oh yeah, and cooled seats?
best invention since the virgin birth.
best invention since the virgin birth.
Toshi's thread
- Thread starter Toshi
- Start date
Wow. I've never heard that about horns and wipers, although it makes sense on some ridiculous level. 
Good to hear regarding the LX-boat, too. Although undoubtedly overkill, somehow I can sit easier with the concept of its overkill being in a realm that could be exercised without doubling the speed limit.
Who knows where I'll be in 3-4 years with regard to physical location, having a kid or not (or 2?), spare time, and proximity to anything "fun." If possible, though, I think trying to make it out to the deep recesses of the National Park system only accessible through their "high clearance 4x4 only" roads would be a cool project. I did some of them on my 2003 road trip, but was limited due to being by myself in an open-diff street-tired Pathfinder.
Good to hear regarding the LX-boat, too. Although undoubtedly overkill, somehow I can sit easier with the concept of its overkill being in a realm that could be exercised without doubling the speed limit.
Who knows where I'll be in 3-4 years with regard to physical location, having a kid or not (or 2?), spare time, and proximity to anything "fun." If possible, though, I think trying to make it out to the deep recesses of the National Park system only accessible through their "high clearance 4x4 only" roads would be a cool project. I did some of them on my 2003 road trip, but was limited due to being by myself in an open-diff street-tired Pathfinder.
A little more on this idea below. First, vehicle and road type definitions per the National Park Service itself, emphasis theirs, not mine:
Now to find some of the National Parks that have said high clearance 4x4 roads. I tried searching for "high clearance" within nps.gov itself, but this probably misses some here and there. I know for a fact that Canyonlands and Capitol Reef NPs and Guadalupe Mountains Natl Monument have such roads, having either driven them in the past or considered driving them and deciding that it wasn't a prudent idea at the time, and utah.com turned out to have sections dedicated to them.
Here's an alphabetical list that likely is far from comprehensive, and, again, is only covering National Parks save for the Route 66 bit (which I found as it was hosted on nps.gov):
Arches National Park, and the surrounding Moab area: Arches and Moab are chock-full of off road goodness. Slickrock isn't just for bicycles! Without going full-retard rock crawler there are many places that are most easily accessed in Arches with a 4x4:
Big Bend National Park, Primitive Dirt Roads: There are 4 unimproved dirt roads in Big Bend NP totaling 101.5 miles, as well as many more miles of improved dirt roads with variable conditions.
Capitol Reef National Park: There are over 100 miles of unmaintained roads, with ditches and the occasional stream crossing, within Capitol Reef. I did the Cathedral Valley loop in 2003, a 58-mile off-road journey that mostly was within the capability of, say, a Subaru Forester (I indeed saw one) but which had segments that truly did require low range and better clearance/approach/departure angles. See the first photo in the above post for one vista from the Cathedral Valley loop. The Temples of the Sun (foreground) and the Moon (background) are below, also from that same loop:
Canyonlands National Park, Shafer Rim Trail and others: Canyonlands "is one of the world's great places for off-road adventure" per utah.com. After seeing the below photo from the Shafer Rim road that leads to the 100 mile White Rim Trail I wouldn't disagree. Some of the descriptions lead me to pucker up a bit, and indeed I declined to go off-road when I visited Canyonlands for (justified) fear of not being prepared enough. This is a place where a sat phone, a few buddies, shovels, traction aids to free oneself from sand, proper tires, and plenty of gas and supplies would be a Good Idea (tm).
