Passes & Canyons Blog

I was off with the OFMC this summer on our annual ride and saw something that made me shake my head. We were in the Black Hills and somewhere along the way I saw this guy on a motorcycle wearing a helmet that I can only describe as a hard yarmulke, or kepi. This thing would have provided exactly zero protection if he went down so why would he bother? I mean, heck, with just a chin strap it would probably just come right off in a fall.

But that line of thinking leads to a larger group of riders. People like Bill and Dennis, my riding companions. That’s Dennis in the photo.

Both of them have full-face helmets that they bring along but much of the time they wear these half-helmets. That seems pointless to me, too.

I used to ride without a helmet at all, much of the time, but at the point when I decided not to do that any more I just went the entire other direction. I mean, look at Dennis. His face is totally exposed. How much of his chin do you suppose would get scraped off in a fall? How much of his nose? At least that chin strap is a bit more secure than the one on that guy with the hard yarmulke.

I figure if I’m going to wear a helmet I want all the protection a helmet has to offer. I’ve heard of people losing half their teeth in serious crash, and having their jaws mangled. I want a helmet that will . . . wait for it . . . protect my head. All of my head.

I know, I know. There are people who would criticize me because I don’t wear my reinforced riding pants all the time. I just wear jeans most of the time in summer. That’s not ATGATT. So I probably shouldn’t roll my eyes too much at people who feel differently than me on these other things. And I don’t. I never say anything to Bill or Dennis but I do say things to myself. I guess we all get to choose our own version of stupid.

Biker Quote for Today

100 reasons not to date a biker: 36. We think leather bras are fine lingerie.

I talked about what it took to get this top bag attached to my Concours, and now I’ve had it for a while and have had a number of chances to put it to use. I have to say, I love it.

I got it on in time to have it on the OFMC trip in July and it proved every bit as welcome as I expected it would. For years I had envied my friends and how when we would stop somewhere they would just take off their helmets and jackets, drop them in their top bag, close it, and walk away. Meanwhile I was locking my helmet to the bike and hauling my heavy, bulky jacket with me everywhere I went. Now, I know a lot of people just leave their jackets on their bikes, unsecured, but I carry my wallet with my ID and credit cards in my jacket pocket and there’s no way I want to leave that just draped over the seat or the tank. And the wallet is too bulky to comfortably carry in my pants pocket. Plus, I guess I’m not as trusting as some people that no one will take my unsecured jacket. Heck, one time someone stole Bill’s mirror right off his bike. Some people really are low.

So the bag was a huge success on the trip. It’s also nice on other rides. I just pop it open, toss in my rain suit and warmer gloves, maybe an extra layer–whatever I want. It’s much easier than using the side bags. They open sideways and it’s easy for stuff to spill out. Plus, on one side I secure the thing with a strap because it has been known to come off the rail next thing I know it’s dangling out over the road, held on only by the lock. So that’s just another nuisance, undoing and then redoing that strap.

Around home, for errands, it’s great. Once a month I make a trip to the wine store and the bread store. Now I put the wine in the side bag without the strap but the bread goes in the top bag where it won’t get crushed.

All of this totally ignores the options this opens up when Judy and I ride together. When I’m traveling the side bags are generally full and I put my rain suit in my tank bag. With Judy it gets complicated. Not only do we have more stuff but more stuff to secure when we stop. Now we can put both jackets in the top bag while securing the helmets to the bike, as before.

I could go on but there’s no point. This thing is great. It was worth the extra effort.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker when your dirty clothes smell like exhaust and beer.

If there was one thing that became abundantly clear to me on this recent RMMRC Colorado Cruise was that if you are riding in the high country, summer is over.

I very foolishly wore my mesh jacket and I intended to find the liner but forgot it, and that was quite a mistake. Every time we got up high–which was frequently–I was cold because that cold air just cut through that mesh. That’s what they’re for, to give you nice ventilation on hot days. But these were not hot days. So why was I wearing mesh? Idiot.

