Ride to Live... Live to Ride...

 Have you ever really thought about those words?

Folks... Riders... Speak 'em all the time. I'm of the mind that many say the words without really giving them much time. Like in a lot of things, people parrot what ever'body else is sayin'. My advice is to really THINK about those words, and what they mean.

Me? Some might call it arrogant, but I say I took the words at face value and pursued 'em with a passion.

I'm happiest, when I'm in the wind on my bike. Pure and simple. So, to make the best of that I set about arranging my life to make that happen. I Set about... Living to Ride.

I got rid of the damn house that owned me. I got rid of the Boss that thought he owned me... I've been riding the rough edge, near to poverty... sweating each broken part and ruined tire. My back account... well... if I had one, it would be thin! :)

The point is... I live in a fifth wheel... and ride when and how I want... sort of.

That's the part that can be a little displeasing to me. I thought I'd be riding a lot more than I do. But the simple reality is... though I don't work for Bosses any more... except for occasional short term jobs... like our week long stint at a NASCAR race coming up this afternoon... I still have to work.

Living Free and Easy... ain't necessarily easy! :) Between taking care of three websites, three blogs and writing the Western Novels I've started publishing to earn a living; it seems like working still gets in the way of riding...

Compound that with the hard times the bozos in D.C. and all the other capitals of the world have inflicted on everyone... and you end up with a pretty good dose of reality.

Oh Boo Freakin' Hoo!

A fella could start feeling sorry for himself... until he thumps himself on the head with a boot and asks himself; "Are you Blind boy? What are you whining about ya damn little runt?"

So, yeah... what am I grousin' about...

In the last two years I've rolled my Raider in a lot of Gorgeous country. She took me to the Yukon and up past Denali in Alaska. We've split the wind in British Columbia, Glacier National park (Twice) and over Lost trail and Lolo passes in Montana. The Bike has carried me through the Cascades and We've rolled through Yellowstone National Park. The Pacific Coast Highway in Oregon has seen my Raider and so has the Shasta Lake country of California as well as those twisty roads around Yosemite and Sequoia.

It's been a damn fine two years!

We've floated on the ferry to San Juan Island in Puget Sound. Spent part of a winter in the Tonto Basin in Arizona and had a beer at London Bridge in Lake Havasu. She's carried me over the Million Dollar Skyway of Hwy 550 in Colorado and through the Black Hills of Dakota country... and the ride ain't over yet... so No Whining! There's plenty more to come.

Is life easy? Nope. Has it ever been? Nope... Will it ever be? Not Likely...

It's easy to fall back into old habits and get caught back up in the failed philosophy of chasing dollars. It's a thing to keep on guard against, but that's it.

Living like I am, having a house on wheels that let's me stay where the riding is good, no matter what the season IS Living to Ride. So I'll just keep on making it work... However much work that takes.

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

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An Update on the Avon Tires on My Raider

I've got a couple hundred miles on my Avon Cobra tires now... and have to say I'm still happy with 'em.

We did a hundred and fifty miles or so, two up today, winding through the Arizona hills in the Tonto Basin, under the Mogollon Rim of Arizona.

I'm the first to admit that when you dump a few hundred bucks on something you tend to try and find a way to describe it in ways that makes your decision sound smart. :) That said, I'm as sure as ever that changing from Metzler tires and the stock 210 on the Back to Avon Cobra's and a 240 on the back was the right thing to do.

The first thing I noticed was a change in handling. Now... there wasn't a band playing and fireworks and such... but there was still this certain sure feeling that... something ... was different.

I remember running through fast sweeper corners on the Metzlers and thinking; "I must be getting old". It seemed like I was multiple "apexing" way too much.

The difference with these Avon's that I'm still seeing is that the bike rolls from one side to the other smoother and more fluidly... there doesn't seem to be anywhere near the volume of small "inputs" required to hold the line I want that was required with the Metzler tires.

Thinking about that I remember how the Metzler was crowned in the center. That and the radius of the tread seems to vary across the profile of the tire. Then, when you've put a few miles on it that crown wears into a flat spot around the center of the tire...

I wonder if, as you leaned into a corner, the bike goes through those varying tread radius and then on top of that hits that "Edge" of the worn flat crown area and kind of "pops" over into the area with a new "radius"?

Not sure I've described the sensation clearly... but... it always seemed like the "input" was changing... constantly having to adjust... I thought it was me. Thought I must be getting old (which I am!) but, it's turning out to have been, at least to a great degree, the tires...

The Avon Motorcycle Tires on the Raider now are feeling smoother, more fluid in their handling and though it never felt insecure with the Metzler tires on it... I'm noticing a more solid, confident feeling with the handling of the bike.