Death Valley National Park, Unmaintained Dirt or 4WD Roads: There are at least several hundred miles of high clearance +/- 4x4 roads in and near Death Valley NP listed at the link. There are also many dozens if not hundreds or more miles of maintained dirt roads and roads outside the national park's boundary. There's also a nicer PDF that the Park Service threw together that apparently highlights some of the better (?) unmaintained roads. Somewhat ominously, several of the descriptions for the unmaintained roads stress that only short wheelbase high clearance 4x4 vehicles the size of a Jeep Wrangler are recommended. Yikes. Check out this declaration, for instance:
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, trail access and Medano Pass 4WD Road: There are a few optional hiking trail access points only accessible via high clearance 4x4 vehicle, and the Medano Pass road, with stream crossings and the like, is restricted to 4x4s. I didn't go to Great Sand Dunes on my 2003 roadtrip, but instead visited White Sand National Monument where I shot a few vistas such as this one:
Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Williams Ranch: 7.3 miles out and then the same back to access a historic ranchhouse up in the mountains. I did this one as part of my 2003 roadtrip (see photo above with front fender of purple Pathfinder in view, and this resulting underwhelming photo at the ranchhouse itself):
Mount Logan Wilderness Area: Although Wilderness Areas themselves forbid any mechanized transport, including bicycles, let alone a clanking 4x4, the Mount Logan Wilderness Area just north of the Colorado River near the Grand Canyon actually requires a 2.5 hr drive on a high clearance vehicle-only dirt road just to reach its boundary!
Route 66 as it crosses New Mexico: Trying to follow the path of historic Route 66 can require traversing unmaintained stretches that are only suitable for high-clearance vehicles now.
Here's an alphabetical list that likely is far from comprehensive, and, again, is only covering National Parks save for the Route 66 bit (which I found as it was hosted on nps.gov):
Arches National Park, and the surrounding Moab area: Arches and Moab are chock-full of off road goodness. Slickrock isn't just for bicycles! Without going full-retard rock crawler there are many places that are most easily accessed in Arches with a 4x4:
Big Bend National Park, Primitive Dirt Roads: There are 4 unimproved dirt roads in Big Bend NP totaling 101.5 miles, as well as many more miles of improved dirt roads with variable conditions.
Capitol Reef National Park: There are over 100 miles of unmaintained roads, with ditches and the occasional stream crossing, within Capitol Reef. I did the Cathedral Valley loop in 2003, a 58-mile off-road journey that mostly was within the capability of, say, a Subaru Forester (I indeed saw one) but which had segments that truly did require low range and better clearance/approach/departure angles. See the first photo in the above post for one vista from the Cathedral Valley loop. The Temples of the Sun (foreground) and the Moon (background) are below, also from that same loop:
Canyonlands National Park, Shafer Rim Trail and others: Canyonlands "is one of the world's great places for off-road adventure" per utah.com. After seeing the below photo from the Shafer Rim road that leads to the 100 mile White Rim Trail I wouldn't disagree. Some of the descriptions lead me to pucker up a bit, and indeed I declined to go off-road when I visited Canyonlands for (justified) fear of not being prepared enough. This is a place where a sat phone, a few buddies, shovels, traction aids to free oneself from sand, proper tires, and plenty of gas and supplies would be a Good Idea (tm).
Death Valley National Park, Unmaintained Dirt or 4WD Roads: There are at least several hundred miles of high clearance +/- 4x4 roads in and near Death Valley NP listed at the link. There are also many dozens if not hundreds or more miles of maintained dirt roads and roads outside the national park's boundary. There's also a nicer PDF that the Park Service threw together that apparently highlights some of the better (?) unmaintained roads. Somewhat ominously, several of the descriptions for the unmaintained roads stress that only short wheelbase high clearance 4x4 vehicles the size of a Jeep Wrangler are recommended. Yikes. Check out this declaration, for instance:
El Malpais National Monument: Although there are two main roads accessible by all vehicles, all the other roads at this national monument are of the high clearance 4x4-recommended variety.
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, trail access and Medano Pass 4WD Road: There are a few optional hiking trail access points only accessible via high clearance 4x4 vehicle, and the Medano Pass road, with stream crossings and the like, is restricted to 4x4s. I didn't go to Great Sand Dunes on my 2003 roadtrip, but instead visited White Sand National Monument where I shot a few vistas such as this one:
Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Williams Ranch: 7.3 miles out and then the same back to access a historic ranchhouse up in the mountains. I did this one as part of my 2003 roadtrip (see photo above with front fender of purple Pathfinder in view, and this resulting underwhelming photo at the ranchhouse itself):
Mount Logan Wilderness Area: Although Wilderness Areas themselves forbid any mechanized transport, including bicycles, let alone a clanking 4x4, the Mount Logan Wilderness Area just north of the Colorado River near the Grand Canyon actually requires a 2.5 hr drive on a high clearance vehicle-only dirt road just to reach its boundary!
