I am a leaf on the wind!

[Hanson]

Day 93: Sunday August 10, 2014 : Miles 7807

Day 1 was May 10, 2014 and it is now August 10, so I have been riding for three months. On Thursday I called in sick, because I was sick, and did not ride at all. On Friday, I took the truck to work because I needed to return some handguns that I had borrowed for a scouting event. The company has a rule against guns in the workplace, yes it is foolish, but I also respect the right of people to exercise dominion over their own property. As I do not have significant secure storage on my moto, I took the truck to work. On Saturday I did not ride. Instead, I took Mrs. Hanson out to breakfast, then we went to a fish store as she was looking for some decorations to put in her tank in her classroom, then.... another per store, a beer and wine store, and then a late lunch.

Last weekend we had great weather, but this weakens it was hot with the temperatures in Dallas pushing close to triple digits. I think it was the contrast between the two weeks, but I did not have the same driven desire to ride. I did get up this morning to do an FM-455 ride, but I did not find it as enjoyable as last weekend. Riding was not a chore, and I did get to test out a new pair of wicking underwear, but the experience was not as enjoyable as last weekend. I also soaked my teashirt in water, an experiment in evaporator cooling.

I have ordered a Michelin PR4 rear and I don't know how much time I have left on my OEM tires. The front still looks good, but the thread depth on the rear is more than half gone. I can't find any wear bars on my stock rear tire, so it is hard to judge when it should be replaced. It has about as long as I expected, but there is still a lot of tread left on the tire even on the center. I may give it another few weeks. When it gets closer, I am going to practice using my tire repair kit by intentional installing a nail or two and a screw. I will then practice plugging the holes and see how that works.


>>>> Rear tire tread - August 10, 2014


>>>> Rear tire tread - August 10, 2014

I would welcome comments about my remaining tread life. Should I replace this tire soon.... or is it still good to go for a bit longer?

Safe Travels,
Richard

[Johnj]

Your tire is wearing well. I think that's the wear bar. I would replace the tire well before it reaches it. That tire is a couple thousand miles from needing changed. Unless you want new tires.

[sv-wolf]

Hi Hanson.

Just started looking in on your blog. It'll take a while for me to get up to date, but so far it looks like you are having fun. I like the pics. And love the colour of the DL.

It's hard to tell from a photo, but your tread looks fine on those tyres. I don't know what the law is in Texas, but in the UK, tread on a motorcycle tyre must be no less than 1 mm deep. That's OK for local riding in good weather, but if you ride on fast roads in wet weather, it may not be safe. You might want to change tyres when the depth gets below 1.5-2mm.

Cheers

Hud

[jstark47]

Hanson- If you were heading out on a multi-thousand mile trip I would replace that rear tire before you went. Otherwise, I think you can let it go for another 1-2 months, assuming your current rate. I don't know what are OEM tires for DL650s these days, but I've always stuck with the OEM Bridgestone Trailwings on my DL1000, and have gotten 12K on a rear tire, which I think is pretty good. Here's something I posted about the Trailwings last year: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=46822

[Hanson]

Day 93: Sunday August 10, 2014 : Miles 7807

Thanks for all the help. The OEM tires on the bike are Bridgstone Trailwings, but I have already purchased a Michelin PR4 as a replacement. When I look at the current rear tire it does appear to have a lot of tread left even with almost 8k miles, I am happy with that, but I have also read of a lot of people not getting that kind of life out of their OEM tires so I was concerned. As I don't have the experience to judge the tread on a moto tire, I am grateful for the help.

I found the numbers for tread depth to be very helpful.

Safe Travels,
Richard

[Hanson]

Day 96 : Wednesday August 13, 2014 : Miles 7938

When I got home yesterday, my new tire was waiting, but it did not look to be the right size. I put it in the garage and had dinner, but I could not stop thinking about it. After dinner, I got on the computer to double check. Yes, I ordered the wrong tire *bonk*. I have no idea at all how I did this as I am not normally handicapped by a lack of attention to such details, but this tire is going back and I will order the right size after the return is sorted out.

Safe Travels,
Richard

[Hanson]

Day 100 : Sunday August 17, 2014 : Miles 8133

It was raining out this morning so, obviously, I had to go for a ride. I love riding in the rain, but try to limit my exposure to lighting. It is not like a motorcycle serves as a Faraday cage. I had one close call with a large white SUV which was well over a double yellow and more in my lane than in his own. This happened on a fairly tight left hand curve and it is exactly why a ride a late apex line. I simply let the bike move to the outside of the curve, decreased my lean angle somewhat, and reduced my rate of acceleration. If I had been on a tighter line with a normal apex, I would have needed to be much more aggressive in my avoidance maneuver. I wanted to give him an ADV rider salute, but I thought better of doing so and just rode on.

