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Enhance your driving skills

Sunday June 28th, 2009 @ 11:25 AM

Just after passing the test and getting the driving license to the motor cycle, bikers just want to ride and go for rallies, coffee meetings or to get some touring experiences. It is all about getting the thrill and excitement of the wide open roads when exploring – that is what we finally have been waiting for.

Among the motor cyclists there are many re-born bikers. I am sure those who saw Peter Fonda in Easy Rider, have been dreaming of the US highways ever since they exchanged the motor cycle with a pram. Now the kids are gone and have their own motor cycle, it is time to get back on the road. Just remember the riding skills might been a bit rusty, and the bikes now have more speed potential.

So how to get a safe and pleasant ride out of it? The personal safety has always been on top of my mind when I have been riding my bike. Not to say that I always kept within the speed limitations given by our government. What I mean is the gear, and nothing less than full protection is acceptable. Not doing the jeans/sneaker trick. Imagine how your legs will look like after at tarmac tattoo…

In Denmark we have a some organizations offering training to you and your bike. The most popular ones are a week-end training program on a closed course. Here the training is about breaking, evasive actions, defensive driving style, gear and safety check of your motor cycle. A bunch of qualified guys made the www.mc-sikkerhed.dk. To motivate you to join a training like this one, just ask yourself a simple thing like maneuvering you bike. How confident do you feel when you have to move around with it in the garage? The balance and confidence of off-bike maneuvering is one of the things you learn during the week-end training. And this is really an important key to feel confident on the bike.

As you may not all understand Danish, try Google Language tools, which can translate everything. Then you also get the chance to improver your PC skills…

After being on this training course, hit the road and get some experience. This really enhanced my riding skills, why I wanted to try out some more on track days. That was thrilling and breathtaking. Also I really learned that the motor cycle was not the biggest limitation when cornering. I learned how to understand and get a feeling of my VFR´s limitations and behavior. It was not racing, it was a serious training about ideal curves, how to approach a corner and how to be confident with the bike when it is not straight up-side-down.

I now got the bad habit of watching the tires on the motor cycles I see, just to watch what angel my fellow bikers reach when they ride in the corners. And by the findings, I can see a lot of potential in going for the track day training.

OK – I am not entirely fair, as we are not all born to be swing kings, but when the confidence level increase the pleasure of riding the bike also increase, and you fully focus on the fun instead of being nervous of maneuvers, corners and breaking.

Watch those Italian police officers. Would just all bikers be as good handling the bike as they do.  


 Have a fun training,

Jan

Most famous motorcycle songs ever made

Friday June 19th, 2009 @ 08:20 PM

Songs and music is a huge part of our life, and for sure when we are at a bike ralley and the party is on. Each and every one of us have some songs we clearly remember and which links us to some nice memories. For motorcyclists I have listed the most popular ones. Last two blogs was about the future, so here are a blog about the past and where some of the biker community appears from.

Born to be wild by Steppenwolf
This song was used in the movie “Easy Rider” featuring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson. Release the biker inside yourself, and just ride. Do like Peter Fonda – get rid of the watch and let nature take over control.

Bat out of hell by Meat Loaf
This song is one of my favorites for sure. He is so full of energy and a great performer too.

Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen
He sings about “At night we ride through mansions of glory on suicide machines”, well luckely he only sang about is..

AC/DC Harley Davidson
Seems like those guys fell in love with the Harley Davidson, and by the fame of the song some Harley Davidson riders also fell a bit in live with AC/DC. Fair enough as they do a good job.

I hope you are now in the right mood to head for a rallie and let the good times take over. Just rememeber motor cycling is much more then the iron itself.

Enjoy the party,
Jan

Alternative fuel driven motorcycle

Sunday June 14th, 2009 @ 11:48 AM

Statistically not all bikers are interested in an electrical motor cycle, why it is pretty important to have some alternatives. One is of course to stop riding your motorcycle, but this is not exactly the best option.

Another option is to fuel the motorcycle with some other stuff, which are considered more environmental friendly.

Reason
The reason for investigating in bio fuel is the fact the ordinary fuel as we know it, releases CO2 when it is burned. The released CO2 is the reason for adding to the global heating, which are on top of many peoples mind those years.

Alternatives
There are two kind of biofuel:
-Ethanol, to be used in ordinary gasoline engines. Ethanol is produces via fermentation of biomasses,
which mainly is foodstuff.
-BioDiesel, to be used in diesel engines. BioDiesel is made of a mixture of alcohol and
fat from animals or vegetables.

Nothing in this world only have pro´s. A few con´s also sneak in, and the problem with the biofuels are basically it is made from foodstuff, and in a world where many people lack food, it is not the most political correct option, as it affects food prices and do not forget the developing countries lack of food.

Well, Honda found their own solution on that problem. The invented a production method using inedible leaves and stalks of plants such as rice straw. Further they made a motorcycle with a special made fuel injection system to cope with the biofuel.

The motorcycle being the fruit of their work, are a 150 cc, which might not appeal to all bikers. For now they have released in Brazil and expect to produce 200,000 annually. This is a quite impressive number, and with the knowledge they gain from this model, it might not be the last we have heard from them regards biofuel.

honda-biofuel-motorcycle

© http://world.honda.com

The other option is to have a diesel powered motorcycle. The size makes it pretty impressive. Corners and cross-country touring is not first what pop-up in my mind, but what about 1/4 mile race?Those guys made a BMW clone, as they took the the engine from the car division and rest from the motorcycle division. Seems like they missed taking something from the design department…

You could also wait for www.dieselmotorcycles.com to start up the civilian production. This model they have tested doing 44 km/l or 105 mpg diesel. And the model is quite neat as well.