I did finally think to use my rain jacket as a wind breaker and should have done so a lot sooner. Sometimes your brain works better than other times.

At the same time, it’s not cold yet down here on the prairie. Shortly after getting home I took the Honda out for a ride and, having gotten plenty chilled again and again on the last trip, I pulled on leather AND a sweatshirt, and for good measure, my winter gloves. Out I went and gosh, who coulda thunk it, I was way too hot. I mean, heck, it was all of 80 degrees or more. But my brain was still back on top of Cottonwood Pass and Red Mountain Pass and you know, you can never be too cautious.

Yes you can.

So here’s a little simple, very obvious advice. At this time of year, if you’re going up high, dress for cold. If you’re staying down low, and the temperature is above 75, expect warmth. How difficult is that? I don’t know, apparently for some of us (me) it’s not as simple as you might think. Maybe some day I’ll figure it out.

Biker Quote for Today

Why motorcycles are better than women: The rashes you get from motorcycles go away without those painful penicillin shots.

I’m still counting on taking the Kawi on the OFMC trip very shortly but nothing has happened yet on the carburetor issue. For insurance I got a new rear tire on the V-Strom a couple days ago.

I got this recommendation from both Bill and Dennis, that I get the tire at Let It Ride, on 8425 W. Colfax, and then take it next door to 1 Down, Four Up Motorsports, at 8427 W. Colfax, to be mounted. That worked out great. I called ahead about the tire and they had it in stock. I asked them to hold it for me and made an appointment so I could have it mounted while I waited.

Mid-way through the job, the guy (whose name I can’t remember–I really should make note of these things) asked if I wanted new rear brake pads because with the old ones, “there’s almost nothing there.” That didn’t surprise me; I had been thinking about that possibility. So sure, put on new pads. He said the front pads are fine.

Then as I was paying he told me they had adjusted the chain as good as they could but there was some stretching and really, the chain and sprockets need to be replaced. That didn’t surprise me either.

The ride home proved interesting then. Of course I was doing some swerving to scuff up the edges of the new tire but I wasn’t so busy with that as not to notice something else. A noise I had wondered about for quite awhile was not there.

This noise is something I’ve always thought of as maybe the chain slapping. I’ve tried adjusting the tension but never made a difference. I take it now that the shop did a better job of adjusting it than I did and at least for now that slapping–which is apparently what it was–is gone. At the very least, the noise is gone. So OK, that’s something to take care of after the trip.

Biker Quote for Today

I was born intelligent, but my bike ruined me.

My 1980 Honda CB750 Custom was my first motorcycle and I still have it and I have always loved it. That said, nobody–and nothing–is perfect.

I can say for one thing that I’m not crazy about the chain drive. Having to lube that chain, adjust it occasionally, and replace both it and the sprockets at times is a bit of an annoyance and also a bit of expense. But I live with it. And from what I’ve read, chain drive has some advantages over shaft drive, though I’m not particularly attuned to those sorts of things. I just ride the bike.

There is one thing, though, that is just an out and out pain: unmounting and mounting the seat.

Motorcycle design has changed in a huge way since 1980 and getting the seat off and on is one in which the improvement is especially huge. On both my 1999 Kawasaki Concours and my 2006 Suzuki V-Strom all you have to do is insert the key and turn it, then pop the seat off. To put it back on you just position it properly and press down till it clicks. Couldn’t be simpler.

Not so on the CB.

On this bike there are two bolts that go through holes in two flanges that extend downward from the seat frame. You can see the flange in the photo at right. These bolts screw into the frame of the bike. Under the best conditions this is a simple process with a wrench. I do not enjoy the best conditions.

First off, the seat, after 41 years, seems not to be completely symmetrical and so I find it necessary to lay across the seat from the left, putting my weight on the seat to push it down just enough to free up the bolt. Then on the right I have to lift the seat just enough to free up the bolt.

