The acceleration is slower below 4500 RPM (but quicker than the other bikes in this list). The word “rocket” comes to my mind between 4500 and 8000 RPM.
  • I hate all of those stickers the trellis frame. The stickers are annoying on most bikes, but some states have proposed laws about leaving the emissions stickers where they are, and I don’t want to.
  • The English-language chapters in the manual replace “,” with “.”, and “.” with “,”. This is how it’s done in many countries: “1,000,000.5″ (one-million-point-five) is written as “1. 000.000,5″. It’s correct, but confusing to Americans.
  • The manual has errors:
    • Redline at 800 RPM? I think not. They need to multiply that by 10.
    • The manual warns about leaving the headlight on, but also touts the bike’s run-down protection feature. I am nitpicking here.

2004 V-Star 650 Classic

This is a great cruiser for long distance. I spent the most time on this one. I added a fairing (to avoid the doing pull-ups feeling that you get when your upper body becomes a sail-in-the-wind) and hard luggage.

Paul Danger Kile's 2004 Yamaha V-Star 650 Classic, between Bentonville and Eureka Springs AR.

Paul Danger Kile's 2004 Yamaha V-Star 650 Classic, at The Art of the Motorcycle: Memphis.

2007 Suzuki SV650S ABS

The non-S version is a baby bear bike; it is “just right” for most folks in every way. It’s a sportbike, but with a v-twin engine. I ride the S version: which goes a long-way towards explaining why I am happy to ride the Monster 696. I intended to install a tubular handlebars on here, but did not.

Gershwin Kile's first motorcycle ride: we practiced in the parking lot that day.

2007 SV650S ABS

Harley Davidson Night Train

The Night Train is a Harley Softail model with a black crinkle-finish on the engine. The fit-and-finish is excellent. It pulls like a tractor at low RPMs, but costs around 2.5 times more than the V-Star 650. I did not purchase this one.

Harley Davidson VRSCR Street Rod

The Street Rod has mid-mount controls, inverted forks, and it is taller than a V-Rod. It was the sportiest non-Buell HD ever, but not as exciting as the SV650 or Monster. It also suffered from that I-could-buy-two-motorcycles-for-the-price-of-this-one issue. That’s my opinion; most Harley Davidsons are expensive, but obviously enough people desire them to justify the prices. I did not purchase this one. This model is no-longer available. The bike in the video has a custom exhaust system.

Kawasaki Eliminator 125

The Eliminator is fun, and inexpensive, but small. I rode this during an MSF course. The name “Eliminator” refers to drag racing, but this is not a fast bike.

Kawasaki Eliminator 125, image by Wikimedia user Museo8bits, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Suzuki GZ250 Marauder

This one is also fun, and inexpensive, but small. I rode this during an MSF course. The new TU250 is prettier.

Scooters?

My wife and I rented scooters in Fort Lauderdale. I am not sure what model they were. I like automatic transmissions in concept, but CVT transmissions are not as exciting as dual-clutch transmissions, regardless of engine size.

Gershwin Kile's first scooter ride: Gershwin Kile, Paul James, and Amy James: KYMCO is a sponsor of James Gang / Hoban Bros. Racing. They provide the pit bikes. The photo was taken during the 2009 AMA Pro roadraces at Heartland Park Topeka.

Harley Davidson Biases

In the plus column

  • Great build quality.
  • Beautiful Bikes.
  • Paul James Harley Davidson’s Director of Communications is extremely generous with his fans. There are videos, articles, images, and essays, about Paul James’ and Jeff Johnson’s race team (James Gang / Hoban Bros.) from in-the-pits and on-the-track. This does make me think positive thoughts about HD.

