Liter Bike!!!

As I've mentioned before, my very first motorcycle was a 1978 Honda GL1000 -- one of the original Goldwings -- with the engine in pieces.

Against my better judgment, I sold that bike before I ever got it running, and I've kicked myself ever since. Then, in March of 2010, I bought my Suzuki V-Strom

which has been a great bike, and which I've truly enjoyed.

However, I've run into a bit of a conundrum recently. About two years ago, my wife and I joined a motorcycle group that "...seeks to empower abused children to no longer be afraid of the world in which they live." My XS750 cafe racer,

while a lot of fun, isn't really ideal for riding with this group: it still idles at 5,000 RPM once it's warmed up, the exhaust is rusting to pieces (more on that in another post, coming soon to a web browser near you!), the rear view mirrors and tail lights are all but useless (which makes it kind of hard to keep an eye on the riders behind me -- or for them to interpret my intentions --when riding in a group), and I removed all of the provisions for carrying passengers. Making things worse, while my wife is a capable rider with a bike of her own (a pristine 1977 Honda CB750A Hondamatic)

it also has a few characteristics that make it..."sub-optimal"...for riding in our group. Although it's a very cool piece of history, it's not a terribly fast bike (yeah, it's a CB750, but the Hondamatics had a significantly de-tuned version of that engine) among other things. Consequently, she often rides pillion on my Suzuki V-Strom when we are riding with the group.

While I can ride two up in the group on the Wee-Strom, it too is less than ideal for this purpose. First, surrounded by a big-bore Kawasaki Vulcan, a Honda VTX-1800, several Harley-Davidson's (go figure), and a bunch of H-D trikes, the Strom sticks out like a very tall, bright orange, sore thumb.

It just doesn't look the part. More importantly, as much fun as it as when ridden solo, the Strom is a bit under-powered and under-sprung for riding two-up, especially when riding in a group of torquey, large-displacement cruisers. Finally, the brakes are a bit soft for carrying two full-grown, American adults at highway (ahem...) speeds. To solve this problem, my wife and I considered buying her a Sportster 1200 with a Frankenstein trike conversion kit but although it was a hoot to ride and would certainly have looked the part in the motorcycle group...well, it just wasn't a good fit.

We talked it over, and decided that maybe I should sell the V-Strom and buy a more capable two-up bike. After reviewing the options, I had narrowed the list of potential mounts down to a 2016 Suzuki Bandit 1250, a 2015 Triumph Speed Triple,

and a brand new, unsold 2013 Honda CB1100.

Once again, none of these bikes were quite right. The Bandit was the most practical choice, but would need suspension upgrades since they are reportedly undersprung, just like my V-Strom. The Speed Triple was the bike that set my pulse racing, but the passenger seat was a joke, the bars were really low for riding any length of time (although not as bad as my XS750), and I was worried about insurance costs on a hooligan bike like that. The CB1100 would probably be the most comfortable, but I didn't like the red paint, it had no windscreen, and while checking it out at the local Honda dealer, I was already making a list of modifications to make it more of what I wanted (read that, "$$$"). It would have worked, but it just didn't make sense to drop roughly ten grand on a brand new bike, then chop it up to re-make it the way I wanted.

No, none of these bikes were ideal, even if they were a step up from my V-Strom.

Then, the other night, my wife was looking at the bikes for sale on Craigslist when she found a 1978 GL1000 project. Hmmm...I like GL1000's...

Better yet, even after upgrades, the price is low enough that I wouldn't have to sell the V-Strom, and I've seen a couple of seriously cool GL1000 custom bike builds. I set out making a list of upgrades, changes, and simple maintenance items to make a vintage Goldwing suitable for our needs, and came up with the following preliminary list:

