Well, after over three years of motorcycling, I finally dropped a bike.

My R1150R doesn’t have a choke, but it has an ignition helper doo-dad that is used to help the motorcycle start on cold days like today. You pull that doo-dad up and start the bike. I always leave my bikes in first gear when they are on the side stand to prevent rolling. One should not have the bike in gear when using said doo-dad because the bike will lurch forward.

I engaged the clutch and toed the shifter into neutral — just in time to feel the bike roll slightly forward. The side stand folded up, and the bike started to tip over on its left side. I held Raider up for a heartbeat and remembered how much I’d hurt myself keeping my K1200LTE upright. My calf is still damaged, over six months later. I tried to lower the bike as gently as possible, but the 600-pound bike got the best of me and dropped the last two inches or so.

“Fuck,” I muttered, and immediately looked around to see if my neighbors saw me. Whew, no one was outside. I took my helmet off and snuggled my butt up against the seat, hoping to use my legs to push the bike upright. It seemed so easy in the YouTube videos I saw of people doing it with the (much) larger K bikes.

The R1150R, even with the side cases and engine guard, was too low to the ground for me to get squared away. I could push the bike sideways across the ground, but that wasn’t going to help me lift it. I was going to be late for work if I didn’t act fast. I called upon the spirit of P90 fitness guru Tony Horton. I bent my knees low, squared my back, and pulled the bike upright with a deadlift. I got the bike up high enough to extend the sidestand. I was still for just a moment to make sure I hadn’t pulled something. I seemed okay, so I put my helmet back on, started the bike, and got the fuck on the road.

Total damage: not much. Raider’s first master had dropped the bike in his driveway, too, so there were some pre-existing scuffs on the left side case and engine crash guard. I know for sure I added a new abrasion to the left mirror and the left hand guard. I doubt people would notice the damage unless I pointed it out, and it is all cosmetic.

Apparently I didn’t extend the side stand all the way after getting home from my trip to Tybee Island. I was cold and wet and ready to get off of the bike, and was probably careless. This is how most low/no-speed accidents happen. People get sloppy and forget to put the side stand down at a gas station, or don’t watch where they put their feet and slip on wet leaves.

My life’s motto is “it could always be worse,” and today that was certainly true. My friend Bond said this morning, “you got that out of the way for another three years.”

Here’s to hoping he’s right.

I have been unhappy with my 2002 BMW K 1200 LTE ever since my trip to Georgia in the spring. The bike is too big and top heavy for riding around town (or in a traffic jam), and has such a big aerodynamic profile that a side-wind makes the bike feel very unstable. I also think the bike was a little too advanced for me to ride in substandard conditions, and if there was any hint of poor weather I’d opt for my FZ6 instead.

So, I put Raptor up for sale on Craig’s List. I got a lowball offer and declined it. Then I heard from a fellow in North Carolina, offering to trade me his K 1200 RS, the sportier version of my bike. I replied, stating that I wanted something smaller and more street-friendly. I didn’t expect to hear back from him, but he replied a few hours later offering his 2004 R1150R plus some cash. I bit.
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I never thought I would be this disappointed to drive my Mazdaspeed3, but it’s true. I have to break my motorcycling streak in order to take Kaylee in for a 12,000 mile service. The streak was 39 work days in a row, almost two months of working! I don’t know what’s more impressive: riding to work that many days in a row, or the fact I haven’t been fired yet ;).

There’s a lot I like about Raptor, my 2002 BMW K1200 LT motorcycle. I like the heated grips, the electric windshield, and the cruise control. One thing I don’t like about it is how expensive all the accessories are. To get replacement helmet speakers and a microphone is about $300 per helmet. I don’t ride 2UP on Raptor enough to justify spending $600 on something just for that one bike.

The IMC BHS10 headset system seemed very attractive to me because it was inexpensive. At just $65 per set, I felt comfortable giving them a try. I didn’t expect them to be of elite quality, but I am also no stranger to paying less and getting more. I just wanted to be able to talk to Starbuck on longer trips, and to hear directions from my GPS unit.