Route 66 as it crosses New Mexico: Trying to follow the path of historic Route 66 can require traversing unmaintained stretches that are only suitable for high-clearance vehicles now.
Friend of mine (banker!) just picked up one of them Lexus XL, oops, pardon, LX 570s. He's the toast of his eminent-domained, gentrified, urban Jersey City fauxborhood in that thing. It really handles the parking garage speed bumps with aplomb.
I'd honestly rather have a "stealth" model with Toyota Land Cruiser exterior bits (none of that ugly "raccoon-look"/"eyeliner" chrome, see below) and the fancy Lexus innards. Such a thing doesn't exist, though, and the Toyota, while nearly as expensive, doesn't have the same functional/pampering toys.
Just in case anyone actually cares, what are the extras (vs. a Land Cruiser) besides the pretty paint, styling, and the badges?
-
- Real wood, fancier leather, less plastic
- Heated steering wheel, cooled front seats
- Extra cameras to help park and move the beast, and swiveling headlights just because
- Fancier stereo, and presumably more sound deadening
- Adaptive radar cruise control that sadly only works down to 30 mph, and a pre-collision system
- Slightly longer warranty and kid-glove Lexus dealer treatment
- Slightly less towing capacity, likely because all this crap above weighs more
As it is, I totally agree that it has a bit of an urban pompousness stigma to it, but I'd argue that it's at least a wince less tasteless than a Range Rover, G-Wagen, Escalade (22"s, yo!
), or X5… no? Believe me, I'm not a brand whore--Long Island hasn't corrupted me that way, just made me prematurely old and bitter
. I just don't like domestics for their design, dealers, reliability, and materials quality, and pay too much attention to the reliability stats on Consumer Reports and JD Powers, in which Lexus does pretty damn well.
Besides, I know that if we end up on the West Coast the sight of one of these things and its thirst will make some people wince. Call me a prick, but I think I'd kind of relish that, as it'd give me a chance to find out whether they'd really thought out the relevant issues.
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Ugh. Tried the Spongy Wonder out on a spin around the neighborhood today.In case anyone is following along, I took the plunge and ordered not the ISM above but rather a Spongy Wonder: http://www.spongywonder.com/
No nose at all. I'll report back on how it affects bike handling once it's in place. I ended up choosing this particular one because it has different models to be chosen from based on rider weight and riding style, and because it's a product both designed and made in Canada. Oh, and it has a 50 day return period.
Do. Not. Like.
It felt like balancing on a round railing:
I didn't feel like I had front to back control, let alone side to side, had more weight on my hands than I'd like even though my bars are plenty high (and wide) now, and the lack of nose and direct connection of my ischial tuberosities with the seat pads made my cadence feel odd.
I'm returning it ASAP for a refund.
Assuming I'm still interested in the "XL" or its ilk when the time comes, I hope that gas prices are high. Why? Because it'll drive prices of said big SUVs downwards (and potentially increase the resale on our by-then-old-and-creaking Prius as well as our little-driven, low mileage Fit):
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2011/07/gas-up-1-suvs-worth-less-econo-boxes-10-more-trade-in-ford-f-150-v-6-v-8-power-mileage-regulations-355-mpg-526-mpg-/1?csp=34
Effect of a $1 rise in gas prices on 3 year residual values:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2011/07/gas-up-1-suvs-worth-less-econo-boxes-10-more-trade-in-ford-f-150-v-6-v-8-power-mileage-regulations-355-mpg-526-mpg-/1?csp=34
Effect of a $1 rise in gas prices on 3 year residual values:
I just put my money where my mouth is, and moved all the money in my Roth IRA from a 90% stock/10% bond blended fund to one that's solely based on energy companies (oil, gas, coal).
Why did I do this, and why now? I want no exposure to the general stock market (consumer goods, etc.) or the bond market around August 3. Even if an 11th hour deal on the debt ceiling is reached, the government has shown itself to be so fractious as to be essentially unable to govern. I think eventually the markets will reflect this, and there'll be increased short term volatility at least. Energy companies, on the other hand, have nothing to look forward to but growing worldwide demand, and for all the populist moaning no significant policy changes are likely to affect them.