Item	Justification	Parts List	Cost
Brake Rebuild	The current owner already has removed the front brakes for a rebuild, and as I found with the XS750 project, neglected brakes are a nightmare. Rebuild these now before they end up in as poor shape as the front brakes on the Yammie were when I bought it.	K & L brake caliper rebuild kits, K & L master cylinder rebuild kits, new brake pistons (cheap, and solves a lot of problems), braided stainless steel brake lines.	$425
Dime City Cycles "Euro" Handlebars	As I recall, the stock GL1000 handlebars aren't that bad -- way better than those evil monstrosities, invented by the ghost of Torquemada himself, that Yamaha shipped on the XS750 -- but I'd like something a little sportier. This would be a much lower priority change, but I really want to replace the old brake lines before riding season, and I'm not going to buy braided stainless steel brake lines twice for this bike. That's just a waste of money.	Dime City Cycles "Euro" Handlebars	$50
New Headlight	Bike had a Vetter fairing; needs new lights and mounting hardware.	E-Bay "Dominator" headlights and cafe racer fork ears.	$140
Replace Timing Belts	Cheap insurance. Bike has an interference engine. If a timing belt breaks, you will be tearing down the engine to replace pistons and valves. That's why the engine on my first GL1000 project was in several Rubbermaid boxes when I acquired it.	Gates timing belts.	$30
Uni Foam Air Filter	Easy, inexpensive maintenance/performance upgrade item.	Uni foam air filter	$25
Ignition System Refurb	Spark plugs are a no brainer. Coils and wires are relatively inexpensive and simple to replace, also. Finally, points and condensers wear out, giving a weak spark. Replacing these parts should make for a better running engine.	DR8EIX spark plugs, coils t.b.d., 7mm silicone spark plug wires and NGK spark plug boots from Mike's XS, and a Sudco tune-up kit.	$200
Suspension Upgrades	Suspension is one of my key concerns. Vintage bikes are notoriously undersprung, and I've been happy with these springs and shocks on my XS750. Note: I'd prefer Race Tech springs and valve emulators in the forks, but at 1/3 the cost, these win the cost/value argument.	Progressive Suspension fork springs and Hagon 2810 TTSA shocks.	$414
Total:			$1284

There are other things I'd like to change too, but this should be enough to get the bike to the point where it is reasonably reliable, comfortable, good looking, and capable of running with the best of them while two-up. I won't be schooling competent sportbike riders in the twisties on a vintage Goldwing, nor will I be the flashiest bike in the state, but this should be a vast improvement over the status quo. And, I'll get to regain some of that karma I lost when I sold my first GL1000 project, lol.

I'll go take a look at the GL1000 tomorrow, and who knows? Maybe by tomorrow night, I'll be the proud owner of yet another GL1000 project bike ;)

Edit: I bought the 'Wing:





There are a few maintenance items that need to be completed before it's ready to ride, but in all honesty, it's a very clean bike for its vintage. After looking it over, I've changed the planned maintenance slightly. There are a few things that have already been taken care of, and a few things that I probably won't change until after the bike is running (function first, cosmetics later -- a lesson I learned from the XS750 project). Here is a Google Sheets document outlining the plan in more detail. I'll leave the table above as a snapshot of the original plan, but the Google doc will be changing as work progresses.

Loud Pipes?

I've never been a "loud pipes save lives" guy. I believe paying attention and playing the "what-if" game ("what's the stupidest @#$&!!! thing another motorist around me can do, and what will I do when -- not if -- they do it?") are the best ways for a motorcyclist to keep him/her -self safe. I've also always held the opinion that being courteous when sharing the road was a good idea. I've often cringed when another motorcyclist with straight pipes rode by, worrying that non-motorcyclists would lump us all in the same group. To me, the "loud pipes save lives" crew has always seemed like they were trying to rationalize their unbaffled exhausts with a thin veneer of justification. However, I'm starting to think that I was wrong. Loud pipes might not be such a bad idea, after all.

So I'm on my way to work on my V-Strom the other day, cruising down a 45MPH, secondary road (two northbound lanes, two southbound lanes, and a suicide lane down the middle). I'm in the right-hand northbound lane when a dually work truck pulls out ahead of me. No problem; he's far enough ahead that I can slow down or change lanes to avoid him. There's a four door Jeep Wrangler in the left-hand lane, but I've got room to change lanes, so I do. About the time that I turn off my turn signal and get stabilized after changing lanes, some complete tool in the suicide lane pulls into my lane so effing close that there's no time for me to brake, and the work truck is still just slightly ahead of me in the right-hand lane, and not yet up to the speed of traffic. I do a quick assessment of my options (not many), and think to myself, "I'm not gonna avoid this one. This is gonna hurt."

Fortunately, my guardian angel (who has got to be mainlining Valium at this point in my life, and who is well past due for a promotion, lol) points out the one escape route I have available. Maybe. It's marginal, but the only other option I have is to go over the hood of the Escape or CR-V or whatever little SUV it was that pulled in front of me (identifying make and model was honestly not at the top of my priority list at this point), so I grab a fist-full of throttle, and go for it.

As it turns out, there was *just* enough room for me to lane split between the SUV and the work truck, even on my wide-butt Suzuki, and I managed to successfully slip between them before I rocketed down the road ahead of them, wanting to get as far as possible from the distracted driver in the SUV as fast as possible.

