Getting Acquainted With New Gear

December 6th, 2012
Hawk H-6607 Glossy Black Dual-Visor Modular Motorcycle Helmet with Bluetooth

This new Hawk helmet with the front flipped up. And hey, it has built-in Bluetooth communication.

Seems like every day is Christmas lately, and I have a lot of near gear to try out. In addition to the new heated gloves I’ve been writing about, I also just received a new helmet. The full name of this helmet is Hawk H-6607 Glossy Black Dual-Visor Modular Motorcycle Helmet with Bluetooth. OK, that’s a mouthful. Let’s break it down.

First off, it’s a modular, flip-up type of helmet. I’ve never used one of those before so that’s something to get familiar with. It’s also dual-visor, which is to say that it has a separate flip-down sun visor to use during the daylight and to flip up at night. And third, it has built-in bluetooth. I like that idea.

So I rode to work on Wednesday and had another chance to try out this new stuff. Wednesday was a beautiful, warm day to ride so once again it wasn’t much of a test of the heated gloves but it was an incremental advancement. This time I set both gloves to 75 percent power and that was probably more than I needed. Then on my way home the right glove, which I had been running at higher power the previous times I had worn them, ran out of juice. And as I pulled into the driveway the left glove was flashing to indicate it was about to go kaput, too. So I’m sure it won’t surprise anyone that when Gerbing says 2 hours on full power that truly does mean you’re not going to get more than 2 hours.

For the helmet it was my second test run. On Sunday I had gone out with it and had been surprised how noisy it was. One person I spoke with said that modulars are always noisier than regular helmets so I guess I need to factor that in. Plus, when I wore earplugs it was no problem at all. Beyond that, it is comfortable and doesn’t seem to take the breaking in that other helmets I’ve had have required.

The tinted visor needs some tweaking. It doesn’t want to stay up. When it insisted on falling down on Sunday afternoon that was no problem, but coming home Wednesday evening after dark I didn’t want that happening. Fortunately, it seemed that because I left the visor open a bit because it was so warm, that stopped it from falling except just once. I may just stick a little piece of tape on there or something, just to add a wee bit more friction.

I like that this helmet has a little chin shield that closes up the forward bottom portion of the helmet, blocking drafts. That will be nice in very cold weather.

I haven’t had a chance yet to try out the Bluetooth communicator. Maybe we can get out this weekend with Judy using our other Bluetooth communicator and see how that goes. And my experience up to now is that these communicators do work fine even if you have earplugs in. In the meantime, not to have to hassle with keeping the speaker/mic in place should be wonderful. I think built-in communicators is likely to become just standard equipment in a lot of helmets from now on. It makes so much sense.

So I’ve got a lot more testing to do on both these items, but there’s no hurry. In the meantime, a couple other packages arrived in the last couple days as well, so I may be giving my impression of some motocross gear–provided I have a decent chance to try it out. Which may not happen soon. It is December, you know. We’ll see.

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A First Ride With My New Heated Gloves

December 3rd, 2012
Along the Peak-to-Peak highway

Along the Peak-to-Peak.

Saturday was a gorgeous day so I had to ride. And it was really too warm to give my new electric gloves a test, but I figured they needed to be broken in and I could still try them out and see how warm they get. I also wore my electric vest just in case, but as I suspected, I didn’t need to plug it in.

So how were the gloves? First off, these Gerbing Core S-2B battery-powered gloves are a little stiff brand new, so breaking them in by wearing them is a good thing. I checked out their heated gloves that are powered by wires from your bike’s battery and they’re not so stiff. Presumably the latter gloves can carry more power and so need less of the fine wiring woven through them. The battery-powered gloves need to conserve energy to extend battery life, so they don’t use the brute force approach the others use.

I put the gloves on and turned them on and the feeling of warm all over my hands was instantaneous. For testing purposes, I turned the right glove up to full power and set the left at a lower level. In the process I found that it is easier to turn then on and set the level before you put them on your hands. It’s just clunky trying to do it with them on, though they are designed well enough that it can be done without too much difficulty. Still, it’s easier to do it with them off.

Riding on this warm day, you can bet my hands never got cold. And as you might expect, after awhile my right hand started getting too warm. It never felt like it was roasting–they don’t get that hot–but I did feel the desire to turn it down. And after awhile I turned the left glove completely off. My hand never got cold but I was aware that it was no longer receiving external heating.