I am feeling a need to do another long ride. It will not be for a few weeks, but it is time to get on the roads again.

As far as farkeling, I still have a number of major moto purchases remaining.
... Heated clothing
... A custom seat
... Auxiliary lights
... Panniers

These are the bigger ticket items and I will have to save for each one as time goes on. I am going to need to balance how much I ride with my desire to improve the bike. What a wonderful dilemma!!!


Safe Travels,
Richard

[Hanson]

Day 109 : Tuesday August 26, 2014 : Miles 8596

I normally get to the office every day at about 0700. I have a routine that I follow every morning and at around 0900 I will get on the elevator and go down for a short walk to stretch my legs. This morning I spotted a large green moth on one of the buildings walls. When I was a child growing up in Massachusetts, I had a remarkable large insect collection. When I was only 7 or 8 I was already running around Western Massachusetts with a net, catching insects, killing them in a jars with calcium cyanide, mounting them on a pinning board and labeling each insect. Lest everyone think I was nuts, and I was, it should be understood that my grandfather was a professor of entomology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. and that I had spent countless days wondering around Fernald Hall looking in specimen drawers and trying to stay out of trouble. One of my favorites was the luna moth Actias luna as it was huge, but this moth only lives as an adult for a few days and is hard to find. It is only an adult at the end of its life cycle when it is going to reproduce and then it dies. I had never collected a specimen of this species. All moths, like butterflies are from the order Lepidoptera, meaning scaled wing, and A. luna is from the family Saturniidae.


>>>> Luna moth, A. luna, August 26, 2014 - Richardson, Texas

I took this picture with my phone. I need phone with a better camera, but I am still boyishly tickled that I spotted this insect. The wing span on this one was about 4.5 inches and it was about 6 inches long. My grandfather, Papa, died at 98 not long ago. I think this would have made him smile. Today, much of his work, his papers, are archived at the Smithsonian. Papa had specialized in Plecoptera, stone flies, and had described many species and erected a number of families. I can still clearly remember doing field work with Papa in New Hampshire, Nova Scotia, and the Smokey mountains. I learned to love being outdoors, camping, hiking, breathing fresh air after a dramatic thunderstorm, from those childhood adventures.

Safe Travels,
Richard

Mandatory motorcycle content - I did ride to work this morning.

[Hanson]

Day 111 : Thursday August 28, 2014 : Miles 8635

My next door neighbor, for the last three years, bought a motorcycle a few weeks ago, perhaps 4. I have only seen it a few times. A very light blue Suzuki Super Sport with some yellow lettering going up the side of the plastic. I had gone to the Suzuki website trying to find out what kind of bike he had, but I did not find it. I saw him riding it up the alley one time with a helmet on but no other gear, and one other time I saw him riding without even a helmet. He has lived next to me for some time, but was never very friendly. He lived with a woman and little they had a tiny little girl who must be no more than three.



When I got home from work today my wife told me that both of them had been killed in a motorcycle crash. A friend of the couple had approached my wife to tell her that there would be people in and out of the house and asked her to keep an eye out. He told her about their deaths and their little girl is now an orphan.

I must confess that this is messing with my head. I had intended to have a chat with him about his new bike and riding, but I will never have that conversation.

BY DOMINGO RAMIREZ JR.
ramirez@star-telegram.com

Two people killed early Sunday in a motorcycle wreck on Interstate 635 in Grapevine have been identified as a couple from Garland, police and family members said Tuesday.

The Tarrant County medical examiner’s office identified the woman as Tiffany Chu, 25, and family members said the other victim was 27-year-old Brian Douglas Johnson. Authorities had yet to release the name of the male victim.

The couple died at the scene, authorities said.

Police got the accident call about 2:13 a.m. Sunday in the 3000 block of I-635.

Officers found that the 2009 Suzuki GSXR was traveling west on the highway when the driver lost control and hit the guardrail.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/08/26 ... evine.html

There is not much information available about the crash, but I would note that in Dallas the bars stop serving at 0200.

What a waste.

Sadly,
Richard

This is messing with my head.

[blues2cruise]

It is indeed a tragedy. But don't let it mess with your head.

A sport bike, very little experience, wee hours of the morning, possibly going too fast, judgement altered by whatever they were doing....possibly tired.....

You have more maturity and know your are not invincible.