OK, so winter has arrived now.

Pretty cold today but I decided to ride to work anyway. I couldn't help but feel that I got ripped off with regard to the last few days of nice riding weather about 10 days ago. I was working out of town all last week, and while the preceeding weekend was unusually nice weather for early December, I wasn't able to get out for a ride because my wife had stuff to do, leaving me to mind the kids. And then I left town for a 6-day work trip. The day after I left we had our first major dump of snow (about 25cm) and we've had several small snow falls since then. So the streets are now lined with waist-high snowbanks but I still wanted to ride. The main roads are clear as they've been salting them.

The thermometer showed -13 Celcius when I was warming up the bike. The tires (Avon Distanzias) gripped suprisingly well given the cold temps. Neck warmer, helmet, gloves, jacket and boots and jeans. I decided to forgo my overpants because the ride to the office is just 6Kms across the city. My knees were a little cold but not so bad.

Need to yank the top end of the engine soon and get that leaky base gasket replaced. Maybe over the holidays.

I can't believe it's not winter

November is nearly gone and the weather has been rather mild of late. While it's been a little wet at least the temperature has been above freezing. I hope this continues for a few more weeks but I'm nervous that real winter weather is just around the corner. The oil leak from the base gasket continues to leave a drop or two on the ashpalt in my parking space but it's not leaking much at all. In the last 3,000 Km I have not added any oil to the crankcase so the amount of oil loss is minimal. The oil level doesn't seem to have gone down at all. When the weather turns cold I will park it in the temporary shelter I bought (a big winter tent) and pull the engine. With the engine in the warmth of the basement, I'll tear it apart and replace the faulty gasket. This will also be the time to check that pesky neutral sensor unit that other DR owners warn about. The possible carnage the loose neutral sensor screws can cause is always at the back of my mind and I won't rest until I've securely re-set the screws with locktite. And while the engine is out I may take advantage of the opportunity to do a few upgrades -- I'm thinking about a high compression piston and a high performance cam. I'll have to come up with justification for all that cash though... and I've still got my heart set of a pumper carburetor which is going to set me back at least $500. Oh God, where will it end?

sunny Sunday ride

Daylight savings time ended last night, which means it will start to get dark around 5pm now. Ugh. On the bright side, I woke to a seasonably warm, sunny day -- which was a real treat considering the cool, damp air and generally wet weather we've seen for the last couple of weeks (Friday was especially soggy and I rode all over town with my rain gear). Even though I had a bunch of stuff to do today, I still made time to go ripping aound for a couple of hours.

As usual, I wasn't able to find anyone who was willing to go on such short notice. Oh well, riding alone is just something I've always done and I'm quite used to it. While there's nothing better than to go riding with a buddy or two, I ineveitably end up riding alone more than 95% of the time because --like many others-- I've got grown-up responsibilities to worry about . I'm very busy with a wife, a bunch of kids, a dog and a big house that needs lots of work but I still find time [I make time] to ride. Because I'm so busy it's hard to plan much in advance, so most of my rides are not planned at all... I plan rides by the seat of my pants. When I look outside and see nice weather, I grad my gear and go. And this late in the riding season, you gotta take advantage of a nice day because we could get a snowstorm just about any day.

Had a small scare as I was getting onto the Pretoria bridge, gearing down mid-turn and in full lean at with speed that would have earned me a ticket -- the rear tire slid out a good distance and grabbed my attention real quick. At the very moment it happened, I immediately knew what happened: I let the clutch out while gearing down from 3rd to 2nd just as my rear tire crossed a painted line in the lane. The engine compression on deceleration was enough to slide the tire. Note to self: always remember that the painted lines are slippery as hell, even when road conditions are clear and dry.

Anyway, here are a couple of photos from my nice afternoon:

last road trip of the season (...maybe)

Work has been hecktic since the start of September. Last Friday was one of the only days I could arrange a day off, so I booked a vacation day a while back and started planing a 3-day road trip with long time buddy, Sean, from Toronto. He took an extra day off and rode the 450 Kms to my place on the Thursday so we could hit the road Friday morning.

A last minute change in destination was necessary after carefully considering the weather forecast. Until mid-week, we had been planning to ride to Mont Tremblant. And a couple of weeks earlier, a riding buddy from work was to join us as well. But with a chance of snow (or at the very least lots of rain) we decided to head south of the border instead. That meant Evan wouldn't be able to come because he did not have a valid passport. But with the almost guaranteed miserable weather, Tremblant was definitely out of the question. Sorry Evan.

