Southern Oregon Run June 2014

For the second year in a row Two Wheel Podcast has organized a suspension tuning and seminar day with Dave Moss. For those who don't know, Dave is an AFM racer/champion, tuner, and all around great rider.

Being that I do work for 2WP I had to go. Also since I had just had my forks serviced, seemed like a good time to get my suspension tuned and learn how to do it myself.

Friday I loaded up my luggage and blasted down Territorial hwy, I-5, then up 138 to Diamond Lake for lunch with my brother and dad. I pulled into the park and narrowly missed an OSP that had just pulled someone else over. Territorial is chewed up but scenic. 138 is a great road if you can avoid the RV traffic.

We swapped bikes around at a viewpoint. I got my dad's bike up to (redacted) indicated, and my brother got my CBR up to (redacted), and really liked it. The rest of the ride back to Eagle Point was uneventful, slow, and legal.

Saturday was the big day. I zipped down to KTM in Phoenix. Dave taught seminars in suspension setups and tire wear between bouts of bike setups. We took a run up hwy 66 to test out suspension setups (mine was a huge improvement). Then we explored carcass types and wear patterns to see what means what.

Something something something, run up through Williams and the back way into Grants Pass. Coffee at Dutch Bros, talking to bikers. Downtown full of meth heads. Then dinner with family, drinks, mild hangover.

Then we ran Hwy 227 on Sunday. It was hella chewed up at the top.

The rest of 227 was cool though.

Then lunch at the world's worst indian casino buffet. Probably the hangover didn't help.

I ran I-5 up to Springfield, then Marcola rd up to Lebanon (hella cool). Then the shitty, but direct, route back to home.

Good weekend. Have to tear down the bike in prep for a trackday in a week.

Last minute pre-season prep

My credit card is getting a workout. :) :(
The last few items I needed for my bike before summer were fork oil/seals (I didn't know the condition of mine, better to do it now than chance it), new brake pads, and a new chain.
Superstore was running a clearance on Avon Ultrasport tires from 2012, so I picked up a set of those for $130 also.
Thursday I spent the afternoon riding then dropped off the CBR at Independent Motorcycle Repair in Philomath to get all the work done. I should have it back next week, then I can have Dave Moss set the suspension for me first week of June in Southern Oregon at the suspension clinic we (Two Wheel Podcast) organized.
The last two items I suppose are to change to summer tires (the D616 isn't a track tire, I'll wear them until after my S. OR trip), and get a trailer. Today I ordered a Kendon trailer. Expensive, but I figure it'll last a helluva lot longer than the Northern Tool trailer, I can actually get in contact with the seller unlike the USA Trailer Store/Trailer in a Bag people, and takes up less space than a cargo trailer.
I wonder if I can claim the trailer as a business expense?
Pictured: Avon 3d Ultra Sports, and Michelin Pilot Pure/Power

Pictured: Flyer I made up for the suspension clinic:

Cruisin'

The other weekend I went to Southern Oregon to visit family. It was raining when I went down Friday night so I caged it.

Lets back up. My dad kept insisting that when I come to visit next I take his Vulcan 900 for a spin. So I took along my RSD leather jacket (it just wouldn't due to ride a cruiser with my crotch rocketeer leathers) and picked up a pair of armored Bilt jeans at Cyclegear.

Saturday morning my brother was feeling ill, so I decided to take his Sportster 883 (low rider) on the ride with dad. I put on my gear and blasted down the freeway to Dad's house.

I'd never ridden a Sportster 883 before, so this was a new experience to me. The brakes are anemic, the power band is narrow, the suspension has no dampening or compression, and it needs a sixth gear for the freeway. Still it was fun to throw the thing around and make a lot of noise.

Anyways, I got down to Dad's house and we took off towards Jacksonville. The Medford cops were running a speeding enforcement photo van on 62, otherwise nothing to note. We got into Jacksonville and stopped for gas.

The Sportster has a tiny tank and gets blah gas mileage, so I needed to fill up before heading into the boonies. Like a total derp I asked my dad when we were parked at the gas pumps "Does this thing need premium?". The lady working the gas pumps was appalled that I wanted to put regular into the bike "But its a HARLEY!" she said, to which I said "Its just a 883". She didn't find that funny.

