Motodisiac

I have been thinking about getting dedicated track bike for quite some time. Several years ago I was a track day regular, however when my track buddie moved out of town somehow I stopped participating in track events. In the past 3 years I’ve had many bikes, and not one of them was designed for track duty. It never bothered me because I had my fun adventuring and watching races on TV. Just when I thought my track aspirations were dead, by friend moves back (let’s call him Salty) He doesn’t just come by himself though. He brings a girlfriend and another beauty, fully track prepped Ducati 1098. Right when I saw it I knew that I had to get back in the game, and it didn’t take too long.

Tomorrow at 10am I will be taking delivery of my race scooter, it’s a Duck. After hours and hours of thinking about the appropriate tool for track carving, I leaned towards less powerful but fully tricked out 749R. This is the bike that was designed for the track unlike a lot of it’s competition so it will fit the bill just perfect. Can’t wait to fire it up tomorrow.  

I was not planning on blogging about anything today. But my commute home begged to be mentioned and written of. I left work well after 6pm which usually ensures somewhat smoother sailing and less congested freeways. With that school of thought I hit stopped traffic in under a mile into my freeway commute.

The traffic was dead stopped. I cautiously started splitting lanes. There was no end to the ocean of cars. And the fastest they were moving must have been 5 mph. 20 minutes later still no end in sight. After over 10 miles of splitting through a parking lot also know as the 405 freeway I finally came to where the trouble spot was. What appeared from a distance was a really big car accident. Police cruisers blocking 3 freeway lanes, a couple of ambulances on the spot and … no damaged cars in site. When I got closer what I saw was 2 cruiser style motorcycles in the left most lane with minimal damage to them. No riders in sight. I really slowed down to see what could have happened there and did not seem to find a logical explanation. I noticed no blood on the freeway, no bodies, bikes not in a bad shape. I hope the riders are alright.

So this has been officially the longest lane splitting commute done in a dead stop traffic. Can’t say I enjoyed it as much as I would like. But hey, at least I covered 11 miles of stand still traffic jam in 30 minutes. Something the cagers would achieve in over 2 hours if they are lucky. And the orange beast had passed this test with flying colors. What I noticed is that the handle bar height is just perfect for lane splitting. The handle bars are right above most of the car mirrors and right below most of the van’s and SUV’s mirrors. Makes it perfect for sneaking right through. Yet another reason I love my new toy - KTM 950 Supermoto. This might become a long-term relationship :).

And here is my 11 mile commute through the stand still traffic congestion earlier this eventing courtesy Google maps:

View Larger Map

Today was the first day of commuting on the orange beast. Approximately 30 miles in heavy traffic. The commute consists of carpool lane splitting, regular lane splitting and street riding (not more than 20% of the whole commute).  And today the beast was unleashed.

First of all - WOW! As I said earlier I could not wipe the smile off my face. Actually when I got off the freeway on my way from the office and stopped at the light I yelled “wow” right in my helmet. Obviously no one heard me. And I know that was a little … (insert adjective of your choice here). But I could not care less. I was in a zone. This was fun.

Now let’s get a bit more technical and less emotional. The bike handles flawlessly. The suspension is a bit too stiff (the previous owner is 6′9″ and weighs 280 lbs). Luckily the bike comes with adjustable suspension. So if the stiffness becomes annoying I can tweak it to my liking. The Brembo brakes are excellent and actually reminded me of the way the Aprilia Tuono’s brake (also Brembo). The Akrapovic slip-ons sound nasty. You are never underpowered on this machine. It feels really fast and is in fact really fast.

As far as commuting goes I reckon supermotards are the best commuting machines. After shuffling through a couple of bikes and demo riding a few more I truly believe that nothing can beat a supermotard in the convenience and the level of fun they provide for your daily commutes. I routinely beat a couple of sport bikes today without even trying to push it too hard. I think Motodisiac was right when he commented on this post “Just wait until you get that orange beast…”

The first impressions of the orange beast were absolutely right on - the bike begs throttle action. There is absolutely no way to steadily ride this bike. I was changing lanes because I could not resist. Normally I would split in between two lanes throughout the whole commute. Not today.

It has been over an hour since I got home and I am still trying to settle down my emotions.  I hope all this madness gets flushed out of my system in the next couple of days and I calm down. I am possessed by the beast!

