Motodisiac

So while Sideout was looking for ugly and boring but functional V Strom, I was occupied with the idea that I need new bike. It has been almost a tradition for be to update my stable once a year, and my last bike purchase was done approximately 12 months ago. Combine it with the fact that my wife got nice Tiffany ring for our wedding and I settled for $40 special, I knew I was able to to get something special.

Last week Sideout sent me an e-mail: check out this dealer, he is selling out all his bikes. Of course it contained a link. The second I clicked on it, I knew this was the bike I wanted. Not needed, but wanted. Logic doesn’t prevail in this case. Sometimes you just have to say: “fuck it!”

So it’s sexy. It’s beautiful. It’s charming. It sounds great. It’s Italian. It’s pretty unique, I haven’t seen one on the street yet, and I just came back from Laguna Seca Moto GP weekend with about 50K bikes attending.  I will not spoil the surprise but everything you need to know is in the title.

We are flying to Memphis in less than 10 days to pick up 3 of these beauties. That is right, we are riding 3 exotic hand built Italian bikes across the USA on Route 66. Three friends living the dream and not listening to common sense. I think it’s a nice way to break in new engines and bond our friendship. So what are the bikes?

To wee or not to wee, that was the question. And here is the answer. For the last few weeks I have been semi-frantically looking for a good deal on a used Wee-Strom. I have found a couple of really good offers neither of which was within a 600 mile radius from my house. I was totally open to a fly and ride option, i.e. fly into a city, pick up a new bike from its owner and ride it back home. Motodisiac has done it a few times.

While I was looking for a good deal I kept reading various information sources on the bike. Advrider.com and stromtrooper.com were the best resources. The more I read the more I became infatuated with the Wee. Tons of farkles, ease of maintanence and versatility made it a great bang for a buck. I was dead set on the purchase.

Last night I went out to look at this one Wee-Strom some 20 miles away from my house. The ad said it was a silver 2007 non-ABS model with 1400 miles on it. The bike was all stock except for the added handguards from the DL1000. The original owner had purchased it because a couple of his neighbors owned motorcycles and wanted him to ride with them. The mileage shows that this idea did not really come to life. The bike was in an absolute showroom condition and the owner was very much open to part ways with it right then. We made a deal and I rode it back home. This is how I have become a one happy strom trooper.

I decided to take it for a spin today to see what this machine is like. As already proven in my trial run of my friend’s Wee the bike feels solid and well built. It did not feel foreign while I was lane splitting on my morning commute. The engine comes alive at around 6000 rpm. In other words you will not feel a decent acceleration unless you rev the engine a bit. No problem there as it redlines at 11000 rpms. As mentioned in my earlier post the brakes are so so. So is the suspension in comparison to my other bikes. The stock exhaust is really quite which made me suspect I was absolutely invisible to the cagers. I did not have any close calls though. Just from my experience an aftermarket exhaust would enable cagers to hear you coming a bit earlier. Note to self - order a Yoshimura slip-on.

All in all this bike reminded me of a Honda Civic or a Toyota Corolla. Can’t really say too many bad things about it. At the same time far from being spectacular. Just a well built good bang for a buck kind of machine.

The only thing that was pretty annoying was the wind noise. I believe I get less wind noise on my KTM that does not have a windshield at all. No wonder virtually every used V-Strom that was for sale had some sort of an aftermarket windshield. The factory windshield is adjustable and per owners manual “can be adjusted in 3 positions”. I am yet to try that though I am suspecting a purchase of an aftermarket solution is imminent.

I am really excited as I am about to venture myself into the world on adventure riding on a proper machine. My adventure motorcycle project has started. And if you thought that my semi-frantic online searches were done you would be horribly mistaken. My Wee is pretty much rigged the way it came out of the factory. Translation - nowhere near ready for an adventure trip. An adventure motorcycle is the one loaded with various farkles - crash bars, skid plate, luggage, GPS mounts etc. Luckily there are plenty of aftermarket solutions for a Wee-Strom. I hope I don’t max out my credit card in the next few months to come.

As my previous post suggests I am strongly considering buying a used 650cc V-Strom. Probably I will never do really tough off-road excursions. But it is always nice to know what your noble steed is capable of. Today I found this video on youtube that provides proof that a V-Strom could easily go amphibious. A quality definitely worthy of being called an adventure motorcycle, don’t you think?

