B-King - An Odd bike's Journey

[RhadamYgg]

Poor RhaddamYGG...
Glad everyone is doing fine though!
And think of it this way, wouldn't you rather be tired from keeping up with twins versus keeping up with one and worrying about the other in the hospital?

Oh, absolutely, now I'm just waiting on all the medical bills to come through. A lot will be covered by insurance, but whatever isn't, hopefully isn't enough to push us in to bankruptcy. Bleh.

RhadamYgg

[RhadamYgg]

OK, it has been a while since I've posted.

The girls are doing well. We are getting a little inundated with medical bills, but it isn't nearly as bad as if we didn't have health insurance. If we didn't have health insurance it would have been over a million dollars, easy.

Cordelia has done very well post surgery. She is off any medicines for heart issues and fluid in her chest and pretty much behaves like any other 3 month old.

So, finally, I'm going to post some pictures here of the girls:



I'm also going to post a couple of pics of my bike as I'd mentioned I'd post them.

I haven't done much to my b-king. Added some scratches, subtracted some decals, subtracted the giant suzuki S and added a multitude of little thingies to protect the bike in case I get instant morons disease again.

I've added some miles, but very few compared to my run on the Kawasaki last year. The bike is feeling much better to me lately, but I still won't risk slow speed maneuvers with it - but I do ok.

Pics of the B-King with my old Kawasaki's tail bag. I'd get something that matches, but I don't have the moola anymore.





Anyway, got some riding in, finally got past my first thousand miles and intend of riding to work tomorrow - the long way for hopefully another total of 125 miles or more.

The long way to work involves more miles, but also not paying for the GWB toll, paying the Tappan Zee Bridge toll (considerably less) and not paying the Henry Hudson Bridge toll (which is always flaky with my EZ Pass.

Still needing to play with the clutch and throttle to get in to first gear after having gone to neutral. It is a PITA. So, I sit there and iron man the clutch when I'm in stop and go traffic and when I'm stopped at a light.

Be Well, Ride Safe.

RhadamYgg

[RhadamYgg]

Oh darn, I guess these pics are a bit old. I now have a windscreen on the bike that does in fact change the look of it a bit.

Guess I'll have to take some more pictures.

I am planning on (for still picture purposes only) taking a picture with a baby seat and one of the girls on the bike with both of my boys on it as well.

It should be cute when I get the chance to set it up.

Oh, and if they really do produce that Batman style armor - there isn't any question in my mind that I'll give an arm and a leg to get it. It would just so go with the B-King.

RhadamYgg

[RhadamYgg]

I've had some pretty good commutes on the bike, lately. The total number of miles per day is 123, however, since I go this longer route I pay less in tolls - significantly less.

Despite the longer miles and the premium fuel required by the b-king, I save a whopping 69 cents per commute day on gas. But I consume a significantly smaller amount of gas, so that's less pollution, anyway. The tolls, though, save me almost $11 a day. Which is a really good thing when your tolls for 1 day are $17.

Well, I think, for a minute anyway, that maybe it will be possible to catch up to the miles I was doing on the Kawasaki last year.

I've decided that I'm not going to keep the bike long-term. But what I'm waiting for may take significant time to be produced, so it may not matter.

There are a couple of electric motorcycles out there, but none of them really match the criteria I would need. There are zero production gas/electric hybrids out there and zero diesel or diesel/electric hybrid motorcycles.

What I would need is a bike that is non-traditionally powered that is good enough for my commute.

My max speed on my commutes tends to be 85 mph, but not for extended time.

My cruising speed (little or no traffic) is between 70 to 75.

I ride 42 to 61 miles one way on the commute. Bike would have to make twice either or both (realistically) without needing a refuel. It is possible I could get an outlet put in by my employer, but I wouldn't hold my breath unless I requested it long before it was necessary.

Must completely recharge overnight or in 4 hours (less of course, if possible)...

My possible next bike:
Needs equivalent of 140 mpg or more.
Range - 120 to 150 miles (about where my B-king is right now, I think)
Max peak speed - 85 mph, possibly 90
Max cruising speed (long duration) - 75 mph or more
Recharge time (if electric) overnight or less

So, if they come out with something matching those criteria, I'll probably sell my b-king or trade it or whatever for that.

