I sold my first motorcycle, a 2005 Yamaha FZ6, to my friend and co-worker Rocky almost a month ago. He has ridden it to work a fair amount, and it is nice to see Cylon in the parking lot. On Saturday, Rocky asked if I wanted to accompany him to Charlottesville. He needed to get a minor part replaced. Any reason to get out and ride is a good one, and following my first bike was an even better reason.

The weather was beautiful: sunny, just a little crisp, and clear. We set out at nine in the morning.
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I purchased my first motorcycle, a 2005 Yamaha FZ6, four years ago this October. Aside from a motorcycle safety course and a not-so-much-fun experience as a passenger, I’d never ridden on a motorcycle before. I had researched the FZ6 meticulously and purchased it due to its price-to-performance ratio, dealer support, seating position / ergonomics, and its reputation as a jack of all trades machine. I’m kind of a jack of all trades machine myself at work, so I thought the 600cc sport standard from Yamaha would be a great fit. 22,000 miles later, I was totally right, and “Cylon” led me on many adventures and a love for motorcycling I could have never anticipated.
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Every third Monday in June is national Ride to Work day. The object is to show what the impact would be if folks left their cars at home and rode in on their motorcycles, scooters, or mopeds. The theory is that traffic would flow better, people would use less gas, and parking would be more plentiful since you can put multiple two-wheelers in one spot. I wish motorcyclists did this more than once a year (something I said last year, too), but I guess something is better than nothing.

I have a forty-four mile round trip commute every day. I try to make the most of it by riding my motorcycle in. Last year I rode 38 straight days to work before a required service on my MazdaSpeed3 torpedoed my streak. As soon as daylight savings hit and the March snowstorm melted I started riding to work again. There was one day of “wintery mix” that I bailed on, but aside from that I’ve been riding to work every day ever since. I started counting the next Monday after that wintery mix day, and today marks Day 65 of riding to work.

Yes, I got rained on. Yes, I rode in lightning. Yes, I probably should have taken my car in a few times, but getting to work on my bike makes me so much happier. I have taken Cylon, Raider, and Apollo in that time period. Apollo is getting his first true run from the house to work today (I brought him in from the dealer in Fredericksburg with 0.0 miles on him last Friday) and I expect him to carry me for the next 65 work days.

and this is what the weather looked like when I rode in today:

One of the things I like the most about motorcycling is setting out for a mid-distance trip. One of the things I dislike the most about motorcycling is how sore my butt gets after riding a few hundred miles. By the time I’ve clicked 500 miles on my trip south to Georgia I am ready to stand for the rest of the evening. It gets worse when I ride multiple days like that; when I was up in New York a few years ago I rode for almost nine hours the first day, then twelve the next, then another eight the day after.

There are a few problems with running my Yamaha FZ6 like that; it’s a lightweight bike and riding on the interstate for that much can be a challenge physically. Installing memory foam in the stock seat helped, but I always kept an eye out for an aftermarket saddle.

A used Corbin seat came up for sale about a month before my last trip to Georgia. The prior owner crashed and was selling parts of his bike. The Corbin is $469 before shipping at full retail; I picked the used one up for $325 shipped. The previous owner packaged it up nicely and it was in great shape when I arrived. It looked brand new.

The lines of the seat are fantastic and the silver pin striping really sets the bike off visually. I was super excited to ride down to Georgia in comfort. I loved my Corbin seat.

That is, until I rode on it.
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I’ve really enjoyed riding Cylon, my Yamaha FZ6, with Tomax and Xamot. I’ve logged a lot of group rides lately, and every time we go we are joined by other friends. It’s been tons of fun.

However, riding with a bunch of other people adds a level of complexity that you don’t get riding solo, or even in pairs. This is especially true when new people ride with each other the first few times. Spacing between bikers is a personal thing; “too close” to some people is “too far” for others. Position with the pack also has an effect. I prefer to be first or second or last. If I know where I am going and am in the front I feel capable leading everyone else. If I don’t know where I am going, being second allows me to see. Any further back and I start to get nervous, because I can’t really see the road behind the lead bikes. If I am all the way in the back then I can watch everyone and get a good idea about upcoming turns or road debris.