In the minus column

  • One of the salespeople at a Texas HD dealer was only willing to sell me a Heritage Softail. He showed me a picture of his girlfriend, and told me that women like-that only date HD riders. Bad experiences affect our feelings about the brand.
  • At another Texas dealer they said that I must have broken my defective goggles by mistreating them after admitting that they had quality issues with that particular product. HDs are so desirable that bad salespeople can still get sales. (Does this belong in the plus column?)
  • Expensive
  • Buell, Buell, Buell, Buell: did I mention what they did to Buell? Some of the HD dealer salespeople that I met apparently hated Buell. HD forced decisions on Buell. HD killed Buell instead of selling the engineering, branding, etc., to another company. Yes, Buell’s market share was low, but that wasn’t entirely Buell’s fault.
  • The exclusivity attitude that some riders have. HDs are extremely comfortable, and easy to ride bikes, but some owners think that they can only be ridden by big bad bikers. (Wait… does this belong in the plus column?)
  • The only-in-America branding of a product that is assembled from parts that are manufactured all over the world: even by some Japanese companies. (Not that there is anything wrong with that.)
  • Harley Davidson bought MV Agusta, improved their process engineering, and then sold the company: presumably at a loss. That’s right, Harley Davidson briefly owned the world’s most beautiful superbike, and offered it for $18,500 MSRP, which is competitive with the big-4′s prices (Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, Kawasaki). If you suspect that the company is being run by a guy from the air conditioning business, then you are correct. I leave you with the F4: a bike that I may never get to ride, because it won’t be part of any HD US demo fleet.

18
Aug

Rossi and Lorenzo Comic Books

Yes, I cropped the scanned image. This is an "adults only" MotoGP Champion's comic book. No doubt.

This is an old post that I updated on 2010-08-18.

A few years ago I purchased Valentino Rossi’s hardcover comic book by Milo Manara. Most of Signore Manara’s art is erotic, and this comic isn’t an exception: adults only please.

The comic book is called “Quarantasei” (46 in Italian), and is available in Italian and Spanish.  I still haven’t translated it, so the accuracy of my description may be in-question, but here goes: A secret organization is attempting to steal Valentino’s genes in order to create superclones, but first they steal Valentino’s good-luck charm affecting the outcome of the race. It’s up to Guido, and Osvaldo the Chicken to save Valentino! Rossi talks to the ghosts of Steve McQueen, Jim Morrison and Enzo Ferrari in his dreams. The book contains real-world MotoGP events amidst the fantasy elements.

Remember Valentino Rossi’s 2006 Mugello helmet?  That was to commemorate the publishing of this book.

Interested? Back when I purchased Quarantasei the publisher’s Web site was Italian-only. The good news is that they now have an English option. The book gets shipped directly from Italy, and if I remember correctly, I received it in just a few days. The DVD version is Region 2 only, and Italian only, so that won’t work on American DVD players (Don’t you just love the DVD consortium? Not.), but books can be viewed by anyone.

Jorge Lorenzo’s “Lorenzo’s Land” comic book was published in 2009 by Panini Comics and created by Estudio Fénix. Jorge wakes up from a brutal crash and cannot remember being a grand prix motorcycle rider. According to the publisher: “Fiction and reality, celebrities and circuits, are intertwined in the search for a destination that brings us closer to the actual figure of Jorge Lorenzo creative, restless, tenacious, meticulous…”.  [2010-06-21 UPDATE] You previously were able purchase “Lorenzo’s Land” directly from Jorge Lorenzo’s official merchandise site. It is not currently listed there.

9
Aug

Countersteering (includes a great video by IanJSeattle)

Edited on 2010-08-09, posted on 2008-03-04

Someone asked me, “Are you using countersteering?” at my last track day, and I didn’t know how to answer that question. I thought, “Is there any way that I could not be countersteering at these speeds?”  Countersteering occurs when the rider of a single-track vehicle (bicycle or motorcycle) pushes on the right side of the handlebar to turn right, and pushes on the left side of the handlebar to turn left.  By pushing on the same side, the rider is “turning” the handlebars the opposite way.  With cars you steer right to go right, but with bikes you steer left to go right.

OK, so you might be thinking, “I don’t do that! I lean!”, but you are doing that.  Imagine this: a bicycle rider holds her arms out straight.  She needs to turn right, so she leans to the right.  What’s happening here?  As she moves her weight to the right her right arm begins to push the right side of the handlebars out farther than the left: she is now countersteering.  Countersteering has more to do with initiating the turn than the leaning itself does.  You might have to sit on a bike and actually try this out to be able to picture it.  Do it in an exaggerated fashion, lock your arms, and watch the handlebars as you lean.

