Total Loss: Adios Bonnie

Bonnie is officially a total loss. Cause of death: bent frame. If it weren't for my forthcoming trip to Afghanistan, I still might have tried to get her appraised by the folks at Grove Cycles to see what it would cost to get her rebuilt. But right now, it's better for me to just take the insurance return and start looking at my post-deployment options and needs.

Despite the good return, it was hard to just let her go in that impound/junkyard. I'd spent a lot of miles with her and learned a lot about motorcycling. I'm a little afraid that this will be the end of my chance to have a toy while I'm young. The benefits of a roof and 4 wheels might be too much to resist and it could then be a long time before I get another bike. I guess we'll see.

Final Odometer: 14729

Here's a video from the Austin motorcycle show I didn't make it to on the day of the crash. Unfortunately, it looks like it was pretty awesome.


Revival Does the One Show Austin 2013 from Revival Cycles on Vimeo.

Motorcycle Monday: Bruised and Frustrated

As you may have heard from facebook, I had a motorcycle accident Saturday in Round Rock, Texas. I was southbound on Interstate 35 going to see the The 1 Motorcycle Show in Austin when traffic went from 75 to zero mph faster than I could comply. I ploughed into the back of a red Challenger, went over my handlebars, onto their trunk, and off to the median side.

Scene of the accident; right in front of the Harley shop. Click to view larger Map.

Fortunately, the cars behind me were able to stop in time. Two guys hopped out to check on me and were rather surprised that I got up cursing like a sailor. Emergency responders got to the scene very quickly. I accepted an ambulance ride to the trauma center at Seton Williamson Hospital where they checked me out. They got some x-rays to make sure nothing was broken, gave me a prescription for Aleve and some muscle-relaxers, and let me go home.

So now I'm wavering between "I'm glad my bones are intact and can go home; interstate motorcycle accidents don't usually go so well." and "Why couldn't I see it sooner/brake sooner/swerve left onto the shoulder? Now I don't have bike, and it hurts to move, and I'm gonna have a bunch of army and insurance paperwork to do, etc"

I was too scatter-brained to think of taking a picture of the damage, but here's a by-memory rundown of things what would have to be replaced:

Front Forks - One was torn open and leaking dampening oil, so they're done for.
Front Wheel - Smashed in. Fender destroyed. Disc brake might be salvageable.
Rear View Mirrors - I remember seeing one bend backwards
Oil Radiator - The way the front wheel was pushed in, I have no doubt this will need to be replaced.
Exhaust - I remember seeing a pinch in one of the exhaust headers.

From the engine on back looked alright save for the strip of rubber I burned off while braking. I'm sure it will have to be checked thoroughly to make sure the frame is still true and none of the welds have been weakened.

I did grab a "before" picture, though.

I'm still waiting on the insurance assessment process, so I don't know if Bonnie will be deemed salvageable or not. But in the meantime, I've started speculating on what a custom re-build on the front end might look like. I'm fond of this look with twin headlights with stockier sportbike/dirtbike front forks.

Yamaha XV 750 by Classified Moto. Photo from Pipeburn

Starbuck's personal Honda XL 600 by Classified Moto. Photo from BikeEXIF

Riding in the wind

So I've rode the bike in the rain many times now. Hard rain, soft rain, warm rain, cold rain.

Pictured: Not Me. Photo (and good article) from LeslieKays.com

But until today I never really rode in the Wind. Capital W. The Bonneville is not a big bike, but my voluminous saddlebags and windshield really increase the surface area. After getting home I found out we're in a severe weather warning: "25 to 35 mph with gusts in excess of 50 mph." I'm not sure if it was that strong earlier, but the wind off Belton Lake was memorable. I'm definitely glad that I got a new front tire on Thursday.

The stock Metzler had finally worn close to bald and I had intended to get a ContiGo to match my back tire, buuut the good folks at Grove Cycle had a Michelin Commander II in the right size lurking on the shelf. It was a bit more expensive, but they were able to put it on immediately and I got to hang out at the shop with some Vietnam veterans. There are so many Veterans' riding clubs, maybe I'll find one wherever Sarah and I settle down.

Odometer: 12295

Riding Tunes

This past week has been great for riding home in the afternoons. The mornings may be cold or misty and unpleasant, but I'm glad I have the motorcycle when it's time to go home.

unique odometer milestone

I don't have a radio on my bike, but often songs spring to my mind unbidden while I ride. Maybe they come from the circumstances, weather, or things I pass on the road. Here are some examples:

When it rains:

"I've been stranded in the combat zone
I walked through Bedford Stuy alone
Even rode my motorcycle in the rain..."

When I pass an El Camino:

"Storming through the party like my name was El Niño
When I'm hangin' out, drinking in the back of an El Camino..."

When it rains harder:

"Scratch my back with a lightning bolt,
Thunder rolls like a bass drum note.
The sound of the weather is Heaven's ragtime band."

After a while without riding:

Self-Explanatory

Oddometer: 11412

Happy New Year!

So this thing is two years old now and my post frequency has severely dropped off. I have beer reviews from last January that I haven't got around to posting. So, bullet points:

• Sarah and I made it though a whirlwind trip to Pennsylvania for Christmas. It was good to see all the family, but the trip was pretty ambitious.
• The most recent beer was a success, but I feel like the headspace on the different bottles I used affected the taste. It may also be what part of the fermenter I was drawing from.
• We got the glass carboy my father-in-law gave me ages ago down to Texas, so I can try 2-stage fermentation.
• The next month or so will determine how my contract uncle sam is fulfilled, altered, or extended. Should be exciting.
• Second oil change for Bonnie; I'm going try to do it every 5000 miles or so.

Odometer: 10286

Happy Halloween!

We're handing out Reese's, because they're delicious.

So over 2 months have passed since I actually finished and published a post here. It somehow didn't feel like that long until I saw Christmas decorations in Home Depot. In this time, I've finished my 3-month gate guard rotation and experienced some significant professional developments at work. It's a bit more engaging and professional now; email me if you want further details.

Part of this work change involved me being "in the field" for 10 days recently. I won't bore you with the details therein, but the time spent not commuting was sorely needed for the bike. I was able to leave Bonnie at Grove Cycles the whole time without terribly inconveniencing Sarah. Because I ride rain or shine, the level of tread on my rear tire was getting dangerously low to handle the quick and violent rainstorms that Texas sometimes throws at me. I ended up choosing Continental ContiGO! on the advice that it's long-lasting and good for riding in the rain. Middle-range in price and felt solid on the ride home. I also had them install the new rear brake rotor and pads I had bought way back in march after my little crash. They also sorted out my confounding turn signal issue, so that's nice.

I'll try to post more often.
Odometer: 8828

Overdue Bonnie Update

Remember when I got a motorcycle?  And then I started modifying it?  Somehow, that was months ago...

This is what Bonnie looks like now. The camouflage ditty bag is a BDU-era butt-pack I traded for years ago. It's mostly waterproof and handy for little things that don't need to be secured. Those luggage monsters are 1440 Pelican cases outfitted by Roger at Caribou Motorcycle Luggage. He tried valiantly to talk me out of getting the olive drab green ones (black is standard), but I couldn't be stopped.  They are waterproof, lockable, and detachable. A bit wide, but I use all the space and I'm very happy with them. My assault pack fits in one with room to spare.

They're starting to fade on top from the Texas sun exposure, but what can you do?  I think folks call that 'patina.'

The other big change is my brand-new, shipped-from-England front wheel. Somewhere along the line the frame of Bonnie's front wheel got just a little bit bent resulting in harmonic vibrations at certain speeds and drifty handling at higher speeds. I didn't know this at the time because hey; it's my first bike.  How am I supposed to know what vibrations are normal or how it's supposed to handle over 70 mph? Special thanks to my old platoon sergeant who notice the wobble during the Phantom Thunder ride back in May.

shiny

She rolls smoothly now and feels really solid at all speeds. I kept the old rim even though I really didn't have much of a plan for it. Maybe an art project later on? I was a bit dismayed to see rust spot forming on the inside track.  This is the original wheel to my knowledge, so my rear wheel probably has similar spots forming around the spokes beneath the tube.

Oddometer: 5443

Memorial Day

I did pre-basic training workouts in front of the Pennsylvania Military Museum, but I've never been inside. I've never been to the Memorial Day parade in Boalsburg either, but I've seen the statue and know the general story.

Photo from jared-lee.com

 “[I]n the summer or fall of 1864, Miss Emma Hunter of Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, is said to have decorated the tomb of her father, Colonel James Hunter, who commanded the 49th Pennsylvania Regiment in the Battle of Gettysburg. Together with a Mrs. Meyer, mother of a son killed in the war, Miss Hunter conceived the idea of decorating all the graves."

Robert J. Meyers, Celebrations: The Complete Book of American Holidays. Quoted here.

On this Memorial day remember those who died in the service of our country. They deserve your respect regardless of your feelings about current or past policies. No one from my unit died during my tour in Iraq. Maybe if one of the IEDs or rockets fired into the base had found someone, my perspective would be hardened or changed. I don't know. But I do know that there is an important difference between acts of service and content of policy and that the efforts by interests on either side to conflate the two is both disingenuous and harmful to our memory and future.

In Motorcycle news, the waterproof saddlebag/cases I ordered are finally cut and mounted. It really is much nicer to ride without a backpack and I can actually lock my sensitive army stuff in them instead of friends' cars and barracks rooms.  Unfortunately I've run into a perplexing electrical problem.  The size of the cases required smaller turn signals in the rear but fortunately, I thought, I had smaller turn signals in the front I could switch in. If all four bulbs work, all draw the same power, location shouldn't matter, right? Apparently not. After some initial buzzing and irregular blinking, I get no response from the blinkers and the 10-amp fuse pops whenever I try the turn signal toggle.  All other electrical systems (horn, headlight, starter, etc) are fine and there's no visible short. I'm going to try replacing the relay, but in the meantime it's quite confounding.

Helmet & Phantom Thunder

While the full-face helmet is my go-to option for freeway commuting, sometimes you just want the wind in your face.  At about 60 mph and slower, I definitely prefer the open-face (3/4) style helmet I got with my leather jacket. Stylistically the glossy-white helmet was a little too bright and a lot too plain so I decided that I would eventually paint it with some sort of custom design. I like the black-and-white work done at Old School Helmets, but in order to be able to ride on-post I needed to preseverve the DOT sticker on the back.

After looking through their work, I developed a design for myself but neither Home Depot, Michael's crafts, or Office Max carry contact paper here. It's a pretty standard material for all sort of crafts and projects, right? Oh well; I ended up going with Avery printable shipping labels. It removes a step because you can print your design directly instead of by trace or transfer, but the adhesive much stronger than contact paper.

I used one coat of gray Krylon primer and two coats of their flat black "camouflage" paint. I had to use rubbing alcohol to get the stencils off, but I think it turned out pretty good. The logo is a mixture of the modern and classic Triumph logos. The #07 is because my Bonnie is a 2007 model, and the question I get most often at gas stations and such is some variation of "What year is your bike?"

Thursday was the 6th Phantom Thunder motorcycle ride; everyone on Fort Hood with a running motorcycle and accompanying paperwork was supposed to ride and there were about 1000 bikes assembled. There were copious safety measures and pontifications by folks with far more rank than I, but I did get out of a day of work to ride my bike in civilian clothes. We went on a 82-mile loop at a pretty slow pace, but all of the stoplights and intersections were blocked for us by the local police departments.

The coolest part of the ride was the close air support we had from two helicopters during most of the ride. Riding through the rotor wash of a low-hovering Huey is definitely a thrill, but unfortunately I couldn't find any pictures.

This doesn't begin to capture what 1000 bikes looks like

Motorcycle Progress

Yesterday Sarah took some shots of the progress/improvements I've made to Bonnie.

First, the bad.

Small, but upsetting dent in my tank

Some scrapes low on the right side

The stock handlebar was bent up and the right side mirror was thrashed.  I got a new black handlebar in roughly the same shape (so I wouldn't need new cables) and I've been running with just the left mirror for now.

One of the front turn signals was cracked in the crash (though still functional). I decided to switch out the big stock signals for more tidy brushed aluminum ones. Since I was already paying shipping from this company, I opted for the chrome headlight visor too.  I thought it was pretty cool.

Unfortunately, putting the "tidy" turn signals where the old ones were interferes with turning the ignition. Ha; I've got to rotate the left side signal out of the way to turn the bike on and off for now. Simple fix, though.

Here's the big purchase: Hepco-Becker luggage racks.  This German company has quite the pedigree for touring and adventure luggage products and designed the stock luggage frames for a generation of BMW motorcycles. Not many companies make frames for the Bonneville, but there are lots of companies than make panniers to fit H-B frames, so I thought this gave me the most options.  I'm still exploring those options, though.

The red net is a cheap little bungee thing I came across

Here's what she looks like all together (for now): Before & After.

Texas License, Commute, & Hulu

This past week I surrendered my class-C Pennsylvania license for a class-CM temporary Texas license, got my bike registered to ride on post, and finally took the 30-mile ride to work on Friday.

This was my first trip over a few miles or at sustained highway speeds. Overall it easier than I'd feared. The 'oh my; big trucks' feeling on the interstate doesn't last. It was a little rough on my head at higher speeds sans windshield. I don't know if I'll keep the windshield off, but I'll definitely be looking at some riding-specific goggles next weekend.