Yes my first off-roading experience was not pleasant. My second time was last October when we took a trip to Baja California. Our attempt to conquer the road from San Felipe to Gonzaga Bay failed largely due to my nagging and my fear of dropping my bike. I was riding the KTM SuperMoto which is clearly not an adventure motorcycle. I was afraid to damage it. Besides it was only my second time doing an off-road excursion. Well, among other things the road was tough. Anyway my third time came around last weekend when we took an adventure trip to Death Valley. I rode the KTM again. For whatever reason I felt more confident and fearless on off-road stretches. I could not do certain things as again I was afraid to damage my Orange Beast’s tires and suspension and did not feel like dropping it on loose gravel. Surprisingly though I did enjoy the off-road experience we had during our Death Valley run. And this is when I felt that maybe adventure riding should not be thrown out of the equation for me. The question was - what kind of motorcycle would I be doing that on?

Currently I own two motorcycles - 2003 Aprilia Futura for my sport-touring needs and 2006 KTM 950 SuperMoto for my sport-commuting needs. Motodisiac implied that I should sell the Futura and buy a Caponord. I rode his Caponord a couple of times and was impressed by its handing and versatility. The only problem - I thought and still think it is really ugly. I love the way the Futura looks and feels. My girlfriend also loves the Futura and told me not to sell it no matter what. And on top of those arguments the seat comfort of the Futura is far superior to anything I have ever sat on let alone ridden :). So at this point the Futura is here to stay. The KTM is the ultimate commuter as well as the soon to be my race track bike. So can’t sell that one either. Clearly at this point I am in need of an adventure aka enduro aka dual-sport motorcycle. Enter Suzuki V-Strom DL650.

Our Death Valley trip group consisted of 4 riders - Motodisiac and one more rider had Aprilia Caponords, yours truly rode the KTM and the 4th rider had a Wee-Strom (pictured below).  Wee-Strom is a nickname for the 650cc Suzuki V-Strom. As opposed to the 1000cc version that has a nickname Vee-Strom the little brother is obviously a Wee. Anyway I took my friend’s Wee for a run. The Wee has the same engine as my first bike - the SV650S. It feels potent for a 650cc engine. It redlines at 11 thousand RPMs. And while you can travel along at 3-4 thousand RPMs you can rev it up and get a fairly nice acceleration out of it. The bike corners pretty well too. The brakes are so-so. However this isn’t a race track motorcycle either. So that should not be a show stopper. The bike can easily go 250 miles on one tank of gas. Something of a high importance on adventure trips. There are tons of aftermarket farkles for it - crash bars, travel cases etc. And the best thing - the bike is inexpensive and easy to maintain. Perfect. I would not be too scared to drop it if I hit a sand patch or something.

I have been checking craiglist and advrider motorcycle for sale sections ever since I got back from our trip. I found a really good deal in San Diego that I was a bit late to. There are plenty of offers out there. However I am in no immediate rush to buy one. From my own experience I know that good deals do happen and it is not a once in a lifetime occurrence. At this point I am looking around. I am still considering - to wee or not to wee. I am leaning towards the first one.

I just came back from a motorcycle adventure trip to Death Valley. As a true adventure rider I was equipped with some adventure riding gear. Among those - the Cayenne Pro jacket and pants.

For those of you who don’t know what Death Valley is and the name did not give you any hints I will say that it is a desert located on the border of California and Nevada. And deserts are known for huge temperature fluctuations. I was quite interested how the Cayenne Pro combo would perform under those conditions.

We hit all kinds of temperatures on our 4 day excursion.  As all motorcyclists know the biggest pain in the ass is to stop and layer up when you get cold or layer down when you are hot. You would much rather keep rolling. The terrain and roads in Death Valley are such that they go up and down the local mountains. So one minute you are hot, the next one you are cold. We saw temperatures ranging from 65F(16C) to 85F(26C) within 30 mile stretches. And this is when the design of the Cayenne Pro jacket and pants proved to be far superior than any other motorcycle gear I have ever worn.

