Tis the season for Motorcycle Events

Well, summer is here and there are a ton of events going on everywhere. If you know of any events going on let me know. I will post them to the Events Calendar. You can email them to me at motocaliblog@gmail.com. I have also added some stuff. The LA Calendar Bike Show in July looks like a lot of fun. If I have my new exhaust by then, I may participate in the Dyno Shootout.

Sport Twins

So I met a guy (Duncan) who is organizing a bunch of sport twins for rides. I will start posting the ride info on the calendar, and I am trying to get him to add to the calendar as well. There is a lot of stuff starting to kick off now that summer is upon us. Hope to see you out there. Let me know if you have anything going on.

Another nice ride up the canyon

We went up Angeles Crest today. Was really nice. Not a lot of traffic, surprising for a Saturday. Headed up to Newcombs ranch and stopped off for a bite to eat and some coffee. We kept going up the mountain for another 5 miles or so and turned around.

I bought a new Shoei Hornet DS in matte black. It is the most comfortable helmet I have ever owned. I am particularly falling in love with the visor. It keeps the sun out of my face and my eyes don't end up getting fatigued. The shield on the front sweeps pretty wide and I have full peripheral vision. It is also the right fit for my head shape. Kind of looks like a fighter pilot's helmet.

Conti Road Attacks & the Buell XB12X

I really do like the Conti Road Attacks on my bike. I had my Buell XB12X, which is a dual sport bike that sits pretty high, leaned over to the point of scraping my peg in a turn. We came up on a decreasing radius turn and I had to lean it over pretty far. I started to fight to keep the tires from touching the double yellow and quickly realized that the bike and my new rubber needed no convincing. As my foot started contacting the pavement I thought, "man, I am really leaned over." As I pulled out of that turn I had another and the bike performed with grace. I started replaying the turn in my head and realized the tires really did a great job of gripping the pavement. I could not feel any slip at all.

Of course the tires weren't the only thing keeping me from spilling it. A lot has to do with my confidence on that particular bike, and the bike itself. I have been really satisfied with my Buell and I would purchase another one in a heartbeat. Thanks goes to my brother for turning me on to this bike. I have been enjoying the hell out of it and don't think I will ever sell it.

Conti Road Attacks

I just had Glendale HD / Buell put on my new set of Continental Road Attacks. In the short ride back home from the dealership I found that the bike handled pretty nicely. I'm gonna take it into the canyons tomorrow morning to see how they do in the twisties.

Oh, and I love the tread pattern!

Buell 1125R

I got a chance to test ride an 1125R today while I was waiting for the dealer to put on my new tires. I only got to ride the bike for about 15 miles, so I really can't give it a full review. I am going to schedule a longer ride for some time in the next couple weeks.

My initial observations

Very smooth - You barely feel the bike idling between your legs.

Very light - I think it weighs somewhere around 375 lbs, but actually feels like 325.

Corners nicely - The bike felt very stable, and it didn't take much convincing to get it to turn.

Smooth gearbox - When shifting, the gears were very smooth.

Vibrations in handlebars - Although the bike was smooth, there was some vibration in the handlebars. Some end bar weights should take care of it though.

Heat - There seemed to be some significant heat coming off of the bike, of course that could have something to do with the 95+ degree weather today.

I can't wait to get it into the canyons!

Editing Software Crashing

Sorry for the delay on the video. I have been working nonstop for the past few weeks and have finally found some downtime to work on the video. Now both iMovie and Final Cut are giving me problems, which leads me to believe the issue it with my hardware. Once I get it sorted out I will post them. What I have been able to edit so far looks pretty cool.