When the $h!t Hits the Fan

In my great state of New Jersey, bikers are doing a ritual dance of joy as Spring finally shoves Winter out of our lives. Don’t get me wrong, I love the beauty and peacefulness that snow can provide. However, my addiction to riding means I itched for every passable day to strap on layers of warm clothing to ride. Maybe I will have the extra cash next Winter to grab some awesome heated gear, but I digress.

The days of riding like an Eskimo or over and I was finally able to commute to work two weeks ago on Selene. My new position is located in Trenton which provides me a solid ride up 295 before entering the lawless city of my employer. Seriously folks, people in this area must have passed the express drivers education course because lane-discipline and proper following distances need-not-apply.

This was the second day that I was able to ride up since most mornings have still been around the 30 degree mark and I would rather not have Popsicle hands upon arriving to my office. The ride up was fantastic and luckily the traffic gods were on my side. The highway may not be a fun and twisty back-road, but there is something wonderfully ‘Murica about a v-twin motor rumbling down the highway. After sitting at work, counting down the time until I could saddle back up, 4:30 hits and I fly out of the door. All my gear is on, earplugs and Sena headset are connected, and I roar away from the office…for a few blocks.

Down the street from my building, I hear a PANG and I feel my rear wheel start to skip. It felt like something in my driveshaft has seized, Selene is broken, and poo is now vigorously firing from my underpants since I am traveling at 30-35mph. Due to my immense skill, thousands of miles under my belt, but mostly my MSF training, I bring her to a halt and quickly find the problem. Plastic pins and two bolts in my rear light housing had failed which dropped the whole assembly, including my license plate, onto the rear tire. More of my immense skill and craftsmanship enabled me to botch it together together for my 35-mile ride home. Note to any new riders, you would be surprised what some duct tape and a gym towel can do.

The Bungee Cord of Hope Holding Together Selene’s Bottom 

When I arrived back home, I realized how lucky I was that no severe damage was done to Selene and how light I felt after the mass poo evacuation that occurred just an hour before. After I cleaned myself off though, I had a sense of pride wash all over me. It was a right-of-passage that I had cleared and was one step closer to calling myself a “real biker”. I had faced a mechanical calamity, all by myself, and remedied the problem to a point of safeishly getting back home. While my lovely metric bike rarely has a breakdown, most riders of Harley’s, Eurobikes, or anything vintage will attest that dealing with mechanical issues is something you must be comfortable with. Now I can proudly say I jumped one of those hurdles.

To wrap up my triumphant day, I would like to shout out my shop. Mt. Holly Motorsports has been my go-to shop since I started riding/bought Selene. I was going to go to DHY but after my father had an issue with his Yamaha during a carburetor service, I found them after an extensive Google search and also found out that they are a licensed Suzuki dealer. This made it an easy choice for my precious first motorcycle.

I strapped up the fender again and rode over on Saturday after speaking to Scott in their Parts department. I was having trouble identifying the replacement bolts on Suzuki’s OEM diagram so I needed to take it them to verify what I needed. After Scott checked out the damage, he went back into the shop as I started talking with fellow riders Scott (who had a Suzuki C50T), and a funny German obviously named Klaus (who had a new Ninja 650). A few minutes later, I noticed Scott had come back to my bike and was replacing the bolts right there in the parking lot. Afterwards he said I was good to go, and would need to replace an inner fender piece to be 100% perfect, but the bolts that were replaced will hold everything just fine.

I was happily surprised he did this and as I was saying thank you, I asked how much for the repair. Scott insisted there was no cost since it was pretty easy for him to do right then and there, but that would not do. I gave him $20 and told him that he not only saved me the few bucks in buying the bolts, but the time of squeezing my hand inside the fender to re-secure them. That’s what awesome customer service should be, and now I know who my go-to guy is over at Mt. Holly Motorsports.

Moral of the story, Selene is great, I love my shop, and I feel like real biker, happy Spring everyone.

Temptation Is A B@#$%!

I am a faithful man, the idea of cheating on Selene is not something I really think about, but something has recently been creeping up on me. Before you ask, the Street Glide pictured above is by no means in my financial spectrum, but damn it’s perfect.

My 2005 Suzuki M50 is perfect to me. I found her with 15,000 miles and currently she has a little over 18,000. Three thousand amazing miles and my first bike still makes me grin like an idiot every time I climb on to her…take that statement as you want. While I have long thought about getting a second bike to compliment Selene’s downsides, I really haven’t thought about replacing her.