Tomax, Xamot, Right Turn Clyde and I rode around on Saturday. I couldn’t get comfortable mentally and rode stiffly. I didn’t lean as much as I normally do, and I felt “off.” I chalked it up to being on a new route, behind most of the pack, and a little tired. I still had a nice time, but my performance really irked me.

I set out Sunday with Xamot, The Count™ and Ironhide. I was hopeful that I’d ride better than I did on Saturday. Off we went down unfamiliar roads. The temperature was perfect. The pace Xamot set was ideal. I never felt rushed, and the route was technically easier than the one we ran Saturday.
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I started looking at brake light modulators in an ever-ongoing quest to make myself and my Yamaha FZ6 as visible on the road as possible. In its most simple form, a modulator is a device that rapidly flashes the brake lights when either the front or rear brakes are applied. The theory is that the flashing red lights will catch a motorist’s attention and help to keep them from rear-ending you.

The problem with most modulators is that they “dumb” and often keep flashing if you hold the brake. Some modulators are a little smarter than that and will flash quickly and then hold steady while you are using the brake. However, if you release the lever / pedal and then reapply the brake it will flash again. This may not seem like a big deal, but motorists get fucking pissed when you keep flashing them in the face — especially with bright lights like mine, and especially at night. The last thing I need is to piss someone off because my modulator is doing its job.

Another issue is that modulators are effective because the flashing is unexpected. If the lights flash every time I apply the brakes, then it is possible that someone behind me may get used to it, thus defeating the purpose of the modulator.

So what’s a motorcyclist to do? Enter the Vizi-tec brake light modulator.
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One of the things I miss most about the 2004 BMW R1150R I owned were the auxiliary lights. The BMW had PIAA lights mounted to the crash bars that protected the engine in case of an accident. My FZ6 doesn’t really have any place to mount auxiliary lights, so I started looking into installing some crash bars on old Cylon.

Of course, not too many people want to put auxiliary lights or highway pegs on their sport-ish FZ6 bikes, so my choices were limited. Through research on a few FZ6 forums, I found that most people manufactured their own “engine cages” for stunting. There weren’t many commercially-available options for crash bars for Cylon — in fact, there was only one, by SW-MOTECH out of Germany.
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I’m several days behind on making updates on my trip to Georgia and back. I have a few things to discuss from a motorcycling perspective, some gear to review, and everything else … so instead of lagging even more on my posts, I want to show you some snapshots of my trip, and try to let the pictures do some of the talking.
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Quick trip report, so far :)

Leaving Richmond Saturday morning — it had rained earlier in the morning but my trip was dry.

Stopped in North Carolina to shake my legs and drink some water and coffee.

The weather heated up pretty quickly and the wind was brutal from North Carolina until I hit Savannah.

Fast forward several windy hours — on the approach to Tybee!

Locals doing the speed limit, but a single lane road and double yellow lines kept me in check. I had waited months to get here, I could wait a few minutes longer.

It’s been been non-stop laughs and goofing off since I got here. I will try to post some more later, but I had a problem with the wireless card on my laptop and it’s hard to post from the “public” machine.

When I sold Raider, my BMW R1150R, I knew I would immediately miss the greater storage capacity. Sure, my Yamaha FZ6 Cylon has the Givi V46 top case and E21 side cases. Even though Raider had the ultra-wimpy E350 Flow case (35L instead of the V46′s 46L), I felt like I had more space on the BMW due to the massive side cases.

However, I didn’t want to spend $200 each on getting the 40L Givi E360 side cases. I started looking around for alternatives, and found a thread on ADVrider.com about JC Whitney’s hard cases. They are a knock-off of the E360, and by all accounts they were not as well made as their Italian inspirations. Yes, there were accounts of them flying off of the supplied mounting rack at highway speeds, or that the interior “stays” that held the clamshell design open snapping on first use. Yes, there was that stupid iron cross sticker on the top. However, they were cheap, at about $85 before shipping.

The more I read, the more intrigued I became. The rumor was that with some “fine tuning” they could be modified to fit the existing Givi rack on my bike. I was already ready to try them out, but when I found a way to get them for less than $65 shipped I was chomping at the bit.
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