Things Best Said

Nashville has had a weird transition from winter to spring to winter so I’ve continued my search for a good riding jacket. I really like the enduro style of the BMW jackets but I’m not about to spend my cash for a jacket with a big BMW logo (my ST might get mad). For about the same money I had already decided on an Aerostich Darien. Still, it’s pricey at $497…so I kept looking.

From time to time I’ll go back to ebay to see what’s there. I’ve picked up all sorts of Lindbergh trinkets and old issues of Cycle World magazine but there’s usually little in good quality (new or used) motorcycle touring gear. Lots of stores selling the sport jackets or garbage-bag rain suits, but not much good stuff.

Until the other day. I got a blip on one of my regular searches that there was a medium size Joe Rocket / Honda enduro jacket. Waterproof, CE padding, liner the whole shebang.

I patiently watched it all week dropping my bid in during the last few minutes. There was only one other person, beside me, bidding. The minutes clicked down as I sat with a second bid in the waiting should I lose the initial. No snipes. I win. I smile.

Just to prove that good deals can still be found on ebay… here is my $26 Honda jacket.

(That’s me wearing it. Pay no attention to the kawasaki)

to let the cat out of the bag.

Farkle, the wordsmash of ‘function’ and ’sparkle’. Also known as an acronym

F.ancy
A.ccessory
R.eally
K.ool &
L.ikely
E.xpensive

After putting close to 2K miles on my ST over the last couple weeks I figured I had enough time to get to really know the bike. So, to raise a few bucks I sold off my G5 to a very lucky fellow here in town for a fair price (I hadn’t been using it much) and ordered a few new bits. New Farkles.

The first thing I ordered was a top box for the bike. You see, Sheila would like to ride around with me but feels my throttling needs a little work and without a backrest she’s likely to fly off the bike. So, I picked up a Honda Pan-European top box over at SportTouringUSA. While not cheap, it’s looks fantastic and was, relatively, easy to install — especially after I found a nut that I had dropped down in the STs body (thanks Dave).

As I had written on this blog before, I also ordered a Heli handlebar riser from CASportTouring - 1″ up and 2″ back. It makes longer rides much more bearable.

The third item, arriving just yesterday, is a Cee Bailey windshield. It replaced the old one but is 6″ wider and 2″ taller and has a vent in the lower-third. Immediately after installing it I rode home in the rain. Quite a difference. My only suggestion for those who install a windshield is to make sure to save the rubber spacers for use with the new windshield. Hadn’t noticed them until they were pointed out to me. (again, thanks Dave)

All told for the farkles, including shipping - $918. My only complaint with ordering from any of the above dealers is that they don’t have very good communication with the customer.

I ordered most of this stuff on a Monday and it took as long as 3 or 4 days to receive a confirmation. And, when I finally contacted SportTouring.com about the topbox they responded immediately. So, ‘buyer beware’ might be too strong, but you might have to send a reminder email.

I forgot to take any pictures…I’ll get a few tomorrow.

Motorcycling song for today: Life Is Beautiful by Vega4

I was catching up on a season of Top Gear while travelling and was astounded by a piece they did on the 16 cylinder, 8.0litre quad-turbo, 1001HP Bugatti Veyron. At a top speed of 253mph it’s labeled as the fastest production car on the market. With a price tag worth a double-take ($1.2M) it better be.

From the Wiki:

The Veyron is the quickest production car to reach 100 km/h (62 mph) with an estimated time of 2.5 seconds, according to the manufacturer. It reaches 60 mph in approximately 2.46 seconds. It also reaches 200 and 300 km/h (124 and 186 mph) in 7.3 and 16.7 seconds respectively. This makes the Veyron the quickest accelerating production car in history. It also consumes more fuel than any other production car, using 40.4 L/100 km (5.82 mpg) in city driving and 24.1 L/100 km (10 mpg) in combined cycle. At full throttle, it uses more than 125 L/100 km (2.1 mpg), which would empty its 100 L (26.4 gallon) fuel tank in just 12.5 minutes.

The driver must, using a special key (the “Top Speed Key”), toggle the lock to the left of his seat in order to use the maximum speed of 407.5 km/h (253.2 mph). The key functions only when the vehicle is at a stop when a checklist then establishes whether the car—and its driver—are ready to enable ‘top speed’ mode. If all systems are go, the rear spoiler retracts, the front air diffusers close and the ground clearance, normally 12.4 cm (4.9 inches), drops to 6.6 cm (2.6 inches).

The Veyron’s brakes utilize unique cross-drilled and turbine-vented carbon rotors, which draw in cooling air to reduce fade. Each caliper has eight[2] titanium pistons.

Watch the Bugatti in action (112mb) or watch it as a FLASH movie (38mb).

don’t try this at home 65mph…