As readers of this blog will know, I've been trying to figure out how to repair the broken, obnoxiously loud exhaust on my Yammie for a while, but ya know...after this incident, I don't think I will, after all. I'll probably do enough work to clean up the cosmetics on the XS' exhaust, but no one has *EVER* been unaware of me on the (103+ dB) Triple, whereas on my (83dB) V-Strom, I've had more than enough close calls. In fact, I think I'm even going to retrofit my Strom to a louder can, as well.

I originally posted a slightly shorter version of this rant on one of the forums I frequent, and several people chimed in with various observations about the pros and cons of this plan, including some interesting things I hadn't thought of, like an anecdote about revving the engine on a louder bike to make sure that an obviously distracted driver knows you are there. Since, in our society, honking the horn is often used to express displeasure with other motorists rather than to politely get someone else's attention, revving an engine once or twice on a sufficiently loud motorcycle can draw others' attention to you without the baggage associated with honking your horn.

Others, of course, took issue with my decision to make sure my bikes were loud enough to draw attention to them, mostly due to the fact that being loud can be offensive to others. I get it. That's why I've ridden my Strom for six years already with the stock exhaust. That's why repairing the broken exhaust on my Yammie was such a priority for me. But here's the rub: I can't count the number of times I've had to take evasive action to avoid another motorist who obviously didn't see me. Some of them were merely annoying; I had options and was able to avoid the conflict by adjusting speed and/or position without much drama. Others were a little more memorable, like the teenager in the bright orange H2 Hummer who looked me in the eye, then pulled out Right...Freaking...In front of me (and then tailgated me after I swerved past him in the oncoming lane of traffic!!!) or the twenty-something punk that had a near-death-experience (although he didn't know it) after he cut me off with so little room to spare that I locked up my rear brake TWICE to avoid crashing into the rear quarter panel of his car. This year, however, I've had two instances where I really didn't think I was going to be able to avoid the accident. Fortunately, I was wrong both times, but these two incidents have shaken me up enough that I'm seriously re-thinking my stand on loud exhaust systems on motorcycles. As a good friend of mine recently said in a Facebook post, "An aftermarket exhaust is cheaper than your deductible." Hmmmm...that's actually a really good point!

If cagers are so self-absorbed and self-centered that they can't put down the cell phone for the twenty minutes it takes to get to work, can't be bothered to put on a turn signal before changing lanes, and can't be bothered to perform a head-check or even look in their rear-view mirrors before pulling into traffic, then I no longer care if my exhaust disturbs their Zen moment with Enya on their 1200 Watts of Dolby Surround Sound during their morning commute. My right to have a reasonable chance of arriving alive at my destination is just a little more important than your right to peace and solitude inside your insulated cocoon. Sorry.

So here's the deal: I'm going to try to find a louder-than-stock exhaust for my Strom that (hopefully) will drop the weight a bit (OEM exhausts are notoriously heavy), that (hopefully) will improve performance and/or gas mileage a bit, and that (hopefully) will garner a little more attention from other motorists when I ride. I'm shooting for something that won't be obnoxiously loud, but I definitely am looking for something louder than stock. From the evidence I've seen, motorcycles are all but invisible to other drivers; I'm tired of being silent (or close enough, anyway) as well.

[end rant]

Wish List

I recently attended the 2015 Anchorage Bike Show, where I got the chance to drool over a number of gorgeous bikes. The variety of bikes at the show was amazing, from the latest cruisers, adventure bikes, sport bikes and dirt bikes offered by all of the local dealerships to a number of simply stunning vintage restorations, including a nicely-done '79 GL1000 that looked so similar to my old 'Wing that I had to do a double-take to see if it really was my old bike (it wasn't -- mine was a year older). While kicking around at the bike show, I found myself wondering -- again -- what I'd have parked in my garage if time, space and money were no longer an issue. In no particular order, here's my (current) "dream-bike" list. Enjoy!