On top of that, when I first bought the bike it came with a sissy bar already on it, which is great, I like that. But the rail attaches the sissy bar to the frame of the bike in a way that blocks access to the seat bolts. I don’t have to take the sissy bar off, but it is definitely awkward reaching around it to get at the bolts.

What this amounts to is that an operation that takes about three seconds on my other two bikes takes at least five minutes on the Honda and I need to have the proper tools to do it. OK, so if this is the toughest thing I’ve got going in my life I know I’m not getting any sympathy from anyone. And I’m not asking for sympathy–just making note of one of life’s little irritations. I’ll live with it. Heck, I’ve lived with it for more than 30 years already.

Biker Quote for Today

You might be a Yuppie biker if your ponytail comes off with your cap.

I took the Honda for a ride to see how the set-up I had used on this new Viking Bags tank bag was going to be secure. It was, but I figured I could configure it better. So I did.

As you can see from the picture above I no longer have the straps looping back over the sides of the tank. As the other picture shows, they now go into the cleft where the tank fits over the spine of the frame and around the steering column. Dipping below the tank it then loops around a couple frame members to hold it securely. In doing this I was very conscious of positioning the strap to not crimp any cables or wires or anything, and to not be located such that movement of the bars left and right would cause rubbing and wear.

In short, I think it’s well set up and should be fine for the long term, though I will check it periodically at least for a while so as to be sure.

So, so much for set-up. What about the bag itself? The first thing you have to understand about any Viking Bags product is that they are targeting the lower-priced end of the market. If you want premium quality and are willing to pay for it, buy Harley gear. If you want something that is perfectly satisfactory but maybe a little rough around the edges for a very affordable price, then Viking does a very good job.

That said, the bag has a fairly large storage space that can unzip to create a really large space. If you wanted to stand a water bottle upright at the back end, closest to you, there would be no problem at all. The detachable map case (Velcro) is a good size: 8-1/2 x 10. That’s big enough to fit a full two-panel section of most maps.

There is also a small zippered pocket on the bottom portion of the rear, rider-end of the bag that you could use small items you want quick access to. Some tank bags have a softer, grippy base layer that is actually in contact with the tank, that keeps the inevitable rubbing from wearing away at your paint. That’s one of those premium items that you pay more for; don’t look for that with this bag. I may try to come up with something to put under there to protect the paint–it seems like maybe a chamois cloth would work well–or I may just ignore it. Probably the latter. I mean, I’m assuming the material is nylon, and nylon won’t scratch the paint; it’s the grit that gets in between the bag and the tank that does the damage.

I really think I’m going to like having this bag. It’s a good size and can carry my rain suit so I won’t need to put the saddle bags on for that. I’ve been sold on tank bags for a long time. Now I finally have one on the Honda.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker when you lie to your wife in order to spend more quality time with your bike.

I’ve had a tank bag for my Kawasaki Concours for years and it’s been great. More recently I got a tank bag for my Suzuki V-Strom and it’s a very welcome addition as well. But I’ve never had a tank bag for my Honda CB750 Custom. I’ve felt that lack. Well, now I have one.

I took the bag from the Kawi with me on the Honda one trip and utterly regretted that. Whereas on the Connie it sits–with magnetic attachment–on a broad gas tank with wind protection from the fairing. On the Honda the tank was probably OK, not great, but with no fairing the wind wanted to lift it up and throw it around and I spent that whole trip fighting to keep it in place. A real horror! Nope, I needed a tank bag that straps down securely for the Honda.

So, as I often do, I received an email from the folks at Viking Bags offering to give me some gear in exchange for my testing and reviewing it. Usually I ignore these emails because one person really only needs just so much gear. But this time I figured what the heck, it would be nice to have a tank bag for the Honda.

Of course, nobody makes bags today designed specifically for a motorcycle made in 1980. But Viking does offer bags designed to fit many specific makes and models so I looked at what they had for Honda and picked one that struck me as possibly working on my Honda. I chose to go with the Viking Dirtman Medium Black Dirt Bike/Enduro Tank Bag.