The pants have vents going along the sides of your thighs. The zippers are conviniently located and are very easy to operate when you are seated on a bike as well as when you are standing up. Unlike the same kind of zippers on my previous REVIT! riding pants I was operating those with ease. And would close and open these vents multiple times during our trip.

The jacket’s vents system is far more complex. It features two zippered vents on each of the sleeves. Then it has the chest vents that close up on velcro and stay open with the clip buttons and the zippered vents in the back. Clearly you can’t unzip the back zippers unless you either ask you friend or take your jacket off. However the chest vents and the sleeve vents are operated easily even while you are riding. Two big thumbs up for that. And yet another interesting way to add more airflow is to release the velcro-ed cuff of the sleeves and make the cuffs really loose. It would draw a lot of air in your sleeves thus creating more airflow.

These venting  features came really handy on our trip. All 3 of us wore the same jacket-pants combination. And neither one of us could say enough compliments to the quality of the Cayenne Pro jacket and pants as well as the utilitarian nature of the gear. The combo works amazingly well for the needs of an adventure rider. Highly recommend!

So I sold my Element about a month ago and now Eurovan is my only car (that I drive twice a month anyways thanks to bikes ) Here is a little review based on my limited experience (about 5K so far)

As far as hauling bikes Eurovan has been fantastic. The floor is a lot lower that you may expect, and it makes loading super easy, I can push my Ducati in without worrying about dropping it. There is plenty of headroom as well, I think it will work wonderfully with CRF450R that I’m about to buy. I modified the rear seat rail so now it comes out in 30 seconds so when I need to haul my bikes I quickly take it out.

Since I got the Westfalia edition with camper pop top I need to rave how great it’s been for camping. I already tested in in Baja, spent 5 days relaxing by the ocean there, and I cannot imagine having better car for camping. Auxiliary battery is great as you don’t have to worry about draining the main battery while running interior lights, folding table works wonders for quick breakfast on chilly mornings, the bed “upstairs” is almost as comfortable as the one at home, and that little fridge under the seat comes handy for keeping the beverages cold

I have been getting about 18-19mpg which is OK considering that’s it’s pretty big. It’s very easy to drive, with adequate power and decent braking. I really with it came with diesel engine and CD player but I guess you cannot have everything.

When I was cruising in Baja just outside of Ensenada I passed white T5 Eurovan with Mexican license plates. It looked very nice and spotted 2.5 TDI badge on the back The owner gave me thumbs up. Now I’m working on smuggling one of these here in US

Overall I’m very pleased with Eurovan. It fits in my garage and doesn’t depreciate much. It works well for all my needs. I’m thinking about getting fancy 18″ wheels and H&R suspension kit, just so it’s a bit different from other Eurovans on the road.

I’m driving through what seems to be the biggest state in the world. The road is pretty boring and the fact that the radio doesn’t work doesn’t help either, I will probably lose my voice by the time I’m home because I’m covering every song that I know.

I spent last night at the rest stop, slept like a baby thanks to a completely flat and spacious bed in my newly acquired car.  When I got up at 6 in the morning and climbed out my sleeping bag, I realized that it was really cold. I’m actually quite surprised that iced tea that I had in a cup holder didn’t turn into ice. By the time I ran to the bathroom to wash my sleepy face, I froze my buttocks off. Cold water and even colder dryer woke me up better than any Red Bull would. My 6:15 I was on the road, shivering and waiting for the heater to kick in.

Thanks to generous Texas speed limit of 80mph I already covered 250 miles today. Going fast really affects my gas mileage; it dropped at least 4-5 mpg. By the way the further I drive away from Houston, the more expensive gas gets. It’s at least 70 cents more here in Van Horn, the place where I’m eating my disguisting McDonalds breakfast.

The car runs great; if it wasn’t for non working stereo I would call it poetry in motion. The winds seem lower than yesterday; the car doesn’t get thrown around that much. OK, time to fill it up and hit the road again.

Everything is good in moderation. Lack of moderation leads to possible cases of obsessive behavior. And obsessive is neither good nor healthy. Obsessions could ruin lives, bring chaos and destruction. Sometimes obsessions have no cure. One just have to learn to let things go. That might be the only reasonable treatment to that kind of behavior.