The gloves themselves are quite comfortable. They seem to be extremely well made and could serve as just a regular pair of riding gloves if you chose. The one thing I had expected that proved correct was that the battery, which mounts in the gauntlet, was uncomfortable sitting right on top of my watch on my left wrist. So I took the watch off and put it in my pocket.

The gauntlets are not as wide as on my regular gloves, so it was a bit more of a trick getting them over my sleeves, but not a real hassle–just not quite as easy. But then they were nice and snug to help keep cold air out.

So far I rate them very highly. Of course, the real test will come when it gets colder. Just from my experience on Saturday I suspect I’ll end up running them either at full power or 75 percent power most of the time. At those levels the batteries are good for either 2 hours or 4 hours, and if it’s really cold I don’t expect I’ll be out longer than that anyway, so why not be as warm as possible?

More to come.

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Riding Motorcycles And Visiting National Parks

November 29th, 2012
OFMC at Zion 2012

The OFMC at Zion earlier this year.

I took a contract job recently at the National Park Service–my first regular job in 3-1/2 years–and my friend Dan very quickly emailed me to say he would be calling on my newly gained expertise. Seems he is working on earning the Iron Butt Association’s National Parks Tour Master Traveler Award. To do so you have to “Visit at least 50 National Parks, National Monuments, National Historic Sites, National Recreation Areas or any other site or park listed in the Passport book or other sources, such as those listed by the National Parks Travelers Club http://www.parkstamps.org in at least 25 states within 1 year.”

What many people may not realize, but what I’ve learned in my brief time on this job, is that there are nearly 400 park units around the country. Everybody knows about Yellowstone or Yosemite but how many of us have heard of some of these places I’ve been working on this past few weeks: William Howard Taft National Historic Site; Ocmulgee National Monument; Catoctin Mountain National Park; Cumberland Island National Seashore. There are a lot of them.

As the Iron Butt site explains, too, you don’t have to go to 2 per state in 25 states. They suggest you could visit 21 parks in California, 6 parks in Arizona, and then 23 parks in 23 different states. Whatever it takes.

As for that Passport book mentioned above, that’s something the National Park Service (I’m already inculcated. I would have abbreviated that but the organizational style is always to spell it out unless it’s used as a modifier.) offers. I’m sure it’s a way to generate money but it sounds cool and kind of fun. You buy the book and then at each park unit you visit you get it stamped. Each unit has its own distinctive stamp. Just something as a momento of your visit.

So anyway, you’ve got some hard riding to do Dan, but I know you’re an Iron Butt guy and you’ll have a great time. And I’ll let you know if I come across any especially interesting park units to give you a heads-up on.

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Now I’ll Have Warm Hands When I Ride

November 26th, 2012

My new Gerbing Core S-2B heated gloves.

It’s a done deal, and an early Christmas. I’ve got a pair of Gerbing Core S-2B battery powered heated gloves.

I checked around town at all the shops that carry Gerbing gear and only one, Performance Cycle, on south Broadway just north of Evans, carries the battery powered gloves. As it was, they only had size Small and XXL in stock, but this weekend, the weekend of Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, they were on sale for only $170. That’s a bargain.

So we went over to the shop on Saturday because I wanted to see them for real and try them on. I figured I needed a Medium but if I bought them I would pay the sale price and then just wait for them to come in.

Turns out Small seems to be the size I needed. Judy whipped out her credit card and wished me a merry Christmas a month early.

At home, I immediately plugged in the batteries to charge and then last night we went for a walk to give them their first test. One thing I noticed immediately, as I had suspected might be the case, was that the battery in the gauntlet sits right on top of my wristwatch. For comfort I figure I’ll need to take the watch off when I wear the gloves. No big deal.

The controls work very easily. You plug the batteries in and insert them into the pouches on the gloves. Through a mesh window you can see the setting, so you push the Power button and then keep pressing it until it gets to the heat level you desire. What Gerbing says is that at 100 percent power the batteries should last you 2 hours. At 75 percent you should get 3 hours, at 50 percent 5 hours, and at 25 percent 10 hours.

I figure in the winter I’m not likely to be riding longer than 5 hours so 50 percent should do me well. On our walk they were set at 25 percent and though it was pretty cold, my hands stayed warm. Nice.