© www.dieselmotorcycles.com
© www.dieselmotorcycles.com

With the biodiesel conversion, the motorcycle from Dieselmotorcycles looks like a real good option for an everyday model, suiting the demands of the environmental concerned motorcyclist.

Have a fun ride,

Jan

Electrical motor cycles

Saturday June 6th, 2009 @ 12:46 PM

Later this year Denmark will be the host for the COP15 which is the United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Copenhagen from 7 to 18 December 2009. High level politicians from around the globe are visiting Denmark to discuss the climate subject. Together with the politicians electrical vehicles from the main car manufactures will be presented in Copenhagen.
Many of the electrical vehicles are to be the official means of transport for the politicians, and other to be part in the general tests and to get exposure infront of the press.

There is a lot of fuzz about the electrical vehicles and that Denmark is a test bed for the electrical cars and laboratory for the rest of the world. This is to a large extend right, but where are the electrical motorcycles?

Of course the time of year is not perfect for motor cycles, as the early-mid December might give us some pretty cold temperatures. There are many manufacturers world wide having a lot of attention to the potential within electrical motorcycles, which is why I made this blog post.
First of all there are some practicalities on the manufactor side and some psychological barriers to break down on the user side before it can become a success. Many motor cyclist like touring and long distance driving, and last but not least they like the sound of their vehicles. It is some heavy barrier to break down.

Seen from my perspective the electrical motorcycles are not the most obvious solution, no matter how nice and environmentally friendly the mindset behind the idea is. At least thats how it was for me until I researched for this article. Already at this early development stage there are some pretty cool bikes out there, and some which are less cool. Are you the type looking for e-transport vehicle, and going from A-B is the main thing, then consider the Vectrix. It can do 100 kh/h, which should suit the need for a city commuter. Pretty nice as well.

vectrix1

© www.vectrix.com

The Vectrix is a standard looking scooter type, which to my needs might not be the most obvious solution, but if you are a commuter with limited needs it is a fun toy to get.

This is more than just transport

Moving into the more traditional motor cycle look-alike type, the Enertia is pretty cool. They have put a lot of effort making the bike attractive both  during the ride, but also when you are back home. Then you simply connect the bike to your PC via the USB plug and get all data about the ride. Pretty smart.

enertia

© www.enertiabike.com

Not Mission impossible

Mission One is another well designed electrical motorcycle. Their aim is to create the worlds fastest electrical motorcycle. With the data released it seems like the can walk the talk. Claiming a top speed of 240 km/h and a range of 240 km, they have a strong tool winning the race. Personally I would not be unhappy riding that bike down the cafe, and check the response from the crowd. Special when taking off in a silent and cool way. Well, it might not be right now, as I have a clue there are a price tag making this Mission Impossible for me.

www.ridemission.com

© www.ridemission.com

Electrical motorcycle racing on Isle of Man

The best development is done on the race track, and what is better than to start development of the future e-bike than where the cradle of UK motorcycle racing is? Yup – Isle of Man.
But you better hurry up and book your ticket, as the race is on June 12th 2009. The race is called “Time Trials Extreme Grand Prix” and in total there will be 19 bikes racing. All focus is on enhancing the experience level, so producing the next generation of motor bikes in a more user-friendly form. Check the link. www.ttxgp.com

They have a video of some electrical motor cycles on the track, and what a strange sound they make.

I am sure the new sound those e-bikes make will give the spectators the right mysterious feeling. Just be careful about the sound – you can easily get addicted to it.

Have a fun ride,

Jan

Mounting a Garmin Zumo on my Honda VFR

Monday June 1st, 2009 @ 05:21 PM

To fully enjoy the Garmin GPS when riding my motorcycle, I got inspired by my friend of how to mount the GPS on on the handlebar. What is essential for me when mounting the GPS is to get a plug-and-play solution, so it is easy on a daily basis. I want it to be easy when I have to stop somewhere and want to hide the GPS while I am away.

Together with the GPS some standard mounting kit followed, but for me and the bike there was two thing wrong. First it did not fit so a mount was simply impossible and secondly is was far from elegant. No matter what, another solution was needed.

Also an obstacle – for me at least – is the small annoying screw Garmin invented to keep the GPS locked in the bracket. This screw needs some special tool to be unscrewed in order to get the GPS off. Still I need to use the screw, but now it is pretty easy to take the GPS on/off, and the special screw driver is not used that often.

The mounting is now done using a special mounting pin, exchanged with one of the handlebars bolts. See the pic of how it is done.

Special mount of my Garmin on my Honda VFR

Special mount of my Garmin on my Honda VFR

I made the mounting pin of two stainlss tubes which fitted into each other, so the inner one was forced into each other in a vise. All made so the length of the pin just suit the mounting bracket from Garmin. With the two-pipe system, the wall thickness are no so thick, that it can withstand the pressure from the mounting bracket. With this the GPS are kept in place, even during harsh driving.

Mounting pin and powerplug

Mounting pin and powerplug

Note that yellow ring around the power plug. In order to get the GPS off quickly, a power plug is needed. The power cable is squeezed between the handlebar and the clutch fluid container. Works fine. The only thing I needed to do upon completion was to make the bracket fit perfect around the pin. A file and a few strokes, and it is perfect to make the hole circular. The filing on the back side is not really needed.

Filing just a few strokes

Filing just a few strokes

I hope this is useful to you.

Have a fun ride,

Jan

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