Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
I wanted to mention that my new helmet (a Shoei X-11)is now
fitting much better. It only took a week or two until it started
fitting quite well, and now it's to the point that it feels perfect.
It's still tight, but it's no longer uncomfortable.
I haven't really had a chance to test the airflow, since it's supposed to be really good. I'll report on that when it's not 45° F outside... The noise level is definitely higher in this helmet than the Arai Quantum/f, and the Quantum was louder than the RF800 before it. Earplugs are definitely a good idea. Interestingly, I don't find that there's much wind noise, it's more like I'm hearing more of the outside world. There's less sound insulation.
Getting used to the Shoei-isms wasn't too hard, although I still react to some things, like opening the faceshield just a little, like I'm wearing the Arai.
Unfortunately, this helmet seems even more prone to fogging than either the RF800 or the Quantum/f. I have no idea what it is, but every helmet is getting worse about fogging. This is even with the FogCity liner installed. Part of it is that my glasses are fogging, but previous helmets were better at this, too. If I fully close up the X-11, I get fogging from my breath up to about 30 MPH, where others would clear consistently if I was moving much at all. I'm sure temperature, humidity, and the Z750s's fairing all impact that, but it's frustrating. One of the claims of the X-11 was improved fog resistance thanks to clever venting. Not really, on that one.
On the up side, the X-11 seems much less prone to throwing tiny bits of road grit into my eyes than the Arai did. That's a change I really appreciate. There's nothing like having a tiny, sharp piece of sand stuck in your eye to completely distract you from driving safely.
I'll keep posting occasional updates as they occur to me. Rest assured I'll have comments about venting and airflow come summer, when I'll really want it to be working.
In other news...
The Z keeps getting worse gas mileage. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. I've been careful to keep the revs down, although that leaves me shifting clumsily; I seem to shift far better when progressing briskly through the gears. Unfortunately, that seems like it should guarantee bad gas mileage as well, so I'm kind of flummoxed on how to treat the bike.
I was in a hurry the other day, and was revving the engine higher into its range. It occurred to me all of a sudden that, in my eagerness to improve gas mileage (down to just under 32 so far), I was riding the bike at around 10% of its potential. My getting on the gas that night represented about 40% of its potential.
But if I'm running at 10% (just under normal riding on a Ninja 250, at a guess), and getting 31-35 MPG.... why? Why? Why? Why do I have this fancy new bike which can go a million miles per hour? Why did I spend all that money on a new bike, just to ride it like a crippled Ninja 250? On that Ninja 250, I was getting 42 MPG minimum, and having a blast riding the bike at 80% of its potential most of the time.
I know why, but the reasons are all logical, not emotional. The emotional side of my riding nature is getting squelched in favor of all the rational stuff. The new bike is built for people my size. It's got enough power to be safer on the freeway. It has a catalytic converter. It's fuel injected, and is a nice, modern design. But on the other hand, I'm riding it like I'm scared of it (true in more ways than just twisting the throttle). I'm not scared of it, I'm scared of hurting my dwindling fuel economy, or having a tire slip. (The tires still feel nervous to me, and don't make me want to corner with any authority.) I can't open the throttle without slamming into a speed limit or another vehicle on the road.
I still like the bike. I mean, I get on, I start the motor, and I enjoy the feeling of riding the bike down the road. But I enjoy it less than I did the Ninja (before it started creaking and making me fear frame failure). Part of it is the fuel economy, part of it is that I dropped the bike in the first week, part of it is the squirrely tires. Part, I'm sure, is the atrocious seat, which I still haven't fixed 2300 miles later.
None of this is to say that the Z will be up for sale any time soon, but I find myself nearly constantly wondering why I don't just sell it and get a new Ninja 250. I liked the Ninja 250 a lot, before it started creaking. My only real substantial beef with the 250 is that it feels a tad anemic on the freeway. Despite that, I took it down to Portland and back, and I'd do it again. I didn't really like the 80 MPH section on I-5, but I did it, and it wasn't awful.
So yeah. None of this should be taken as any kind of action-oriented talk. I'm just thinking out loud. Speaking of thinking, I'm thinking that next, I'll try keeping the revs up on the Z, and see if I can get better gas mileage that way. Maybe below 5k RPM is actually lugging the engine enough to waste gas.
Posted at 17:35 permanent link category: /motorcycle
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater