Harley Sidecar with Dog

I saw this sidecar at the farmer’s market this weekend. I wonder if the dog is a standard accessory? Dog and sidecars just seem to go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Walk with the Geezer

The weather finally took a break from near constant rain. If I didn’t know better, I’d thought Minneapolis had been transported to the pacific northwest. It’s rained more days that not, but I’m not complaining too loudly since it isn’t snow. Yup, I’m looking at you May. You let us down with that late snowfall; April showers bring May snows?! Bah.

I took the Ural since I wanted to run a few errands after the walk. The the special skills of my Russian Lawn Tractor aka Ural were required. The Tom’s (Geezer with a Grudge)WR250X is hiding under the nice Aerostich cover. I’m kinda jealous of the cover. It would work nicely on my SV650.

It was a very nice day for a couple laps of Lake Como.

The Russian Lawn Tractor is very capable of hauling home a pile of plants. I went to get some straw, but ended up with plants. They were out of straw. Next time I guess. Now to get these guys in the garden.

Another Successful BRC

This weekend, I had the pleasure of teaching a BRC with Tom Day (Geezer with a Grudge). We had a fun time teaching together. We were lucky to have such a good batch of students with varying ages and skill levels. A few were a bit rough around the edges in the beginning, but with a bit of patience they came around. It rained quite hard the second day, but cleared up in time for the skills test. All of them passed. I’m proud of them.

One student wrote this note on the feedback form. It has TOTALLY made my week!!

Thanks to the students (and Tom) for a fun weekend of teaching!

Slime Tire Inflator Review Updated

I really like my Slime Power Sport Tire Inflator. When a spammer attempted to comment on the post this morning, I realized it had been a couple years since I updated the review. The photos have been enlarged and the text freshened up.

You can read the full review here: Slime Power Sport Tire Inflator Review

Pros:

1. Small size
2. Cheap price ($29)
3. Lots of 12V connection options included
4. It works!

Cons:

1. Not very quiet
2. Not very fast - It took about 8 minutes to fill up a tire
3. The air hose connections get pretty hot after a few minutes of use
4. Tire gauge came broken

Overall, I am happy with my purchase of the Slime Power Sport Tire Inflator. Its small size will make it easy to carry on the bike to keep my tires inflated to their correct spec. I would buy it again.

UPDATE: October 20, 2010: I’ve used my slime inflator many times this year and it is still running strong. I carry it almost every time I ride. It has been very handy and saved me from being stuck with a flat. I also updated the post with an extra con #3. I would still buy it again.

UPDATE: June 8, 2013: I am still using my slime inflator. It works great, and I would buy it again. I’ve been thinking of buying another one, so I don’t have to keep moving it between bikes. I carry it on nearly every ride. It has been very handy.

 

Video on Youtube:

Motorcycle Parking

I'd love to see more signs like this 'Motorcycle Parking Only'. It isn't closer to the building, but at the other end of the lot away from the door. It also has a nice concrete pad to avoid sidestand damage to the asphalt too. It is a welcomed sign compared to the 'No motorcycles allowed' signs.

Do you have motorcycle parking at your location?

TC_DualSport Tech Day 2013

Under cloudy skies and temps barely reaching 40F, TC_DualSport had their annual tech day yesterday. It’s a day for riders to get together early in the Spring to get help with some maintenance tasks from the large to the small.

Due to the weather, only about 15 bikes showed up. I saw six in various states of disassemble throughout the morning and early afternoon. Some working on small tasks like tires while others were replacing gaskets in the engine.

The bikes weren’t limited to just dualsports either. There was a cruiser getting a new rear tire, and a fun looking Ninja250 joining in.

The event is hosted by my friend Paul. He is gracious enough to open his garage and well stocked tool chest to other riders. He is an experienced moto mechanic. He’s helped me in the past with tires and sprockets. Thanks for hosting Paul!

It was a good time chatting with friends about rides and motorcycles. The only thing better would have been to go for a ride. I rode my WR250R to the event, and was happily surprised to see another one show up later. It’s owned by a guy named Tom who is planning to ride it to Alaska later this year. Sounds like a fun trip to me. It was fun to compare ownership notes on our WRs.

Tom Day from “Geezer with a Grudge” was also at the event. He rode his VStrom 650. He has a WR250X, so he joined in on our WR ownership comparison. We all decided the WR is an awesome little bike.

Tom was also kind enough to let me take his VStrom out for a short ride. I quickly felt very comfortable riding it. He has it very well equipped too with several of the things I’d consider doing: givi rack, custom seat, engine guards, center stand, skid plate, handguards, outlets, etc. Wow. I want one even more now.

And Then There Were Four. Goodbye BMW

Today, marks the end of an affair with a bike I wanted to like, but it just didn’t click for me. I sold my BMW R1150GS. I spent too much time and money trying to make the GS my bike rather than just accepting it wasn’t a bike for me.

It should have been a clue, that it wasn’t for me when I didn’t update my blog banner to include it. I had it for two years, and now it is going to a better home where it will be ridden much more. In my garage it spent most of its time keeping the other GS (GS500) company. I enjoyed the SV650 so much more.

I’m not 100% sure what I will replace it with, but a VStrom 650 is near the top of the list.

Goodbye GS.