I received the bag Saturday and immediately took it out to put it on the bike. I knew this might be less than straightforward.

The first thing I knew I needed to do was to remove the seat and loop the back strap under the slot where the tongue on the seat slips in to be held in place. That was easy, although removing the seat on this bike is never easy. That particular design element is so much better these days than it was in 1980.

Attaching it in front was not so simple. On this old bike, the gas tank straddles the backbone of the bike’s frame and wraps around the steering post. I slipped the straps into that V and then brought them back up to the bag. I wasn’t sure this was going to work but when I tightened everything down it did seem to do the job. The real test will be when I take it for a ride and see how it does.

I also had to figure out just what to do with the rest of the straps and I kind of jerry-rigged that.

It appears secure. What I like about it is that, as the name implies, this bag is designed for a dirt bike so it sits back on the tank, pretty much in the space where the actual tank on my Concours is. This leaves me free access to my gas cap so unlike with the other two, I won’t need to remove the bag to put gas in the tank.

Right now the strap comes up the side of the tank and that is a bit unsightly so I will probably try setting it up differently but for now it looks like it will work. I’ll be following up this post with an actual description of the bag and discussion of its features. I’ll also explain there how I finally decide to handle all this set-up.

In the meantime, I think it’s going to be really nice to finally have a tank bag on this bike. Heck, I’ve had this motorcycle for 33 years.

Biker Quote for Today

100 reasons not to date a biker: 5. Bonus at work? We’ll buy shiny bits for our bike instead of taking you on a romantic vacation.

I’ve been trying for months to figure out how to mount this top bag on the rear of my Concours and I think success is near. I had asked my mechanic, Joel, if fabricating something to mount it on was something he could do and he demurred, saying that kind of thing is not in his realm of expertise.

However, the second time we talked about it he said he has a friend who also rides a Concours who has a bag mounted on a bracket he made himself. I asked if he would be willing to help me out and Joel gave me his phone number. That’s how I met Tom.

I called Tom and we talked and then just before the blizzard hit I drove the bag and it’s mounting basket to him. That gave me a chance to take a look at the bracket he has on his bike. His wife wanted a backrest up kind of high so his bracket elevates the bag quite a bit. That wasn’t something that particularly appealed to me.

Apparently, not raising the bag makes the whole thing a lot simpler. As you can see in the photo of the mock-up that Tom sent me, he’s figuring all we really need is a couple strips of steel bolted onto the bike, and then attach the basket to the steel strips. Then just slip the bag into the slot on the basket, secure it with its thumb-screw, and voila!

The one thing I’ve been concerned about, and I asked Tom about this, is that Kawasaki stuck a sticker on this rear fender area saying not to put more than 11 pounds of weight on it. Dang, by the time you get the bracket, the basket, and the bag on there you’ve already eaten up nearly half that weight. So I asked Tom if Kawasaki was just being overly cautious, and what his experience has been.

Tom said he has had his bag on his bike for nearly 10 years and no problem. On top of that, I ended up talking to Jungle yesterday, and Jungle is a mechanic who has owned several Concourses. He said he built a rack for a bag on one of his and he never had any problems with too much weight. He did mention that you don’t want to put a lot of weight up high way out back because that can throw off the suspension and affect your steering. But a little bit is no big deal.

Now, the truth is, what has made me envious for years is watching how my friends get off their bikes and take off their jackets and helmets and throw them in the top bag and walk away. Not having one, I’ve always had to keep my jacket with me, and that can be a pain. But the key there is, you can’t throw your helmet and jacket in the bag if it’s full of other stuff. So if you don’t put much in it then there’s not going to be a lot of weight. Then a bit of weight when you’re just parked is not a big problem. And you’ll remove that weight before you take off again.

So my concern has been mollified. Now I’m just waiting for the finished product. This is going to be great.

Biker Quote for Today

Motorcyclists who don’t wear a helmet probably don’t have a brain to protect anyway.