I like to bitch and moan about how much profit these "dirty" companies make, partly because the external costs of their operations and the use of their products aren't incorporated into the price. Well, now I've just made my deal with the devil, and will share (a bit) in their fortunes, for better or worse.
Why did I do this, and why now? I want no exposure to the general stock market (consumer goods, etc.) or the bond market around August 3. Even if an 11th hour deal on the debt ceiling is reached, the government has shown itself to be so fractious as to be essentially unable to govern. I think eventually the markets will reflect this, and there'll be increased short term volatility at least. Energy companies, on the other hand, have nothing to look forward to but growing worldwide demand, and for all the populist moaning no significant policy changes are likely to affect them.
I like to bitch and moan about how much profit these "dirty" companies make, partly because the external costs of their operations and the use of their products aren't incorporated into the price. Well, now I've just made my deal with the devil, and will share (a bit) in their fortunes, for better or worse.
so, technically, you, Toshi are now an energy speculator and burlyshirley is a treehugger....
crazy times we are living in...
crazy times we are living in...
I figure that energy companies will be more insulated from the United States' economy, which may well take a nosedive if the teabaggers' lunacy with regard to the debt ceiling prevails. Worldwide energy demand, per my futility of the Prius post, will rise, and their fortunes should rise along with it…
We are a product of our environments. Burly goes from the Marines to college and turns into a hippy. Toshi moves to asshole USA and turns into... Well you know the rest of the story.
The things that are bugging me these days are actually not related to my immediate environment, so it'd be unfair to say that Long Island has turned me into a grumpy old man. For all the whinging I do about traffic, my life is actually pretty comfortable: I have my A/C in the reading room and at home, I'm well appreciated at my job, and I can commute in on the motorcycle whenever I'm not working overnight (which in itself is become less frequent with each successive year). I still work more hours than the average working stiff-who-has-a-job-these-days, but it's a far cry from what I was doing in Seattle.
Instead, I find myself more bugged by systemic things with the our country and political system. Except for loonies like Ron Paul (who, being a crank and a racist, is unlikely to ever get elected), these things are apparently not even on the agenda for most people and politicians.
What are these things? Militarism, and the huge human, moral, and financial cost of our wars. The War on Drugs, and the insanely rapid growth of the private prison industry, not to mention the havoc it has wrought on a whole generation of incarcerated black men. Cronyism and general corruption--not Blagovich style brazen thuggery, but the more general sense that the Kochs and other shadowy interests are truly pulling the strings, marionette style. The absolute idiocy exhibited by the idiotic Tea Party wing, who would rather us all burn than compromise over a completely wrong-headed anti-tax ideology, is just the icing on the cake.
I'm sure there are more big issues that are bugging me, but these are the ones that come immediately to hand.
These things aren't going to change, yet I'm unwilling to leave here for multiple reasons, foremost of which would be the wife's family ties and my huge investment in my education. (Furthermore, if I emigrated somewhere else yet still did telerads work for an American firm, paying American taxes, wouldn't I still be just as complicit?) So for now I just get to stew, get more bitter, bide my time, and mind to my own personal interests such as with swapping up my IRA mix.
Instead, I find myself more bugged by systemic things with the our country and political system. Except for loonies like Ron Paul (who, being a crank and a racist, is unlikely to ever get elected), these things are apparently not even on the agenda for most people and politicians.
What are these things? Militarism, and the huge human, moral, and financial cost of our wars. The War on Drugs, and the insanely rapid growth of the private prison industry, not to mention the havoc it has wrought on a whole generation of incarcerated black men. Cronyism and general corruption--not Blagovich style brazen thuggery, but the more general sense that the Kochs and other shadowy interests are truly pulling the strings, marionette style. The absolute idiocy exhibited by the idiotic Tea Party wing, who would rather us all burn than compromise over a completely wrong-headed anti-tax ideology, is just the icing on the cake.
I'm sure there are more big issues that are bugging me, but these are the ones that come immediately to hand.
These things aren't going to change, yet I'm unwilling to leave here for multiple reasons, foremost of which would be the wife's family ties and my huge investment in my education. (Furthermore, if I emigrated somewhere else yet still did telerads work for an American firm, paying American taxes, wouldn't I still be just as complicit?) So for now I just get to stew, get more bitter, bide my time, and mind to my own personal interests such as with swapping up my IRA mix.