Motorcycle related cases are no exception. However in rare instances they are quite the opposite - healthy, constructive and even productive. Now with all that said - no, I am not obsessing about yet another motorcycle. Or am I? Some of my friends have a betting pool going that I will buy another bike by March 2009.  Despite the betting odds predicting the purchase to happen in the next couple of months I strongly disagree - I will not purchase another motorcycle in the nearest future.

After shuffling through a few motorcycles, trying off-roading and adventure riding I narrowed it down to the following two motorcycles (that I happen to currently own) - Aprilia Futura RST 1000 and KTM 950 Supermoto. They bring the best of the motorcycle worlds that I seemed to enjoy the most - fun street commuting and long haul one or two up sport touring. Futura is virtually unmatched in it’s styling, seat comfort and sporty character - arguably the best sport tourer I demo-ed. The Supermoto, aka the Orange beast,  is the ultimate street commuter, very flickable, a lot of fun to split lanes on, fairly light. With that said it does look like I am in absolutely no need of another noble steed in my stable. And that is exactly how I feel. I have ENOUGH motorcycles. I do not need more. Or is enough really enough?

My friends are trying to get me to venture into adventure riding with them. This idea is very enticing. I drool over trip reports on advrider.com each time I browse through them. I want to push my limits and go in the unknown. Ok, not necessarily unknown. Probably an unknown road to a known destination. But still - a definite adventure. As I mentioned earlier after trying off-roading on the BMW F650GS Dakar saying that I did not like it would be an understatement. Now I might be having second thoughts. Obviously I sucked at off-roading. You suck at pretty much anything you do for the first time. So is there a possibility of me trying this out again? You never say never …

I have never been to a track day before. Although my friends (namely Motodisiac) keep pushing me to go do that. Frankly I am afraid to go there on either of my bikes. Futura is a bit too heavy, the Orange beast is too high and most importantly I do not want to drop either of them. I like them way too much (obsession?!). The likelihood of me taking a spill there is pretty high. From what I hear first timers often times get a bit too confident for their own comfort and begin to follow the more experienced riders. Then they start taking turns a bit faster than they should be. That is where yet another bike comes in the picture. Motodisiac owns this beautiful red Duc 749R for his track days.What do I own? Exactly. For a beginner like myself any of the big 4 sport bikes will do just fine. You can get a 650cc Suzuki/Honda/Kawasaki/Yamaha for around 4 grand. It will be in a shape good enough for a track day. And on top of all of that I would totally rock the Replica racing leather suit from REV’IT! :). So do I see me going to a race track on a track bike in my future? You never say never …

What do you think? Do you see a new bike in my future purchased within the next 4-5 months?

About a year ago me and Sideout signed up at www.pashnit.com to be able to use the data that comes with the membership. It includes hundreds of descriptions of the most beautiful rides in California, together with directions and pictures. At first I was really excited about all the possibilities. Today, almost a year later, I realise that we haven’t used it once. I think it’s about time we explore local backroads. As soon as I’m able to pu my boot on……

I have been fortunate to travel fairly frequently. And while I always enjoy going to different places, far and near, abroad and within the US for some reason I stopped getting excited before trips. You know that feeling when you are anxious to go, can’t wait for the day to come, counting days, hours, minutes? Well this feeling was long gone for me. I am not sure when and how I had relinquished it. But what I do know is that this feeling of excitement was gone for quite some time now.

Tomorrow Motodisiac, myself and one of our friends (for future reference we shall call him Capoross) will embark on a short motorcycle trip to Northern Baja, Mexico. It is the very same trip that got canceled earlier this month. Except this time I am not out of town and I am joining my friends. The bikes have been prepared, our riding gear has been acquired specifically for this trip, luggage has been squared away, our route has been uploaded into the newly acquired Garmin. And tomorrow afternoon, on Friday October 10, we will begin our journey going South from Los Angeles, crossing the border via Calexico, then down to San Felipe, Gonzaga bay. Then we will cross over to the Pacific side of Baja peninsula and come back up to cross the border back into the US probably in Tecate. We are scheduled to get back home on Monday night. The whole trip should be around 1000 miles in approximately 3 days of riding.

The whole reason I brought it up is simply this - I am really excited. Probably for the first time in the last 4 or 5 years I am genuinely excited and can’t wait till we kick off our trip. What happened to me? I can’t quite figure out…