Like I said, probably not coming anytime soon. And if it looks like a friggin' scooter, I am not getting it.

None of the enduro/motocross looking things either. I want it to look like a Hayabusa - mostly because it'll need a fairing to reduce the wind drag as much as possible.

So, anyway - nothing decided - especially with me. I'm sure I could change my mind multiple times between now and well, a minute from now.

Let's see.

Girls are well. Very strong (apparently) for their age.
Boys are a bunch of jerks, but what can I expect for their age and having to deal with the vast amount of attention being shifted away from them?

I'm still relatively unhappy. But when I look back, if I could really remember, I suspect that this isn't a distinct change from anytime. Perhaps I'll have to just grin and bear it - or start throwing all the junk out of my house. Sell it on eBay or something.

RhadamYgg

[RhadamYgg]

Well, wish me luck ( or something ) off on a 140 mile one way journey - in the rain and with a hurricane off the coast.

What can you do?

RhadamYgg

[RhadamYgg]

Made it down to Cape May - had lots of problems with the internet connection at the Condo that we rented.

Finally, after upgrading the firmware for the wireless router and my wife on the phone with Verizon for what seemed like hours - I'm back online.

I'm kinda disappointed in my technical marvel of a bike, as well...

A 141 miles journey by Minivan is somehow - 147.8 miles on my motorcycle. And I was following my wife the whole way with very little deviation. I would have thought that by 2008 they could get the speedo on a high-level bike to work properly.

It was a good ride down - only had two problems with idiots on the road. Hit a little bit of rain early on but it wasn't a big problem. RainX on the visor does wonders.

A cop stopped and looked at my bike at one of the rest stops. he had no idea what my bike was... I think that is soo cool.

Fell in love with a pair of riding boots:
[img]javascript:openspecialenlargewindow('http://www.Motorcycle-Superstore.com/Pr ... nlargeItem')[/img] but read some a bad review of the Blade boot by Sidi indicating that it doesn't protect the ankle region enough.

Someday I'll replace my Joe Rocket Meteor boots. But there really isn't any problem with them other than looking a bit too much like my old combat boots.

So, my odometer says I've got 1600 miles, but who knows what that really is??? Can I really calculate mpg on the basis of this odometer.

I don't really want to spend money on something to correct this. You'd think that since odometer readings are the basis for bike value (to an extent) that it would be required that they are accurate, like they are in cars (inaccurate odometer in a car is an instant ticket to a very low sale price.

RhadamYgg

[BuzZz]

Fell in love with a pair of riding boots:
[img]*Link%20failed...%20but%20Google%20it...%20don't%20be%20drinking%20anything%20when%20you%20do...*%20[/img] but read some a bad review of the Blade boot by Sidi indicating that it doesn't protect the ankle region enough.


RhadamYgg

Really, Dude?
Really???

Are you sure you wanna live with all the "Batman goes FAAAABULOUS!!!" jokes?

And I agree with the reviews, get something that at least covers the ankle, preferably mid calf IMHO.

[MZ33]

http://www.Motorcycle-Superstore.com/Pr ... _Black.jpg

Oh, no, Rhadham! No, no, no, no . . . . . .

[RhadamYgg]

Fell in love with a pair of riding boots:
[img]*Link%20failed...%20but%20Google%20it...%20don't%20be%20drinking%20anything%20when%20you%20do...*%20[/img] but read some a bad review of the Blade boot by Sidi indicating that it doesn't protect the ankle region enough.


RhadamYgg

Really, Dude?
Really???

Are you sure you wanna live with all the "Batman goes FAAAABULOUS!!!" jokes?

And I agree with the reviews, get something that at least covers the ankle, preferably mid calf IMHO.

Hehe, I have enough problems with some folks thinking I'm gay.

For the price, I think I can find some Alpinestars that are middle quality that have a lot of coverage.

Although I could imagine the comments as I walk in to work with those silver Sidi boots....

RhadamYgg

[RhadamYgg]

http://www.Motorcycle-Superstore.com/Pr ... _Black.jpg

Oh, no, Rhadham! No, no, no, no . . . . . .

Ok ok ok.

I haven't got the money anyway.

I do sometimes like the things I wear to be loud and obnoxious.

RhadamYgg