Cross-posting here from Google+, so that Westy can see that my soul may still be worth saving:
https://plus.google.com/115479414905422234350/posts/SqELU2mugKq
I just wrote another ridiculously-long-but-coherent mini book chapter blog entry on politics, in particular the lunacy of bickering about saving cents on the dollar by torching social programs when the elephant in the closet (MILITARY SPENDING) is untouched and untouchable.
Then the power went out for just a brief flicker, right as I was making the final edits, and all that work was lost.
Therefore, you'll all be saved the possibility of reading thousands of more words from me, and instead I'll just come right to the conclusion: Until we reach a time when popular outrage becomes focused enough to decrease military spending by an order of magnitude, I'll be voting Democrat.
Why?
Libertarians can't win without instant run-off voting, a revamped electoral college system, and a lot more luck and money than they have. Republicans, and especially the Tea Party, seem to be focused on putting the pinch on the poor and middle class, enforcing their religious-based social mores on us all, while simultaneously ignoring the true issues. That leaves the Dems, just as complicit in the military spending farce as anyone else, as the remaining option.
The other possibly interesting bit from the lost post was my view that said popular outrage won't be coming any time soon. Just as I think energy use won't change meaningfully until we use up all the petroleum and coal on this planet, I don't think Joe Sixpack will look up from the blue glow of his television set until it's all too abundantly clear that his living standard has dropped below that of the rest of the world.
Note that I don't think this day has come by any means, and probably won't come for many a decade yet.
https://plus.google.com/115479414905422234350/posts/SqELU2mugKq
I just wrote another ridiculously-long-but-coherent mini book chapter blog entry on politics, in particular the lunacy of bickering about saving cents on the dollar by torching social programs when the elephant in the closet (MILITARY SPENDING) is untouched and untouchable.
Then the power went out for just a brief flicker, right as I was making the final edits, and all that work was lost.
Therefore, you'll all be saved the possibility of reading thousands of more words from me, and instead I'll just come right to the conclusion: Until we reach a time when popular outrage becomes focused enough to decrease military spending by an order of magnitude, I'll be voting Democrat.
Why?
Libertarians can't win without instant run-off voting, a revamped electoral college system, and a lot more luck and money than they have. Republicans, and especially the Tea Party, seem to be focused on putting the pinch on the poor and middle class, enforcing their religious-based social mores on us all, while simultaneously ignoring the true issues. That leaves the Dems, just as complicit in the military spending farce as anyone else, as the remaining option.
The other possibly interesting bit from the lost post was my view that said popular outrage won't be coming any time soon. Just as I think energy use won't change meaningfully until we use up all the petroleum and coal on this planet, I don't think Joe Sixpack will look up from the blue glow of his television set until it's all too abundantly clear that his living standard has dropped below that of the rest of the world.
Note that I don't think this day has come by any means, and probably won't come for many a decade yet.
Suffering from a migraine and too tired to read your blog post tonight but I have been recently ranting about military spending. Specifically how it has become too important to the economy and how our military needs are based on our overbearing military presence. Will give it a read when the head clears.
Deep in the throws of my mid-life crisis I will be heading to UW in a couple of months. If you make it out there look me up. I'll be living in a van down by the river (boat in Shillshoal).
Deep in the throws of my mid-life crisis I will be heading to UW in a couple of months. If you make it out there look me up. I'll be living in a van down by the river (boat in Shillshoal).
Got a bug in my ass to go to grad school. Heading to UW for my masters in Mechanical Engineering. Details best explained here: http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=241798&highlight=grad
Coolness. I'd skimmed that thread but didn't pick up that UW was the destination.
Hell, it even looks like I posted in it twice, albeit in response to the Canadian ex-Seattle type.
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One of the above pies that I packed home in my topcase is almost gone, with only 1 more slice left.
