![[icon]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/38985150/4472006) |
Content? what content?
|
| | I've discovered while i do like sushi i'm not big on sashimi. it's the texture. | comments: Leave a comment   |
| Tonight on my way home from stopping in Timmies I was pulled over. The road I was on was an 80km/h limit (highway 40 at 401). I was speeding but not too much (some where between 10-15 over). The usual amount people do around here.
The officer informed me I was doing 135km/h when he clocked me. I knew I wasn't doing this as my speedometer reads 10% higher than actual and for me to do that speed I'd have to have the needle up near 150km/h and there's no way I was up that far on the speedo.
Fortunately I had installed a tracking program on my GPS this morning (yeah lucky, if i was lucky i wouldn't have been pulled over in the first place). And it showed that my max speed in the last 20 minutes was 116km/h. Note that wasn't the speed I was traveling when he said he clocked me, just the highest in the last 20 min. Now I don't even know if he clocked me as where he said he got me was the under pass to the 401, for all I know he pegged a car doing 135 on the 401 and then waited for some unlucky person (me) to come by in the 80 zone. Or he could be outright lying about the 135km/h, I don't know. The fact of the matter is that I nearly lost my bike, licence, a couple thousand dollars in unrecoverable fees and I was facing a possible 10,000 dollar fine and a longer licence suspension based on the whim of a cop.
In the end I ended up with a 15 over ticket after pleading for a break (never admitted to speeding, just asked for a break). I'm going to have to see what I was doing on the track for that section of road the GPS saved from that trip. I hate to see the outcome if I hadn't been using the GPS. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Yesterday I went to Ride to Remember. This year we were remembering Maxime Mercier who recently passed away from undisclosed causes.
Suzuki, Honda, BMW and Harley were all giving demo rides. I managed to test the Suzuki Vstrom DL1000, the Honda Varadero and the Buell Ulysses XB12XT. BMW had a messed up way of handling the sign ups so I wasn't able to sign up for the 1200GSA. This was my first time riding bike that were in the litre + range, my current bike is a Yamaha 83 XJ 750 Maxim (inline 4)
Suzuki V-Strom DL1000: $12,999. This sport adventurer seems to be what other adventure bikes get compared to in North America. The one I rode was very responsive and you could feel the power with slight adjustments of the throttle. The seating position was perfect though it could use some highway pegs. My only complaint was the vibration from the motor, which judging on what other people have said may be this particular bike only, the vibration was intense through the handlebars and seat (it was rather pleasant if distracting in the seat) but the vibration in the handlebars was not something I'd want to suffer on a 5 hour ride. Everyone I've spoke to that has ridden the V-Strom has said they never experienced that so it could be a poor tune of the particular bike i was riding.
Honda Varadero: $14,500. This sport adventurer is new to Canada but has been out in Europe for years and predates the V-Strom. Riding it was very similar to the V-Strom and the only differences were that the Varadero didn't have that fore mentioned vibration how ever it seemed gutless at low revs. This bike does have ABS brakes where the V-Strom DL1000 doesn't. Other than ABS and slightly more fuel capacity there is not much different between the Varadero and the V-Strom. Does ABS justify $1500 difference in price tag?
Buell Ulysses XB12XT: $16,169. The most expensive of the adventure bikes I tried, this bike was a total Jekyll and Hyde. When I started it up this beast it didn't have what you'd call a vibration, because vibration indicates that it is small. This was like a pounding like a jackhammer and you could see the front turn signals bouncing up and down with an inch of travel each way. I figured well lets see if riding it was any different and if I still had my eyeteeth at the end of the ride (hey I was riding some one else's bike and I didn't have to pay for gas). When we got out onto the street and got the RPM up around 3k the jackhammer effect disappeared like some one flipped a switch. The bike felt the lightest of the 3 and was just amazing to ride, and had great "flickability". Even though the seating position was less standard and more sport touring it was quite comfortable. If there was no jackhammer effect at low RPMs this bike would have been a contender.
In conclusion for my budget and enjoyment I think more research is required. I need to compare the V-Strom 650 to the 1000 and investigate the KTM and even though they're not in my price range I need to compare the BMW and Ducati models. | | comments: Leave a comment |
|
Content? what content?
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
geekgrrl_ca's journal![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/yawn.gif){kind=small}
tired