Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
I found this description of a good motorcycle first aid kit a few weeks ago, and set about to gather the bits and pieces. All told, I ended up spending about $75 at the drugstore, followed by another $30 on other pieces, and $15 today for the bag to hold it all.
I'm trying not to think about the cost.
But in any case, I now have a very well-suited motorcycling first aid kit. Unfortunately, it's kind of huge. Like, 2x bigger than I was imagining initially. I could make it smaller, but only at the cost of making it less capable.
I may try to assemble a less complete, but still useful kit out of the remaining parts, as something that I can carry more regularly.
Posted at 19:38 permanent link category: /motorcycle
On my way in today, I was passed by a guy riding a Honda ST1300 (an expensive sport-touring bike). Not remarkable in and of itself, but I noticed that he was wearing a 3/4 helmet (no chinbar), a questionable-looking jacket, khaki pants, and hiking sneakers. So, not very concerned about falling off, I thought to myself.
I watched him ahead of me. This is on the stretch of Highway 99 (if you know the Seattle area) at Greenlake, where it goes from lots of stoplights to sort of freeway-like, with a 40 MPH speed limit. No one actually goes 40 unless there's a cop right behind them, 50-60 is the usual speed.
Anyway, as I watched, he changed lanes suddenly, without signaling, and without looking over his shoulder. Ok, I thought, not very conscious about his vulnerability on the bike. Nothing bad happened (it's not one of those stories).
I made my usual turn at 39th, but noticed that he was leading me. His turn signal was on this time. As I came around the corner, I saw that he was still correcting from running wide, 200 feet down the road, approaching a very sharp and blind descent down a steep hill.
The real capper for me was, as I pulled up behind him facing steep downhill, I saw that he'd pulled hard up to the car's bumper in front of him, bounced from foot to foot a few times (he couldn't quite get both feet down), then did something and completely relaxed. Remember, steep downhill. No hands or feet on controls. He seemed unaware of the world around him, or that someone might come crashing down the hill completely out of control.
I wondered what he'd done. Maybe the ST1300 had some kind of a parking brake I didn't know about? Did he have some cool accessory that allowed him to do that? His brake light wasn't on...
Nope. The light turned green, and he hurriedly started the motor (he'd left it stopped and in gear so it wouldn't roll), turned left without signaling, and ran really wide on his turn. Fortunately, he wasn't going the same way as me.
That guy is an accident waiting to happen. I hate it when they take nice bikes with them.
(For reference, when I stop at a light, I am waiting with the bike running, in gear, my hand on the clutch and watching the rearview mirror waiting for the car that's going to come in too fast and rear-end me. My foot is on the rear brake so I can take off at a moment's notice. I don't relax from that until there is at least one car fully stopped behind me. Oh, and I always signal turns and lane changes, and don't run wide going around corners. This is just how you ride when you don't want to die.)
Posted at 10:20 permanent link category: /motorcycle
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater