Getting Excited Over Dirt

Among other deep thoughts, it occurred to me that many advocates of the outdoors are viewed as environmental villains. For example, hunters have paid for permits which have kept many of our national parks in operation, and their numerical decline has caused many a penny-pinching politician some duress.

Likewise, trail-riding motorists enjoy nature, though there are those that irresponsibly abuse it. When I still had the XT 600, I enjoyed riding trails more than borrowing a bike and hitting the track. It was fun to explore and see nature atop a motorcycle. I joined the AMA to protect the freedom to trail ride, among other reasons.

Naturally, I became very excited when I handled the glossy dual purpose brochures from Yamaha as they passed from the receiving counter to the sales counter. New bikes galore!

The XT 225 has been upgraded to the XT 250 ($4399) - catching up to it's European counterpart. The venerable WR250, renowned for trail-only riding has been made street legal in two models: the WR250X ($5999), a super motard and the WR250R ($5899), a very dirt-capable dual purpose bike. Both the WR's sport fuel injection unlike any other in its class, allowing for higher compression and more accurate fuel delivery (read: more power for the displacement). The old standby, the TW 200 ($3799) continues in the shadow of its more exciting and updated brethren.

Will I rush out and buy one of these new toys? Probably not like I did with the FJR. Yeah, it's true that I've been looking forward to seeing the XT250 hit the streets here. It really needed updating. But, for the buck a couple of larger bikes have my attention: the just updated Kawasaki KLR 650 ($5349) and the Suzuki DR650SE ($5099). With stump-pulling torque and strong aftermarket support, these contenders still catch my eye for my dual-purpose riding. Will Yamaha ever bring over the XT 650 or will I just have to be content with one of it's competitors offerings?

We'll just have to wait and see...

Yamaha dual purpose bikes
Kawasaki dual purpose bikes
Suzuki dual purpose bikes

Electric Blue Part Deux

Once again, my hands have turned to crafting the perfect motorcycle. Why not actually? Considering the amount of modification done by inappropriate road contact, I might as well bring this beast back to something even more beautiful in my eyes.

There were two major phases to the most recent modifications. I'm showing you the first. This involved making sure everything got wired including adapting the wiring to the new turn signals. Afterwards, I put the FJR back together enough to start her up, ride her for a few minutes, put gas in and make sure everything worked properly.

She lives! The running lights and turn
signals work perfectly. I discovered I had a low
beam light out, however. Put that on the
to-do list for phase two. The light mounted
to the side of the upper fairing began life in that
location in 2004 before the FJR's last lowside.
It doesn't really fit there and will be coming off for
phase 3 - the addition of a glove box.

The blue fairing which will house the glovebox
doesn't quite fit with the existing panel, so it will have
to wait until the replacements arrive.

The 2003 turn signal wiring from the bike just reaches
the subharness for the new turn signals when the
panels are resting on the ground. Plenty of room for working!

The original left panel has two new switches. One will
control two sets of driving lights. The other will control
some LED's mounted in the headlight.

From the side, the new blue fairing is striking. Notice
that I've not reinstalled the fender or windshield, yet.
All that plastic has to come back off for me to finish the
wiring for the LED accessory lights, a positive and negative
barrier strip and the installation of the relays that will
control it all. The yellow markings are from where an
insurance agent has marked areas of damage. (What damage
exists is pretty minor and should be easily repaired.

Phase two: installing all the wiring and the accessory lights; Testing the wiring (and blowing up fuses - did you know they make a really cool glow?); Reassembly and test ride; Installing a little surprise for the four-wheeled ones. More pictures later this week!

Spotted the '08 KLR

I've been keeping my eye on this dual-sport since I heard about it. I saw one leaving the restaurant next door as I was leaving work Thursday. Like the XT, the rider had to tippy toe the bike backwards to paddle it out of his parking space. I was worried that it had given up ground clearance to become more street-worthy. Guess not!

So there's hope that this bike may be in my distant (but not too distant) future.

The "old" KLR.


The "new" KLR.

Goodbye, Old Friend!

Just sold my 1995 XT600 with the assistance of Craig's List. I'll miss the old gal; she worried me a lot but never really let me down. This is just one more step in simplifying my life and reducing expenses as well.

The first two pictures are from when I rode the bike home from Alamagordo, NM and the last two are pictures I took in order to sell the bike. Fitting that I show the beginning and the end of this bike's history with me.

Now the FJR is an only child again (and the jealousy between the two bikes will no longer exist; the FJR would get snippy if I was riding the XT more).

Sex sells... and so do bikes

Don't ask where this came from. However, someone thought it would be appropriate to post this on E-bay Motors. Trying to drum up a little hype with a nearly naked woman in front of a seeming monotonous bike, the seller wrote:

"Sorry, the other photos are censored by ebay."

That's probably a good thing. Wouldn't want any confusion over what's really being sold here.

South Texas International Motorcycle Show

I just got back from the South Texas International Motorcycle Show in San Antonio, Texas. I've been wanting to go since I moved here, yet each year I've put it off or found something else to do. This year I had no good excuse not to go.

There wasn't any single vendor that simply wowed me. Nor was I impressed with the $15 ($10 with a readily available coupon) entrance fee and $5 parking (though bikes parked free). But I got to see a number of regionally-built custom bikes, see a few new products and talk to the local Scorpion rep about the new EXO 1000 which is due out sometime this summer.

I went with two other people (hence the parking fee) but next time (if I go) I'll ask someone else to go before me on Friday or Saturday and tell me how good it is. Then I'll ride down, visit and go for a ride afterwards.

The Girls

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The GirlsRiding.com ladies posing with me:

The Copenhagen girls:

The Aggressive Edge girls sporting Akuma shirts:

The Sportbikes

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One of the independent, not-for-sale bikes vying
for the "people's choice" award:

Laredo Choppers entered a sportbike:

Aggressive Edge (from San Antonio)
had four bikes on display:

Cruisers and Choppers

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Some other entrants that caught my eye:

This bike from Texas Custom Choppers from Austin,
Tx won the people's choice award. It struck me
as the most impressive bike at the show. The engine
seemed to disappear as one giant block of shiny
chrome. The LED-light pitchfork on the suicide shifter
caught everyone's eye.

The Texas Ranger motorcycle was another excellent,
well thought out and themed bike. From the custom
wheels to the Colt .45 levers and the effortless clutch
this bike used integrated its theme very well. I was told
it would soon be auctioned off on ebay.