Motorcycle instruction usually includes discussion on countersteering because the locking-of-the-arms-thing greatly slows down steering.  Sometimes the effect on steering is so bad that riders ride right off the road when they tense up.  If the rider can learn to loosen her arms, and consciously push on the opposite side of the handlebar, then she will turn much quicker.

I literally practice holding the bars loosely when I ride my wife’s cruiser.  I take each hand off the handlebars one at a time (it has a throttle lock).  I practice bending my arms.  Etc.  This can actually help in all kinds of conditions.  That instability that occurs next to a truck?  It’s less troublesome if you hold the bars lightly.  When you push back against the shaking of the bars, your pushes lag behind the bars movement slightly.  Your periodic pushing summates with the periodic movement of the bars increasing the shaking.  Really.

So, how does this all work?  Countersteering initiates the lean by using the bike’s momentum to pull it over.  Imagine the momentum that you feel when a car turns.  When you turn to the left the momentum makes you feel like you are being pushed slightly to the right in your seat: correct?  This is the same with a two wheeled vehicle.  Turning left simultaneously causes momentum to push your vehicle to lean to the right (like an upside-down pendulum).  The bike then turns in the direction that it is leaning.  It’s that simple.  Really.  I didn’t understand this for a long time, because I was told that the affect was caused by gyroscopic precession, and for sure, that occurs, but it doesn’t cause bikes to turn.  Anyway I am sitting there watching a Kieth Code video, and he explains it.  He only spent a few seconds on the subject, but it made the whole thing clear.

Kay was teaching our daughter to ride on a small, classic Schwinn Stingray (the original Stingray, the current one is well designed).  This was the same model that Kay learned on.  Anyway, I was watching Gershwinn try to ride it one day, and I thought, “Hey! that thing has very little trail!  That will never work!”  So, I tried out the bike, and sure enough, it was extremely unstable.  Cal Santo lowered the seat on one of his large BMX bikes, and Gershwin easier time: even with it being too-large.  Learning-to-ride is extremely difficult on a poorly-engineered bike, and many of us potentially started-out on poorly-engineered bikes.

Here is the Wikipedia entry for countersteering. The very top says “For the similar technique used in automobiles, see opposite lock.”  Please ignore that first statement.  The technique described there is about pointing your car’s wheels in the direction that you want the car to move, even if your car’s body is stepped-out.  This is not like countersteering, even though Doc Hudson says otherwise.

Before I tell you about this next part I want to make something very clear: I very much appreciate MSF instruction.  Without the MSF I wouldn’t be riding.  I would have no idea how to get started.

I took the MSF Basic RiderCourse twice.  In 2007 I took it near Topeka Kansas (where I earned 100% on both tests), and in 2003 I took it in Plano Texas.  While in Plano one of the RiderCoaches told us some things about countersteering that weren’t exactly correct.  I don’t know if any of those things are part of the official curriculum, but I want to quickly cover them, just in case you are told something similar.

  • She told us about countersteering, and that it is caused by gyroscopic precession occurring at a 90-degree angle, but she didn’t tell us what plane the 90-degrees was measured from.  This Web site has a good example of what she was talking about. This is all true, but that force doesn’t cause countersteering to work.  In fact gyroscopic precession makes turning more difficult.  Robby Kasten proved that with his wonderful reverse rotating rotors invention.
  • She had us sit on motorcycles that were standing still and told us to turn our bars and feel the motorcycle fall in the other direction, while using our legs to not let it fall all the way.  About 50% of the time my motorcycle fell in the same direction.  Of course it did.  Countersteering doesn’t work while standing still: gyroscopic, momentum, or otherwise.  A motorcycle should never be used as a Ouija board!  To be sure the RiderCoach in Kansas had us do the same exercise, but he made it clear that we were to make the bike lean ourselves by using our legs and imagine that the handlebar turning caused it.
  • She told us to watch the other RiderCoach’s front wheel, and to see how it was facing the opposite way while he was riding around.  I couldn’t see this, and I said so, and the reason that I couldn’t see it is that it just wasn’t so.  The front wheel doesn’t go the opposite way once you are leaned over.  (The speedway/flat track thing is something slightly different.  It works more like the automobile-reverse-lock technique once the bike is leaned over.)
  • She told us that countersteering doesn’t work under 13 MPH. This is not true. What is true is that there is another, much-safer, turning-technique that involves turning the handlebars in the direction of the turn, weighting the outside peg, and using your own body to lean the bike. That doesn’t mean that countersteering won’t work. It just means that you are capable of exerting enough-force to overcome-it at those slower-speeds. Here is a video that proves that countersteering works at-all-speeds, and on-all single-track-vehicles (motorcycles, scooters, bicycles, etc.)