It's going to take time to see how the mileage wears... but if the rubber compound is anything close to that of the Metzler, with the tremendous increase in tread depth, I should come back with a shiny report on that!

The only other thing I can't report about is their handling in the rain... I ain't got rained on... and pardon me if I don't care if that review don't happen real soon either! :)

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

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Another Lesson Learned... A Motorcycle Mechanic...

I ain't!

Started jacking the bike up... and one thing after another, fed my frustration. To start with, I don't and never have enjoyed wrenching on machinery. Just something that never appealed to me.

The only time I have is when I simply couldn't afford to pay it done. That was the only real motivation I had in thinking I'd take on the Tire work on my Raider... to save a few bucks of which I have few.

But then I jacked the scooter up on that Harbor Freight Motorcycle Jack...

and discovered, rather unpleasantly that the thing was not what you might call Rock Steady... and Yamaha really doesn't reveal all in their manual for the bike.


So... with the bike in the air I laid down and looked up in there... and discovered pretty plain... that to get to the curb side of the rear axle... the pipes are in the way... and with the pipes there... how am I gonna get in there to SEE anything to make sure the dang wheel is aligned properly when I put it back on?

Even once I got the wheels off... I still was gonna have to haul 'em in and pay 40 bucks for mounting and balancing...

If I just take the whole dang bike in the price for the labor with tax and all was gonna be $140 bucks... so in the end I'm saving a hundred stinkin' bucks... ahhhhhhhh.... at least, if nothing goes bad on me while I am trying to save dinero...

I'm laying there thinking, if I'd just already took the bike in and let a guy who has the tools, the experience and the insurance if something goes bad :) do the job... I'd be out RIDING right now... instead of laying here with all the visions of all the things that can go wrong rattling through my head! :)

... and then my intimate relationship with Murphy's Law occurred to me... the picture of trying to load an 800 lb bike... with no wheels... into a truck if I got to where my ego couldn't override my common sense any more floated through my tiny lil' pea brain.

Well... I started having difficulty convincing myself that doing what I don't enjoy... for the sake of saving a few dollars made any sense.

I guess it's no surprise that right about then I quit the idea and rode the bike down to a shop nearby... and paid 'em to swap my tires for me! :)

Yeah... some bikes it's a simple chore... but the Raider those pipes cover over the stuff you've gotta get to... and makes it a real PITA! ... I'm not about to tackle that out on the side of the road... so why bother with it at "Home"?

Some guys really enjoy wrenching on the their bikes...and that's well and good. I Don't... nor my trucks or cars for that matter. Outside of bolting on a few customize bits here and there... the heavy duty wrenching on a bike, truck or car... has never tickled my imagination...

Now some say if you ride 'em you should wrench on 'em. "It's part of the Motorcycle Lifestyle"...

I say... "Nope. The Motorcycle Lifestyle I adhere to is; Ride what you want, Ride where you want, when you want... and have your gol' darn tires changed by whoever you choose!" :)

The Important thing is to... Put it in the Wind!

I'm gonna just continue to drive 'em... or RIDE 'em, like I always have!  That's a reality I'm not gonna forget in the future... and is why I have a really nice Towing Service that will cover my Truck, My Fifth Wheel... any cars I might own... AND... my Raider Motorcycle! :)

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

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Avons Versus Metzler Tires... I'm Changing to Avon

Fed Ex finally got the tires to me... one Avon Cobra for the front end and the other for the rear. Imagine that!

Ara had recommended Motorcycle Maniac to me so I thought I'd give 'em a try. They were the best price I found and free shipping to boot... Sweet!

*Harbor Freight Motorcycle lift and Avon Tires*

 The standard 120 X 21" front tire and I chose to move up to the 240 Avon on the back end.

Along with the Motorcycle Jack I picked up last week at Harbor Freight I'm ready to start pullin' wheels... Only problem is, I don't have time here! :) We have to leave this camp in the morning.

So... I'll do the tire swappin' up in Phoenix.

I've decided I will just take on the wheel removal and reinstall this time. I'll see about all the tire swappin' in the future. For now I'll leave the tire pulling and balancing to a shop. Truth is? That big, stiff back tire kinda bullied me.

Which brings up one lil' thing. One of the complaints about the Metzlers is the reversed tread on the rear tire... well... according to the directional arrows on the Avon tires... they sure look opposite of each other to me as well! Maybe I'm crosseyed... but I looked at those arrows several times... Weird.