As seen in the spoiler the Hypermotard hysteria is officially over.  A couple of days ago we made a deal. The owner was selling two motorcycles - KTM 690 Supermoto and … KTM 950 Supermoto. Motodisiac had been dreaming about the 690 Supermoto for quite some time. He commutes mostly on the streets (70/30 streets vs freeways). So the 690 would be a perfect fit. In my case however I commute mostly on the freeways. And on top of that I had been craving a Ducati Hypermotard. Far from a 690cc engine bike.

For some odd reason KTM Supermoto bikes were never a consideration. However a couple of days ago both of us got an opportunity to put our hands on these two amazing machines. Both of us took this opportunity. The outcome - Motodisiac is a proud owner of the showroom condition KTM 690 Supermoto with less than 500 miles on it, Sideout is a proud owner of the showroom condition KTM 950 Supermoto with 3500 miles. We went out to pick up his bike earlier this week. Today’s morning we went out to pick up mine. I rode it back home.

When was the last time you had a grin on your face that you could not wipe off? If do not think there is a machine out there that can put a smile on your face and keep it on there for an hour straight then I dare you to ride the KTM Supermoto. You will end up with a perma smile. I am sure Motodisiac driving right next to me could see my grin through the tinted dark visor of my lid. The bike just begs throttle action. It entices you not to drive in a straight line. Actually even when riding a straight line you constantly want to play with the throttle. No, I take it back. The bike wants you to play with the throttle. Empty freeways are this bike’s kryptonite. Traffic congestion is when it shines. I am yet to ride it in heavy traffic on my daily commutes. But I am sure the perma grin on my face is there to stay.

The more thorough review will be coming up soon. But I will tell you this. The bike is a beast. The orange beast we call it!

Last night coming from the office splitting lanes at a steady pace. Not too fast, not too slow. See the lights approach rapidly from behind. Move aside. Three riders fly by. Casual wave. Something clicks in the competitive side of my brain. I initiate a chase. Chase sequence engaged.

• Competitor riding in position no 1 -typical squid, gixxer with a tail kit, shorts, sport shoes, t-shirt and an icon vest.
• Competitor riding in position no 2 - 10 something year old Suzuki 500, cheap riding jacket, noname helmet
• Competitor riding in position no 3 - new looking gixxer, proper gear
• Competitor riding in position no 4 - yours truly

The chase is on. Trying to catch up with the gixxer pack. I am on their tail. I keep up with the group. The pace is fast as it is. Apparently not so for the competitor no 2. The old gixxer rider makes his move. Something I have never seen before.

The race was taking place in between the 2 left most lanes on the freeway. So the rider no 2 swerved around a car in lane 2, temporarily rode in between lanes 2 and 3 and then came back around to take up position 1. All of that happened in under a second. And just took him the distance of one car body to accomplish. I was stunned. First of all it is extremely unsafe. Secondly you have to have the balls of steel. Thirdly - what is the point.

The squid now in position 2 seemed to have been amazed too and looked puzzled. He even took time to look back to show his disbelief to apparently his friend, the new gixxer now in position 3. In the meantime the new race leader gunned it like there was no tomorrow. The other 2 gixxers decided to not pursue.

Pretty soon the freeway had cleared up a bit and the two gixxers twisted their throttles to 90-95 mph speeds. I did not feel like racing anymore.

As you may know, Sideout got bitten by supermoto bug and has been looking for a good deal on Hypermotard for quite a while. It turns out good deals don’t just come, they come in packs.

This morning I e-mailed Sideout to notify him that I have found a bike that I was looking for, KTM 690 Supermoto. The price was reasonable and I was ready to pick it up over the weekend. In his reply Sideout included another ad for the same bike for $500 less. An hour later we were on the way to pick it up, good deals like this can’t wait. This is how I became happy KTM owner. But wait, there is more. The seller had two bikes for sale, and Sideout snagged the other one because the deal was too good to pass. This brings an end to Hypermoto hysteria since no sane man needs two supermotos…..

As you can imagine, starting new business from scratch is not easy. I came into this project with very low expectations to insure that I don’t get disappointed. I know that it will take time. I know that I will feel low. I know that I should stay positive. With all the above said, it’s easy to fall into depression. Did I make the right choice? Why doesn’t it work the way I envisioned? These thoughts don’t leave my head for a moment. Times goes by, and I hardly see any improvement.

Today I went to Thai restauraunt down the street to treat myself with nice lunch, eating cold sandwiches gets old pretty quick. Upon finishing with my meal I opened the fortune cookie, something I rarely do. “Use your abilities at this time to stay focused on your goal. You will succeed” Hmm…. I definitely lost focus, how did they know about it? Gotta get back up…..