Nothing much happened until we blew past some cars out of J-Ville and got into some nice 35mph corners. Going through a fast right hander I scraped my boot on the ground. I thought to myself "whoa, lets do that again but with the bike!" so I shifted my boot higher on the peg and leaned into the next corner. Sure enough, scrapped hard parts. One of my accomplishments of the day!

We twisted out past Ruch into the Applegate and ended up on some no name dirt and gravel road that Dad wanted to find, then turned around. While taking a rest break Dad challenged me to "lose him" on the next section. So I did. Unfortunately I couldn't burn the chicken strips off the tires because with that bike you're scrapping hard parts before you get to the edge of the tire. Made me miss my CBR.

Once back on the highway Dad and I switched bikes. His Vulcan 900 weighs about a hundred pounds more than the Sporty and only has a few more CCs. The tires are bigger, the forks are bigger, and it has a humongous windscreen.

If the Sporty handles like a goat (you can toss it around because its light, but the suspension doesn't really try to grip the road) then the Vulcan 900 handles like a water buffalo. Its heavy, underpowered, resists turning in then dives, and has a annoying heel shifter on the floor boards. What it does better than the Sporty is absorb bumps in bad road surface, and stop. The brakes and forks are much more sophisticated feeling. I found myself short-shifting constantly with the narrow power band.

We finished off the day with a BBQ while discussing the finer points of motorcycle design and rueing that there was no "perfect" motorcycle design.

Custom Seat time

With the Corbin fiasco behind me (I ebayed the seat) I decided to bite the bullet and get a full custom seat. Don Weber at Mr. Ed's Moto in Albany Oregon is universally recommended in the area as the man to go to for custom motorcycle seats. At $450 a seat though he isn't cheap. You schedule a time with him and ride your bike in. He'll spend 4+ hours building a new seat on your existing seat pan suited to your shape.

So far I'm almost 200 miles into my new seat and loving it.

Without further ado I present a ton of photos of my seat being built (in reverse).

Cortech Tank bag 2.0 18L review

So copy and paste everything I said quality wise about Cortech from my previous reviews, same stuff different shape.

The downside of a modern sportbike is that you can't use a magnetic tankbag without glueing some magnets to the other side of your plastic tank cover. Thats where the strapped design comes in. One harness loops around your steering yolk and the other nooses around part of your subframe under your seat. The rest is mostly the same as the magnetic version and includes some cheesy built in straps to take it on the go like a backpack.

Like the other Cortech components it comes with a rain cover and zips apart to allow bigger storage. When you open up the zipper to expand it up you can unfold some rigid parts inside the bag to give the sides more stability.

Loaded up it flops a little, but if you tighten everything down right its pretty stable as long as you dont load it like a moron and exceed the load limit. You can fit a sweatshirt, waterbottle, extra gloves, glasses, and a hat into it and still maybe fit some other stuff into the side pockets.

The unit has side pockets, a map pocket, a glasses/media device pocket (with grommet for wire), and includes a soft protector for a spare visor.

Last but not least, unlike the other Cortech 2.0 pieces of luggage, it comes with instructions.

Pictured: visor protector

The bag expanded

Demonstrating depth with a WD40 can

The bag, not expanded

 The side rigid thingy

Busy busy busy

In the last month I've moved and been very busy. My GF found a nice place in the suburbs and we moved there. It was a pain in the ass, but now I can host MotoGP parties and have a bigger garage.
Pictured: all the important things moved

As the weather has been improving I've been trying to get out and re-learn how to ride. I think I've got the hang of the D616 tires, I just need to play with the pressures. If they're designed for a heavier adventure bike maybe using regular sportbike pressures is the wrong thing to do, I'll have to try a range and see.

Unfortunately the roads near the agriculture areas are a complete mess due to spring. I re-installed my chain guard (removed by PO) today because I was tired of cleaning up chain fling. The "Black Label" chain grease is really greasy and flings all over the place, much more flingy than the chain wax I had been using.