The weather outlook for northern and central NY still called for some rain (but much less) and the temperatures would be much milder.

We got away later than planned because of all the last minute preparations (and some work stuff that had to be done before leaving) but we eventually hit the road around noon. We figured we could make it to Lake Placid without much trouble - it's just under 300 Kms. From there, we'd head west or south on Saturday depending on the weather.

Just before crossing the border, we saw very light snow flurries for a few minutes. It was definitely cold (pretty much right at the freezing point) and pretty breezy. That's when I noticed some oil on my right boot... that leaky base gasket that I MacGyver'd up with some high temp silicone a few months ago was now giving out. Oh well, I had put about 5,000 Kms on it since then. It wasn't gushing copious amounts of oil, rather, just weeping a little and it seemed to be doing it only when I was cruising at 130 Km/hr. The solution was to keep the speed down, but that wasn't going to be a problem because until that point we had been riding the slab. On the other side of the border, it would be seconday roads from that point onward. Just the same, I picked up a quart of Rotella and a tube of silicone in case things got bad.

We made it to Lake Placid a couple of hours later and the oil level never dropped. Just a small amount on the engine casing and a little on my boot. We had been checking it every 15 minutes or so.

We stayed at the Crown Plaza. There was a hockey tournament going on and the hotel was just about full of 12 year-old boys. Oh God, get us outta here. However, the front desk clerk offered us a bargain price on a cottage that was completely detached from the main part of the hotel. It was huge and quiet. It was also loaded with everything (full kitchen, fireplace, pull-out sofa, twin beds in the loft, king size bed in the master bedroom, jacuzzi, two full bathrooms, two televisions, wi-fi Internet. We had a great meal at a local surf and turf restaurant, and drank much alcohol that night.

Crown Plaza cottage

I decided to pull the bike through the giant patio doors and into the living room to have a better look at the oil leak. I cleaned off the oily mess and applied another layer of silicone right over top of the bead I applied back in July. With the bike parked in front of the fireplace for the night, the silicone would have plenty of time to cure.

We woke up to a very soggy Saturday and decided we'd just hang tight for another night. We explored Lake Placid on foot for most of the day. By late afternoon, it dried up a little so we rode the local roads for a couple of hours. We got a little wet but it was still very nice.

Lake Placid Crown Plaza motorcycle valet parking

--- Valet parking ---

The view from our room

Olympic ski jump

We ate breakfast both Saturday and Sunday mornings at a local bacon & eggs diner, followed by coffee at Starbucks. When we headed for home around noon on Sunday, we crossed the border at Cornwall and we split company there: Sean hopped on the 401 to head back to Toronto, while I took the farm roads back to Ottawa. Since my ride was shorter than his, I decided to explore a few gravel roads on my way home. It was still a chilly ride as temperatures were just a few degrees above freezing. However, we were both properly dressed for cold and wet weather.

Hopefully this riding season won't come to an end for at least another month, but the weather can get unpredictable at this time of year. Snow can happen just about any time now, so leaving town on the bike could be a sure way to get stranded somewhere. I'll be happy if I can keep riding to work until December.

A Crackberry addict checking his email and getting his caffeine fix.

Somewhere just north of Cornwall.

New tires, helmet, front fender

Took a sick day off work yesterday to go pickup my new helmet, tires, and a front fender.

The helmet is a shiny silver Shoei Hornet DS and it fits like a glove. I recently went shopping at several local bike shops and tried on dozens of helmets... everything from cheap junk helmets (à la Zox) that sell for a hundred bucks to top-of-the-line premium lids that fetch $1,200 or more. Some of the cheaper helmets actually seemed to fit my funny shaped head better than the expensive ones. A low end HJC helmet was a nice fit, but the quality of the thing itself left a lot to be desired. But the high-end Arai lids were nice, yet they just didn't fit quite right for some reason. Then I slipped on a Shoei Hornet DS (dual sport). I liked the look of it, too, so that's a bonus. It just fits much better than everything else I tried on. They sell for $700 here in Canada, plus taxes. But I found mine for $349 on eBay.

The only let down with the new helmet is the wind noise: above 100 Km/hr, it's noticeably louder compared to my 2 year-old Shoei TZ-R (known to be just about the quietest helmet you can buy for under $500). Oh well, I always wear ear plugs when I ride the slab anyway. Maybe I'll use the Hornet DS for my every day riding around town, and use the TZ-R for highway trips.