There are 2 other whole pies left, though, plenty to see us through the end of the month even with having guests over in a few weeks.I went on a rare (for me) weekday trail ride today, channeling my wife's newfound energy (training for half-marathon after not running at all) and Luc's early-morning-ride-photo-post energy. I spun around for 30 minutes or so on the local trail network and was pleasantly surprised by it. It's still flat and pretty non-technical save for the odd root here and there, with a maximum vertical gain of maybe 50 feet at a time, but even as it is it's a hell of a lot more satisfying to me than fighting traffic on the roads or going running.
Speaking of fighting traffic, I think I'm done with bicycle commuting here in Long Island. It makes me feel like a second class citizen, I actually feel endangered by the cars and trucks (such as the 18-wheeler that attempted to squeeze me against a parked car on Monday), and in general I find that I just don't derive any enjoyment from it. On the other hand riding on the trails, away from the cars, is still/is again fun, especially since my lessened environmental conscience now lets me drive the bike to and from the trailhead (only 3.2 miles away!).
Below is the neighborhood, as it were. I live up in the top left on the map below. The unpaved main trail that I partially explored today is marked. At the southern end it hooks up with a paved trail that runs to the south shore, quite a distance further, and in the northern half of Bethpage State Park are some offshoot trails.
I rode the length of the trail above yesterday afternoon after work.
Today, instead, I rode both the BMW K 1600 GT and the GTL. I didn't get to ride the ones I was planning to ride (R 1200 R and R 1200 RT) because the K 1600s were all that BMW demo truck had to offer on this particular day. My thoughts on each of these bikes are below, with a photo of the bike in question above the associated text:
Today, instead, I rode both the BMW K 1600 GT and the GTL. I didn't get to ride the ones I was planning to ride (R 1200 R and R 1200 RT) because the K 1600s were all that BMW demo truck had to offer on this particular day. My thoughts on each of these bikes are below, with a photo of the bike in question above the associated text:
I've been thinking about recording my commute routinely for a while, and dabbled recently with using RAM mount hardware (part of which I already had from my iPhone-as-motorcycle-GPS escapade) and my iPhone as a video camera.
I won't post the results since they're really embarrassing, but it should suffice to say that video quality was suboptimal. Vibration plus rolling shutter artifact + poor optical quality of the case itself (shooting through a layer of plastic for weather protection) = ugh.
So I started looking at helmet cams, reading the past threads here, etc. After mentally deciding that the $180 MSRP 720p-shooting GoPro 960 would be the prudent option if I still wanted to do this after a few days of cooling down, as it were, then steepandcheap went and did a deal on the 1080p ContourHD for $130, near 50% off MSRP.
I jumped on it, so now have a ContourHD in the mail to me.
This could be cool, or could simply be another boondoggle
or could end up with me in legal trouble for recording a cop. Hmm.
I won't post the results since they're really embarrassing, but it should suffice to say that video quality was suboptimal. Vibration plus rolling shutter artifact + poor optical quality of the case itself (shooting through a layer of plastic for weather protection) = ugh.
So I started looking at helmet cams, reading the past threads here, etc. After mentally deciding that the $180 MSRP 720p-shooting GoPro 960 would be the prudent option if I still wanted to do this after a few days of cooling down, as it were, then steepandcheap went and did a deal on the 1080p ContourHD for $130, near 50% off MSRP.
I jumped on it, so now have a ContourHD in the mail to me.
This could be cool, or could simply be another boondoggle
or could end up with me in legal trouble for recording a cop. Hmm.
It looks like such recordings are legal in the states in which I'm likely to be riding/driving. (NY area states are where I might ride in the next two years, DC/VA area states are for the month I'll be spending down there this upcoming spring, and PNW states are there if I presumably end up back there in 2013 onwards.)
The first line of defense is that NY, NJ, DC, VA, and OR are all states in which only 1 party consent (ie, me) is necessary for wiretapping or recording. This puts me in the clear in just about any circumstance.
The second line of defense for states in which all parties must consent under wiretapping laws (including WA, PA, CT, and MD--see Anthony Graber) is the argument successfully made in Washington State in Flora v. State. In that decision, the Washington Superior Court ruled that police action in a public place such as a street or sidewalk was a public activity, and as it therefore is not a private conversation the wiretapping laws are inapplicable.
