Moto Adventurer

Chasing the Big Cat

After riding the absolute snot out of my trusty Speedmaster, I fear we may have reached an impasse: Saddlebags and windshields are ugly on cruisers (sorry, someone had to say it), and worse yet, I hate cleaning chrome.

A quick day trip to Sky Bridge

Lola, yes she has a name, is the epitome of what a sexy american cruiser should look like: Black, because that’s what color cruisers are supposed to be, long chrome pipes, bad boy drag bars, and beefy rear tire. All the things that keep me looking back when I head into the pub, but also everything I’ve begun to leave behind as a rider.

What happened you ask; an evolution of motorcycle taste. I love her every bit today that I did when I forked over the down payment, but I’ve discovered limitations I never imagined (new rider… who knew?). First, my wife joined me for way more miles than I expected; which is not a bad thing, it’s just obvious that expectations weighed heavily on the initial purchase decision. Next, I rode a lot more than I thought I would, like two valve clearance checks in a year “a lot” (which is expensive). I foolishly figured that once the honeymoon phase wore off, I would contentedly take the car to work from time to time; I was wrong. Two years later, I’m looking for ways to eliminate excuses NOT to ride like rain, storage space, and perhaps lack of paved roads. There’s a saying: “If you don’t ride in the rain, you don’t ride”; while this expression is a dig on bikers who are trying to be macho, there’s truth there. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve left the bike in the stable (my porch, more on that later) for fear of getting soaked on the way home. This problem is two-fold: one, the rain still spooks me a bit, especially sitting feet forward, when the rear end gets loose, it’s unnerving; two, I hate washing the bike. The are workarounds to the former, but the latter tends to get the crowd going, “that’s more time to get intimate with your bike” or simply “then don’t”. Sorry, if I’m washing the bike, then I’m not riding it; I’m also an engineer and a former Army Staff Sergeant, shiny stuff is supposed to be shiny… that’s why it’s shiny. Buying a new $8,500 toy and not washing it seems well… stupid. Look, rat bikes are awesome (dead serious), but the re-sale value, probably… not so awesome. I don’t expect the voice of military heritage is going to shut up any time soon, so the search for a more “rugged” motorcycle has begun.

Lastly, I found the limits of my rake and suspension late this season. While the motorcycle crowd may say “if you’re not scraping the pegs, you’re doing it wrong”, I diametrically disagree. At some point, you surpass the engineered lean angle of a cruiser, hard parts hit pavement, and your arse soon follows; no thanks.

What do I need? Comfort for two, additional storage, high output alternator, rugged exterior, and a sportier chassis; or so I think. Obstacle to riding number one: rain; enter the adventure bike. Adventure bikes are the new rage in the US, and I won’t begin to argue the “adventure” merits of adventure bikes, I’ll leave that to mainstream outlets. That said, adventure bikes tend to have more suspension, minimal “shiny stuff”, and generally sportier chassis than cruisers. Adventure bikes tend to meet virtually every criteria I’ve laid out for “my next bike”, save one: comfort for two? That has yet to be determined, hopefully a few test rides this year will provide answers.

So… which adventure bike? I would be lying to you if I said I don’t have some harebrained round the world trip in my dreams; While I’m not Ewan McGregor, that doesn’t mean I don’t want a bike that could accomplish that mission. KTM, BMW, and Triumph are all on the list, as is the rumored Honda “True Adventure”. MotoADVRonTriumphTiger800XCa BMW stands for Bring More Wallet, and KTM is essentially a race bike with a license plate, maintenance requirements included. Don’t get all butt-hurt on me, both bikes are more than accomplished, and for many people my stance on “too much money” or “too much maintenance” is more than compensated for in other areas: i.e. BMW’s run forever, and nothing beats a KTM in the dirt. While I agree on those terms, the Triumph Tiger models and the soon to be released Honda “True Adventure” are more realistic choices. In the end, all other brands lack one thing that Triumph has: a third cylinder. Stats aside, dollars aside, the bike that stirs the soul is the bike you take home. That triple engine rocks my world… and that’s just how it is. If you haven’t heard one, get over to your local dealer, and they’ll be certain to start one up in the showroom, just for that reason. As of today, the Tiger is on the top of the want list, the question now is merely, which one?