The bike's reception at the Company was pretty good. I don't know what the guys who knew about my bike were expecting, but most seemed pleasantly surprised.

This is the closest you'll get to action shots until
Sarah learns how to drive and take pictures with
her iPhone at the same time.

Saturday I went on a short ride to Grove Cycles and Owl Creek Park. Grove Cycles is definitely a Harley/cruiser shop, but they're independently owned and friendly folks. My detour to Owl Creek Park was more of a whim after seeing the sign on my way to Grove Cycles. It's just boat launch and a couple of picnic sites on the shore of Belton Lake. Lucky for me, it was too cold for Texans to be making use of the park and I could wander about in solitude.


I found this on Hulu last week; Speed Network has done a special on Triumph Motorcycles and their (then) new Thunderbird. It's part how-it's-made documentary and part advertising exercise, but gives a good history of the company and overview of how their modern bikes are made.  The narrator's chatter doesn't always follow the video footage, though. Half the time he's going on about the new Thunderbird's engine or frame while the video shows technicians working on other models.
Odometer: 1088

MSF BRC & cruising the neighborhood

No Motorcycle Monday last week; I was getting really frustrated with my Army rider's course registry getting lost in the sauce. When another two days of ostensibly normal work at the Company went by with no news about placing me in a class, I signed up for Motorcycle Safety Foundation's Basic Rider Course at the Killeen Yamaha dealership scheduled for the following weekend.

The first session was Friday night in a classroom. Videos and workbooks on motorcycle basics with 3 other students and one instructor. The handbook we used is available online, but I guess you'd need permission to print it. Nothing I hadn't already seen from the Texas motorcycle safety booklet and other sources online, but it was good to go through it all incrementally with a knowledgeable instructor. I was the only student there who had never rode before; two of the guys actually rode to class on their 80s-era Honda NightHawks.

We resumed class dark and early Saturday morning in a parking lot by the Killeen Community Theatre with rain joining us just as we mounted the bikes. I had the pleasure of riding a Yamaha XT225 enduro bike. As a training bike, it had been dropped quite a few times, but overall ran well and was more comfortable than it looked.

Photo from TopSpeed.com

Saturday was spent almost entirely in the rain beginning with basic balance drills, up into gas-to-clutch exercises and cornering. My army-issue rainsuit performed admirably, but my Doc Martens were quickly soaked through.

Sunday brought cold, but clear weather and we moved up to shifting exercises and swerving and braking at higher speeds. I was a little shaky on the final test, but still passed with points to spare and never dropped it.

We had off work today, so armed with my new safety card, I took the Bonneville out for a bit in our neighborhood. The clutch and gas were both different from the Yamaha and obviously going from a 225 thumper to a 865 twin was quite the contrast. The Triumph mufflers actually ride more quiet than I expected. I found an empty church parking lot and practiced some of the MSF drills for a while and generally bopped around the neighborhood without going on the highways just yet.

Odometer: 844

First Real Motorcycle Monday

Sarah broke the news already, but this deserves some special attention.
Back in December, I was browsing the used motorcycles listed online for every dealership in Texas Google could  find.  This was how I came across the Royal Enfield in Dallas, but two days later I found a more exciting used bike in Austin.

It's a 2007 Bonneville with goodwood green paint, a brown sixty8 seat, factory saddlebag kit, windshield options and a mere 831 miles on the odometer.  This was the only picture posted, and after some brief deliberation decided to contact the dealer.  Since it was for sale on consignment, they could only hold it for me with a deposit.  I made arrangements to pay it from Kuwait with my card, but the 2 weeks they'd promised to hold it would expire shortly after we were scheduled to return to Texas.

Well Sarah and I got down to see it before the 2 weeks were over and I finally got to inspect and sit on it.  It wasn't as pristine as internet shots and the odometer suggested, but still good value and pretty much exactly what I was looking for in model, age, color, and options.  The dealership folks and owner were understanding about my lack of license and Army riding requirements, so the let me send a check and were willing hold the bike until I could go pick it up and ride back to Temple.  Well the beginners' course I had signed up for in Kuwait was apparently grossly overbooked and most of my company was bumped.  I was told I could take the class January 9th, but when I followed up on that, it seems I won't be able to take the class provided by Ft. Hood until sometime in February.

Frustrating, but there are lots of people returning from deployments trying to take classes.  Luckily, I got a friend of mine in the unit who has a motorcycle trailer to drive down with me to get it last Wednesday.  I don't know how to ride yet, but the bike is finally sitting in our garage here.