While she is only 800cc, Selene only weighs about 500lbs and can be shifted around with ease. No, she is not superbike fast but almost no cruiser is so I could care less. She is quick enough and the Cobra Drag Pipes make every mph scream forward. She is not a high maintenance gal. With fuel-injection, shaft drive, and proven Suzuki reliability, there is no hint this bike is 18-years-old. Plus, under “normal” riding, she even gets 45 miles-per-gallon. Under my “spirited” riding, I still have no issue returning around 40. Add all of this to a sleek design and a Mustang seat which was worth every penny, I don’t want to believe there is a logical reason to part ways.

However, it’s a funny thing once you realize you are properly obsessed with motorcycles. What you do not understand until it happens first-hand is just how connected you become to your motorcycle. It is because of that I almost hurt thinking about upgrading Selene to something that covers my needs a little better. A larger engine will give me needed torque to make highways less uncomfortable. A little more weight and a better suspension setup will provide a more comfortable ride. As of now, Selene rides tight and can cause some pains after a prolonged ride. Also, the M50 in general does not have the aftermarket supply as many other motorcycles so customizing is very difficult. For all these reasons, Selene and I may part ways towards the end of this year. My brain knows it, my wallet knows it, but my heart is finding every reason to fight it.

I remember the first moment I realized I loved Selene. I decided to ride to Atlantic City for no reason and it was a hot day. I will admit to not wearing my jacket but to be honest I didn’t care. It was a perfect day to ride to the beach. While once I got down to the shore, all clouds left the sky and a great breeze hit the island. Everything was perfect, it was honestly like a date. I was just bobbing around with me visor open, having the salty air brush my face, Red Hot Chili Peppers playing in my Sena, and the roar of Selene in the background. Since it was during the week, there was no traffic and I was able to zip around as I please. I even did some minor off-roading near the Golden Nugget casino when I made a wrong turn and jumped a few curbs. I pulled over on a beach-block and just looked at Selene, realizing that she was perfect for the trip, no other bike would have given me the same experience.

Even moments that I thought would be scary turned out being enjoyable. I rode to work thinking I had clear weather for the whole day. Turns out my app made a mistake and it was torrentially down-pouring  by 12PM. As I geared up to leave work, it became clear that the rain was no letting up and I was going to have to ride home. To some experienced riders this might not sound that challenging, but at the time I had only rode through light sprinkles before. While my journey home is only 15 minutes, I was pretty nervous. What happened as I started riding still confuses me, I started laughing. The entire ride home I was laughing and making all my best Jeremy Clarkson noises. I HAD FUN. When I got home I specifically remember patting her on the tank and saying good girl. If I have not made it clear, Selene and I have a bond.

As I type that, all the memories I have with her are coming back and I am kicking myself for thinking of getting rid of her. Maybe once I have a larger budget, I can get a bigger cruiser that fits my needs without needing to get rid of Selene. Throw a batwing and some hard-bags on her to make the perfect light-tourer. Who knows, but what I do know is I’ll be wrestling with this every time I decide hop on the old Craigslist and browse my heart away.

What do you think?

2009 Yamaha V-Star 1300 First Ride Review

I didn’t take this, and that is not my uncle. 

Truth be told, this is not a new bike, and maybe not the most exciting bike, but for my uncle this is his awesome new bike. Until last week, old man Rubinson rode a black/olive-green 2005 V-Star 1100 which was his first bike since the dinosaurs roamed the earth, aka the 80’s.

The “olive” was a nice bike for him. Being that he is 5’9″ and roughly 200lbs, the V-Star physically fit him well and was an overall good bike to get him back into riding. It wasn’t crazy powerful, had a extremely comfortable riding position, and a host of accessories for him to choose from. However, as any rider knows, there is always something nicer out there so he recently decided that he wanted to upgrade to something that fit his needs a little better.

What he was essentially looking for was a bike that could mimic a Harley Davidson Street Glide without costing anywhere near $20,000. Sure, he could have bought one used, but the year-range of H-D he could afford isn’t exactly known for their reliability he didn’t feel like having a tinker-toy.  This essentially left him going back to metric cruisers. Through talking with myself and doing his own research, he even found a great range of bikes that fit that requirement right around the size of the Street Glide, but then I found what would become the perfect bike.

The black & blue/purple 2009 V-Star 1300 wasn’t a model he was initially considering mainly due to the 1300cc motor. Even I was trying to find something in the 1600-2000cc range to best mimic the Street Glide, but I pulled up this V-Star for him to look at for a couple key reasons.