Have fun out there!

8
Aug

Little Scooter Passes 3 Sport Bikes In 2 Corners!

What’s the point? The fun is in the lean, and you don’t need a huge motorcycle to ride fast while leaning deep.

Who mixes sport bikes and scooters at a track day? Apparently riding scooters and small motorcycles at the go-kart track is popular in Asia. This is Russia.

I don’t know who is riding, or who shot the clip. I believe that it is Roots Krongauz, a Russian scooter enthusiast. I asked some questions at kronhaus‘ YouTube channel, and I will update this post, when I learn more.

4
Jun

Kevin Montanaro’s Vespa (www.bluesmokestudio.com)

Kevin Montanaro rides motorcycles and scooters. This is his Vespa. No: it’s not the bike from the Quadrophenia album cover. That was a Lambretta. Kevin I used to hang out in Plattsburgh NY back in the 1980′s. You can find some of Kevin’s amazing art at his Web site (www.bluesmokestudio.com). Here are some pics from his scooter series.

4
Jun

The World’s Best Motorcycle Frame Sliders: Woodcraft 4 Inch Puck!

Kay purchased a Ducati Monster 696 ABS last month. First farkle? Frame sliders.

I prefer Woodcraft’s products; Woodcraft engineers its products for motorcycle racers and it shows. The Wood family is a racing family. They are also affiliated with the Penguin Roadracing School, which is the oldest motorcycle racing school in the United States.

My first look at Woodcraft’s Web site did not look promising though. I wrote to Woodcraft: which began an email exchange with company President Eric Wood. Mr. Wood explained that they would be coming out with their standard Woodcraft sliders for Ducati Monsters within a few weeks. He also made an interesting proposition. Woodcraft engineered large four-inch frame sliders for the Penguin School’s rental bikes (Ducati 900s and 969s). They were also tested on a Ducati Monster. Mr. Wood sent images of that bike, so that I would know exactly what I was getting into. He offered to send those. I made a quick-call to the company to order them. They were a little more expensive than the standard Woodcraft sliders on my 2007 Suzuki SV650S ABS, but the price was still reasonable. The person that took my order mentioned that the large four-inch sliders will not be added to the catalog. We may never run across another pair at bike night. That said: if you are interested, then by-all-means contact Woodcraft, and let them know.

Apparently one-pair of these saw 25 crashes, and is still in use at the Penguin school.

Here are some features that all Woodcraft sliders share:

  • They have solid plastic pucks that will not bend and should not catch (grab traction) on the track.
  • The pucks’ mounting bolt is perpendicular to the post. This allows for easy removal of the pucks. Many other sliders will distort over their mounting bolts in an accident. These will not.
  • They are exactly the correct length for each application. The slider posts for my Suzuki SV650S ABS were actually different lengths in order to compensate for the fact that the engine mounting bolts are not equal distances from the bikes centerline.

Here is a picture of the jumbo sliders before installation. The slider on the right shows what the parts look like when they are together. The top section of the puck is solid. It is slightly dished in order to mostly cover the post though.

Woodcraft Jumbo Sliders Before Installation, Image © 2010 Paul Danger Kile http://dangerismymiddlename.com

Here is what they look like on the bike. In the immortal words of Wedge Antilles: “Look at the size of that thing”.

2010 Ducati Monster 696 ABS with Woodcraft Slider, Image © 2010 Paul Danger Kile http://dangerismymiddlename.com

Why are the four-inch sliders (the white ones) so much larger than the two-inch sliders (below)? It has something to do with that 2*pi*r thing that we learned in geometry class.

Here is my 2007 SV650S ABS with the standard Woodcraft sliders. In this case the puck and post, are clearly visible; the post is completely covered by the massive puck on the 4 inch version.

