Sacre bleu!

This one is actually funnier than that sad-sack AMA crash where the bikes collided and remained upright.

That's one unhappy Frenchie!

Pug names

- Power Commander
- Mr. Bibs
- Meatwad
- Simon Pugmaster
- Fi2000R
- Showa
- Brembo
- Magura

In all fairness

Looks like Twisted Throttle realized there was a problem:

We apologize as we have had a back up in shipping the past week. We should have your order out in 1-2 days.

Best Regards,
Craig
__________________________________
Twisted Throttle LLC
1080 Kingstown Rd, Building 1
Peace Dale, RI 02879

Group rides...

... are crap.

And dangerous.

Ride your ride.

Evening dodgy bodge

Put together the PSR rear stand and stuck on the requisite Shogun swingarm bobbin sliders. Also got grips and another jacket from the clearance bin, one that fits better.

The swingarm bobbins are nice, screwed them into the pre-threaded bosses on the swingarm and used a bit of spare synthetic oil I had laying about. Used my Oxford tool kit as well.

GOD I love having a standard bike, I really do. I mean... don't get me wrong, the BM bikes were nice (very forgiving, quite capable, robust as you like) but you end up exiled to BMW Island, land of 55 year old moneybags... while the metric bikes use standard, cheap universal parts. Well, count me in now, boys.

Putting the bike one the stand by meself is proper scary though... Phwoar. I cheaped out and got the PSR standard rear paddock stand, and now I wonder if I should have gone bucks-up and gotten a one-handed Pit Bull. Maybe later. The PSR stand was under $60. From Eye-ta-lee! Made by Eye-talians!

Its funny, I ordered 3 different shipments and the shipping could not be more different. The Tankslapper sent the film like lightning. New Enough sent the stand and jacket pretty quick. Twisted Throttle hasn't even sent a shipping confirmation yet. Shame really as they have nice kit.

I do need to see what Superbike Supply can do. And they have the one-handed Pit Bull stands too... but really, I want the GB Racing engine covers from them.

Walgreens doesn't have a bike section

... or does it?

J&J Baby Shampoo makes a cracking (and harmless to moto paint) solution for putting stickers on your bike.

Aqua Net is legendary for installing new grips. Its a liquid lubricant when putting them on, and turns to glue later.

Elastic hair bands are great for tying back brake levers (when they have a wee bit of air in them.)

Oh, and the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser... well, it is magical. It took a scuff off my bike's silver frame that no other cleaner could touch (and I tried everything else in my arsenal.) These magic erasers are incredible. Do yourself a favor, get one. Or a couple.

Film at 11

I spent Sunday basically doing 2 things:

1) cleaning my orangey orange wheels (after a short but very dirty surprise rainstorm)

2) putting the Tankslapper full 3M kit on the Honda.

Top tips for a successful install:

- make a crap ton of the "solution." They said 8 oz is enough - bullshit. I ended up making 8 then another 12 on top of that. Its 2 drops of J&J Baby Shampoo per 8 oz of fluid.

- spray the solution on the bike, then on the sticky side of the film, place it, then spray the top layer of film. WHEN you have to pull it back off to reapply, go after it with the solution again. You can't possibly use too much.

- if the sticky side gets dry you'll leave fingerprints which sucks. More solution please.

- go ahead and buy the "turbo squeegee" from the site when you get the film. It rocks.

- install it on a warm day. You need to be able to stretch it.

- I found that if I stretched it, shoved it down, and let it "shrink back" it did way better in terms of following the contours than if I tried to just smooth it like saran wrap.

- once you get the hang of the "stretch" method, you will probably find that the pieces are actually a bit too large. Strategic trimming is OK but only as a last resort, and once you've gotten all the bubbles out of the edge.

- speaking of which, be patient and keep stroking out those bubbles (and be sure to keep wetting the top of the film!) eventually they'll stop coming back up but it takes a while.

Elgin is the Sausage Capitol after all

So I had mentioned the Song of the Sausage Creature to some folks.

An entertaining read and somewhat poignant if you're a rider.

Excerpting:

There are some things nobody needs in this world, and a bright red, hunchback, warp-speed 900cc cafe racer is one of them -- but I want one anyway, and on some days I actually believe I need one. That is why they are dangerous.

Everybody has fast motorcycles these days. Some people go 150 miles an hour on two-lane blacktop roads, but not often. There are too many oncoming trucks and too many radar cops and too many stupid animals in the way. You have to be a little crazy to ride these super-torque high- speed crotch rockets anywhere except a racetrack -- and even there, they will scare the whimpering shit out of you.... There is, after all, not a pig's eye worth of difference between going head-on into a Peterbilt or sideways into the bleachers. On some days you get what you want, and on other, you get what you need.

Ello ello ello, what's all this?

Oh I just needed a place that wasn't the Island to talk about gun or bike or whatever stuff.

I'm still probably going to remain apolitical 'cause really who cares. I'm really secure in my political polarity and I'm not evangelical about it (because that's really annoying) so this will just be "cool stuff... and stuff."

Right.