1. Old man wanted hard-saddlebags. After having a nice pair of soft-bags on the 1100, he realized that in order to maximize storage, durability, and security, hard-bags were the way to go. This model came with them out of the factory and look great on the bike, not all accessory saddles can say the same.
2. Old man doesn’t want to tinker. The 1100 V-Star ran like a Civic, and by that I mean nothing ever went wrong. While metric cruisers in general are very reliable,           V-Stars are always at the top of those click-bait articles about reliability. With the 1300 having fuel-injection, liquid cooling, and belt-drive, these bike is meant to run for years without inconveniencing the owner. Granted, the 1100 was shaft-driven and even more reliable, we realized that belts were more common on the larger “CC” motors.
3. Old man isn’t exactly a big man. Probably the most important reason I sent this to him to check out was actually the size. The 1300 has the same seat height, floor board spacing, and almost the same weight of the older 1100. This means that het is getting just about every upgrade he wants without riding a monster. This consideration doesn’t mean much for someone who is six feet tall and can easily flat-foot a bagger, but that gets sketchier and sketchier as your height drops. During the ride home, he even said how it feels great since it just feels like the super version of the old V-Star, which he really enjoyed riding.

Obviously, old man Rubinwrinkles liked the bike and it is now in our garage as the jealous old V-Star get ready to go up for sale, but what do I think of it? In short, very nice light-tourer that doesn’t quick fit my riding style.

The first thing is that I noticed was that it does pull decently hard. At roughly 630lbs, the glass-smooth V-Twin will pull down the road with ease and you can’t comfortably pop it into 5th gear until over 60 mph. This tells me that you can comfortably sit at 75+mph on the highway all day long. Also, the seating position is very standard with you legs not stretched out at all. Now, I personally like a little stretch but my uncle does not, this position fits him great since his legs aren’t that long so I get it. The same can be said for the stock handlebar. It tucks back towards the rider with the grips angled in as well. Your arms, like your legs, are not extended at all which adds to the everyday comfort of the V-Star.

The styling is nice too. This is not trying to copy an H-D but has very nice lines that don’t force a certain style on you. It is actually a tad on the under-stated side which for people like my uncle, is preferable. Going along with the styling, because this particular bike only had 5,000 miles, it really does look and feel brand new. This is a bike that he can ride until that brand new Street Glide becomes a reality. There are a few smaller upgraders he wants to do but the two major ones will be a lighting system for night riding, and a batwing fairing. Once he gets these upgrades bolted on, this unassuming Yamaha will be perfect for him.

However, there is a downside when it came to bringing this bike home. It’s a big one really. I now have to itch to buy a new bike. Why are the motoring gods so cruel!

 

 

 

 

NEVER TEXT AND DRIVE…Except to Look at Doggo Memes

Let’s just clarify that it is not okay to text and drive no matter how sick that fire meme is, but to be honest, a lot of us do it. Yes, us crusaders of road safety, riding with our helmet-mounted GoPros capturing every mistake four-wheeled drivers make, we also text and drive.

There will inevitably be people who read this and disagree profusely, but don’t lie to you and me in the same sentence. I cannot think of a single person whom I have driven with that refuses to respond to a text while behind the wheel. The line I will draw however is the way they do it.

Before I go into detail, I AM NOT ADVOCATING TEXT WHILE DRIVING. I am simply being realistic and understanding that it does happen and that many of us can be safer while doing it.

Recently I was driving home from the gym to Pancheros to obtain a delicious burrito bowl. While in-route, a Honda Accord Coupe came next to me and as I look into the vehicle, I notice the woman texting/ using her phone. Now, something you must understand is that I always look at the cars around me to judge the driver. It allows me to determine if they are paying attention or hopefully an attractive woman that I will immediately rev-bomb, judge me all you want. I am observant, not mature people. ANYWAY, I see her texting but the phone it essentially in front of her face, while traveling at roughly 45mph. Not only that, but it is night-time so the light from that massive iPhone effectively blinds your from the darkness outside. Tis was a dangerous situation, coupled with the fact that I could not get around her due to the car in front.

SO, I honked my horn a couple times to get her attention, no response. I honk a few more times, no response except the phone get lowered a little, then I unleash an unholy rev bomb. The Cobra pipes on my bike are quite loud and yet she still does nothing and at this point I am very much annoyed. The reason why myself and other bikers will do this is to try and knock some sense into the dangerous drivers. This girl just didn’t care. The reason I got mad and was inspired to write this is that it wasn’t the fact she had used her phone that was stupid, it was the way she went about it.