• Honda GL1000: No surprise here. This is the bike that started it all for me, and I still kick myself for selling the 'Wing instead of finishing it. In truth, it's probably a good thing that bike wasn't ridable when I started riding, but I'd love to have one now.
• Honda Interceptor/VFR: When I was high school, I had a paper route, and there was a particularly nice example of this bike that I'd always check out when I was out delivering papers. I've always loved the look of this bike, and by all accounts, it was an excellent performer in its day, too.
• Triumph Street Triple R: I almost bought one of these, a 2009 model the same color as my V-Strom, after my CB550's engine started making metal. Not especially flashy, it's still got the goods to spank most modern "race replicas." (I'm pretty sure the bike in the photo is a Speed Triple rather than a Street Triple, but they look very much alike, even though the Speed has a larger engine).
• Yamaha Bolt: Yeah, I know, I know. "A cruiser?!?!" And a smallish, Japanese one at that! Yamaha took a risk when they released this bike, and gave several bikes to a number of custom builders to see what they could do with the bike. That's seriously cool...as were some of the resulting customs. Even stock, I like the look, and being a part of Bikers Against Child Abuse, I'd like to build a cool bobber for rides with the group, since I feel slightly ridiculous in chaps and a vest on my V-Strom. Something like the Bolt would suit that role a lot better.
• Suzuki SV650: What can I say? I've enjoyed my V-Strom, and would really like to see what the original, asphalt-only version of my bike could do. The number of parts that are interchangeable between the two models is just icing on the cake!
• Norton Commando (Re-Issue): If money were no object... It's a modern sport-bike with the trappings of a vintage cafe racer, i.e., "Heaven on Earth."
• Ducati Sport Classic: Yeah, I like modern retro cafe racers. Sue me ;)
• Honda CB1000: Another retro-modern bike. <shrug> I like the way old bikes look.
• Honda CB750SC: I fell in love with a CB550SC back when I was in college, and my first running bike was a much-less-well-maintained version of the same bike. I'd love to have the bigger version of that bike, now.
• Suzuki Bandit 1250: Another bike I seriously considered when I bought my V-Strom, but too little experience coupled with a fairly heavy, 1250cc bike just didn't seem like a good idea. Now that I've got a couple more miles under my belt, I'd like a sport-tourer with a low enough purchase price that I can afford to tweak it to meet my needs.
• Triumph Tiger 800XC: If this bike had been available when I was searching for a replacement for my Nighthawk, I'd be sporting a bunch of Triumph gear now.
• KTM or Yamaha Dirt Bike: So far, everything on my list has been street-oriented, but I'd like to have something a little more adventurous for exploring the many trails where I live.
• Trials Bike of Some Kind: I really enjoy technical riding, and it doesn't get much more technical than trials.

So there it is: my dream garage, and a bike for every occasion. Given my foray into owning more than one bike, I'd say that with that many bikes, I'd probably spend more time wrenching than riding. It's probably good that I've only got three motorcycles sharing the stable right now ;)

Summer 2014 Wrap-Up

Despite the best of intentions, the 2014 riding season turned out to be somewhat anti-climactic.

Don't get me wrong -- it wasn't a bust by any stretch. I finally made it to Valdez, I got the Yamaha running well enough to put a few hundred miles on it, my wife and I participated in the Christmas in July charity ride, and Sue Zuki (the Strom) turned 30...thousand miles, that is ;) Unfortunately, I ended up trailering the Strom back from Valdez, the Yammy ended up with a pretty serious mechanical setback, and this year's Ride to Hope turned out to be the Ride to Girdwood due to some seriously foul weather.

Valdez: If you're in Alaska, whether living here or visiting, don't wait 25 years like I did -- it's really gorgeous through Thompson Pass and Keystone Canyon, easily one of the prettiest places I think I have ever been:

On the downside, I heard some odd noises from the rear wheel upon reaching Keystone Canyon on the return to Anchorage. Fortunately, my wife had driven our RV while I was riding the Strom, so I pulled the bike onto the trailer that my wife was pulling behind our RV, rather than riding all the way home. Oh, did I mention that it was pouring rain and bitter cold on the way to Valdez, but warm and sunny on the return trip? Adding insult to injury, the noises I heard in Keystone Canyon turned out to be nothing worse than a loose chain guard that had flopped over onto the chain, so the chain was lightly rubbing on the inside of the chain guard (sigh...) Despite the bad weather on the way to Valdez and the mechanical mishaps on the return trip, I honestly can't wait to go back again -- hopefully all the way there and back next time, lol.

Ride to HopeGirdwood: Then, there was the Ride to Hope, which turned out to be the Ride to Girdwood, due to the extremely inclement weather:

I typically ride rain or shine, so even though I was cold and uncomfortable, I wasn't going to say anything when we stopped in Girdwood to fuel up before heading the rest of the way to Hope. But...to be completely honest, I was not at all disappointed when the group decided to pull the plug on the ride. They headed back to Anchorage, while I snuggled up with a latte at the espresso shop there in Girdwood ;)

XS750 Project: Arguably my biggest motorcycle accomplishment this summer, I also got my XS750 Cafe Racer project running well enough to put about 800 miles on it, including a run to the bike show at the Alaska State Fair in Palmer.