The weather has been gorgeous out here in SoCal. Not too hot, temperature in mid 80s. Perfect riding conditions. I was looking forward to the weekend. I was pretty sure I would be able to squeeze a day of riding there. That was till one of my friends called me and asked me to help him move. He said there was not going to be a lot of stuff to move. So we should be done in half a day time. Perfect. At least I would have one day left. As the plans formed we had decided to do the move on Saturday. I got beach volleyball games scheduled for Sunday. And then I had the rest of Sunday to do some riding.

Fast forward 48 hours. Here is the breakdown. 12 hours of relative daylight on Saturday were spent moving. And that was not enough to move everything. Sunday morning came. And I had to honor my commitments to my volleyball buddies. So I went and played almost 4 hours of beach volleyball non-stop. Then I went back to my friends place to conclude the move. 6 hours later the move was done.

I woke up this morning feeling sore in place I did not think I could ever be. No matter how athletic one thinks they are moving furniture and loading / unloading it into a truck is not a joke.  And doing that for the total of 18 hours in 2 days will get you exerted. Why in the world would I be blogging about this on a motorcycle blog and how is that related to motorcycle riding? I am getting there …

Morning commute to the office saw me routinely splitting lanes as usual. While doing so all of the sudden my right leg got a cramp. Not the most pleasant feeling in the world. Especially given the proximity of the cages around me and my speed of over 40 mph. Luckily there was a wider opening. I slid in it and immediately got up on my foot pegs. That apparently took off some pressure off of my cramped up thigh muscle. And like that the cramp was gone.

Moral of this story - don’t be riding overexerted. Leg cramps are you enemies. A cramp could make your leg do something uncontrollable. And there isn’t a single uncontrollable thing your body can do that would be beneficial to you while you are riding a bike.

Happy Monday everyone!

So as some of you may have already guessed, I have started my own motorcycle shop. Considering it’s located at Beach ave and a couple of blocks from the beach, it’s wasn’t hard to pick name. To my amusement, www.beachmoto.com was available.  I took it as “good luck” sign. This is how Beach Moto was born. Now, it’s not just any bike shop, we have about 6 of them in our neighborhood. I really wanted to create something unique. It had to be a place where people could just hang out and talk about bikes. I wanted to carry only high quality gear, there are enough places that sell ICON “gear”.  The place for motorcycle enthusiasts. The place that will treat you like family. My place. It’s the best feeling in the world, being able to make decisions on what it’s going to be like. After a couple of weeks of construction, it was done.

When it came to picking the gear supplier, I didn’t even hesitate. Being REV’IT! junkie mysef it was logical that I would become their dealer. The fact that nobody sells it in greater LA area made it even better, unique was exactly my idea. REV’IT! brand is completely unknown in most of motorcycle communities, so I have a lot of work ahead of me. So far the response has been great, every person that has seen it came highly impressed.

As you may imagine, starting new business is not easy. Considering I don’t come from motorcycle industry and have zero experience in running my own business, my challenge is bigger that you may think But I will fight to win.

By now most of you already know about the love and hate relationship between me and this brand called Rev’it!. Despite the hate part of this relationship I still maintain that I love the products and am still a loyal follower of this brand. It just so happened that recently my Rev’it Freestyle riding boots started giving me some trouble. The velcro would come undone at least once a week and sometime even a couple of times per day during rides. First of all that was becoming increasingly annoying. Secondly that isn’t exactly safe. If something were to happen to me the boots would just fly off my feet and leave me defenseless in the face of a possible abrasion injuries.

With that I decided to contact Rev’it! again and see if this issue would fall under warranty and they would go ahead and replace my boots. One of the challenges however was that this boot is no longer manufactured by Rev’it!. So I decided that I could just ask them to give something different like their new Air Blend boots. The reason I wanted those particular boots is mostly because it is something innovative and suitable for hot Southern California summers - this boot is breathable as it has mesh panels.

To my complete surprise Rev’it!’s actions were swift. I had received the replacement boots in under a week time. What a pleasant surprise. No more hate in that relationship. Rev’it! Corporate has completely redeemed themselves.

So as of last week I became a happy owner of a brand new pair of the Air Blends. I am yet to write up a gear review. It has been just a couple of commute ride. And I am already loving these boots.

Gear review to come shortly.