Day 1: Surviving the winter

It’s Winter in Ohio, and for the motorcycle obsessed like myself, it’s a particularly manic-depressive roller coaster in this part of the world. Following yesterday’s torrential downpours and temps in the high 50’s, the high today is 49, which was at 7 AM as temps fall into the teens all day leading to tomorrow’s high of 19. Sure, it could be worse: snow and negative temperatures; but according to the (clueless) weatherman, that’s only two days away. Thus enter the survival strategy: plan 2015 rides & destinations, obsess over the latest motorcycle models in the news, and do my homework on motorcycle maintenance and the latest farkles to accessorize my ride.

Deal’s Gap Motorcycle Resort on U.S. 129 “Tail of the Dragon”

I put just under fifteen thousand miles on my Triumph in 2014; while it’s a maintenance nightmare that I would prefer to avoid this year, there are already some serious plans on tap that may lead to more in 2015. Hell or high water, I’m going back to the Dragon this year. Last September I spent four days at Deal’s gap and felt like I barely got a chance to ride. Mind you, day 1 was the five hour ride from Ohio to the Gap, which rapidly became an eight hour ride in the worst rainy freeway conditions; me white knuckled on the bars, my wife wife, that same in the truck following our group. Two days of riding through TN and NC were great, but constantly concerned about when the heavens were going to open up; therefore I’m planning a full week this year. It’s also the big 75th anniversary of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally this year. While I have no interest, what so ever, in the rally and associated traffic and debauchery, the Black Hills are on my Moto Bucket List; not to mention Devil’s Tower, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, need I go on? Without fail, I will return to Red River Gorge (Kentucky) again this year. Mind you, this is somewhat of a milk run considering my grandma lives across the street, but nonetheless it’s a must do. While I have routes in the backlog to tackle the triple nickel (Ohio Route 555), I can ride through the twisties of eastern Kentucky, stop to take a photo at the Sky Bridge, then home in less time that it would take me to attempt to tack the 555 in a day. These are the big hitters that I plan on booking vacation days for, but I will offer honorable mention for Daytona Bike Week, a weekend trip to Tellico Plains (Tennessee), and possibly Rolling Thunder in DC; so stay tuned!

What you want and what you can afford is probably a concept we’re all familiar with. I love my trusty Speedmaster, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t gladly park something else next to it, given the chance. Much to the irritation of my lovely wife, hours and hours of cold snowy evenings are spent on the couch, surfing the web drooling over the hottest new bikes, gear, and accessories. When I bought the Speedmaster in 2013, I figured I would ride a lot; without a doubt I take every opportunity to ride, but believe it or not, most miles are simply commuting to work. That being said, what surprised me most is that my wife actually rides with me way more than I expected. Two years, and twenty-four thousand miles later, I question my choice in bikes; all the while knowing I tend to have a “grass is always greener” mentality, I’m “thrifty”, and I struggle to find the one bike that can do everything I want it to do (does such a bike exist?). Right now I have my sights on a Triumph Tiger (possibly in lieu of the Speedmaster, but who knows), but I have yet to determine which model; more on this later.

Me in the middle of a very painful 24k Service. A lot of lessons learned here.

I paid over $400 this year to have my 12,000 mile service done at a dealer this year. Suddenly, I found myself taking interest in doing all of my own maintenance. With a few new specialized tools, hours and hours of scouring the internet for useful tips and how-to’s I’m making a good run at it now. Certainly this comes at a cost: time, but more importantly, lessons learned, some which have been “the hard way”. I expect over the coming weeks I will publish more about the struggles of doing your own maintenance, and in my case, modifications and “homemade” accessories.

This is pretty much my “to-do” list in the next eight weeks. Last January was a depressing winter wasteland in Ohio, as of now there’s no reason to expect anything different this year. I figured I would take this time to map out plans for the fun stuff for this year, talk about the painfully hard lessons learned last year, and generally obsess about the next motorcycle I can’t live without.