Mechanical Gremlins: However, I didn't log nearly as many miles on my bikes this summer as I usually do, which I blame on persistent mechanical problems this year. Much as I hate to admit it, the V-Strom is starting to show some signs of its age. First, the front tire is nearly worn out, which is good because I <expletive deleted> hate the Continental Trail Attack tires I put on it last summer for the ride to Seattle. I've already replaced the rear with a Shinko 750, and I plan on doing the same thing to the front tire this winter. In fact, the front tire washed out on me once on my driveway this summer, leading to my first drop at any kind of speed, and destroying one of the fog lights I had hung on my crash bars a while back. I've already worn out the chain and sprocket I hung last summer (!), so I've got a replacement in the garage, waiting for me to get a chance to swap them out. And finally, the valves have started chattering a bit, telling me it's (well past) time to pull the plastic, remove the heads, and shim the valves. I'm not looking forward to that. I'm also starting to think that I should probably replace the battery (it's started acting a little less peppy than it used to be) and the brake lines (Suzuki recommends every four years; I'm at five, and I really want stainless steel lines, anyway).

Ok, no problem. The cafe-nated XS750 is running, so I should have been able to take the Strom off-line to work on it, right? Well...no. You see, I spent most of the summer tracking down a problem where the Yammie would run great for 20 miles or so, then would start running a little rough, would lose power, and then would die completely. I finally identified the problem as a plugged fuel vent, caused by my attempts to fabricate a new fuel cap gasket of silicone rubber last summer, and solved the problem (both of them) by buying a brand new, $25 gas cap -- money well spent!

Once I finally had that issue solved, I turned my attention to fabricating the bump-stop seat, which is 90% done now, although I'm not completely happy with it (it's heavy, a little rough in places, and the paint job looks like crap). I've also been trying out how to rework the exhaust system without paying a small fortune ($350, more or less) for a MAC 3-into-1 exhaust kit, which looks a little chintzy to me. I'd rather try to weld up a complete replacement, although I'll need to step up my welding skills to do that...and it's going to cost a lot more than the MAC. Finally, I've had the high-idle problem with the carbs all summer, as well. Trust me, you haven't lived until you've sat in traffic at a red light on a Yamaha triple with a blown-out exhaust system screaming at 4000+ RPM, lol.

Ok, so I spent a little while tweaking the remaining bugs out of the Yammy, some of which I still haven't completely eradicated, but it's still rideable, right? Ummm, no. On the ride to the Palmer State Fair, I blew the head gasket, and was only able to ride back home because a friend there loaned me a quart of oil to replace some of what leaked out all over my left leg and the engine case.

As a result of these mechanical issues, I didn't make some of the other trips I intended this summer. I skipped out on a group ride to Kennicot Mine, a number of group rides with the charity group that I'm in the process of becoming involved with, and I also blew off my hopes to ride to Nabesna this summer.

Project Plan: Needless to say, I've got a winter full of projects planned out for both bikes while the snow flies here in Anchorage:

Project	Bike	Dependencies
Head Gaskets	Yamaha	None
Valve Shim Adjustment	V-Strom	None
Carburetor Cleaning	Yamaha	None
Chain and Sprocket Change	V-Strom	None
Remove Starter	Yamaha	None
Finish Cafe Racer Seat	Yamaha	Match gas tank paint?
Exhaust R&R	Yamaha	Better Welding Technique, lol
Stainless Steel Brake Lines	V-Strom	None
Upgrade Regulator/Rectifier to Modern	Yamaha	None
Shorai Battery	Both	V-Strom: None; Yamaha: Regulator/Rectifier Upgrade

Should be enough to keep me busy over the winter, lol. If I can get the first six items taken care of, I'll be content. If I can replace the V-Strom brake lines too, I'll be happy. If I can get the exhaust system repaired and/or replaced, I'll be ecstatic.

XS750 Project Part 25: On Rat Bikes, Abandoned Projects and Moving the Soul

I took an English class in college that was easily one of the biggest wastes of time in my entire college career. However, there was at least one grain of wisdom that the English professor teaching (ahem...) that class left with me: "A work of art is never completed," she said. "It is merely abandoned." Her point, of course, was that you can spend an entire lifetime rewriting, editing, altering, adjusting and perfecting your writing -- or any other art form, for that matter -- and there will still be something else in that work that you feel you can make better. Eventually, however, most artists (writers, painters, sculptors, whatever) grow tired with a particular piece of work, and move on to a new project.