68 Wn. App. 802 said:
the r bikes are a fav for law dogs....I think you will find them alot more agile and spunky than the k's
The ride leaders were on a pair of R 1200 RT-Ps. I was jealous. Lights, siren, and all.
have you considered the VFR 800? it is also a common bike in LEO stables, I have ridden 2 of them into the ground. I like them alot more than the bimmerz. the BMW are very pricey to start with and the upkeep costs are pretty high as well since it is a boutique brand.
the VFR I have now has 178k miles and still going strong and have done all the repairs ad maintenance myself at a fraction of the cost for BMW parts and labor
the VFR I have now has 178k miles and still going strong and have done all the repairs ad maintenance myself at a fraction of the cost for BMW parts and labor
I like being a little more upright and want more wind protection/less wind noise. I will consider the new-gen VFR with its DCT when I get around to actually bike shopping in earnest in 2013, though. They'll probably be really cheap on the used market given how poorly the market has taken to them so far. My Versys + random demo days between now and then will have to tide me over.
A theoretical future two wheeled garage for me would have a daytrip sport tourer (BMW RT, VFR, something like that) and a 4 stroke enduro bike +/- street legal, with a small trailer just for it. Depending on my commute I could conceivably wedge in a third bike, maybe a BRD RedShift sumo from Marc's company to use for commuting and general giggles.
I put risers on my vfr and the corbin seat sits you a little lowers as well. perfect ergo's, the wind screen options for the VFR is mind boggling.
as for the dual sport your options are endless, it only depends on the level of dirt riding you are going to be doing.
the best factory plated bikes on the market right now are KTM, Beta, and Husaberg, these are by far the cream of the crop. and if you want to sumo all you have to do is change out a set of wheels with sumo rubber.
as for the dual sport your options are endless, it only depends on the level of dirt riding you are going to be doing.
the best factory plated bikes on the market right now are KTM, Beta, and Husaberg, these are by far the cream of the crop. and if you want to sumo all you have to do is change out a set of wheels with sumo rubber.
all on battery tenders as well
Even being retired and a bikeaholic it'd be hard to ride all of those a substantial amount of miles. I think at some point I might "retire" to cars, but that point is still a ways away. The more I think about it, the more I like that K 1600 GT (but definitely not the GTL!) in retrospect. Dude whose garage is pictured likes it, too.
I just jetted to Seattle and back to interview for a fellowship spot at UW. I'll be back there in 3 weeks if this first interview doesn't lead to a job.
Not related in any way, shape or form: the 2012 Jeep Wrangler actually looks quite nice from the outside in this color scheme/with the color-matched hardtop.
Of course, even with a new Pentastar V6 heart transplant I don't think it'd meet my stringent NVH criteria although it certainly would be fun in certain (non-commute) settings.
Not related in any way, shape or form: the 2012 Jeep Wrangler actually looks quite nice from the outside in this color scheme/with the color-matched hardtop.
Of course, even with a new Pentastar V6 heart transplant I don't think it'd meet my stringent NVH criteria
although it certainly would be fun in certain (non-commute) settings.
Ugh. I officially have a wimpy neck. While it could deal with a full-face and freeway speed windblast without complaint, it really doesn't like the addition of a helmet cam.
Part of the issue is the weight itself (camera + metal RAM mount components are sturdy but not light), part of it is asymmetry as it's hung off the side, and part of it is the velocity-dependent rotational force that said asymmetrical setup exerts…
I may well mess with it further, but for now it's mounted to the bottom, front edge of my windscreen. There it hopefully will stay put, be relatively static in its positioning by virtue of being close to the windscreen's metal mounts, and won't vibrate too much. Fingers crossed on the last.
Part of the issue is the weight itself (camera + metal RAM mount components are sturdy but not light), part of it is asymmetry as it's hung off the side, and part of it is the velocity-dependent rotational force that said asymmetrical setup exerts…
I may well mess with it further, but for now it's mounted to the bottom, front edge of my windscreen. There it hopefully will stay put, be relatively static in its positioning by virtue of being close to the windscreen's metal mounts, and won't vibrate too much. Fingers crossed on the last.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8730385/Irene-submerged-US-Army-truck-drives-through-flood-waters.html
CN: Big Deuces (?) driving through water up to their roofs. Amazing.
CN: Big Deuces (?) driving through water up to their roofs. Amazing.