Combine that with the fact that the front tires, Metzler and Avon, for the Raider are bias tires... and the rear tires are radial... and I've always been taught to NOT mix the two types... tells me there's more goin' on with Motorcycle tires than my puny lil' brain can get a hold of. So... if Metzler and Avon don't know anything 'bout building tires... I'm sure not gonna set 'em straight! :)

Guess I'll quit worryin' which direction the tread is goin'... and just pay attention to which way the bike is headed! :)

I'll just get these Avon Tires put on and hope they perform with better reliability and trust than I was coming to have with the Metzlers.

As I get the tires off so I can do a proper photo of that back tire I can show the tread and the bad section... so you can see what my displeasure is about... 

Another bit of education I've been getting the past year or so is Harbor Freight. I never was a great fan of Harbor Freight. The few things I saw from there were real junk... but I gotta admit, the past few years they seem to have upgraded a lot of what they sell. The fit and finish of the jack I got there seems pretty decent to me. Time will tell how well it endures, but at this point, I'm pretty happy with the last few things I've bought there.

One thing about those Avon tires I'm kinda happy about is the tread depth. It must be nigh on to double what a Metzler has. I'm told the Avon is a softer compound. With the extra rubber I expect I'll be at least even to the Metzler for mileage.

I've talked to some that saw a significant improvement when they swapped out to the Avon Cobras. I'm hoping to see that myself! :)

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

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My Raider Motorcycle Doesn't Have Reverse... But...

The truth is... I decided I needed to back up a bit. Just a step or two.

The tires on my Raider have proven to be the only, uh, point I have of any friction with this machine. Now, that ain't the bikes fault... but... when you call a shop in a Local area you're in, and are needful of a new tire... and you get one of two responses, as a routine thing, you know there's some sort of issue.

Response #1, when I've Called YAMAHA dealers in Western Arizona, Northern Utah... and a couple other places was... What's a Raider? ... Seriously??? my answer; A motorcycle? Question by the Yamaha parts guy on the phone; Who makes it? ... uhhhh... YOU do? ... Seriously!

I know there aren't a lot of these awesome machines around after several years of production... which I truly don't understand, since A Star Raider is an attention getting, awesome machine... but... still being pretty unique out there is really pretty cool! But still, you work for Yamaha... and you get around so little within your own company that you haven't even heard of it?

Response #2, when I've called different Local "Non Make-specific" shops looking for a tire. My question; "Do you have any 210/40 R 18 tires? Their answer; That's a Weird size!

Sheesh! Some shops must exist in the dark ages I guess. Maybe they don't have the market to make it worthwhile stocking that size... but to not even have hardly heard of it? and you're in the Motorcycle Service business?

So... with my recent difficulty with this Metzler tire... and the grumblings about possible... Issues... with Metzler quality/consistency, especially it seems with the tires coming from their Brazil plant, as well as running across way too many places that seem to have a shortage of Motorcycle Education... I got to wanting to take a lil' more control of my tire situation.

With that in mind I started hunting around to acquire the tools and equipment to do my own Motorcycle Tire servicing myself. I came pretty close to pulling the trigger on all of it too...

... but... some little voice in the back of my head kept whispering to me to hold off... a bit.

So... along with the standard oil/air filter maintenance routine I will be doing the wheel dismounting and remounting chores myself... but... for the time being I've chosen to leave the tire dismounting/mounting and balancing chores to a local shop in the area I happen to be in.

The fact that I live on the road in a Fifth Wheel had a big impact on that decision. Maybe if I still had a big shop where I was living I'd just go ahead and put in the equipment... but... my rig is already stuffed to busting with all the bits and pieces of living. I already still have to find a location to store that motorcycle jack I've added to allow me to lift the bike and pull the wheels.

... Not sure where I could hide a Motorcycle Tire Changer and a Wheel balancing stand in the sucker! :)

Maybe... as I get a lil' more comfortable going back to doing all my own maintenance... and not paying a shop to do it - I've gotten lazy the past few years ;)  - I may revisit this...

That and winning the lottery to allow me to move up to a LOT bigger rig with the storage space to carry all the needful tools! ;)

In the mean time... My new motorcycle jack is sitting out there waiting while I wait on the arrival of a pair of Avon Cobra tires I mail ordered, since there was nothing available in the city of Tucson ... at least at an outfit I was willing to do business with.

I've found a shop here in Tucson that will mount the tires on the wheels and spin balance them for me at a reasonable price...

The back tire alone was $40 cheaper plus free shipping than any tire I've ever bought for it... and add on the elimination of the labor $$$ for removing and re-installing the wheels... and even without doing the tire swap work myself I'm quite a few dollars ahead... So maybe not reverse... just a bit behind where I was thinking I'd go. ;)

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

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Share your stories and opinions;
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