Shoei Hornet DS

Also had some new tires installed: a pair of Avon Distanzias (90/90-21in the front, and 130/80-17 in the rear). They're a dual sport tire with a deep, heavy lug tread. Not the best performer in the off-road department, but much better in the dirt than any street tire you'd find. However, on asphalt they're a vast improvement over any dirt knobby. Rolling along at 120 Km/h, they are very quiet compared to the factory Brigestone Trail Wings. Those things were noisy, and they sucked on both dirt and asphalt. The local dealer quoted me $600 to have the pair installed and balanced with new tubes. However, the Ken Hill installed the pair (with tubes) for just $360 (US), making it well worth the extra hour's drive once again.

Avon Distanzia AM44

Avon Distanzia AM43

On another note, I chopped about 8 inches off my factory front fender several weeks ago because it flopped around a lot in the wind at speed. It also seemed to act like a big air scoop also, lifting weight off the front tire the faster you go. Not good for stability. While my fender chop job looked alright, it didn't look perfect. So for $40 I ordered a new supermotard-style fender from Acerbis. Now I've got a fender that holds tight at speed, and it looks much better.

I also re-located the Vision-X Solstice LED auxiliary lights to the stock turn signal brackets, and I've ditched the stock blinkers for a cheap pair of Motrax amber-tip LED lights which I've mounted on the brackets of the side reflectors (attached to the lower triple clamp).

Acerbis Supermotard fender,

LED auxiliary lights, LED turn signals

A new toy for the kids

I couldn't pass up a great bargain on this '93 JR50 for just $250. The kids are going to have a blast. It will be a winter project of sorts as it needs a little TLC. Nothing major. It runs quite well the way it is. Mostly needs a few adjustments (brakes, throttle cable, carb cleaning, etc,). The rear tire won't hold air, but the deal included a box of brand new parts (new tubes, chain, sprockets, air filter).

The old SV has been sold again.

Just found out the guy with whom I traded my old SV650 for the DR650 has already unloaded the SV. He apparently bought a CBR1000. Anyway, he had the SV painted shortly after we traded. Don't know what was wrong with the original paint (it was in perfect condition)... but I guess he needed to paint the lower fairings I threw into the deal so he decided he would change the colour of the entire bike.

When the paint job didn't turn out to his satisfaction, I guess he decided to have it painted again...Here is the first paint job that was done just a few days after we made the trade:

The colour wasn't quite what he had in mind. Shoulda left the colour as it was, if you ask me.

I think it looks awful...Yuck! Not only is the colour ugly but the big "Suzuki" decal across the tank is just ridiculous. I went out of my way to remove all the stickers, labels and markings because I know what kind of bike I ride; there's no need to advertise. Here's the photo from the ad he placed to sell the bike:

And here it is after the 2nd paint job. I don't know which colour looks worse. And the big ugly SUZUKI decal looks awful.

Old Bastards !

Gregg and I took a ride to Delta to check out the Old Bastards Vintage Motorcycle Club's 2009 Rally. Beautiful weather, and a bunch of beautiful bikes. An hour-and-a-half's ride away. Is there any better way to spend a Saturday?

As we were arriving, just a few hundred yards from the campground where the event was taking place, Gregg spotted someone he knew whose bike had broken down. The guy was riding a beautifully and meticulously restored 1952? Vincent Comet. After shutting off the engine for a moment at the local general store, it refused to start again. We, stopped to help and looked on as the owner fiddled with it for 2 hours. It would run, but it wouldn't do anything more than idle roughly. In the parking lot the carb was taken apart and nothing obvious was found. Finally, he walked back to the campground to get his van and trailer to pick it up. It may possibly have been just a tank of bad gas (he had topped up the tank minutes before).

We then went over to the main event for a look. Here is a sampling of what we saw:

Russian bike with side-car (Ural, I think)

Beautiful Matchless. Looked like it just rolled out of the factory.

A real work of art: Indian Roadliner. ... the real deal.

Ariel Fourster / Square Four (4 cylinders, 2x2) incredible museum quality condition.

the Ariel, again

50's Triumph

BSA with Jawa side car

BMW with side car

Honda CB750Four 'K' series
OK, maybe not 'vintage' but it was in great condition.