So we’ll see. Of course I want to take a ride and give them a real test as soon as possible, but Sunday was a warm day, in the 60s, so that didn’t seem like a good test. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of cold weather soon enough. Of course I’ll report the results here. Stay tuned.

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ABATE To Raffle A Dual-Sport Bike

November 23rd, 2012

This is just perfect for me. I’ve got a job again, so my disposable income is huge compared to what it had been for so long. And I’ve been wanting a dual-sport bike for several years, but didn’t have the money. Well, I learned at the ABATE meeting on Sunday that the state organization has decided to do a raffle, with a dual-sport bike as the prize.

Dual-sport Bike On Gravel

A bike like this could be yours (or mine!)

Tickets will be $10. As poor and broke as I have been for so long, I would have had a hard time persuading myself to even buy one ticket, though I really want what they’re giving away. I mean, how tiny would my odds be of winning? Well, my odds will still be tiny, but I can afford it now.

Here are some particulars. The exact bike has not been determined yet. They were passing around a flyer on a Kawasaki KLR 650, but Terry Howard, the state coordinator, said they’ll be calling around to dealers to see what the best deal they can get might be.

Tickets will be $10 and a maximum of 2,000 will be sold. So that tells you right there exactly what your worst odds will be: 2,000 to 1. Of course, if they only sell 1,500 then your odds will be 1,500 to 1. Or if you buy 3 tickets you’ll be 500 to 1. Those aren’t great odds but they’re one heck of a lot better than your chances of winning Powerball.

The bike will be on display and tickets will be sold at several big events in the next few months, including the Last Brass Monkey Run, on December 30, and the Motorcycle Show and Swap February 2 and 3. They’ll also be sold online through the ABATE website.

The drawing will probably be held in June, at the Randy Run. The Randy Run is ABATE’s annual fundraiser to help out riders who have gone down hard and need assistance. Considering that you don’t have to be an ABATE member to receive financial assistance, this is a run everyone really ought to consider taking part in.

So I’m going to buy some tickets. I know I probably won’t win, but oh man, what if I do!? And if I don’t win, then I AM going to buy a dual-sport. The time has come.

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My First (Sorta) Cold Day’s Ride This Fall

November 19th, 2012
My Honda in the King Soopers parking lot in Aspen Park.

My Honda in the King Soopers parking lot in Aspen Park.

What a gorgeous day Sunday. I rode the Kawi to the ABATE meeting and then in the afternoon I took off on the Honda for a real ride. Time to give that battery a good charge.

It was so nice that the mountains called. I knew as I went up in elevation the temperature was going to drop but I was dressed warmly and had my electric vest on. Upward!

I cruised up through Morrison to Idledale, to Kittredge, and on to Evergreen. Lots of bikes on the road. Lots of bikes parked in Morrison and Evergreen.

And yes, it got cooler. It didn’t take long for me to be glad I had the electric vest on. It was sunny, but with the sun low in the south, the canyon was mostly in shadow. And the higher I went, the lower the mercury dipped.

By the time I reached Evergreen it was getting cloudy. I had wanted to stop but didn’t. You know how you have intentions and yet sometimes you never act on them. That was me. I turned south on Highway 73, the road to where I would meet U.S. 285 at Conifer. Now I was getting cold, especially my hands. I realized the time had come to switch to my winter riding gloves and I wished I had done so already. By the time I reached Conifer I was starting to wonder if my vest had stopped working; I was that cold.

So I cruised on down to Aspen Park and pulled off to get something hot to hold and drink. There’s a Starbucks in the King Soopers there and that was just the ticket. Feeling reasonably warm again, I rolled on back down the hill. By the time I got back to the city it was a comfortable temp again but I kept the vest turned on anyway. Felt good. And yes, it was still working.

The moral of the story, or lesson or whatever: It’s that time of year. I probably won’t be riding into the mountains again until sometime next year. And I really do need to get some electric gloves on my hands, sooner rather than later. Judy said she’d get me some for Christmas, and if I tell her specifically what I want she won’t wait for Christmas. I had forgotten to do that. No more forgetting.

But oh man, what a great day to be out for a ride. After doing all this riding this past summer I haven’t been on the bikes all that much this fall. And now I’ve started a job, for the first time in more than three years. I’m back at the point where when I occasionally go for a ride it hits me that, “Hey, this is really fun! I should do this more!” From here on it’s all about the weather.

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