2007 Suzuki SV650S ABS with Woodcraft Sliders, Image © 2009 Paul Danger Kile http://dangerismymiddlename.com

3
Jun

BlingRockets eMag Anniversary Extra Vol. 1 is Highly Recommended

We first learned about Bling Rockets from Aaron Colton: Bling Rockets interviewed Aaron Colton in Issue #4. Aaron is a young, professional stunter, that also does motorcycle road racing. Very cool. Learn more about Aaron Colton from his facebook posts, or from www.aaroncolton.com.

The magazine is online-only, but it’s not a Web site, its a print-style magazine that lives on the Web (read an issue, and you will see what we mean). Criticisms? NSFW bikini shots: other than that? None. It’s a very good mag.

The Bling Rockets Anniversary Extra Vol. 1 isn’t an regular issue of the mag though; instead it’s page-after-page of awesome custom motorcycle images: only this time without any NSFW bikini shots. There are no people here, and few words, just images of one non-chopper non-cafe custom after another. It’s heavy on the stretched-out drag-race-style customs, but there are some sport bikes and naked bikes too.

Want more?

Image owned-by, linked-from, and linked-to BlingRockets eMag Anniversary Extra Vol. 1

Image owned-by, linked-from, and linked-to BlingRockets eMag Anniversary Extra Vol. 1

3
Jun

Isle of Man TT Videos

2010 John McGuinness Video

Don Emde shared an Isle of Man TT video on facebook. This one is a 2010 video of John McGuinness! Yes, Mr. McGuinness is that good.

2009 Videos

Don Emde shared this beautiful Isle of Man TT video on facebook, and mentioned that he wants to go as a spectator in 2010. The music is “Now we are free” by Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard, from the movie Gladiator. It was uploaded by Mirko Guzetta. Thank you Don and Mirko!

Isle of Man Tourist Trophy 2009 Steve Plater Onboard:

Scott Harwood shared this 2009 Isle of Man TT video with us:

Scott also shared a video from this year’s TTX with us:

31
May

Most Beautiful Buell

Most Beautiful Buell, Image © 2009 Paul Danger Kile http://dangerismymiddlename.com

30
Apr

The future of this Web site -OR- How NOT to move from WordPress.com to your own domain.

Ben Bostrom getting a ride back to the pits

Ben Bostrom getting a ride back to the pits

The previous WordPress.com version of this Web site had earned very high rankings in Google— at least compared to similar Web sites, but it’s not facebook. I really depended on that Google ranking. There are only two ways to take your Google ranking with you:

  1. Don’t let your URLs change. If you want this one to work for your WordPress.com Web site, then you really need to pay WordPress.com to use your domain name from day one.
  2. Use a 301 redirect to prove to Google, that yes, you really are moving, and that the new site really is yours. Unfortunately WordPress.com would not allow me to do this.

Needless to say, my traffic here was devastated. People reading my words is what motivates me, and the lack of traffic indicates that people aren’t.

Why the ads? A number of organizations were satisfied that this is a valid form of media. (Thank you Ducati, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, DMG/AMA Pro, the AMA, and the rest!) But the Dorna rep said that they weren’t interested in helping anyone with a personal Web site. Those ads were an attempt to be more professional-looking.

Other reasons why my posting slowed down?

  1. The 2009 racing season ended.
  2. Most of my favorite racers, and their fans, are on facebook and willing to “friend” me.

Number two is the kicker. My readers are on facebook, so I have been posting to facebook.

There is only one way out of this mess.  Move to facebook. Facebook apps are actually hosted on non-facebook servers, so I might be able to tweak this puppy so that it exists both as my Web site, and as a facebook app simultaneously.

The red line marks the point where I moved the content from http://dangerismymiddlename.wordpress.com to http://dangerismymiddlename.com. These are monthly statistics. Both axis on both graphs are different. The site reached 2,661 hits the month that it was ended, and topped-out at 4,742 hits the month afterwards.

These are weekly stats for the new site. Yes, moving without 301 redirects is that bad. Note: both axis on both graphs are different. The week that we reached 2,130 hits was a week where many people gave this page a thumbs-up on StumbleUpon.com: http://dangerismymiddlename.com/archives/3979

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