I will be the first to admit that I check my phone while I’m driving and respond to texts mostly while stopped. I will also admit that if I am stuck in traffic I will send out short responses if needed. What I don’t do is hold the phone up to my face and type the sequal  to Hamlet to my boys while at a high rate of speed.

I know some bikers will rage at the sight of a phone near a drivers hand, but we need to look in the mirror sometimes and realize that we can contradict ourselves a lot. For instance, do we always check our mirrors intensely while driving our cars? I try to all the time, but sometimes I know I slip up and only take a quick glance. Do we always follow people at the appropriate distance while in our cars? Honestly, I probably follow closer than I should because I drive quickly. This is why I don’t really freak out at people for doing that, unless you are a car-length behind me while doing 50mph Mr.  late-model black Dodge Charger last night. In that case, you will hear my rage.

I wrote this not to give drivers an excuse for being idiots sometimes, but rather to point out to my fellow biker bros broettes that maybe we should collectively calm our temper. Unless you are the world’s safest driver and lock your phone away for an entire car journey, yelling at teenager for glancing at their phone isn’t the best idea. If anything, it can further the assumption that bikers are just a**holes who like to hooligan around and cause trouble.

So on behalf of me, slow your roll, unless you see that Accord or Charger, then go crazy. Cheers!

 

 

My Name is Michael, And I Want A Harley

It should come as no surprise that I find Harley’s cool. I enjoy things that have a mean factor, I believe in mo’ noise mo’ better, and of course I loved Sons of Anarchy. While this sentence is full of cliche’s, it is so true that I am almost ashamed of myself.

This month marked the one-year anniversary of my getting my motorcycle endorsement and I blame this desire for an American V-Twin on the very event. I took my MSF course at Barb’s Harley Davidson in Mt. Ephraim, NJ. I decided to pay the extra money and take the course here for one main reason; you learn on a Harley Street 500. Now before the Harley loyal raise their pitchforks and scream about it not being a “real Harley”, I actually agree with you. The styling is okay but the sound and attitude are decidedly more metric than ‘Murcia, but that’s for another article.

The Street 500 I named Betsy, in my eye, was a perfect bike to learn on. It was low, light, and not that powerful…at all. Also, I knew that I was looking to buy cruiser style motorcycle for my first bike so learning on one just made too much sense. This is compared to the barrage of 250/300cc bangers most others places use. Anyway, I’m getting a little off topic again, there will be a dedicated post about my learning experience don’t you worry!

As I went to my lessons, I would walk around the showroom, uncontrollably drooling over the two-wheeled candy in front of me. Granted this is H-D’s goal by offering the course at their dealerships, but damnit it was working. The funny thing is, I know that Harley’s are not perfect and are simply overpriced. I see those pitchforks raising again, let me speak! If you use common sense, most H-D models just don’t make sense. Most of the juicy models, at least the ones I want, cost at least $20,000 once you tack on basic accessories. On the metric side, I can easily buy a similar sized bike for $11,000-$15,000 new. Don’t believe me? I sense an example coming.

The two bikes up for comparison are the 2017 Harley Davidson Softail Deluxe and the 2017 Suzuki Boulevard C90T.

Suzuki Boulevard C90 T

HD Softail Heritage

Both are retro style cruisers with the Harley taking the edge on retro, the engines are close in size (Suzuki 1,462 cc, HD 1,687cc) and both will take you on a decent sized road trip with lovely comfort. While the H-D’s extra torque will punch you off the line, Suzuki’s fuel-injection adds an extra level of refinement and the C90T also sports liquid cooling. Now for price. The C90T starts at $12,899 and right now you could grab one for a few dollars less due to the new model year coming. The H-D starts at $18,549 for the basic black color, the two-tone style paint in the picture above will start at $19,299. You don’t have to be a seasoned accountant to show you what you can do with an extra $6,000 to $7,000.

So, our logic tell us that you can buy the Suzuki or Yamaha or name another non-H-D motorcycle and be better off. Do it, your wallet will thank you, and your smile shall still be as wide, right? Wrong. So foolishly wrong.

If you read my Ducati article, you know that emotions play a massive role in buying these machines. While there are many rider who really love their metric/ European cruisers, H-D’s have an emotional pull that almost no other motorcycle manufacturer has. If we look past the entry level Street 500 and Street 750 models, just about every Harley looks amazing. I know style is subjective but the only two models that don’t fully tickle my tinkle are the 2018 Fat Bob, and Road Glide’s. Now the Fat Bob is primarily due to the stock exhaust and the headlight, they aren’t deal-killers but I’m not too sure about them. The Road Glide however has an ugly fairing in my humble opinion, it just looks fat. Aside from these two though, the rest of the models look great.

