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Categories: all aviation bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater Tue, 25 Oct 2005
I was reading a thread on the High
I sat back and thought about it for a minute -- I'm also running a vastly over-rated tire, load-wise anyway. Each of the Goldwing's Firestone F560 tires is rated at 780 pounds at 35 psi. Max inflation pressure is 42 psi. I was running them at about 40 psi, although I can't remember now quite what the justification for that was. The thing is, my whole rig weighs around 1000 pounds. So, each of my tires was inflated such that it would be set correctly for a ~1600-1700 pound bike -- and the bike side of my rig only weighs around 700 pounds. Can you say "overinflation?" I knew you could. So I deflated them last night. It felt really weird to do, but I took them from 40 psi to 30, and I took the sidecar tire from 32 psi to 25. I then took a little drive around to see if I could tell the difference. There was nothing obvious, and very little that I could tell as being an actual vs. "I want it to be true" difference. However, in a few quick stops, the rig felt surer about stopping, and it was noticeably harder to lock up the tires than the last time I checked. When I got home, I checked the tires for warmth (having only ridden a few miles), and the bike tires were warmer than the air temperature, but the sidecar tire was cold. I lowered it from 25 to 20 psi to see if that would make a difference, and it took on a noticeable bulge at the contact patch (it's supposed to have at least a small one). So, I guess it's an ongoing experiment. The rig feels a bit more "wiggly" than at the higher pressure, but I am not sure that's a bad thing, I just need to get used to it. I'll take it if it means I can shorten stopping distances. Later... I went to Seattle Cycle Center today, and tried on a few helmets. Specifically, I tried on the Arai Quantum II and Shoei RF-1000, which were my two "most likely" helmets. The Arai fits a little bit better than the Shoei, but neither fits very well compared to my current Arai Quantum/f. They both feel like they have big gaps on the sides of my head, which doesn't feel safe to me. I would probably get used to it, but I'm not sure I want to get used to a less-safe situation. Unfortunately, those were really my choices for my next helmet. There's no other Arai shape that fits, and Shoeis are all the same shape. I don't trust the HJCs and cheaper helmets. That leaves "weirdo" helmets like the Roof LeMans, or a Schuberth, Suomy, Shark or Nolan. Not that I have anything against those helmets, but I don't have any way to try them on, and it's been quite obvious from the first time I tried to fit a helmet that I need to try one on for 15 minutes before I'll know if it fits right. I've provisionally decided it's just not the right time to buy a new helmet. The current lid is only 3 years old, and the recommendation is every 3-5 years, so I'm being extremely conservative if I replace it now. I guess I'll wait. Posted at 22:32 permanent link category: /motorcycle Categories: all aviation gadgets misc motorcycle theater Written by Ian Johnston. Software is Blosxom. Questions? Please mail me at reaper at obairlann dot net. |