Likewise, I have reached a point in my cafe racer project where, even though I know full well that the project is not complete, it is at least at a point where I can pull it out of the workshop and start enjoying it.

Don't be misled; it's still a rat bike in every sense of the word. The seat is a 1/2 inch thick sheet of foam rubber crudely carved (more or less) into shape and held on to the metal seat pan with bungie cords. The exhaust is shot and falling apart. The bike still idles at 4000 RPM once it has reached operating temperature, although I've got a lead on what needs to be done to fix that (thanks, Gatlyn!). The instrument cluster is dented, the triple trees are faded and rusting, and the idiot light panel is cracked and off-kilter. Nevertheless, it is at least ridable now, and I've been commuting around town on it every chance I get.

As I've said before, the V-Strom has been a great bike, and I am really glad that I bought it. It's rock solid, bulletproof, and as reliable as a bike can be. I've put just shy of 30,000 miles on it in the five summers I've owned it, and I fully intend to ride it into the ground; I don't expect that I will ever sell it.

However...have you ever had an itch where it doesn't matter where you scratch, you can't quite seem to reach it? You scratch here, but it's a little too low. You scratch a little higher, but that's not quite it either. You scratch to either side, but still miss the itch. Desperate now, you scratch all over, but every time, you get close...but not quite there. That's what the Strom has been like. It's a great bike, and I really enjoy riding it, but there's still something inexplicable that's missing when I ride it.

Then there's the Yamaha. Now that I've got it running, I think I've finally found what the V-Strom was missing: Character. Soul. That invisible, unquantifiable, visceral feeling of rightness that you can't explain to anyone else, but that you know and recognize the second it's there. The V-Strom is fast enough; in fact, I've ridden it about 10-20 MPH faster than I've (yet) gone on the Yamaha. It's a lot more comfortable than the Yam. I rode the Strom from Anchorage to Seattle and back, a round trip of 5,000 miles, at least according to the odometer (which, admittedly, includes commuting while in Seattle); the longest round-trip I've made on the bike I've named "Miami" ("My Yammy," lol) is 60 miles...and then I was a little stiff for two days afterwards! The Strom has never, ever stranded me anywhere (although I did trailer it back from Valdez this summer after what turned out to be a non-event -- the chain guard had loosened and was rubbing on the chain, but I thought it was bearing problems again), but I've had to call for a ride home once already while out on the Yammy, and I had to stop and troubleshoot on the side of the road once after the engine abruptly died on me. The Strom is more nimble, turns quicker and is more responsive to body language than the Yam. It also is lighter, has more range, carries more cargo, is more versatile, and starts with the push of a button every...single...time whereas the Yamaha is a cranky, cantankerous, kick-start-only machine, etc., etc., etc.

Yet somehow, despite all of the logical, rational, practical reasons why the Strom is a better bike -- and it is, no doubt about it -- the Yamaha still elicits more smiles per gallon than the V-Strom. When I want to unwind, it's the bike I gravitate towards, even in its present, unfinished state. When I close my eyes and picture myself shedding the stress of the day, the vision in my mind's eye is me astride the Yammy. The Strom transports the body, but the Yamaha transports the soul.

And in the end, that's why I ride. There's nothing logical or rational or practical about it. It's about feeding the soul and feeling alive. Both bikes fill needs that I have, so both bikes will continue to be ridden. Sometimes the mission will be practical, and I'll take the Strom. Sometimes the mission will be emotional, and I'll take the Yam. And if one or the other bike is down for maintenance, at least I won't be caging it during Alaska's all-too-short riding season ;)

Fricken' Awesome!

My wife recently found a video (sorry, I don't have the link or I'd paste it here) that I found really intriguing, and then today, I ran across the same story from a link at Yamaha Triples.

This is SO many levels of awesome!

Out of curiosity, I followed a link to B.A.C.A.'s web page, where they have a list of local chapters, and...

Crap. No Alaska chapter >:(

Could a scrawny (6-foot-0, 180 pounds) ADV-type start a chapter up here, I wonder??? Anyone else here in AK interested in signing up?

Edit: I contacted the national organization, and they put me in touch with a guy here in my local area who used to be a member in the Lower-48. Everything is still in the planning stages now -- nothing is for certain, yet -- but it looks like we might have enough interested folks to get a chapter started up here! I'll keep the blog updated if (and "as") things start happening.