Then there is the noise. You cannot even begin to talk about Harley’s without discussing that wonderful V-Twin rumble. For the most part, if you think about riding across the country on a motorcycle, the noise in your head is pure Harley. Lastly, the marketplace for H-D’s cannot be rivaled. The amount to which you can customize an H-D is unreal, I honestly had no clue until I started looking for part for my Suzuki M50. If I have six different major exhaust systems to choose from for my bike, any given Harley seems to have 30. What this means is every owner can feel as though the bike they bought is truly unique, although the sheer numbers of Harley’s out there tell a different story.

When I think about these factors, things like the overall cost, poor day-to-day reliability (until recently it seems), and lack of innovative technology fly right out the window. I just want one, badly. In one of my various “I won the lottery” dreams, I have a Street Glide, Fat Boy, and Heritage Classic in my garage, along with a fleet of various British and Italian motorcycles. So maybe I shouldn’t feel  foolish for wanting one, but rather embrace the fact that one day I will have a Harley or four. Hello, my name is Michael, and I will have a Harley.

Motorcycles & Music; the Perfect Match

If you think about it, there are certain things that will forever go hand-and-hand. Chicken noodle soup and being sick, a margarita and being on the beach, or giving a dog a bath and ending up wetter than the dog. You get the point. For me, listening to music and riding is high on the list.

Yesterday, the world learned that Tom Petty had passed away. While some may not have been a fan of his style of classic rock, Petty was always a favorite of mine. This especially rang true while going on any sort of drive. After I got my motorcycle license, I bought a SENA 10s for my helmet and that completely changed my riding experience. I could now take my music on the rode with me and truely dive into the emotion that a good ride brings out. While I can name a wide range of artists that I turn to, Petty’s range of amazing tracks always came back.

While this year saw the loss of other artists that I held in high regard, Chris Cornell and Chester Bennington mainly, losing Petty hit me differently. I remember seeing him in concert in 2010 at the Wachovia Center with Buddy Guy as his opener. That show may still be the best concert experience of my life. Listening to his discography also was one of my first steps into the world of classic rock. From there, I learned about other greats like The Eagles, Skynyrd, and even Fleetwood Mac to a certain extent. If it were not for listening to his music, I don’t know if I would have found the rest of these artists as quickly. His impact on my music taste is greater than I ever realized.

So as I left work at 5:30PM, the sky was clear and the sun was at a perfect height in the sky to bathe my entire ride home. The temperature was around 70 degrees and there was a slight breeze rumbling over my helmet. I dive into hyperbole because the weather was both perfect, and yet somehow sorrowful. The emotions around me were even greater due to the shooting in Las Vegas still on the forefront on my mind. As I went to put Petty’s music on in memory of his loss, I originally wanted to select “Last Dance With Mary Jane” since it’s in my top-three favorites of his. However, I paused before selecting it.

For some reason, I just hit shuffle. Normally this is a risky proposition since if the wrong song was selected, the mood would not feel right. Luckily, the perfect song I didn’t even think of came on. The track is called “Saving Grace” and I honestly cannot remember the last time I listened to it. It was off one of his solo albums Highway Companion  and while his classic hits are what we all think of, his solo work is still fantastic. Any who, as the track starts, I knew I had to leave it on and began my 10 minute ride home. It is an odd feeling when your eye’s begin to water and you cannot figure out why. It is not like I personally knew him, or was clinically obsessed with Petty, I just had a connection to his music. The entire feeling of that song lends itself to this type of slow cruise through the sunset that I was currently on. I felt like I was in a scene from a music video where the song trails off as my exhaust note rumbles down the sun-painted backroad home. It struck me all at once, and a tear almost trickled behind my visor.

I don’t know if the weight of that moment would have struck me if I was listening to that track in the office or driving my car. I remember a similar feeling when I was riding after getting my current job. I was riding around, happy as a clam, listening to Marshmello. I know I just went from a classic rock great to an EDM artist but roll with me. Marsh’s tracks always make me feel happy and get me pumped up, hence why he always pops up on my workout playlist. Well I was riding around Tabernacle, in the farmland, elated to finally have a good job, listening to my happy music. That experience is still clearly visible in my memory. So here I am, on the opposite end of the emotional spectrum, feeling that same connection riding into the great wide open. Motorcycles and music, they really are a perfect match.

RIP Tom Petty, you will be greatly missed.