However, I was apprehensive that there would be a compatibility problem with the IMC headset and my stock BMW/J&G CommSystem. I emailed the customer service department at Whitehorse Gear via their Web site and got a response two business days later. I wasn’t happy with that long of a turn-around, especially on a pre-sales question, but sometimes these specialty places are only manned by one or two employees.

I specifically asked if the system was compatible with my setup, and “Dean” replied, “In both cases you will get the speakers, microphone, and a coil cable with the six-pin plug to fit into your LT. Mount the headset in the helmet, plug in, and you are good to go.”

I placed my order immediately and waited for it to arrive.
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Around. On my trip, that is. After waffling on whether or not to take my motorcycle, and if I should wear my textile or leather gear, I wound up jumping on my bike in the rain and heading down to Savannah, Georgia for the weekend.

I’ve said this before: good gear, and the right gear, will make or break a motorcycle trip.

I had such a bad mismatch between gear and weather it’s made me rethink my cross-country trip in June of this year.
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I’ve owned my BMW KT 1200 LE motorcycle for about five weeks now. I knew I was in for a huge change from Cylon, my FZ6 sport standard. Cylon weighs just about half of what Raptor does. I was a mess when I got my BMW. It felt like I was learning to ride all over again. I almost dumped the bike at the first stoplight because it was so heavy and I couldn’t “cheat” on my technique by muscling the bike. Raptor felt big, oafish, and clumsy.

I suspected, but now firmly believe, that this has more to do with me than it does with the bike.
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I had a doubly-interesting commute on new motorcycle, Raptor. The first item of interest was the weather. I got rained for about twenty minutes. I was geared up, and my textile motorcycle jacket did a great job keeping me dry. Fully extended, the windshield protected my helmet visor from being obscured with rain. Unfortunately the aerodynamics of the bike are such that so much rain accumulated on the screen that I wound up lowering it so I could see … which put rain all over my visor. Six one way, half a dozen the other.

I was zipping down the highway when I approached two dump trucks, traveling single file (to hide their numbers) in the left-hand lane. I passed the first one on the right when I saw some pigeons flying about in the median. I didn’t pay any attention to them but two seconds later there was a shower of feathers in front of the lead dump truck. Apparently one of the birds was so overcome by Firefly’s cancellation it just couldn’t take it any more.

I instinctively ducked under the windshield (fully extended) and rode through a bunch of feathers. I heard a “flthlunk,” and there was a half-dollar sized piece of pigeon … stuff … on the dead center of my windshield. It wound up getting washed away later in the rain, but I can’t help but wonder how that would have felt if I was riding a naked bike.

Anyway, the bike’s doing great. It was just as stable in the downpour this morning as it is on dry land, and now I know it can take a pigeon strike and keep on ticking. ;)

I named my FZ6 “Cylon” after the one-eyed, emotionless killing machines from Battlestar Galactica. Now that I have my BMW K1200LT I need to name it. I’d like to keep with the BSG theme, and as such have two ideas for a name.
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I love, love, love Cylon, my FZ6. He’s a great all purpose sport standard, with an upright seating position but sportbike handling and technology. Despite being good at everything, there are just a few things he isn’t great at. I took a few 1000+ mile trips last year, and while I didn’t have a problem logging 600 miles or so a day, I wouldn’t want to have more than one day of riding like that on my trusty Yamaha.

I rode down to Tybee Island, Georgia over a year ago to visit some of my friends from Ars Technica. They’re hosting us crazies again, and I wanted to ride my motorcycle down a second time. The added wrinkle this year is that my family is having a get-together in San Francisco in June. I would really like to ride my bike out there, but if I can’t do two days of 600+ miles on a bike, how would I manage a trip across the country and back?

I needed a different bike, but there was no way I was getting ride of my baby.
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