1930's Royal Enfield 225 c.c. two-stroke

Royal Enfield running

Royal Enfield

Velocette

Norton 850 Commando

BMW

BMW

BMW

Red Panther (late 1930's, model 20, I think)

The broken down Vincent Comet. Stunning, and valued at more than a wheelbarrow full of gold.

Vincent

Identical to the 1981 Yamaha RD350 I rode for a decade. This one was in terrific shape.

In search of the ultimate auxilliary lighting solution...

So it's no suprise that the factory DR650 headlight sucks ass. It throws about as much light as a keychain flashlight. In search of improved lighting I replaced the standard halogen bulb with PIAA Exteme White Plus 4,000K H4 bulb. This helped somewhat, but the result is nonetheless the equivalent of putting lipstick on a pig: the problem is with the headlight itself -- the reflector & lens are poorly designed. I considered a pair of PIAA compact driving lights (I had a terrific set of PIAA 004XTs on my VW Golf) but since the DR doesn't have a very stout stator, I didn't want to risk overloading the bike's electrical system -- especially since I plan to add heated grips. Running an additional pair of 55 watt lights might strain the weak charging system. So I found a low wattage alternative that, suprisingly, provides more light than halogen driving lights: Solstice Solo S4100 10-watt LED auxilary lights, made by VisionX. They come in 3 beam patterns: flood (wide angle), Euro (medium), spot (narrow). The flood beams don't shoot nearly as far as the spot lights, but they would be far more practical for the purpose I had in mind. I want to leave them on all the time -- partly so that oncoming traffic will see me. But also, since most of my night riding is within the city, I want something that will light the road directly in front of me, not 300 yards ahead. I want to be able to use them in combination with the low beam headlight. But they sure aren't cheap. I found them on Amazon for $120 USD each, plus a few dollars for shipping. Ouch. Totalled up to nearly $300 CDN by the time I had them delivered. But after having a good look at the build quality, and after seeing the light output, I can say that they are worth every penny. And the fact that they only consume 20 watts for the pair is truly a bonus. Believe me, they are bright as hell.

Adirondack Park

I managed to find a few days to get away for a ride and had a great time. Didn't really have much of a plan in terms of route / destination when I left, however, I figured Adirondack Park was worth exploring. I had gone there last fall on the SV and it was terrific. Going back there was definitely on my list. I tell 'ya, this new DR is a veritable Swiss Army Knife: it performed respectably well on the highway, although most of my 1,500 Kms were on secondary roads travelling at 100Km/h and slower. However, I did several jaunts on the slab and there was no trouble keeping it locked at 120 clicks but I imagine wind protection might be an issue after a few hours at that speed. I also made a point of exploring almost every dirt road I came across. Dozens of gravel roads, dirt trails, logging roads. I didn't do any serious off-roading, but I certainly went places that would be completely inaccessible on my old SV. I even managed to drop the big DR when I lost my footing as I came to a stop while riding along some power lines. Snapped my right bar-end mirror. Oh well, could have snapped my brake lever!! So I ordered some Moose Racing bark busters as soon as I got back (installed them earlier this evening) and put the original mirrors back on.

Moose Racing bark busters will help to protect against damage.

A week before leaving on this road trip I had new sprockets and a chain installed at Route 68 Sales & Service in Flackville, NY (just beyond Ogdensburg). Because my local dealer charges criminal prices for really crappy service, I find it well worth my while to drive an hour and cross into the US to buy from Ken at his small shop. Great service, and pricing is waaay better. I also picked up a sleek DRZ250 tail light to replace the big ugly DR light, as well as a bunch of oil filters. The new sprockets are geared 1 down in the front, and 1 up in the rear (15/43) which helps make the low end a tiny bit snappier, and highway speeds don't suffer too much. The new 37 Litre Givi topcase mounted to the luggage rack is perfect for a 2-3 day trip. And, the new Solstice 10-Watt LED offroad lights are totally amazing. And travelling with my Garmin Nuvi 760 GPS makes life real easy. I even listened to the MP3 player the entire ride. I also made a larger toolbox from some 3" ABS pipe with a screw-on end cap. Holds more than twice as many tools as before. Here are some shots I took with my really crappy camera.

Spent the first night at a cabin in Tupper Lake.

Overlooking Lake Placid.

Overlooking Lake Placid, again.

A wind farm along Route 11, somewhere near Malone, I think.